Page 3 of His Human Mate
“When do I ever wear makeup?” she retorted as he moved to her side with the backpack that held the clothes from the rest of the trainees, giving off more stench from the look of it. She could only make out the musk of sweat from the clothes, which was more than enough for her.
“When you went to prom with Ashton,” he countered making her glare at him more as he started to reach out for her real backpack.
“You know that was Mama’s doing,” she huffed, irritated that anyone brought that night up still. Emily wanted to see her done up and she’d given in for their senior prom. Most of the pack didn’t even attend, but since she tended to finagle her way out of attending the stupid events when they were forced to dress up, she gave in knowing Ashton would keep the rest of the guys from their school from hitting on her.
She never felt an attraction to any of them and just wanted to be left alone. Especially with her body changing to be as Emily put it, voluptuous compared to the skinny nits that attended her school. The girl shifters were all taller than she was making their curves seem more proportional, whereas hers were noted on everywhere she went.
Most male shifters were actually nicer than the human males she’d met. They were mainly waiting for their mates, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t the odd shifter that wanted pleasure regardless of whom it was with, and they always seemed to target her. That was the reason her parents and Jerimiah allowed her to stop attending functions despite wanting her to be seen as part of the pack when she was sixteen and her curves weren’t easily hidden.
“Well, it’s a good thing Ashton’s not here right now or he’d pound my face in for this,” Theo said pulling her from the unpleasant memories.
Shelby nearly jumped when Theo’s hands came up and started rubbing her neck, then around towards her throat. It only took her a few seconds to understand that he was simply transferring scent onto her but his touch still made her nose scrunch with displeasure.
“You’re going to have to dirty up your face,” Theo said, his tone was still a teasing lit, but his eyes showed the seriousness, once again showing her why he was part of the guard group already. “Ashton will kill us if something happens to you long before your dad would get the chance to get hold of us.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
“We know. Only reason any of us are letting you go in there without us next to you,” he said and she nodded, letting him finish the scent transfer before she pulled out a mirror from her bag, taking in the difference in her appearance.
A few of her curls were sticking out around the edge of the cap but it was actually okay, making it seem like she was merely a boy that hated the curls and the cap was to hide them rather than that she was actually a girl hiding her long length of hair in it. She got what Theo was saying about her face though. Even without a scrap of makeup on, she looked like a girl in the face.
Her jaw was slimmer, even if she was a trying to pass herself off as young teenage boy, it was slimmer than any of theirs was. Her nose was another thing that was definitely not boyish. It was slim and slightly tipped and any shifter would realize she wasn’t what she was pretending with a simple glance.
She was thankful that she’d learnt makeup techniques now, she could basically use the contour lessons in reverse and instead of slimming her face further, hopefully, it would make her face look a little thicker. Rather than just use dirt, she pulled out the tiny bag of makeup that her mom always stashed in her backpack ‘in case of an emergency’ and used it for shading. She topped it with some dirt, making it look like she’d been moving through the woods for some time, then turned back to the others, ignoring some of the snickers as she shoved the makeup back into the bottom pocket.
“This is why makeup should be illegal,” Shawn grumbled when she glanced from him to Theo to Michael for their opinions.
“You definitely don’t look like you,” Michael agreed.
“Guess we can call you pretty boy instead of pretty girl now,” Theo teased making her roll her eyes at him once more, letting him have her real backpack, before she moved over to Morgan for a hug goodbye for now.
“As soon as you have that gate open, you get your ass out of there to higher ground. You got me?” Morgan demanded and she nodded, letting him hug her a hint tighter than normal.
“I’ll be fine. We’ll see you before you know it,” she added then quickly grabbed her gear to get to the cage before night fell.
Yes, the cover of darkness would be good to conceal the guards but there were far too many dangers that could pop up on them within it as well. Especially with a group of unknown shifters in the mix coming out of that cage.
It was nearing three when they were almost to the spot where the other shifter was caught and she held up her hand, stopping the groups’ movements. “I’ve got it from here.”
“Told your dad I wouldn’t let you out of my sight,” Shawn said and she shook her head no at him.
“Too dangerous, if I’m just some young shifter wandering around on my own, I’m not nearly as big of a threat as if they catch hint of you. They’d realize you’d be more likely to resist than some kid would be and be on the defensive. If they’re packed up, they’ll alert everyone before we can even get close enough to fight. It’s just over a mile from here to the clearing where the cage is. You all can be there in less than three minutes at full speed. You’ll hear me or them with ease,” she countered and after a few heated words, Michael agreed with her.
“Be prepared to move at a moment’s notice,” Michael told the group before handing over a blade to her. It was sheathed in a thick leather, and she knew without needing to ask what it was. “I’m not sending you in unarmed. You can’t take a bow or gun in with you, but you can take a knife.”
“Thanks,” she said, making sure it was attached securely to the belt keeping the pants up around her waist rather than having them fall to her knees. The shirts she was wearing covered it well. The borrowed t-shirt proclaiming some random band she’d never heard of, with a hooded flannel over it, were hot but made her appear bulkier than her true weight.
She took a deep breath before she made her way towards the clearing. It took almost half a mile before the group closed in on her. Thanks to the multiple scents and her jagged path, there was only two of them there. She was certain the others were checking the rest of the area, but they wouldn’t stumble upon the guards easily. Even if the other four all reached the guards’ position, they’d take them out before they could escape. Perhaps not before they raised an alarm, but definitely before they could escape.
“Well, well, we got a young one this time,” one of the men said with a laugh.
“He’ll break quick,” the other stated and that told her exactly what they were doing with the cage. Reconditioning shifters was nearly impossible. It was ingrained in them to be loyal to their pack. Switching allegiance to another pack didn’t happen except in extreme situations. Driving a wolf crazy would do it though.
More than ever, she had to get Ashton out of there, now.
“Yo,” she said, deepening her voice. It sounded as though she had a cold to her ears but she hoped the two merely thought she was still waiting for her voice to change. “I ain’t up to nothin’. Didn’t know no shifters were out here. Just passin’ through.”
“Doesn’t matter, you’re trespassing now,” the first said while the second moved forward.