Free ChangingPaths by Marilu Mann Page B

Willow off, she turned back to grab her
keys. While she was out she would just stop by her uncle’s office. Maybe he
could tell her what was wrong with Willow. Thinking about her aunt made her
skin tingle. She shook her head. Usually that only happened when Rain was
getting sick. Her mother’s instinct, she’d always told Rain.

Chapter Five
     
    Gareth scented the air, making a mental note to ask Micah if
he had any visitors. Normally he would know that but he’d been distracted
lately. There was a stranger’s smell on the air but it was so faint—just a hint
of something sour. Maybe someone had just stopped on the road to piss. He would
have shrugged in human form. Took all kinds. He wasn’t into waving himself
around in the cold air. Man could lose his balls that way.
    Up ahead he caught sight of Micah. The tall man walked
alone, head down, his eyes on the path in front of him. With a wolfish grin
Gareth cut deeper into the trees. He used the strong wind to keep his scent
away from his Alpha so he had the rare advantage of pouncing on him then
streaking away. Micah gave a shout of laughter as he lunged for the furry white
tail but missed. Gareth let his mind relax as his Alpha shifted to give chase.
It had been far too long since they’d just cut loose.
    Later when they both were being scolded by the Alpha female
for behaving like a couple of unruly teenagers, he cut a sideways look at
Micah. Then he leaned into Olivia as she caught them both around their furry
necks to hug them. “You two are incorrigible! What are you always telling the
cubs, Micah?”
    He flowed into human form as did Micah. Olivia laughingly
did her best imitation of a deep, growling mimic of Micah. “You cubs don’t need
to be playing chase tail through the woods in the middle of the day.”
    Micah turned to Gareth then threw him directly under the
bus. “He started it!”
    Before Gareth could plead his case Olivia jerked a thumb at
the house. “Kitchen. Both of you. We need to talk about Harmony and her
daughter.”
    The look Olivia sent him made him wish he were anywhere but
here. She had that look females got when they were going to be trying to match
him up. He didn’t want to explain—again—why he wouldn’t date a shifter woman. But
he was surprised when Olivia didn’t address that.
    Once he and Micah were back in human clothing Olivia had
food for them. Gareth made a mental note to restock his clothing at the lodge.
He was down to one pair of jeans. Shifting often put him somewhere his clothes
weren’t, so he kept caches. It was easier to just leave clothes around the land
since Micah needed all of his seconds to be ready at a moment’s notice. If
Gareth got the call to show up in human form he needed to be close to a pair of
jeans. Of course, most of those weren’t in a cedar closet like those at the lodge.
    Olivia kept the chatter light. She didn’t even skirt around
or hint at him seeing the new shifter. And that made him feel guilty. He
realized it had rolled into Wednesday. Had it been Sunday when Harmony had
mentioned her furnace? Making a mental note to check on his way back, he
realized Olivia had said something about Harmony. He waited for Olivia to
speak.
    Instead of the expected “she’s a nice woman” talk, his Alpha’s
mate told them what she’d learned from Harmony’s uncle. By the time she
finished the tale of abuse Gareth knew his good eye was shining silvery-blue.
He looked down to see his nails digging into the kitchen table. From the long
furrows, he realized he’d been doing it for more than a minute. That brought
back too many memories of his sister and how he’d been unable to protect her
from her own abusive husband. The one who had eventually killed her and their
children.
    At his low growl of “I’ll kill him if he comes near either
of them,” Micah swiveled his head. Brown eyes burned into him for a long moment
until Gareth feared his Alpha might tell him that he couldn’t. He hoped