Times of Change: Book 1 Read online

  She turned around and faced her brothers. Their heads were bent low, their eyes facing downward.

  She turned back around. The large male approached them. Eight feet away, he stopped. His eyes were dead set on her, and she didn’t dare say the first word. What could she say? “Hey, can I stay here for the rest of my life?” Also, would speaking first offend the alpha?

  His eyes glowed a dark royal blue. “Are you lost?”

  “I would like to speak to the alpha if I may.”

  “THEN SPEAK!”

  Did the alpha shout so the rest of the shifters could hear his authority, or was he just trying to scare her? Either way, the answer was yes.

  She didn’t feel that he could hurt her, but she felt fear at the prospect of him turning them down, and her having to start this whole process over.

  “My brothers and I want to join your pack.”

  The alpha took a long sniff of air as he glared at her. “You don’t look like you need a pack with all your fancy wares,” the alpha snarled.

  “We do have everything we need, but we lack one thing: a pack.”

  The alpha stared into Tatum’s eyes. He looked out over the villagers and shouted, “Go back to your homes.” He directed his attention to Tatum again. “Follow me.” He turned around and walked toward his home.

  Following close behind, they walked up the porch, through the screen door, and into his kitchen.

  The alpha sat at the kitchen table. “What’s your name?”

  “Tatum Bree Roloff, once a member of the Blackwater Pack.”

  He nodded. “My name is Merrill Moss, alpha of the Tall Elm Pack. I wanted to talk to you in private for just a moment. I expect you to keep what I say in confidence.”

  Merrill rubbed his beard with his hand and spoke, “I cannot let you join Tall Elm. There are no available houses and no resources. The shifters here are barely making it day by day. I’ve reached out and tried to ask for help from the other alphas, but they don’t know how to fix this situation.”

  He leaned in closer. “So here’s my advice. You’re doing well. You’re well dressed, well supplied, and well fed. Go home. Live out your days in comfort. This pack is withering away. There’s nothing here for you.”

  Tatum couldn’t believe her ears. “Are all shifters in this kind of shape?”

  “As far as I know, they are.”

  Tatum was shocked. Surely, Mr. Moss didn’t know all the packs. Maybe one of them could still offer her family a home.

  “I appreciate your advice, but I have to keep searching.” Tatum pulled a map out of her backpack and laid it on the table. “Can you tell me where the others are?”

  Merrill went over the maps and pointed out different locations. Tatum circled the places while writing down the alpha names for each pack.

  When he finished, she stood up and shook his hand. “Thanks for helping us.”

  “Good luck, Tatum Bree Roloff, once a member of the Blackwater Pack.”

  Tatum and her brothers made their way back to the SUV as the nocturnal animals made their appearance in the night.

  No one spoke. Tatum figured the other shifters knew they were walking around in the woods now and were probably following them. She didn’t sense it happening, but she wanted to stay cautious.

  When they climbed into the SUV, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

  Tatum stuck the keys in the ignition and shifted to reverse. “That could’ve been way worse.”

  “Way freaking worse!” Eli snorted. “I almost crapped myself when he came barreling out of his house.”

  Tatum laughed but soon became serious. “I’m nervous. I can’t live in a place that just stands still. That place was full of hopelessness.”

  James turned in his seat and grabbed a map. “Why are shifters doing so poorly?”

  Tatum contemplated the shifters’ state of despair. “Where do you think they got the wood and paint for those houses? Or the windows? Or the nails to hold the wood pieces together? Over time, vehicles made those dirt roads, but I didn’t see any trucks or cars. If I had to guess, I would say that they used to work alongside humans, or at least interacted with them on some level. It appears that they have cut all ties with humans. That’s the only explanation I can come up with.”

  James lowered the map. “If that’s true, something bad must have happened for them not to trust humans anymore.”

  She and her brothers drove to the next destination on the map. Together, they searched and talked to each alpha they could find. Some alphas rejected their entry into their territories, while others told them they couldn’t join. They spent days searching and talking. They practically begged for the alphas to accept them. The villages they entered were all run down, and the shifters appeared miserable.

  A few alphas gave them new areas to search. After days of hunting, it was time to head back home and stock back up on supplies.

  When they arrived home, Tatum told Grandpa what had happened with each pack they encountered. Eli started laundry while James restocked water and food in the SUV. Tatum cooked chicken alfredo for dinner. As they sat around the table to eat, Tatum’s mind was running through all the information she had collected in the last few days.

  “You know what?” Tatum asked no one in particular. “We’re going about this all wrong. We’re asking them to give us something, like a membership, but we’ve been offering nothing to them. We need to change our strategy.”

  James cocked an eyebrow. “What should we offer?”

  “We need to offer them hope. We have experience in the human world. We’re doing better than any of those packs. Hell, to tell you the truth, I’m not even sure I want to be in any of those packs. It was damn near depressing. We shouldn’t be begging to live in squalor. We need a pack that wants to grow. The way I see it, that’s what we can offer. Hope and prosperity.”

  Eli snorted. “You’re starting to sound like my social studies teacher.”

  James chuckled. “More like a preacher. Preach sister, preach.”

  They all laughed, but Tatum was serious. “We have to help. They’re dying out there. Shifters can’t become extinct. It isn’t fair or right to let that happen. We can do this, but the shifters have to come out of the Stone Age. Right now, as we sit in this little apartment, I can feel the times of change coming.”

  There was a moment of consideration from her family.

  “Okay. I’m in.” James stood up and put his dish in the sink. “For our race.”

  Eli nodded. “I’m in. For me and the race.”

  Grandpa’s eyes got misty. “Count me in.”

  As the night wore on, the males of the house went off to bed. Tatum stayed behind, scrubbing one dish after another in her small kitchen, thinking about the packs and how they wouldn’t accept them. It was true that she didn’t want to live in a village that was on the brink of falling apart, but she also didn’t like being told no. On top of that, she could help them if they would give her a chance. Not to mention that she didn’t like the idea of shifters falling off the face of the planet.

  As a female shifter it would never be her place to give advice to someone like an alpha, but if one alpha would listen to reason, maybe other shifters would catch on over time.

  The packs needed to work together to learn new skills, share knowledge, and better their lives. They needed money to get on their feet again. Hell, maybe a few hundred years ago, they knew how to live off the land and build things that the woods provided them, but it appeared to Tatum that once they relied on modern ways of living, some of those skills had been lost. When they decided to cut themselves off from the world again, they weren’t fully prepared to make it the old way any longer.

  The shifters needed to get an education and work in human jobs to send money back into the packs. Perhaps they could even barter with each other for skilled services such as home repairs and mechanical issues.

  These weren’t serious obstacles to o
vercome. But the real issue was not whether her plan would work but getting the alphas and the other pack members to listen to a female and trust the humans around them. That was going to be one hell of a struggle, and she wished more than anything that James would take on this responsibility.

  How could she find a true mate if she overstepped her bounds as a shifter female? Tatum looked down at herself and ran her hand over her chiseled arms. Maybe Eli had a point. She needed to stop hating who she really was on the inside and the outside. The only problem with that is no one fully understood her. No one. Alma came close but didn’t know everything about her either, and Eddie was more like a buddy who wasted away countless hours with her through insomnia. They only talked about things guys would talk about over the phone. His favorite topics were movies.

  Tatum really wanted to find her true mate. The thought that she could end up alone year after year had been weighing on her mind. Her true mate wouldn’t only be able to take care of this endless sexual craving, but he would change her life. He would really love her. He would be someone who would think she was sexy, smart, sweet, strong, any of the many S-words that might describe her.

  Hopefully, true mates didn’t just feel sexually turned on by each other, but they loved everything about each other, flaws included. She was most likely a complicated shifter to love. After all, she was neither fully dominant or submissive.

  When shit hit the fan, she turned violent. When problems presented themselves, plans formed in her mind, and the need to lead others and put them into action bubbled to the surface. This quality is most likely what made her a good superstore manager.

  On the other hand, when things were quiet and calm, her submissive side came out. She cried, wanted to be held and loved, felt weak, turned sentimental, and had all the other feminine qualities.

  Her brothers and grandpa only saw her dominant side because she took care of them, and sometimes she would become aggravated enough to take charge of them. She never let them know how badly she longed for someone else in her life, but she kept that to herself. They didn’t need any more pain in their lives after losing everything.

  Tatum finished drying the dishes, placing them in the cabinets above the sink. She glanced over at the yellow piece of paper under the magnet. For all this to work out, she was going to need a little help getting IDs.

  Tatum took the paper and slid it into her pocket.

  That particular piece of yellow paper had been on her fridge since day one. It held the number of an older dark-skinned female named Betty. Although Betty was a human who prided herself on making money illegally, Tatum thought the twelve thousand dollars she spent was actually worth Betty’s services. After all, if it hadn’t been for Betty, Tatum wouldn’t have worked in the Mexican restaurant where she met her best friend, Alma, or met Betty’s son, Eddie, who made fake IDs. Betty was also her landlord.

  Tatum cleaned off the counter and walked over to her living room sofa. She lay down, resting her feet on the arm of the couch. She clicked the TV on and turned it to the weather channel. Every night she struggled to fall asleep, and tonight was no different. The urge to call Eddie was strong, but she wanted to talk about her hopes and fears about finding more shifters and she couldn’t have that conversation with humans.

  Tatum looked at the landline that she had programed Eddie’s number on. Shaking her head, she turned to watch the weather channel. After a few hours, the monotone voice and repetitive temperatures on the screen blocked her busy brain until her eyelids surrendered the day.

  Chapter 7

  The next morning, Tatum woke up, ready to hunt for a new pack and offer her pearls of wisdom. She took her black fire-safe box from the closet and retrieved five hundred dollars in crisp one-hundred-dollar bills. She wanted to prove to the shifters that working with humans could be profitable.

  James drove to their next destination, going on and on about Natalie. His eyes were constant arcs on his face from smiling as he talked about her. Once Tatum had the chance to speak, she changed the subject.

  “Alma thinks it’s great that we’re all spending time together.”

  Eli chuckled. “We should introduce Alma to the next pack. She would cheer everyone up.”

  Tatum grinned with a nod, loving the idea. “I wish we could tell her. She could handle it.”

  James looked doubtful. “Yeah, but she’s a talker. Do you think she can keep a secret?”

  “Yes, of course. Destiny knows Alma may talk fast and a lot, but she can keep a secret.”

  James and Eli looked at each other and shrugged.

  The SUV bounded down the dirt road, tree branches scratching the side panels. Tatum ground her teeth every time the scratching ripped paint off her SUV. Up ahead, a rusted triangular yellow gate was blocking the road. A sign hung on the gate, reading “No Trespassing” in bright red letters. At the end of the gate, there was a padlock.

  Getting out of the SUV, the group looked around, and James spotted a paw print near the pole. “This is definitely shifter territory.”

  Returning to the car, they all geared up, locked the doors, and walked around the rusted gate.

  After walking for ten minutes, Tatum could smell shifters in the air. She looked at her surroundings, catching glimpses of shadows moving behind the trees. The shadows were barely visible, but Tatum could see them.

  She turned to her brothers, who were following her, and signed, There are shifters following us. Get ready.

  Tatum turned back around, continuing to walk down the dirt road. She kept her right hand hovering over the gun in her holster. It was now feeling heavy hanging from her cargo pants. Up ahead, the road was starting to veer to the right.

  Doubts about this pack overwhelmed her, but her feet once again rebelled against her brain and kept moving forward. She took in her surroundings again, noticing a walking path up ahead to the left.

  The woods around them grew quiet. Tatum’s feet stopped. She glanced over her shoulder toward her brothers, who were searching the woods. When Tatum turned back around, a huge naked male shifter stepped out from the path. He was bigger than Tatum, which was a surprise. Males were not often bigger than her. He had long black hair pulled to the top of his head with the sides shaved clean.

  Tatum stood there breathing heavily as growls surrounded them from the woods. This male had to be the alpha. She wanted to bow down but didn’t. Her brothers, on the other hand, fell to their knees, but Tatum only lowered her eyes. Her knees either couldn’t or wouldn’t budge. It was as if her body had a mind of its own. Instead of crying for mercy, her lips pressed together in a tight line.

  More naked shifters appeared in the road, with wolves flanking them. Tatum could sense them behind her and beside her. Her hand still hovered over the gun, and she debated on using it. But as she stood there, she couldn’t do it. The shifters were not attacking them, and they were just trying to keep themselves safe. If she pulled it out now, she could endanger her brothers, who were already submissively on the ground.

  A loud voice boomed, sending birds flying into the sky. “Toss your weapons.”

  Tatum’s hand went for her gun as low growls rumbled in the surrounding woods around her. Taking the gun out of the holster, she sat it on the ground and slid it away. Her brothers did the same.

  Shifters ran up and restrained her. Two males held both of her arms as her brothers grunted behind her. Her right arm was tingling, so she dared to glance at the male to her right.

  His gray eyes met hers, and his brows pinched together in the middle, making his attractive face appear troubled. He smelled crisp and musky. It seemed to pulsate from him. The male’s thumb moved in circles on her arm, and it was comforting. Then, his eyes widened. Is he worried about me?

  Once again, the alpha spoke, “Keep the males. Female, come to me.”

  The shifter on Tatum’s left dropped his hold on her. The male to her right seemed to pull her closer. Does he not want me to leave with the al
pha? Tatum leaned into his grasp, thinking that if this male was nervous for her to be alone with the alpha, then she needed to be as well.

  The alpha growled a warning, staring down Mr. Gray Eyes, who reluctantly released his hold on her arm. A low growl left his throat as he did.

  Tatum’s heart raced, and she gripped the male shifter’s outer thigh, pulling him to her. She didn’t want him to let her go.

  The alpha yelled, “Come to me, female.”

  Tatum’s feet, once again without permission from her brain, moved forward. Her mind kept telling her that she shouldn’t leave her brothers behind. Her brain also told her that females shouldn’t go with males deep in the woods. For Destiny’s sake, feet, stop moving.

  Tatum found herself staring at the alpha’s feet. He turned and walked into the woods, and she followed. Sweat pushed out of her pores as her heart pounded.

  The sounds of a waterfall fell upon her ears. The alpha was still walking with his back to her, so she dared to glance around. There was a large lagoon nearby, with dark-green emerald water. A small waterfall flowed over flat slate rocks. It was breathtaking.

  “You can look up.” The alpha turned toward Tatum. She didn’t want to look up. He made her nervous. He held all the power, which okay, was normal for an alpha to have over a female, but she didn’t like it.

  “Why are you on my territory, shifter?”

  “We want to join your pack.”

  “You don’t sound too sure about that. Where is your old pack?”

  “Seven years ago, shifters attacked the Blackwater Pack. My brothers and I ran—”

  “So you haven’t had a pack for seven years?”

  “We’re kind of a pack.” Why am I telling him this?

  “How so?”

  “When my family runs together, we can hear each other’s thoughts.”

  “How many more are in your family?”

  “Just my great-grandfather.”