Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide Trilogy) Read online

  Shifting Shadows

  A Sparks Collide Novel

  Amanda Kelly

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Acknowledgments

  Words cannot express how grateful I am to have such an amazing support system behind me.

  It is with the love of my mother that this book was made possible. Thank you, Mom.

  Thank you to all of the readers. I hope you enjoy Kira and Jay’s journey.

  Chapter 1

  Jay

  “You know, Jay. If you gave half as much attention to your responsibilities as you did to your cell phone, I wouldn’t be so sorely disappointed in you.”

  I looked up slowly. “You know Dad, if I believed you actually cared about me more than living up to the family name, I’d care.”

  We stared each other down at opposite ends of the elongated family dining room table, where the pack council meeting had just been held. The rest of the pack had been dismissed but not me. No, I had to endure lecture time after a meeting so long, I’d fallen asleep and woken up twice and still had to suffer at least three hours more.

  I looked down at my phone again but nothing had changed, everyone still had the same Facebook status since the last time I checked 5 seconds ago. Typical. Everyone would be boring when I was being tortured. I hoped this lecture would end soon so I could leave.

  I texted Logan, who’d I seen not a few minutes before. “GET ME OUT OF HERE AND BRING ALCOHOL.”

  He replied, “Hell, no. I just got out of there alive, every werewolf for himself. On another note, alcohol is aplenty at home and there are many parties to hit tonight.” I smirked and looked up again.

  My father’s sharp gray eyes and taught features made him look angry but no more than he usually did when I was present. “Jay, it seems we’ve returned to where we always are. I don’t have time for this ridiculous discussion, I have things to do.”

  I backed out of my chair and stood up. “Perfect, I do too. See ya, pops.”

  “JAMES” His voice barreled towards me, thundering throughout the vast room. “SIT DOWN.”

  I sat without any conscious thought. It wasn’t his Alpha order voice. I could at least try to fight that because I was an Alpha too. No, this was his angry father voice. It got to me when nothing else did.

  “I don’t care about your plans. You can steal a yacht and burn down a church later. Right now, you are going to sit here and you are going to listen to me, damn it.”

  I muttered under my breath, “I’m touched by your estimation of me.”

  He growled. I shut up.

  “James, you are the Alpha in long line of Alpha Werewolves. You will take responsibility and you will straighten up or I will kick you out of this pack. I will disown you and you will be forced to live alone. This is no idle threat.”

  I swallowed hard. Lone wolves didn’t make it very far. Fact is that most lasted 6 months or less. It’s unnatural not to have a pack and it’s driven many Werewolves insane. I wanted out of here but not that way.

  He continued. “I have given you ample time. You are 24 years old.”

  I nodded, saying the only thing I could “Understood.”

  “In the coming months you will need to formally announce your chosen council and within the next year you will take on more and more responsibilities. Even then you must prove yourself worthy. I will not jeopardize this pack for anyone. You will be at every meeting and you will give valuable input. Since you choose to act like a child, I will treat you like one and confiscate your phone till the meetings have ended.”

  That was freaking degrading and it burned. I ground my teeth together as I said, “Fine.”

  He looked up and shuffled some papers out in front of him. Satisfied he could get under my skin once again he said “Very well, that’s all. You are dismissed.”

  I made every effort to slow my movements otherwise I’d be running out the door. Once I made it there, I turned and took one last look at the dining room. Brilliant chandeliers dangled from the ceiling and priceless artworks hung on the walls. The large, mahogany table extended in such a way as to accommodate 20 people. I saw my father, sitting at the far end of it, his eyes straight ahead, clouded in thought.

  I left the house and made a beeline for my own down the street. I’d pondered the ‘stealing the yacht’ comment and decided to tuck it away for a time when he wasn’t so angry. Buying one would be easy enough but where was the fun in that?

  Chapter 2

  Kira

  It was Saturday night and I was more than a little relieved to hear the music blasting from down the street. It meant I’d finally found the house party. It occurred to me that in the Everglades, in the middle of nowhere, while you might have to drive for a long time if you ran out of ice, you never had to worry about a neighbor with a noise complaint.

  I parked the car next to a few others on the open lot and headed toward the front door. I passed through the threshold and found the place packed with people, lights, and alcohol. This was more than just a house party. It was a new beginning.

  I started to text Christina in order to meet up with her when I walked right into something. I heard a startled grunt as that something, obviously someone, grabbed me by the arms and pulled me away from his chest. I looked up to a chiseled face and a pair of brown eyes. “Oh sorry about that, I didn’t see you there,” I confessed.

  He smiled down at me, a perfect smile with shining movie star teeth “no problem.”

  I smiled back. “I’m Kira, nice to meet you.” I backed out of his grasp on my arms to extend my hand.

  He took it, held it tightly, and inched closer to me. “Daniel.” He continued to stare at me. Awkward much?

  I blurted out anything I could to make conversation. “So Daniel, enjoying the party?”

  I managed to pull my hand from his and he answered “Yep.” Well, then.

  I could practically feel him breathing on me, he was that close. I tried to make an exit “Great, well I’ll see you around then.”

  He stood there for what seemed like an eternity before walking toward the door and saying “bet on it”. Well that was interesting, I thought to myself.

  Partly flattered and slightly confused, I walked to an empty corner of the room before I turned back to my phone to continue the text. Christina told me to go straight through the house and to the right, where there would be a den. I pushed past the crowd and was relieved to see Christina right away. She was a cousin of my next door neighbors when I lived in Boston and as of a few days ago, she was my new roommate.

  We’d met a few times over the years when she’d come up to visit family and we’d gotten along really well. She lived in this small town called Brisdale and it was smack dab in the middle of sunny Florida. Whenever she’d talk about it, she’d tell me how everybody knew everybody and that most people always stayed
there, even for college. Brisdale University was a great school and it was where I would be starting in the fall.

  As a girl who’d been home schooled most of her life, it seemed like a dream to be surrounded by a community, to have friends, to never be alone. It was hard to believe that I was here now, starting the life I always dreamed of and living with Christina in our very own apartment.

  She was giggling and leaning on the pool table next to who I guessed was the newest guy she’s been seeing. She spotted me and ran over. “Kira.” she squeaked “You made it. Isn’t this place totally amazing? We should so get a house next year.”

  I glanced around the room that was floor to ceiling green, with a green and brown pool table and light up beer signs everywhere. “Amazing is a word.” Well, it was a word, just not one that described the room.

  “Oh you crack me up. Obviously we would be better decorators.” She hiccupped, giggled. “Oops, two games of beer pong and I’m already hiccupping.”

  I laughed along with her “Yeah but did you win?”

  “Oh sure, especially with Xander as my partner, we’re pretty much unbeatable, so we switched to pool to give everyone else a chance.”

  I nodded. “Sweet. So where’s your guy?”

  She pointed dramatically to the guy she left by the table, her gold bangle bracelets shaking with the effort and shimmering in the lights. “Xander is the blond, I really like him. I’m glad you finally get to meet him.” She turned so she could check him as we talked. At this angle we saw his profile. Xander was holding his cue stick in one hand and running the other through his smooth golden hair repeatedly. It seemed obvious that he was posing for us, so we took a good look.

  “Come on, let me introduce you” Christina grabbed my arm and led me over to the table. “Xander, this is my roommate and good friend Kira, Kira this is Xander.”

  I nodded. “Hey, nice to meet you.”

  Xander smiled briefly but his eyes kept sliding to Chris when he said “Hey Kira, you want to join us for some pool?”

  I started to answer “sounds good” when Christina shouted “oh no, no, no. It is my duty to make sure she gets a drink first. It’s official roommate to the new girl” another hiccup “law.”

  I eyed the beer left swishing around in her red plastic cup and nodded. We would be here for another few hours so I could have one and be ok. “Sure, why not?”

  “Good I need a refill anyways. There are a few kegs in the kitchen.”

  I started to walk out in the direction I hoped would lead to the kitchen as I heard Xander call out “I’ll just reset the table while you’re gone so we can play when we got back.” Christina made a dismissive gesture but once she was turned away from him I saw a secret smile playing on her lips. Christina just started seeing Xander but as far I could tell she was falling for him, hard.

  We made it to the kitchen and headed toward a keg. The music was on full blast in here because the sliding glass door opened into the backyard and the band playing there. Christina handed me her cup, grabbed a cup for me and started pumping. She looked around as she did so and screamed to be heard over the music. “Oh perfect, just who I wanted you to meet. See those guys over there?”

  I glanced briefly, trying to be conspicuous and noticed three guys standing by the counter. Luckily someone shut the glass door so I didn’t have to yell. “Yeah, what about them?”

  “You know the veterinarian you are working for? Well one of them is his nephew and the other two are his friends. By the way here’s your cup, hand me mine.” I switched with her and she started to fill her own.

  I took another quick glance around at the corner where she had pointed, then turned back to her “Oh, James is over there? I was hoping I would meet him, Doc told me all about him.”

  “Exactly, let’s go over and say hi but don’t call him James, he goes by Jay.” I nodded and followed her, excited to meet someone I sort of know, or at least I knew his uncle.

  I took a sip as we walked and asked “Chris, which one is he?”

  She smiled broadly “The tall one.”

  I looked over and laughed because standing there were the three tallest guys in the room, probably at the whole party. “Ha-ha, they’re all pretty tall.”

  “Yeah, I know. Isn’t it great? They’re all built like Adonis too. Too bad they know it. Longest any girl gets with Jay or any of his friends is about three dates, if they’re lucky. But don’t worry they’re all nice enough.”

  “Well that’s good” I said hoping I’d be able to make friends in my new town.

  “Come on let me introduce you to the giants.”

  “All right, which one is James?”

  “Jay is the one in the middle, with the medium brown hair and purple eyes.” Nearing closer to them, I got a better look and noticed that his eyes, focused on his phone, were a purplish-blue color. It was startling and beautiful.

  As we approached them, the other two guys were huddled over him, looking at something on his phone. Christina shouted, “Hey Trent.” The first guy turned around, his hair was very short, almost shaved and a bright red color. He also had striking eyes. They were an emerald green and when he smiled it lit up his whole face.

  “Christina, how’s it going? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

  The third boy, a blond with hazel eyes looked up then. “Yeah, don’t you like us anymo-…aand who’s your friend?”

  Christina placed her hands on her hips. “Oh, stop, of course I like you still but don’t get any ideas. I’ve been dating Xander recently and you know it. Also this is my roommate Kira. ”She turned back to me “Kira, this is Trent, Jay, and Logan.”

  I couldn’t help my smile. They were all gorgeous. Tall and handsome in their own ways with defined muscles. I did however notice a few bruises here and there on them as well. “Hey”

  Trent put his hand out to shake mine but Logan beat him to it by placing his hand out in front of Trent’s.

  I laughed and shook one then the other. “Pleasure” Trent said and Logan winked at me.

  I put my hand out to shake Jay’s but he was in no hurry to put down his phone. When he finally did, he grabbed my hand. When he let go he was smirking at me like he had won the game I hadn’t known we were playing.

  “Kira’s working for your uncle, Jay.”

  Jay, who had looked relaxed and almost bored, suddenly became sharp and focused, his eyes whipping over me like a wind storm. “My uncle, Eric?”

  I nodded, “Yes. He talks about you a lot. He’s been really great so far.”

  He looked irritated. Christina snorted, “Jeeze Jay, I think you’d be happy. Doc needs help over there.”

  He rolled his eyes and looked bored again. “I’m just surprised he took on an intern, he never does.”

  “Well, I’m not an intern, at least not yet. I’m going to work at the front desk. I got here a few days ago because I landed this summer job and if the Doc thinks I’m a good fit, he’ll let me intern there as an assistant when Vet school starts up in the fall. He mentioned he had a very kind and generous nephew named James.”

  He raised an eyebrow at the challenge, then he smiled, “Snarky, aren’t you? Well, I’ll have to thank him for such high but inaccurate praise. I guess I’ll be seeing you at the office.”

  “Sure. You go there often?” I asked.

  Logan smiled “Oh yeah we’re all there all the time. You need anything, you ask us and maybe one of these days you’ll convince Christina here to give this poor suffering soul another shot.” He pointed to himself, made pleading puppy dog eyes.

  “Oh puhh-lease” Christina retorted. “You just want what you can’t have. I’m on to you.”

  Trent laughed “She’s right you know, he’s insane that way-Oww.” The last part was the response to being smacked on the back of the head.

  Logan glared at him, “Shut it man.”

  Someone opened the sliding glass door and the music blasted in again. I attempted to be heard over it. “Cool, it’ll be n
ice to know some people in town.”

  Christina grabbed my arm, nearly spilling my beer “Well Kira and I better get going. I promised Xander we would meet him and play pool.”

  Logan grabbed his chest. “Why do you keep breaking my heart this way, it’s very unkind.”

  Christina beamed, “You can take it.”

  I noticed Trent staring at Jay with a smirk but Jay was looking at me. “Nice meeting you, Kira. I’m sure we’ll see you soon.”

  I looked away from his captivating gaze. “Bye Guys”

  Logan perked up, his heartbreak apparently over and done with. “Bye.”

  Christina stuck her tongue out at him and turned us both to go.

  ***********

  Jay

  Trent smacked my shoulder, “Dude, what was that all about?” He gestured to where Kira and Christina had just stood. I watched the girl until she was out of sight, her long, dark hair flowing behind her.

  “It doesn’t seem right that a human be working with my uncle. He’s never let humans work with him before, never. He’s the pack’s doctor for freaking sake. She could see something or overhear something that she shouldn’t and we’d all be screwed.”

  Logan was already smiling at some chick across the room but turned to me “I feel like Doc would already know that though, so he must have hired her for a reason. Plus he runs a legit business. It’s not like anything supernatural really goes down in there.”

  “Yeah and even if she did see something, who would she tell? She just got here.” Trent added. I picked up my drink from the counter in front of me and took a sip. It didn’t sit right with me, what did we know about her? She was some pretty girl with dark hair and big blue eyes who loved animals. Sorry if I’m not fooled by her beguiling ways. That didn’t exactly tell me her life story. More importantly why did no one else feel something messed up about her sudden appearance in our lives?

  “We should look into this.” Logan whistled

  “Not a problem, I’ll spend plenty of time getting to know her.” He wiggled his eyebrows.