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Her body instantly tensed up, and she tried to relax. She had to work to undo decades of reaction. Her body was still primed to feel fear when she was caught. She reminded herself that she had nothing to fear from this shifter – if she sent out a distress signal, the members of her tiny pack would come running. She could handle herself.
Damn her father for making her like this.
Would she ever move past this reaction? It didn't seem likely.
She wondered how she must look to him. He would know that she was a shifter, of course. And she did have human clothing on, so she should blend in. She wasn't dressed all that differently than he was.
"Are you camping here?” he asked. His grin had not diminished at all.
There was no point lying. She could sense no malice from him. He didn't get too close. Maybe he could tell it would not be wise to crowd her.
"Just out hiking then?" he asked, not giving up.
"I work here," she said finally.
His eyebrows shot up. “You work here?” He looked around then lowered his voice. “For humans?”
“Yes. For humans.” She crossed her arms even as her heart jumped. Was he an asshole like her father? Did she need to get away? She tried to slow her breathing, but she wasn’t successful. Because of his clothing, she hadn’t pegged him for a controlling jerk, but she’d been wrong before.
She started to back away, but he held his hands up. “Hey. I didn’t mean any offense. What did I say?”
She exhaled and put her hand on her chest. She didn’t like letting him see her weakness. But he wasn’t growling or attacking.
She'd always wanted to protect herself from any unfortunate romantic connections, but it occurred to her that maybe now that she’d escaped her father, that she could have fun with a connection like this.
She'd never been allowed to flirt or date before, because her father got to pick out her mate. Once she'd gotten free of them, she’d just avoided any type of interaction that could turn romantic completely. But now she was free. She could do what she wanted.
"Are you from around here?” she asked.
His smile got even bigger. "No. My name is Tristan, and I'm from Alaska."
Dammit. Alaska. She was never going back there. She didn’t even want to hear the name. She tried to compose herself. "Tristan, huh. My name is Violet. You're a long way from home."
"Yes. I'm here visiting my brother. He's going to college here. Or University, as they call it,” he said.
“Your pack allowed him to go to college?"
She had to take a minute to breathe. All of the shifters she'd met so far were like her. They had run away from packs that were oppressive and cruel. Packs that would not allow any type of human interaction. There were consequences if they even thought about it. That's why she had to cut herself completely off and leave the area. Just thinking about it made her hands tremble.
He was going to think she was crazy, so she put her hand out, holding onto a tree branch to steady herself. She took a deep breath. But she did not retract the question. She was ultimately curious about this pack that would allow its young male to go study with humans and not kick him out permanently. Or kill him, which her father had threatened to do when he had caught shifters sneaking out into the human world.
Her own cousin had been one of those shifters. Her father had not killed him for the first infraction, but he had locked her cousin in a shed for three days with no food and water. And he'd told him that the next time it would mean death.
Her cousin had not even tried to do something as daring as go to school. He had gone to a human restaurant. He had been fascinated by the carbonated sodas and the ice cream and the chocolate. Of course, he didn't have any human money, so he'd only been able to look. He had picked up a cupcake that had fallen to the floor and taken a bite.
Her father hadn't even known any of that. But he'd made her cousin confess in front of the entire pack and with tears running down his face as he recounted the story. He'd only been fourteen at the time. His parents had begged for mercy. Or at least his mother had; his father had been completely in agreement with the harsh treatment.
It was still ingrained in her not to communicate with humans if you belonged to a pack.
Of course, this male shifter noticed her freaking out. "Are you okay?” he asked. “Did something happen?” He started looking around, as if searching the woods for a threat. "I don't hear anything. I don't smell anything."
"No. It was just a memory,” she explained. “I just didn't know packs allowed their members to go to school."
"Well, it's been a challenge,” he said with a laugh.
She put her hand over her mouth. "What did they do to him?” she asked in a whisper.
Some sort of comprehension dawned on the shifter’s face. "Oh! No. Nothing happened to him; the Alpha just grumbles a lot. He complains nonstop about how we should appreciate our ancestral lands instead of running across the world to hang out with humans. He doesn’t like it exactly, but he accepts it."
"The Alpha accepts it,” she said flatly. She couldn’t hardly comprehend that. It just didn't register. Her pack and packs just like it were the only ones she'd ever conceived of. The idea that a pack could exist that did not behave that way was foreign to her. In fact, the little trio she had with Angelina and Onyx didn't even like to call themselves a pack – because of the implications.
Not that she had any interest in joining his pack. She would never again live inside that kind of social structure, no matter how kind and benevolent they pretended to be. She would never again willingly make herself a part of anything that was organized. She didn't want that kind of responsibility and she didn't want that kind of structure. There was no benefit that could entice her.
She sank down to sit on the forest floor. Touching the dirt would help; it always did.
“Sorry,” she muttered. He’d probably take off running, just to get away from her.
So much for flirting with a hot guy. She was just too damaged.
