Becoming Wyld: Becoming, #3

By Jennifer L. Moore

Something intelligent is watching Lyn from the shadows, and it won't stop with watching.

 

Lyn's luck with family has sucked since her adoptive mom died and now is no exception. She briefly met her bio mom before the woman disappeared to Faerie. Her changeling sister is happy with her new family. And the only clue Lyn has about her father is too vague to find him, even if she wanted to.

 

When a new guy moves in next door at the same time something starts stalking the shadows around Lyn's house, the only family she can count on is the one she chose. Can she use her newly honed shifter skills to figure out what the new guy is hiding? Can her mismatched pack figure out why she's being targeted before the worst happens?

 

Becoming Wyld might prove deadly.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jennifer L. Moore
• Release date: Oct 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781952640056

Book preview

Chapter One

D o you think it’s the same one? Umiko asked as they walked down the sidewalk in the failing light of dusk. Crickets chirped until the pair walked too close and started up again after they passed. The evening breeze on their backs was warm, but at least there was one. Now that the sun was fading, it was pleasant enough.

Lyn pulled herself away from the cricket’s intermittent song and shook her head. I don’t know, but if I can catch its scent, I can figure it out.

Sasha says that if the coyote comes back tonight, it will be the third time it’s taken one of her rabbits.

Aren’t they penned? Lyn asked.

They are. Sasha stepped out of the shadows with her arms crossed.

Lyn frowned at herself for letting the vampire sneak up on them. The girl’s dark hair and clothing made it easier for her to hide in the shadows, unseen, but Lyn should have smelled her or at least heard her.

When I noticed the first rabbit gone, I repaired a loose corner of the fence. Sasha led them to her backyard, walking almost silently in the dry grass. The second night, it pulled a different section loose.

Lyn concentrated on her senses and heard the scratching of tiny claws on wood and dirt. When she inhaled, the scents tangled and untangled in her nose. You keep chickens, too?

We do, also caged, but none of those have gone missing.

Your coyote has a taste for rabbits. Lyn inhaled and tried to find the scent that didn’t belong, but the aroma of chickens and rabbits overwhelmed her senses.

How do you know it’s a coyote? Umiko asked.

Last night, it dug under the hutch. I found claw marks and a tuft of fur. My herd was one short.

Do you have the fur? Lyn asked.

Sasha nodded and crossed her arms. I can take care of this myself. I don’t know why Umiko brought you here.

Lyn has an animal problem, too. Umiko squatted next to the hutch and stuck her finger through the wire to pet a fluffy brown rabbit.

Sasha put her hand on her hip and smirked at Lyn. I didn’t take you for one to keep dinner penned in your yard?

Not the same problem, Lyn barely kept the growl from her voice. Mine is territorial.

Sasha laughed. Can’t handle another predator on your lawn?

Not on consecutive nights and not when it stares into my window. Lyn turned away. Sasha can handle her coyote without me. If it’s the same animal, I won’t see mine again. She walked back toward the gate.

Can you two put aside your top of the food chain attitudes? Umiko asked. For me?

Lyn looked at her best friend. Umiko held a rabbit near her cheek and rubbed against it like it was a beloved family pet and not a vampire’s upcoming meal.

I want my friends to be friends. Umiko looked between Sasha and Lyn. Please.

Sasha shrugged.

It’s that important to you? Lyn asked.

It is.

Lyn sighed. Fine, but I’m warning you, my wolf will not like the competition. It doesn’t even like hunting with Killian.

Sasha laughed. Killian is an idiot. I wouldn’t enjoy hunting with him either. Sasha met Lyn’s gaze with a smirk on her lips. I can take your wolf.

She and Sasha had never been enemies. They barely knew each other. Sasha kept to the fringes of the school’s social hierarchy, same as Lyn once did. Everyone at school avoided her. Except Umiko. The selkie had a soft spot for outcasts. Lyn was proof. Umiko sought people like her out and became their best friends.

Okay, but we’ll need ground rules, Lyn knew Umiko would win any argument Lyn started, so she didn’t bother.

Agreed. Sasha nodded.

She and Lyn turned to Umiko’s smiling face.

Rule number 1: Umiko stays on the porch, Lyn said.

And she doesn’t get between us, even if we turn on each other, Sasha added.

No, way, Umiko objected. She put the rabbit back into the hutch and secured the latch. She placed both hands on her hips and stood her ground. Or she tried to.

Way, Sasha and Lyn said in unison. Their voices as firm as a brick wall.

That’s not fair. You weren’t supposed to gang up on me.

Take it or leave it, Sunshine, Sasha said.

Lyn hid a giggle. Maybe Umiko was right. Sasha would make a good friend, if only to help keep her best friend in check.

Umiko’s eyes moved from Lyn to Sasha and back again. Okay. I will stay here. Rule number 2: There will be no shifter versus vampire fights tonight. Umiko punctuated her words with a finger in both their faces.

I’ll do my best to keep my wolf in control, but I can’t make any promises.

I’ll stick to rabbits, thank you very much. Shifters taste awful. Sasha stuck her tongue out at Lyn. Rule number three: I get the kill.

Lyn laughed and shook her head. My wolf won’t go for that.

Sasha stepped closer to Lyn. Your wolf hunts and kills for sport. I do it for food. You can stalk it and bring it down, if you like, but I get it alive. After I’m done with it, you can have what’s left. Sasha held out her hand for a handshake.

She looked down at the outstretched hand. Lyn wasn’t going to let her guard down with someone as long-lived as Sasha. She agreed, reluctantly. Your kill, my trophy. Lyn crossed her arms over her chest.

Sasha chuckled. Afraid to touch me?

Lyn avoided the question with a sly smirk. Sasha was smart. Lyn didn’t doubt the girl could figure Lyn’s creature type, given the time and resources. She would not underestimate her hunting companion. She’d already done that once tonight. But it wasn’t fair to judge one vampire on the reputation of others. Let’s just hunt.

Lyn closed her eyes and, since she needed to maintain control, she mimicked her wolf instead of shifting. Scout had tried to tell them apart, and couldn’t. But Lyn knew there was at least one major difference. Shifting still hurt. Lyn was decent at faking the vocals, but tonight, it was easier than she thought it would be. Her wolf objected loudly to being left out of the hunt. Umiko took a big backward step away from the growl that tore out of Lyn’s muzzle.

Sasha waved her arm toward the rabbit pen and Lyn, in wolf form, stepped to the warren to pick up the scent. Umiko’s sunshine and salt water, mixed with Sasha’s dirt and decayed roses, wafted into Lyn’s nostrils on her first breath. She disregarded the scents of her allies and dug for others. The scent of rabbits and their waste followed next, and she marked them as irrelevant. On her third inhale, she filtered the hutch’s scents away to find the one smell that didn’t belong. The tang of blood and competition. The scent of coyote.

Lyn’s wolf sniffed again and fixed her prey’s scent in her mind. She kept her nose to the ground like a bloodhound and moved away from the warren, leaving the house behind her.

Stay, Umiko, Sasha said.

Umiko pouted. I’m not scared of either of you.

Then you aren’t very smart, Sasha said under her breath.

Lyn laughed to herself and followed her nose to the back fence. Beyond it was the fresh earth scent of a greenbelt and the quiet sound of trickling water.

Don’t stop on my account. I assume you can jump it, so go ahead. I’ll keep up, Sasha said while taking a few steps back.

Lyn tensed her wolf’s rear haunches and leaped to the top of the fence. She scrambled over, claws scratching fence boards, and landed in shoulder high grass on the other side.

Somehow, I expected better, Sasha said as she landed in a crouch beside the snowy white wolf.

Lyn turned and snarled at Sasha. The girl was paler in the dying sun. Her eyes dark, almost black, and her exposed fangs glinted in the patchy light.

Touchy. My apologies. I’ll stay quiet and let you concentrate. Sasha’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

Lyn ignored the barb and crossed the tiny trickle of creek water, keeping the wind at her face. The scent trail grew stronger on this side. Coyote musk crisscrossed and covered the area to mark it. Lyn stopped just inside the tree line and Sasha crouched near her.

It’s close, Sasha whispered, I’ll go north.

Lyn sat back on her haunches and opened and closed her jaws.

Sasha grinned. While I find it amusing to argue with you when you can’t effectively argue back, we had a deal. Sasha stood and blurred to the right.

Lyn’s inner wolf growled with annoyance at not being let out to hunt. That creature would never dare cross her. She was alpha. Lyn struggled to keep her wolf’s anger at bay while she moved closer and closer to her quarry.

A twig snapped ahead, and the trees went silent. Lyn tensed and waited. Another twig and a cloud of fur came hurdling toward her. Lyn sank on her wolf's paws and mapped the coyote’s path. When she was sure she knew which direction the creature would move, Lyn prepared to jump.

The coyote noticed her at the last minute, but it was too late to alter course. Lyn leaped, caught it in her jaws, and bashed it into the ground. The coyote tried to claw itself free, catching Lyn’s skin and drawing blood.

That’s mine. Sasha snarled and bared her teeth. We had a deal.

Lyn growled. Her wolf was as close to the surface as she could get while caged behind the mimic.

The coyote stilled and Sasha stalked closer, her black eyes pinned to Lyn’s.

Lyn held her ground and the tug of Sasha’s gaze. Sasha didn’t back down and Lyn’s bi-colored eyes pulled at Sasha’s darker ones.

Sasha lifted her hands to shoulder height and taunted Lyn. You beat it. You’re the mightiest hunter in the greenbelt tonight. She dropped her hands. Now, hand over my dinner. Sasha narrowed her eyes.

Lyn’s mimic tugged like a rope stretched tight and her eyes tingled as she captured the depth of Sasha’s black. If Lyn didn’t drop the gaze now, she’d have Sasha’s hair and face as her own and one more person would know her secret.

The coyote’s claws dug into Lyn’s flank. Lyn blinked at the pain, cutting off the pull of her mimic before it went too far. Her wolf howled as she dropped the struggling coyote.

The animal tried to lift its head and get to its feet, but Sasha was on it in a flash, her mouth at its throat before Lyn could take a step back.

Lyn walked away, leaving the vampire girl in the dark. She closed her eyes and remembered her brown, curly hair as she dropped the mimicked form of her wolf, and traded Sasha’s dark eyes for her green ones. Her wolf growled her displeasure, but Lyn walked away on human legs and left Sasha to her meal. Her shifter healing was slow compared to Scout’s, but she easily managed this shallow scratch. She felt the skin draw together, but the blood still stained her arm and clothing.

Was this the same creature? Sasha asked as she caught up to Lyn a few minutes later.

No.

They crossed back over the stream, where Lyn stooped to rinse some of the blood from her shirt.

I can help with yours. Sasha leaned against a pin oak with her arms crossed. As a friend.

Lyn considered the overture. She had no reason to dislike the vampire, and Umiko called her friend. It wasn’t fair to either of them to keep up the animosity. They had hunted together, shared a kill. Even Lyn’s wolf conceded Sasha’s skillfulness. She just needed to learn her place. Lyn’s wolf did not appreciate anyone thinking they were above her. She was alpha. I might take you up on that.

Sasha smiled. Then scent me, so you don’t accidentally attack me if I’m in your yard late one night.

I already know your scent, Lyn said and walked on.

Sasha quirked an eyebrow. And?

Peat and cut roses, Lyn answered the unasked question.

Dead roses, you mean. Sasha kept pace at Lyn’s shoulder

More like undead roses. Lyn smiled.

Well, your blood smells like cotton candy wrapped caramel apples. Sickly sweet. Sasha pointed at the rip down the side of Lyn’s thigh where blood stained the dark blue denim.

Lyn met her eyes. Do you have a sweet tooth?

Sasha wrinkled her nose and made an unpleasant face. Not in the slightest.

Chapter Two

Lyn looked out of her second-floor window into the darkened front yard. A gigantic oak stood sentinel in the center. During the day, it shaded the front of the house, protecting it from the worst of the heat. At night, it made shadows as deep as pitch.

She saw nothing in the darkness, but the hairs on her arms twitched, and her skin tingled. She searched the darkest shadows with her wolf’s eyes, but saw no sign of the creature. Still, she knew it watched her.

With every light in the house off and the curtains pulled tight, Lyn watched back.

An hour later, her joints stiff, she gave up and parted the curtains behind her. When she turned, she saw them in her peripheral vision as they caught the light from her window. Two round eyes watched her from beside the large oak.

The creature slunk low to the ground, sharing the dark outline of the tree. Invisible to any eyes but hers.

Now that she knew where to look, Lyn settled into her stillness. She stared at the creature, slowly separating its outline from the tree’s.

Details were hard to determine in the darkness, but Killian was wrong. It wasn’t another coyote.

The local population had been a nuisance lately, but this creature was bigger than the one she’d hunted with Sasha. Larger than any coyote she’d hunted. That meant that this one was a really large dog or a wolf.

Lyn narrowed her eyes and peered closer, trying to see if she recognized the pelt colors, but the creature bolted as if it knew Lyn was trying to unmask it.

Lyn swore and ran out of the house. She scented the area around the tree where it had been keeping vigil. The smell of coyote was strong, but there was also dog, possum, raccoon, and squirrel. Every creature in the area liked to pee on her tree.

Chapter Three

The next night, Lyn took her position behind a different window’s curtains. This one had a better view of the lone tree. She stared into her yard, lit by scant moonlight and the dim glow of the streetlight a few houses down the road, and watched. The sounds of soft rain tip tapped on the roof above, lulling Lyn into a trance. The shadows of tree branches danced in the rain, making it harder to see movement below, but she waited.

Lyn’s legs were stiff when the creature finally slunk through the shadows down the edge of the yard between houses. Its eyes glowed slightly when the moon peeked briefly between clouds, and Lyn knew it watched her back. Through the fine mist of rain, Lyn saw the creature wink before it left its position by the tree trunk and stepped out into a brighter lit portion of the yard. It looked at her, cocked her snouted head and squatted. Never taking its eyes off of Lyn.

Really? Lyn roared. She flung the curtains aside, nearly pulling them from the rod, and ran for the stairs. You’re going to pee in my yard and smile about it? Who the hell do you think you are?

Lyn opened the front door wide and searched the yard. The scent of rain and urine affronted her nose, but her eyes saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Lyn heard the pitter patter of rain, the rustling of branches in the trees above, the sounds of cars a couple of streets over, and the dull buzz of the dimmed street light.

She stepped into the shadow of the front porch and drew in a breath. Lyn analyzed it the way Scout’s mom had taught her. The first breath was a wide stroke. The whole scent pressed into Lyn’s mind in a jumble. Her wolf’s nose separated the second breath, disregarding the scents of rain and vegetation. The third breath held what she was looking for. The faint smell of urine mixed with sweat.

After another few inhales, and Lyn had separated six different animal smells. An indoor/outdoor cat that lived a street over, the neighbor’s golden retrievers, a coyote, raccoon, possum and a wolf. She sniffed again. The pungent odor of wolf urine was now unmistakable, even diluted as it was by rain. So was the threat it broadcast.

A wolf had been in her yard. It had watched her night after night, and it wanted her to know it. Lyn muffled the pain of her shift and jumped away from the front porch on four furred legs. She slunk through the shadows as she stalked her property line, looking for evidence that she was right. This creature was more than it seemed.

Away from the tree, rain masked the pungent aroma of ammonia, ruining any trail she had hoped to follow. The only proof was the puddle slowly seeping into the ground. It would be a shadow of itself by morning. Most likely, the rain would obliterate it well before then.

The cat was the only living creature she found. It bolted from the bushes as Lyn approached. Lyn’s wolf’s instinct called her to chase it, but she fought and won a minor battle of wills.

Lyn heard a rustle of leaves in the neighbor’s backyard and froze. She stepped deeper into the shadow of her house and listened. While she waited, her brain tried to puzzle out how to stalk her stalker.

Get inside, you two.

Lyn’s wolf’s ears turned forward. That wasn’t Mrs. Henesey’s voice. That was a male voice. One she didn’t recognize.

Gyp, Rom, come on. There’s nothing out there.

Lyn smirked. She was out here, and moments ago, another shifter was outside. Gypsy and Romani weren’t dumb dogs. Exuberant, yes, but also intelligent. She could try asking them, but they hadn’t spoken to her since the day they tried to warn her that Ms. Evans was a witch. Lyn wasn’t even sure they had spoken to her then. When she’d asked flat out if they could speak, they had only let their long, pink dog tongues hang out of their mouths and looked content at their belly rubs.

Get inside or stay out all night. I’m not your servant, you stupid creatures.

The dogs’ tags jingled as they ran from the fence line to the patio door, obeying the command in the man’s voice. The tinkling silenced as the door closed.

Lyn stalked back to the front of her house and through the front door.

Tonight, Lyn was sure it wasn’t just a dumb animal. Those eyes, as it squatted in her yard, glowed with malice. She’d needed a plan and possibly a pack to take it down. Lyn’s mind raced to order her thoughts as she closed the front door.

Chapter Four

O f course there’s a wolf outside, you idiots. Lyn is part wolf. Are you really that dumb? Chade locked the back door before he walked away from the golden retrievers bouncing at his feet. Their nails clicked excitedly on the tile floor.

Mrs. Henesey walked into her kitchen dressed in pajama pants and a baggy T-shirt. What would you like for breakfast tomorrow morning, Chade?

Chade paused at the opening between the kitchen and living room. He blanched at the thought that she had overheard him. Sorry? He looked at the woman pressing buttons on the dishwasher.

Breakfast? I’ll be up with the dogs. You need a good meal before school. Mrs. Henesey didn’t turn around, instead she opened a cabinet door and retrieved a brown paper bag. When she opened it, the rich aroma of coffee beans wafted through the air. Do you drink coffee? I can make an entire pot instead of the half I usually make. She opened a drawer and removed a spoon.

Um…

Mrs. Henesey waved off her question. Never mind, I’ll make a full pot. You can decide in the morning. Mrs. Henesey smiled, reminding him of his mom. A woman who also took care to make sure her oldest son ate. Do you like eggs? she asked, sealing the bag.

He nodded.

Good, but no bacon, right? You’re a vegetarian?

He nodded again. Yes. He turned to go upstairs to his room, but stopped. Thank you.

No worries. I cook for the dogs and it’s easy enough to add an egg or two.

Chade cut his eyes at the dogs, who lowered themselves to the ground. Two stupid doggy grins looked back up at him.

I normally leave before school starts, but if you want me to wait, I can drive you. The forecast said the rain will continue into tomorrow. She pushed a few buttons on the coffeemaker before she turned to him. Why am I asking? I’ll drive you. You shouldn’t get to your first day of school damp.

The rain doesn’t bother me. I can drive myself if I need to. You should go to work. Don’t let me being here change your routine.

That’s right, you have your own car. Sorry, I’m still getting used to having you around. Mrs. Henesey smiled at him. There’s an umbrella in the hall closet. Will you need money for lunch?

No. I’m good, Chade said.

Okay, help yourself to anything in the house. If you think of anything you want from the store, write it on the list and I’ll buy it next time. She flipped the switch and the kitchen lights blinked out. Good night, Chade.

Good night, Mrs. Henesey. He stepped into the living room toward the stairs.

She frowned at him. "Don’t be so formal,