Free Southern Shifters: Bearing the Ink (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Black & White Book 3) by Lissa Matthews Page A

immediately. “What’s going on?”
    “We have company.”
    “Who?” He headed for the window and saw nothing more than had been there before.
    “Not out there. Out back. And you might want to hurry. Michael isn’t going to be able to keep himself in check too much longer.”
    Gus’s gaze clashed with Bex and he helped her from the massage table, then hurriedly followed Luke down the steps to the first floor. It was eerily silent and alarm skated up and down his spine. “Why don’t you check on the wolves,” he said to Bex.
    “Why don’t I go with you?” she asked, linking her fingers with his, resolve in her eyes. She wasn’t leaving his side.
    “She needs to see this too.”
    Outside in the backyard, seated on the swing Bex had occupied hours before, was…
    “Beck,” Bex whispered. He was surrounded by Luke’s pack mates and Michael, who looked ready to pounce. None of them had shifted and Gus figured they should be grateful for small favors.
    Bex let go of Gus’s hand and he watched her walk toward the deformed man. “She looks like him,” Gus uttered between barely moving lips.
    “How is it possible? She’s a shifter. Y’all have said she looks like the bear. And she said she looks like her mother. How can she look like a third person?”
    “I don’t fucking know, but look at them. Look at the parts of his face that aren’t messed up and tell me you don’t see Bex.”
    “This is damn nuts.”
    Luke was right. It was nuts. There was no logical explanation for how Bex could look like three different, distinct people, one of whom was part animal. And what the hell was the man doing there?
    A Town Car was parked sideways in the driveway, blocking the bikes in. “How did you get here?” Gus asked, joining Bex beside the swing.
    “I drove.”
    “You drove?”
    “I don’t have a license and it was slow and not a little excruciating, but I drove myself here.”
    “How did you find me?”
    “I overheard Maxine’s call.”
    “Son of a bitch,” Michael growled. “I knew she couldn’t be trusted.”
    “She didn’t know. The truth is, I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” he said to Bex. “She was the love of my life, your mother. I needed to see you again. To see her again, even if it’s only through you.”
    “It’s not safe for you here, Beck.”
    “It’s not safe for you, either. Not for any of you.”
    “We should move this party inside.”
    Gus glanced at Luke. “For once, you’re the voice of reason.”
    “First time for everything, I guess.”
    Bex helped Beck up from the swing and walked with him toward the house. “How long until your father knows you’re gone?”
    Gus heard the question and was curious about the answer, as well. He knew things would come to a head sooner or later. He was hoping maybe they would have a day or two before it did. He had a feeling that wasn’t going to be the case and Beck’s response confirmed it.
    “He likely already knows.”
    “Will he know where you are?”
    “Not without Maxine’s help. He’ll confront her.”
    “You left her there to be interrogated by your monster of a father? You selfish asshole.” Michael’s temper was notorious through the mountains outside Gatlinburg where Gus’s family called home. It would be a shock to the wolves around them if it were completely unleashed.
    Gus grabbed his brother’s arm. “Go.”
    “Gus…”
    “Go. I’ve got this. Just don’t do anything stupid.” Gus let go and Michael raced for his bike. Luke stood at the kitchen door.
    “Do you want one of mine to go with him?”
    “No. He can handle it.”
    “Too late. Derrick is on his way.”
    “Fuck, Blackwood. We don’t know what the hell is waiting out in the woods.”
    “We don’t know what isn’t, either. Your brother could be walking into a trap. This whole thing feels like one big goddamn setup.”
    “No choice but to face it now,” Gus said, stepping up into the house, toward the voice of the woman he loved