Beasthood (The Hidden Blood Series) (21 page)

             
The atmosphere buzzed with the hustle and bustle. Jaz scanned the strangers cautiously. The sense of being outnumbered was overwhelming.

             
They'd already laid the foundations of a 'U' shaped construction. The flooring had been concreted and the walls were three layers of brick high. The one missing wall that stopped it from becoming a rectangular building was facing her direction.

“
What are they building?” Jaz asked quietly.

“
We're
building a barbecue, seating area with a storage outhouse.”

             
Jaz managed to conceal her surprise. Then her expression changed, as if a light bulb had blinked on above her head. “You want
me
to help build this?”

             
Skye looked at her squarely. “Yes.” Jaz laughed disbelievingly. “Hey don't shoot the messenger. I've been given orders. You need to build up some muscle. You're too skinny and weak.”

             
Jaz arched a skeptical brow. “Now I've been called a lot of things but skinny is not one of them, neither is weak come to think of it.”

“
Well around us, you are. You're unfit, you're arms and legs are soft and scrawny, you're not very strong-”

“
Gee, break it to me gently why don't you-”

“
- and this is needed to prepare you for-”

“
-For me to
Change
, right? Change into
what
? The bogeyman? Bigfoot?”

             
Skye scrutinized her. “You don't believe it?”

             
Jaz shrugged. “I don't know what to believe.”

“
Sure you do. You're just afraid to,” she replied philosophically.

             
Jaz blinked. She was suddenly very irritated with her. Skye seemed to see Jaz as a stubborn, irrational, wild child that needed parental guidance.

And she's not the only one,
her mind grumbled. Everyone here seemed to look at her that way, especially Driver.

             
Skye was saved from Jaz's verbal backlash by a young boy springing at her. He wrapped his arms around Sky's waist and grinned up at her with his left front tooth missing.

             
He had brown, curly hair that kept getting in his eyes, a button nose, wide brown eyes, olive skin and a very cheeky smile. Jaz estimated he was about nine years old. He was all dusty and his black t-shirt was now grey. His denim shorts were caked in cement and dirt and his white trainers were old and scuffed, also very mucky.

             
Jaz eyed him with intrigue. She even smiled a little.

             
Skye grunted when he pounded into her stomach and panted,“Ronnie,
don't
do that!”

“
Sorryyyyy.” He pulled a fake sad face, drooping his bottom lip and giving her his biggest puppy eyes. Jaz had to admit, the boy was very cute.

             
Skye flashed him a smile, giving in to him.“What have you been doing, you're filthy!?”

             
He beamed at her. “I've been helping to make the cement and then scoop it on the bricks to build the wall!” he announced, pleased with himself.

             
Jaz smiled. “You know more about it than me,” she praised before realizing it.

             
Ronnie looked at her properly for the first time. Hearing her address him had caught him off guard, but her response had delighted him. He grinned his gappy smile at her. “You haven't built anything before?”

             
Jaz shook her head. “No. But I'd like to learn. Could you help me?”

             
His chest stuck out proudly, elated with being awarded such a task. “Sure!” he cried and then cleared his throat, trying to tone down his enthusiasm, he added calmly, “I mean, I could show you around, get you started.”

             
Jaz smirked. “I'd like that.”

                                                                                    *

              Two hours later, Jaz was exhausted beyond belief.

             
The planks of wood were so heavy and she had so many splinters and blisters on her fingers and palms by the time she'd finished.

             
The group leader, an abnormally tall, -even by Were standards- stocky, black man with very neat, artistic weaves, a wide smile and sultry but sharp oynx eyes, bossed her around, ensuring her it wasn't difficult, pushing her to keep going when she stopped for a second to breathe.

             
She wholeheartedly disagreed. It was
very
difficult.

             
And there were hundreds of planks.

             
The plan was that the barbecue area was going to be decked and the seats were also going to be constructed out of the planks of wood. They would carry on from the out building walls and then meet together turning the 'U' shape into an enormous rectangular. Enough to seat fifty to sixty people.

             
The middle of the rectangle would house the hand built stone barbecue with a chimney, and then the outhouse would be used for storage, such as a fridge and freezer, extra chairs, whatever was needed. That's what Skye had told her as they worked.

             
Jaz didn't know the technicalities or the complications that came with powering household appliances in the middle of a forest, but she imagined it wasn't as easy as plugging them in. They were in the middle of a forest, a ten minute walk away from the main building.

             
They'd need a hell of a lot of wiring, that she was sure of.

             
She'd given up working out how they would go about it. She'd given up caring altogether after carrying one side of twenty planks of solid -extremely heavy- wood from the back of a blue Mercedes, open back truck. The truck made three rounds between seven in the morning,  to one o'clock in the afternoon.

             
Jaz collapsed on the floor when the group leader called everyone to stop and have a break. Someone had made the effort to bring picnic baskets and iceboxes with bottled water, sandwiches, fruit and salad. They started a fire away from the wood and construction and began cooking burgers over what looked like a hand made grilling tray.

             
Jaz watched, breathless, wondering why the hell was she killing herself for these guys when they could clearly cook up a barbecue without the need of the one they were building now?

             
And she wasn't even hungry either. She just needed to sleep.

             
Kenna and Kelda joined Skye and her with platefuls of food. They handed one to Skye and had kindly brought one for Jaz too. She was touched but she couldn't eat and quietly thanked them but declined. They gazed at each other unsure of whether to insist or not, but the owner of a flash of blonde hair swiped the plate from Kenna's held out hand and everyone jumped, swivelling around to glare at Alf. He smiled playfully and bit ravenously into a sausage.

“
That wasn't for you Alf,” Kelda grumbled.

“
I know but, I couldn't resist. And Skinny didn't want any.”

             
It took Jaz a moment to understand he was talking about her.

Why Skinny? I'm not skinny. I'm a size twelve for god sake!

              She frowned at Alf.

             
He thought she was offended so added apologetically, “I don't mean anything bad by it, sorry.”

             
She wasn't about to explain what she'd really been thinking or correct him so she muttered, “It's okay.”

“
She doesn't think she's skinny,” Skye added as if that wasn't an embarrassing personal statement that she'd just made.

             
Jaz gaped at her. “Thanks, for that,” she grimaced, annoyed at Skye for openly exposing her insecurities. It wasn't as if she had confided in her. She wasn't her friend. But it still felt like a betrayal that all friends -all people of sound mind- knew not to do.

             
Alf regarded her. He scanned her small frame up and down. “When we say skinny, we mean, not muscley. Soft, delicate. There's other names for it but I'd say this is by far the nicest one.”

             
Jaz bit her lip. Alf winked at her and she stared at him uneasily as he smiled teasingly.

“
What are you children whispering about?”

             
Everyone with their back to the voice spun round. Jaz then saw a man standing very close as she peered through the gap between Kenna and Alf.

“
Oh hey Gar,” Alf greeted then stuffed a spoonful of salad in his mouth.

             
The man gave him a distasteful look. He didn't like messy eaters. Jaz saw that much.

             
He was a hard looking man. His manners, his face, his jaw, his whole body consisted of sharp, straight lines. His nose was rectangular and flat like he'd been punched there a few times. His mouth was thin lipped and severe. His eyes were small, beady and bright ocean blue. They were watching her now, unblinking. Jaz swallowed.

“
Jasmine, right?” He asked in his gruff, slightly nasally voice. She hesitated, then bobbed her head once, very slowly. He held out his square, strong hand. “I'm Garik. “

My uncle?

             
Jaz's eyes widened in recognition. He wasn't what she had expected. She got to her feet and warily, she shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. It's Jaz by the way,” her voice croaked.

             
He bowed his head a little, his eyes closed.“Jaz. My mistake.” He was scanning her up and down, in a way Jaz couldn't understand. They released hands but he still continued to observe her.

             
Skye saved her from the awkward moment. “Garik, you doing the afternoon shift?”

“
Yep,” he smiled revealing small, crooked teeth. The smile looked odd on his face. “Brought the afternoon shift-ers with me.” He seemed to find that funny and chuckled a little.

             
Skye laughed politely. Jaz just stared blankly.

Oh,
shape
shifters. Ha. Funny...

             
It was anything but. The idea just filled her with dread. Was that what they claimed she was? Some kind of shapeshifter? She couldn't get her head round it.

Why am I still here?
She asked herself.

             
She knew the answer. The long list of answers. But she avoided them, trying to focus on the conversation.

             
She heard someone creep by her side and nearly jumped out of her skin. It was Ronnie. He grinned at her as if trying to put her at ease. She smiled genuinely. “Sneaky,” she whispered. His smile grew wider, scrunching his eyes.

“
It's really nice to meet you,”

             
Jaz snapped her head up to look at Garik. He was studying her face intently. She didn't like it. “You too,” came her weak reply.

             
With that, he gave her one last look that puzzled Jaz even more before heading off to the van where the afternoon people were crowding round.

             
She recognized two of the women there in the group of ten. The redhead with the screechy laugh and the pretty, stubborn-looking, raven hair with the Oriental eyes. When Jaz looked their way, Oriental eyes was already watching her. She gave her a hard look and then turned away to say something to her friend. Jaz's brow furrowed with confusion. It looked as though the girl had given her a dirty look.

             
What was her problem?

             
She leaned in to Skye's right ear and muttered, “Who's the redhead and the girl with the black hair next to her?”

             
Skye swallowed her mouthful of burger and discreetly peered in the same direction. She looked down at her plate. “The redhead is Sunhild, she works in Surveillance three days a week. The other is a Pack Scout. She's a nasty piece of work. Her name's Fraya.”

             
Jaz stared at the spot on the ground she'd been focusing on in astonishment.

             
Then she flicked her gaze up, peeking between her lashes as she skewered the girl who had made her sister's life a living hell.

                                                                                    *