For an entire month, Kane and Kendrick spent most of their time teaching Tara how to control her new powers that had awakened along with her wolf. Kane taught her how to hunt, something Tara's human side hated; however, the wolf in her wanted to learn. He taught her how to hunt rabbits, deer and any other creature that could be safely eaten. Kendrick taught her how to maneuver through the woods in lightning speed and to depend on her senses, mostly her acute smell for her safety.
Both wolves had quit working at the law firm which caused Tara to panic until Kendrick showed her their bank account. Her wolves were apparently very wealthy and really didn't have to work at all. Kendrick told her he'd invested his money in several major stocks and had watched them grow over the years. Kane had contributed by working odd jobs, mostly blue collar jobs like construction and dangerous miscellaneous jobs that Kendrick refused to tell what they were. When Kendrick said something about investing in the start of Microsoft, Tara began to wonder about the true age of her wolves. They were twenty-eight, so they told her but still, something was off.
Despite the mystery of their past, the weeks she spent with them was heaven. She felt as if only the three of them existed in the world and she was happy, although the constant attention she received from them would have driven a normal person crazy. They rarely ever let her out of their sight, she always found herself walking between them no matter where she went. She told them a girl needed her personal space which they tried to give her, but they were always in her head monitoring every move she made, the sneaky wolves.
"Why are you guys pushing me so hard?" Tara whined and fell over on the soft grass, exhausted. They were in the woods. "I feel like I'm training for a war rather than learning to be a wolf at my own pace." Somewhere between last week and the present her wolves had suddenly started becoming serious about her learning as much as she could about her new abilities. The fun was over. The question was why. They seemed agitated lately and she knew it wasn't her. There was something they weren't telling her.
Kane and Kendrick stared at each other as they stood on each side of her. She rolled over on her back and looked up at the towering figures standing over her like two intimidating guards.
"Again, Tara," Kane ordered.
"No, I can't do it. Why is it so important that I change into a wolf? Maybe I can't since I'm only half wolf, you ever thought about that?"
"As a wolf, you are stronger, faster, more aggressive, a fighter...try again Tara," Kane demanded.
Tara slowly stood. "What is up with you two lately? There's something going on, I know it. Why won't you tell me what it is?"
Because they didn't want her to worry, they wanted her to be happy, to feel safe and secure, even if she wasn't, at least not now. Soon the other wolves would attack; it was only a matter of time. For now they watched them, silently lurking in the shadows of the trees, watching their every move. They would figure out what Tara was, where she came from, who she belonged to and when that happened Kane and Kendrick would be ready, but they needed Tara to be ready too.
Tara stumbled. Kendrick caught her. "Let her rest, Kane. She tried the best she could today. Maybe she's right, maybe she can't change to her wolf form. This is new to all of us."
"She is a part of us, she will change, the wolf blood runs strong in her veins," Kane said. He ran his fingers through her sweat soaked hair as Kendrick picked her up cradling her in his arms. "Rest tonight, we will start again tomorrow."
"Come on baby," Kendrick spoke to her in a soothing voice. "I'll fix you a nice hot bath to soak those aching muscles. I'm sorry we worked you so hard today. We're just curious to see what your strengths and weaknesses are. As your providers and protectors, we have to know these things."
It sounded like a reasonable enough excuse for what they were doing, but Tara knew better. However, she knew she wasn't getting a thing out of them if they didn't want to tell her, so she left it alone.
They must have felt guilty about being so hard on her because the next day, they finally let her have her "me" time or they wanted her away from them so they could deal with whatever secret they were keeping from her.
Tara stared down at the American Express credit card that had her name on it and a $5000 limitation. This was all hers to spend in one day? Oh she could think of lots of things to do with the money. It would certainly keep her busy and out of their hair. She didn't like this...sneaky game they were pulling on her though. She was going to max out the card just out of spite and then force them to tell her what was really going on. After all, they maybe her Alphas but she still had a right to know if she was involved. She tried to read their minds, but they blocked her. She learned that little trick fast on her own.
She pulled up in front of Target, her favorite store. Sure she could have gone to any high class shopping center, other than Target, but old habits were hard to break. She'd made a list of all the things she wanted to buy at Target when she was broke and still working at the law firm, now that very long list was about to be a dream come true.
"Tara?!" someone called her name in the parking lot. She gasped when she saw who it was. She heard Kane growling softly in her mind. Great...of course they were eavesdropping on her, but she had bigger things to worry about.
"Rhonda... Hi!" What was she supposed to do at a moment like this?
"Girl, when I heard you had left work, I nearly lost my mind. How dare you make me the only black chic there! I've been trying to call you at home, but you never answer. Your landlady told me you just up and left. You disappeared off the face of the earth. Where have you been?"
"Oh, I've moved on..." Tara said nervously glancing at Rhonda's deformed arm. Rhonda had no idea it was Kane who had cut off her hand since it had happened so fast.
"Did you move in with Kane? Are you two living together?" Rhonda suddenly asked and shook her head at the surprised look on Tara's face. "So you did, I figured as much. Girl, you should know better than to just up and leave your own place to stay with some guys you barely know. I know you been struggling and probably lonely, but that don't make no sense. A couple of white guys show you a good time and you just drop everything, not smart at all."
"There's more to it than that," Tara said frowning at her. Rhonda had no clue what she was talking about, although Tara understood it might have seemed strange from someone else point of view. Tara couldn't help but stare at the stump that used to be Rhonda's hand. "How about you, are you okay?"
Rhonda looked down at her arm and shrugged. "I'm just glad they didn't fire my ass and no one was in the bathroom when I went crazy. I've gotten high on meth before, but never had a reaction to it this badly and I swear I don't remember taking it before I went to work, but who knows with me girl."
Tara blinked out of shock. So Rhonda, did meth...
Kane growled again in her head. "Get away from her!" he snapped, clearly disgusted by Rhonda's presence.
"Well, it was good to see you again!" Tara said before Kane decided to physically appear beside her.
"Hey, you still going to the ball? It's already started. You should come girl. You did promise remember?"
Tara bit her lip. The ball...she'd completely forgotten about it.
"I'll think about it," Tara told her.
"No you will not," Kendrick suddenly said. "I forbid you to go anywhere near that place, Tara."
She was wondering when he was going to show up.
"No thinking, you have to come, I insist you come or you will be missing out on one of the greatest experiences of your life. Damn, Tara, live a little girl, stop being so afraid of the unknown all the time."
Tara nearly burst out laughing at that one.
"You got my number, call me when you decide to come. I'll be waiting!"
Tara watched her walk away before she lit into the two nosy men lurking around in her head. "I can't believe you two, you are seriously going overboard with this. We're really going to have to discuss the definition of privacy since you two don't know what it means." She grabbed a basket and proceeded into the store. "I want to go," she snapped.
"You will not go to that place," Kane told her.
"You can take me!"
"No, Tara we don't want you around those types of events." Kendrick told her.
"Why?!" she asked angrily.
She supposed she looked a little crazy walking around with a frown on her face as she argued with the men in her head.
"Do not question us. I said no," Kane said going into his "jerk" mode.
"I don't need your permission to do anything! I'm sick of this! What if I went anyway?" she knew she was pushing it, but they were pissing her off.
It was Kane's emotion that she felt take over her own, it was a grave sense of foreboding that made her shiver. "If you decided to go, you know what I would do. I would have to stop you by any means necessary."
She shook her head. "You wouldn't..."
Silence only followed.
"Now you've done it," she heard Kendrick mumble to Kane and a long sigh afterwards. She could practically see Kendrick rolling his eyes at Kane's insensitive attitude when it came to Tara's safety. "Tara, before you get too upset with us, the reason why we don't want you to go to this ball is because..."
She cut him off. It was quite easy to do for her first time.
"Did she just block us?" Kendrick asked Kane in complete shock.
"She's very smart our life mate," Kane said just as shocked, but proud also. "She learns quickly which is a good thing."
"It's not a good thing if she uses it against us!" Kendrick told him in annoyance.
"Leave her be," Kane told him. "We've upset her, let her shop. She will forget about this once she starts to buy things."
Kendrick shook his head. "You really have such a sexist outlook on women..."
Shopping was not the cure for Tara's anger with Kane and Kendrick. They needed to know that she was not one to be controlled so easily. She let them think she had set aside their disagreement. She let them feel that she was once again happy and enjoying her supposedly "girl" time alone. She tricked them into thinking she was okay by thinking and feeling exactly the way they wanted her to. She did enjoy her shopping spree, but held that anger in a corner of her mind where they couldn't reach. When she returned home, she showed them everything she bought, even bought a few items for them.
That night after they had dinner, she made love to Kane. Kendrick had left to go to his own home. Kane was surprised and very pleased at her taking the initiative although later he took over. Even in their lovemaking, he still had to be in control, no matter, her plot was to wear him out so much that he would fall into a deep sleep. It worked like a charm. Kane was asleep in no time after two hours of non- stop passion.
She lay in his arms for a while making sure he was completely unconscious and then moved away from him. She quickly scanned Kendrick to see if he was asleep also. He was to her luck. Quickly, she put on dark clothes, black jeans, boots and black tank top. She also threw on a pair of shades just for the affect. She would show them tonight that they had no control over her and that she would be fine without them, then perhaps, maybe this craziness would end. This rebellion was really for Kane, since he'd threatened her with mind control again, something that still didn't sit well with her and was always a sensitive subject.
Outside, she used her cell phone to call Rhonda who was already there and sounded excited to hear from her. She felt she owed Rhonda this favor to make up for Kane chopping off her hand; the least she could do was hang out with her at a party. Unfortunately, she didn't have a gown to wear, but what the heck, she'd at least see what it was like; she didn't have to go in. She hadn't plan on staying long anyway. She walked out the house and blew a kiss at her sleeping wolf feeling freer than she ever had before.