Chloe stiffened and bit out another clipped, "Yes."

"Good," the older woman's dark eyes crinkled in the corners when she smiled, "I'm too old to futz around, so I'll just say what needs to be said." She lifted her head and pursed her lips a moment before she began, "My people, my family, we're descendents of wolves. Shape shifters. Some call us skin walkers. You've heard the rumors?"

Chloe merely nodded.

"We live in packs and each pack has a leader, an Alpha, and it is this Alpha's responsibility to act in a manner that will both protect and strengthen his people."

"All due respect Mrs. Blackbird, but why are you telling me this?"

Mama sobered then, seemingly drawing to her full height, slight as it was. "Because Dell is the leader to our people. My son is Alpha to our clan. They are not rumors. We are shifters," Mama leveled her eyes on Chloe, "and you are my son's mate."

Chloe's eyes widened and she took a cautious step back, "Look, I don't want any trouble." Chloe peeked over the woman's shoulder wondering if she were alone. This has to be a joke. "You should go."

"I'll go, but I want you to know that his claiming is going to be stronger with you because he is the Alpha." Mama let her eyes slide up and down Chloe's lithe frame. "You must be very strong to have resisted to this point." Mama began to turn then, "But it cannot last young lady. No matter how much you pray it to the contrary, your hate will give way to love." Mama stopped to eye Chloe suspiciously, "I suspect it's begun already."

Chloe's blush was telling even as she lifted her chin with more confidence than she actually felt. "Good night Mrs. Blackbird," she offered dismissively.

The older woman smiled, "It's Mama." She winked. "Least it will be. The longer he stays from you the more painful it becomes. I thought it only fair to warn you now that he won't be able to stay away much longer." She reached out and patted Chloe's hand. "Prepare yourself. Prepare your heart. Your mate is coming for you." Then she turned and left.

Chloe waited until the old woman was out of sight before she closed the door and then fell back against it. Shifter? Mates? It was now official. The Blackbird's were certifiably nuts!

She lifted a hand to her lips and realized she was trembling. She'd instantly denied Mrs. Blackbird's words, but alone now she was staggered by the implications. What if it's true? It can't be. Can it? Even just considering that the stories were true was terrifying, but the old woman had seemed so truthful, almost proud of the fact. Still, Chloe wouldn't accept the woman's claim. If she did in fact believe that the Blackbirds were shifters then she'd have to believe the rest of their mother's statement and she had no intention of being anything with Dell Blackbird, especially his mate. She drew in a shaky breath. For some odd reason she couldn't slow her heart as it thundered in her chest as she remembered Mrs. Blackbird's warning. 'His claiming is going to be stronger with you because he's the Alpha.' What in the h.e.l.l does that mean?

Pushing up off the door, she rested a hand on her chest hoping to calm the fluttering beat within. She felt nauseated. A game? But why would the mother get involved? Chloe sobered, because of Mace. She grew fearful then. If they're willing to go to this extent just to mess with me, how far are they willing to go? Her eyes drifted upward toward the area of ceiling that rested just under her mother's bed. Surely they wouldn't... She gritted her teeth then, "No they won't."

She ripped her jacket off the hook behind the door and snagged her car keys before setting off for the Blackbird compound.

She had to stop and ask for directions several times before she found someone who knew the location of the Blackbird compound.

As she maneuvered her car over the winding mountain road, she cursed herself for not having traded in her car for a truck last year as she'd intended. Montana girl with a car, what a joke!

She drove for endless minutes and had opted to back out of the confrontation with Dell several times, but the road was too narrow and with no opportunity to pull-off, she was forced to carry on.

Several times, flashes of movement deep in the forest had her slamming on the brakes. Once she swore she caught the briefest glimpse of fur. Bear? No, too small. Wolf? She nearly laughed aloud even as uncertainty took hold. She remembered Mrs. Blackbird's words. 'They are not rumors. We are shifters.'

As Chloe took her foot off the brake she prayed the old woman was senile before chastising herself. "See! This is exactly how they want you reacting."

When she finally crested a small slope she cringed as she heard the bottom of her car sc.r.a.pe on the earth. Her heart rate accelerated when her eyes rested on the large building that could only be the Blackbird compound.

The two-story home was ma.s.sive. The walls were made of rich thin bricks that stacked high and were topped with a slopping green metal roof. The facade was dotted with several windows. The structure was long and a row of cars sat parked facing the length of the building. It was indication that many bodies resided on the premises. Toward one end of the structure a set of stairs led up to a deck that ran the length of the building. The deck area was even with several doors that would allow occupants to apparently exit their rooms without having to go through the house. Chloe turned her head and eyed an equally impressive barn that sat just opposite the house.

The gra.s.s was shorn in an acre size area that encompa.s.sed the house and barn but beyond that the plush forest grew wild and thick.

With her foot on the brake, she scanned the area searching for any movement. No one's seen me. I can still back out. "No!" She gripped the steering wheel tightly, "If you don't confront them now, things'll only get worse."

Chapter 13.

She pulled her car to a halt next to the line of trucks, jeeps, and SUV's that lined the westerly wall of the house. When she exited the vehicle she was startled to find the woman who'd introduced herself the night of Donnie's funeral quickly approaching her.

Cindy.

"What are you doing here?" Cindy demanded.

"I'm here to speak to Dell."

"No."

Chloe slammed her car door, "I'm not leaving 'till I do."

"Yes you are..."

"CINDY!"

Both women turned to find Dell and Briggs approaching.

"But brother, she..."

"Enough!" Dell barked.

Chloe noted how the other woman was instantly silenced. When the brother's were close enough, Briggs grabbed Cindy's arm and pulled her away, "Come on."

Chloe didn't bother with preamble when her eyes locked on Dell. "I want you and your family to leave us alone."

Dell was watching her. Staring too intently. "Please come inside." He moved aside and extended a hand in invitation.

"No." she fidgeted nervously, "I just want to come to an understanding."

He tilted his head as he watched her, his nostrils flaring.

Chloe swore he leaned in marginally. Is he smelling me?

"It's going to rain." He kept his arm extended.

Tilting her head back to eye the sky, Chloe was about to protest his forecast when a clap of thunder sounded in the distance. She dropped her head to eye her surroundings nervously. They could bury you in the woods and no one would ever know.

"Chloe," his tone was soft, "I swear on my life that no one here is going to harm you."

When she looked about to cave he continued, "And you're right. We do need to talk, for the sake of both our families."

Mom. With a confidence born of concern over her mother's safety, Chloe took a tentative step and then another before Dell dropped his hand and stood back allowing her to pa.s.s.

When she nearly brushed him, he recoiled as if he'd been shocked. He recovered quickly, but not quickly enough for Chloe not to have noticed. It wasn't the first time he'd reacted in such a manner to her touch. At first it had been insulting, but now frankly, it was beginning to scare her a little.

Chloe stopped to stare at him with brows raised. "I'm not diseased."

Dell shook his head, "Of course not." He shook his head before following her back to the house.

Back inside, Dell took the lead and led Chloe through an immaculate kitchen down a long corridor and into a large office.

"Please have a seat."

She pulled off her jacket and hung it over the back of the chair before taking a seat. She expected Dell to take the seat behind the desk. Instead he took the chair directly across from her.

"What can I do for you Chloe?"

His amenable tone was grating. "I want you and your family to back off!"

"Back off?"

"Yes! Back. Off." She reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear then wished she hadn't when Dell's eyes lingered there then slowly slid down the satiny column of her throat to rest on the pulse that beat there. She swore the path his eyes took felt like a caress. Christ! She prayed he couldn't see her heart rate hike as he watched her.

Dell didn't lift his eyes from her throat, "And just which members of my family are the cause of your distress?"

"Your mother came to see me."

With the revelation, Dell's eyes snapped to hers and he instantly noted that for once he didn't have to grind his teeth against the pain. Proximity appears to be soothing. "And what exactly did my mother want?"

She couldn't hide the flush that stole across her cheeks. "It's irrelevant, but I want you to call them off. All of them." She dipped her head, "I apologize for any disrespect I may have exhibited, but when Donnie died..." she didn't need to finish. "I don't want any trouble." She raised her eyes to his then, "I want this to end before my mother is involved, she doesn't need to be hurt any more than she already has."

Dell sat back in his seat, his dark eyes flashing in anger. How dare his pack act so irrationally that this woman, his woman would have to come to him to beg for peace. He knew she would rather die than have to beg, especially of him.

"Other members of my family have hara.s.sed you as well?"

Again she averted her eyes. "Someone's been following me."

"Who," he demanded.

She shook her head, "I'm not sure. I've only seen them in the woods."

"The woods?"

"I go jogging. They've been," she shrugged a shoulder, "following me. I think they want me dead."

Dell sat straighter. His grip tightened on the arms of the chair and he had to force himself to relax when Chloe's eyes flashed to the sound of the creaking wood. "You've seen this person. What does he look like?" His gut wrenched when she caught her plump bottom lip between perfect white teeth.

"I didn't see much, it happened too quickly. Reddish fur, smaller than the first wolf."

Her nonchalance with the subject was unnerving and had him questioning whether or not it was some form of well laid trap. "Wolf? You're being followed by a wolf?"

She raised her eyes to his. She knew he needed to see the truth in her words. h.e.l.l, she couldn't understand herself why she even believed it. "I encountered a wolf about two weeks ago. He was large and approachable."

"And you encountered a second wolf?"

"Yes. It wasn't as..."

"Approachable," he supplied.

She nodded.

"Has it tried to harm you?"

"I can't say for sure."

Dell ground his teeth together. If someone tried to hurt her... "What do you mean you can't say? Either it has or it hasn't."

"I tried to stay away from it, leave it alone. I almost fell off a cliff in the process. I'm not certain if it was the wolf's fault or mine. It seemed to be steering me in that direction. Luckily I'm fit enough that I was able to save myself."

"And you think these wolves have something to do with my family?"

"I'm not saying they do or they don't. I'm just asking that since you're the Alpha if you could call them off, ask them to leave me and my mother alone."

"Alpha? What other stories has my mother told you?"

She shoved out of her chair then, "Look, I'm not accusing you or your people of anything. I'm just asking-if it is your family-for you to make them stay away."

Dell stood too, pacing slowly to put himself between her and the door. "Do you have any idea how crazy that sounds?"

She felt her cheeks flame, Oh G.o.d, what if I was wrong. "It's hard to believe and it's even harder to say."

"So you think I'm the Alpha to a pack of shape-shifting werewolves?"

"When you put it like that it sounds ridiculous."

"It is ridiculous."

Her shoulders slumped as she dropped her head and mumbled under her breath, "I knew I shouldn't have come."

"You don't find it alarming that your standing here appealing to what you think is the leader of a fict.i.tious breed of humans?"

"I don't care what you are," she challenged angrily, "I only care how you conduct yourselves." Tears stung at the back of her eyes, "I'm here being as honest and as forthright as I can possibly be. I had hoped you'd have the f.u.c.king decency to approach this in the same manner."

When Dell laughed mockingly, she jerked her jacket up from the chair and made to leave when he intentionally blocked her path.

"Get out of my way!"