Asylum_A Shifter Society Novel_A Reverse Harem Novel Read online

  asylum

  by

  francesca vance

  Asylum: A Shifter Society Novel © 2018 by Francesca Vance. All Rights Reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Cover designed by Reaper Designs

  Edited by: Ann Wainwright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Francesca Vance

  Printed in the United States of America

  Ann, this one is for you. Kassi's story wouldn't have been written without you.

  The right of asylum is an ancient law, under which a person persecuted by their own Pack may be protected by another, by the offering of sanctuary.

  chapter one

  There is nothing in the world better than loving what you are. No hiding, no pretending. Simply shaking out your soul and smiling at the world. The earth around her was silent, the light from the day fading and bleeding into the night. Damp earth skidded beneath her paws as she pushed herself harder. Tree limbs moved and shuddered with her passing, her wolf form eating the distance with ease.

  A growl, deep and low, heralded the Alpha’s presence. Kassi stilled, her body frozen mid crouch, her own heartbeat thundering in her ears. He was close. It wasn’t that she could hear him, so much as she could feel his presence. It did something to her, an internal radar that went live when he was close.

  With his careful teachings in mind she tried to wait, to be patient as he’d taught her, but with the panicked sensation of him close-hunting her, she bolted from her hidden position beneath the brush in a near panic. When would she learn? Not then, that was certain, he was on her in a split second, his larger body mass eating the distance and he slammed into her. Kassi scrambled, teeth biting into soft fur, claws digging into the flesh and muscle of his chest, and they flipped, end over end. Tail, ears, tail, ears. A whine slid out from her muzzle, and his jaws tightened against her throat.

  Unaware of her movements until that point, she stilled, met amber eyes and reluctantly bared her throat. Conal removed his teeth from her fur, moved his shaggy red-hued form around her, and nipped the tips of her silver ears as he passed. He’d won, just as he told her he would until she learned to hunt like a wolf, rather than think like a human. It was an ongoing argument.

  Kassi stood, shook out her shaggy gray fur, and padded closer to him. The reds and browns in his fur darkened under the moonlight, and reminded Kassi strongly of the almost russet color of his human skin. There were others out, she could hear them now that the chase had ended. Sophia, Athena, and Catherine lay tightly perched together, silent and watching. The Mothers or the Bitchs, as Kassi called them, always watched everyone. Sophia’s dark muzzle lifted as Kassi passed. She eased closer to Conal and when he didn’t immediately reprimand her, she brushed alongside him. In human skin she’d never think to get this close to him, the others maybe, but not the Alpha. He was her mentor, her leader. But in this form the instinct to touch and play was passed, and her ears flattened. To Kassi’s surprise, it was easy to ignore them. There was so much else to do, to watch, who cared what the bitter bitches did? A chorus of howls rose up from behind them causing Kassi to twitch in the opposite direction. The males hunting something bigger. Whitetail deer? Kassi wiggled, and Conal snorted at her.

  How was he so still? She scooted closer, paws inching across the turned up earth towards the twins, Tyler and Talia. Both were just a few months younger than she, and both had shifted within the last moon cycle. They liked to play too. If she could just get close...

  Kassi scooted another inch, and Tyler’s ice blue eyes narrowed. Talia sat up, her black and silver fur gleaming and she looked perfect, Kassi thought, like a painting bathed in moonlight. Until her brother snorted in the manner his uncle Conal just had at Kassi moments before and rolled, unseating Talia. She fell and the two rolled, getting tangled up in limbs that were too long just yet and paws that were a bit too big. A snarl from Talia had Kassi snickering beneath Conal’s glowering amber eyes, and Tyler took off like a bullet, his twin snapping at his tail behind him. Kassi wanted to play too, it would be fun to put Tyler in his place, and he was always picking on his sister.

  But she didn’t. She stayed by the Alpha, as he’d ordered her. Conal didn’t trust her without him. Kassi was still too young to the shifting world to understand the difference between human needs and animal instincts. Touch was an instinct for pack animals. Even if she wasn’t pack, she was a pack animal. She wanted to do something, so she did, end of story.

  Another ongoing argument between them. He insisted she think before she act, and she insisted that was no fun. What was the point of thinking, of hesitating? That left you standing with empty hands as life passed you by and Kassi wasn’t having that. It was better to ask forgiveness than permission. Conal grumbled, but his nose touched her face, scenting, accepting her attention. He tolerated it for a while, then padded to the center of the small group of wolves and lay down amidst the chaos that was a pack function.

  Kassi didn’t want to lay down while the others played. She huffed in his direction, urging him to let loose too, but he ignored her and watched Dominic pounce his way through the forest into the clearing, his over large form knocking into trees and flattening bushes. Damn it. She wanted to play too. What was the point of the speed, the adrenaline, the agility, if she was going to have to waste it being babysat by the Alpha? Better to ask forgiveness she thought again and pounced.

  Her wolf barreled into Dominic. They both shook loose from the tangle of limbs, her feet stalked back and around, trying for a better angle. He cornered her, scenting the fur along her side and flank, brushed his own body along hers leaving his own scent in her fur, overpowering Conal’s scent that lingered in her dense fur. Kassi snarled at him and turned, bumping against his chest with her head. A yip from her, another bump with her massive head against his barrel-sized brown chest and she could see the playful side returning. Now, she thought, she would get to play. None of this scenting business. He had her beat with muscle mass; he was twice her size, but her smaller form gave her swifter feet and more agility. She used it to her advantage, teasing him closer only to bolt in the opposite direction.

  Dom gave a snort, and the game began in earnest. Around and around the two went, weaving through the clearing, passing the mothers and barreling through Tyler whose teeth had just made contact with Talia’s tail. Talia sent a woof of thanks, took off towards the center of the pack, and Kassi felt her heart thunder again. The absence of sound should have clued her in, but she was too caught up in running to notice, and then Dom was hit by an avalanche. Or something similar to one, anyway. Conal.

  Dom skidded out of the way, paws scrambling for purchase, and Kassi was picked up by the scruff of her neck. Conal shook her like a pup, and she didn’t miss the irony of it. Arguments fell from her muzzle, growls, and snarls, she even tried to kick herself loose from his grip. Every wolf in the clearing had their head lowered. Nothing would get him to release her before he’d made his point.

  The bastard.

  She wanted to yell at him, fling words and stomp away from the embarrassment, but she couldn't. She didn’t have a human form to use, and she couldn't stomp away pissed because he still had t
he ruff of her neck clenched tight. It was horrible to be reprimanded by the Alpha in front of the entire pack. A pack she still wasn’t really a part of, which only made the embarrassment worse. Kassi just wanted to play. She whimpered and stilled her escape attempts. Conal shook her hard again, and her wolf whined. She was done, she wanted to just go, run and get away. He set her down, a paw on her head holding her in place at his feet as if he knew she wanted to run. She’d disobeyed a direct order. Her eyes slid to Dominic, who looked at her with a mix of longing and something else. Why? It didn’t make sense to her. What was so wrong with her playing with the others? No one else had to stay next to the Alpha every pack social. It was unfair.

  She was going to find out, she promised herself, as soon as she took her other form. She couldn't complain in this form, but boy, was Conal going to have a rough day later. Glowering at him the rest of the night, she did as she was bid, and stayed glued to his side. Annoyingly close. He moved, she moved. Her eyes looked on longingly as Dominic and the others eventually chased, nipped, rolled together.

  The dawn closed in and Kassi followed, as meek as possible for her, behind Conal, while Dominic, Tyler, Talia and the rest of the group filed in behind her. She grumbled the entire time, earning snickers from the twins.

  She halted by the glass patio doors to the Pack mansion, the immense log and glass structure rising up in front of her, and she allowed the shift to take her. It was a smooth transition, nothing like the messy aftermath of the sudden explosive shifts that were common with youths. Kassi’s wolf gave way until her skin ran a smooth pale cream covered in a myriad of ink, replacing the fuzzy gray and silver of her beast. When her paws shifted to fingers, she curled them into a fist, hauled back and punched Conal’s arm. He didn’t flinch as she wanted, just cocked a straight black eyebrow over one honey brown eye.

  “What the hell was that about?” She yelled at his back. He’d ignored her again. The muscles in his back twitched at her words, but he moved forward into the mansion without a word and gave her no choice but to follow him. The rest of the pack headed to the kitchens and Dominic tossed her a look she didn’t understand, but Kassi was too caught up in her anger to think about that heated stare. Dominic forgotten, her mind had already changed gears, and her focus was on the towering dark male that stalked through the hallway in front of her. Right on Conal’s heels she stomped after him and slammed the door of his office behind her. “Conal, what the fuck?”

  He rounded on her, expression stark in a sharp angular face and inhaled sharply. “Can you not scent that? By the Mother, Kassidy, are you really that oblivious? Twenty years old and as naive as a child! What did you think Dominic was doing? Hmm?” His straight nose was mere inches from hers, and she backed up too fast, tripped over the rug and landed bare-assed on the leather sofa.

  “Nothing. He was doing nothing. You don’t rein in any of the others, not even when the little ones come to play. So why me? I know I’m young, but I’m not a child!” She was sitting, arms crossed, as he towered over her, but that didn’t stop her from meeting his eyes. It seemed with him she pushed either not enough, or far too much.

  She was aware that she hadn’t been raised with her own kind, but that wasn’t her fault. He shouldn’t hold that against her.

  “Because you are the only female,” he replied. Conal curled his lip in a mirror image of his wolf’s snarl and stalked to the formal desk he used for meetings. Kassi heard the bottom drawer open, and he pulled out a bottle of deep amber liquid. He must have seen her confusion written on her face because he inhaled again, a growl stuck somewhere between his chest and his neck, and drank deep. She watched his throat work, and got angry all over again.

  “No, I’m not, what about Talia?” Kassi argued, the face of his own niece, Talia, and the Mothers’ coming to immediately to mind. Talia was close to her, but the Mothers gave her hell every chance they got. They’d snarled at her ever since her mother had dropped her off for Conal to train. But they were female, so she wasn’t the only one.

  As a wolf raised by witches, well, they couldn’t teach her everything. They’d adopted a human child, but it wasn’t until Kassi exploded in their living room sending blood and bone matter all over the walls that they knew their daughter wasn’t human at all. You were either born a shifter or you weren’t, there was no biting or creating one. Her mother called her best friend, Diana, and Conal had shown up. Ever since she’d been his to train, he wouldn’t allow her around the others much, and Kassi was sure that was why the females didn’t like her. No one else trained alone with the Alpha, but Kassi nearly sneered at that. It wasn’t anything to crave. Conal was brutal, but he was her only option. Going home wasn’t even on her radar now. She had to make this work, female or not.

  “You are the only female unmated,” he snarled out and raked his black hair back from his face. His hair was usually slicked back, professional, not the shaggy hair that fell down obscuring his eyes that was a direct result of his recent shifting. “And you are unaligned. Talia is safe because of her bloodline. You are not.” She shivered in response. Nothing in the world was worse when Conal got angry. He was harder to anger than anyone she knew, so when his hands shook on the bottle, she wisely kept silent. For once. “What am I to do with you?” He asked, and sat down in the leather armchair across from her. It didn’t seem like a question she should answer, so she wisely kept her snarky reply to herself. “Wait, don’t answer that. Here,” he said standing again and going back to the desk. This time he came back with one of his spare t-shirts, and tossed it to her. He pulled on his own jeans, left unbuttoned, and sat back down. “Get dressed, that’s part of the problem.”

  Confused, but willing to cooperate to get answers, she pulled on the shirt and crossed her tattoo- covered arms. The faded black cotton tee fell nearly to her knees, and carried the faint scent that clung to Conal’s skin. A scent that soothed her beast more than it should. “There, I’m covered. Now, fucking explain. Every other person here runs naked at some point or another, it’s part of the deal. I’ve seen more ass since I shifted than I have my entire life. It’s nothing new.”

  “It is because you aren’t a member of this pack,” he said, and Kassi felt her stomach drop. Her annoyance, anger, even that desire to play and let go was gone with just those few words. She wasn’t pack.

  She and her wolf were only visitors, as was noted by her lack of permanent housing on the base. All the others had small houses that littered the grounds here and there, but Kassi was regulated to a small suite in the east wing, close to the Alpha’s suite where he could watch her. It was where he’d put her six months prior and where she’d remained ever since. Kassi didn’t let it bother her too much, she was still with a pack even if she wasn’t one of them. She kept telling herself it was fine, she’d find her place eventually, that of course, she had to learn first. But what if she really was a problem? What if having her there caused more trouble than she was worth? Panic clawed at her throat, bubbled out and she was on her feet moving before she’d even made a conscious decision to do so.

  “I’ll be good, I promise. I’ll train just like always but I won't complain anymore,” she begged at his feet. “Just please don’t kick me out. I can’t go back home. I nearly ripped Dad’s head off over the remote, I don’t fit there anymore.”

  He cut off her pleading before she could continue and offer up her first born, or say anything she couldn’t possibly stick to later. Conal grinned despite himself and curled a hand around the back of her neck in comfort. Soothing. Her jitters and shakes smoothed out and her body stilled beneath his touch. “I’m not kicking you out, Kassidy. What kind of a wolf would I be if I did that? I just need to figure out something…” Conal urged her up, then pushed her back on the sofa where she could curl up comfortably. He sat down on the rug in front of her, drew a long deep pull from the bottle in his hand. “You see, I can’t formally claim you myself without raising questions. But leaving you unclaimed…” he explained, “will cause
problems amongst the males. Like Dominic tonight.”

  “Why do I have to be claimed? Why can’t I just be...my own?” Kassi asked. She understood in one way, anything that caused dissension in the ranks wasn’t good. When you had to rein in a dozen or more supernatural creatures with aggression issues and super strength, speed, and a massive beast inside their skin, it paid to keep issues to a minimum. But on the other hand, the idea of needing to be owned simply because the males like to fight, well that was bullshit.

  Conal seemed to mull over her words and stared at her in a way that made her skin itch. When she’d been young, growing up with magical parents and having no magic of her own, she’d asked questions about the supernatural world until her parents threatened to glue her mouth shut with magic. All the shifters, the witches and warlocks, the elusive Fae and their counterparts the Elves, even the Reapers that governed everyone, all of it and more Kassi wanted to know. The Alphas in particular intrigued her. There isn't anything like them in any of the other species. You were born into the position, trained to take it on, but in the end, it came down to magic. You were linked to your Alpha in a magical way that Kassi didn’t quite understand, and if the magic didn’t work, the Alpha didn’t work. The power that threaded through the pack was nothing but pure magic, and she’d passed it off before, but staring at him now, she clued in, quickly.