Page 34 of Ice King

The desire refused to fade, furrowing even deeper in the darkest recesses of my being. Whether as wolf or man, the longing was as pronounced as it was unacceptable.

I’d need to stay away if for no other reason than to keep her safe.

With every muscle still electrified, I threw my head back and howled.

CHAPTER 8

Georgia

Even before I parked the car, I was faced with insanity. There was no other way to call what I was seeing on the lawn of the Seattle Iceplex.

There had to be at least thirty people holding signs and upon a quick glance, I was shocked at what had been written on some of them.

Shifters are dangerous. Kill them all.

Shifters are beautiful people.

Don’t allow shifters to take over our world.

And my personal favorite directed toward Ford personally.

Ford. Can I have your baby?

The signs were all vivid in color, some larger than the person carrying them and the two opposing sides were standing fifteen feet apart.

Maybe out of fear of killing each other.

At least with Roxanne’s revelation from the night before, I better understood why the coach had been certain to tell me ‘they’ weren’t dangerous. He was referring to the shifters and not the human players. My God. I was really buying into the fact that the very creatures I’d most been terrified of as a child, the beasts I’d been certain had found ways into my room and were hiding in the closet were real.

Apparently, these folks believed in the twilight zone.

There was even a local television crew hanging out with the protestors. Or super fans. I wasn’t certain what to call them.

I shuddered as I exited the vehicle. Being this was the last game of the regular season, it would appear all the crazies were out in full force. I grabbed my things, including the books I’d brought with me, trying to avoid running into them.

But one person with a clipboard in her hand rushed toward me as if she had a firestick driven where the sun didn’t shine. She was forceful enough I was all but attacked, pushed against the driver’s door of my car.

“Will you sign the petition?” She had the nerve to shove the clipboard in my face.

“About what?” The mood I was in didn’t accept a full body check without being pissed. I’d learned a little bit of hockey language in the last few days. I pushed her back, giving her a very evil eye. However, the closeness allowed me to catch a few of the words on the form in big, black, block lettering.

SIGN THE PETITION TO REMOVE ALL SHIFTERS IN EVERY SPORT

I was sick to my stomach.

“We don’t need dangerous, horrible animals playing alongside our good, decent humans. That’s just unacceptable.” She was angry, as if it was my fault shifters existed. The woman was frothing at the mouth while chanting. Even worse. People were paying attention.

It was a good thing I didn’t have serial killer tendencies. Hmmm… Maybe I’d take that up for sport or as a nice little hobby.

My blood pressure was rising, which wasn’t a good thing for her.Chill, girl. Calm down.

I tried. I really did.

“Why do shifters bother you so much?”

“Why?” she snapped, spittle flying across my face.

Was she kidding me?