by Jae
It was a pretty intense reaction for the normally levelheaded and friendly Rhonda. She's sensitive about it because she's been criticized for liking humans before — probably by Leigh. "And that's all you ever talked about with Ms. Price? Books and librarian jokes?" she asked, ignoring Rhonda's bitter accusations. She had no good answers for them.
"Yes!" In the semidarkness of the car, Rhonda glared at her before she looked back at the street.
Griffin inhaled the metallic taste of aggravation. The acid fragrance of deception was absent. Either Rhonda was telling the truth, or she was such a good liar that she had convinced even herself.
"Why are you investigating Ms. Price?" Rhonda asked.
"We're here," Griffin said instead of an answer. Dismissing Rhonda as a likely suspect, she focused on meeting her fathers for the first time in fifteen years.
* * *
Rhonda stopped the car in front of the Eldridges' home.
Since Griffin hadn't been here for fifteen years, seeing the house was a bit of a culture shock. The large house in the center of town was just so different from her mother's small, secluded home where Griffin had grown up. There were no walls, no gate, and no fence around the Eldridge estate — signaling that the home of their nataks was always wide-open for every member of the pride. Instead of guards, only the scent of herbs and flowers from the large garden around the house greeted Griffin.
Griffin didn't have much time to look around, because Rhonda strode up to the house as if she lived there. And maybe she does, Griffin thought as she watched Rhonda take a key from her pocket and unlock the door. Did half the pride have a key to her fathers' house, or was Rhonda accepted into the household as some kind of adopted daughter?
Not a lot had changed in the house since the summer she had spent here. The loud ticking of the large grandfather clock in the hall was still getting on her nerves. Brian's black bag was sitting right next to the door, reeking of various ointments and medicinal herbs. Half a dozen jackets hanging on the coatrack indicated that they had visitors. During the summer Griffin had spent with her fathers, hordes of daily visitors and all the cousins that practically lived at the house had driven her crazy. Voices drifted over from the kitchen and from one of the rooms upstairs, but she didn't bother to eavesdrop on their conversation. She was here to talk to the nataks, not to refamiliarize herself with Kasari small talk.
"Back from patrol duty so soon?" Leigh called from the living room. "Couldn't resist my cooking, huh, Ronnie?"
Oh, Leigh is allowed to call her Ronnie, but not me. Nice. She forced back the old feelings of rejection. What did you expect? You haven't seen her in fifteen years.
Then Leigh must have smelled her presence. She stopped joking and appeared in the doorway. Not saying anything, she took her time to study Griffin from head to toe.
Griffin did the same. It was hard to believe that this stranger really was the half-grown cub she had known fifteen years ago. Sun-streaked blond hair no longer fell onto her back in long braids. Now it curled around shoulders that were sinewy, but not as sturdy as Griffin's. The fern-green eyes had lost their carefree twinkle. Only Leigh's scent was still the same. A hint of lavender that didn't seem to fit her personality always clung to her. It came from the small lavender bags that Martha used to hang in her closet to ward off moths. Apparently, Martha still did that for Leigh.
"Look what the cat dragged in," Leigh said. Her full lips formed a smile, but it was not one of warm welcome.
"Hey, I didn't drag her in," Rhonda said. She leaned up to playfully ruffle Leigh's blond hair. "She came quite willingly. She wants to talk to your dads."
"Rhonda, Leigh, is that Griffin? Bring her in here!" Brian Eldridge's commanding voice boomed through the house.
Griffin took a deep breath and headed for the living room in a straight line, fully facing the two men at the head of the large table to show them she was not intimidated. The scents of Rhonda's mother and half a dozen of Leigh's cousins around the table trickled into her consciousness, and she felt their curious gazes, but she ignored them for now.
Both men stood when she entered.
It was the old power game. They didn't want to give her the advantage of looking down at them.
They were both still tall and physically fit men, but Griffin suppressed a smirk when she realized she had outgrown her fathers by at least three inches. With surprise, she noticed that Brian's ginger brown hair was beginning to turn gray, and even Gus's lighter hair had more than a few gray streaks. The laugh lines around her fathers' green eyes had deepened, and Griffin suspected that Brian's beard hid more lines around his mouth too.
So much time has passed. A hint of regret crept up, and Griffin forced it back.
Some things hadn't changed, though. The scent of healing herbs still drifted around both of them, and Gus still let Brian do the talking.
"Griffin," Brian greeted. His nostrils flared as he took in Griffin's scent.
"Father." Griffin gave first him, then his younger brother Gus a nod.
"Sit," Brian said, gesturing at one of the chairs on the other side of the table, directly across from him instead of next to him, where Leigh had been sitting. It was the chair a natak would offer one of his people when he wanted to keep an eye on them while they were giving a report, not the place at the family table that he would offer a daughter.
Oh, yeah, make sure everyone knows you don't really consider me your daughter. I don't care. Griffin sat down, pretending she hadn't eyed the seat next to her father even for a moment.
"How are you?" Brian asked. He sat too and raked his intense gaze over her.
It sounded stiff and formal. Maybe he wasn't used to expressing fatherly interest. Griffin wondered whether he was close to Ky or Leigh. "I'm well," she answered just as stiffly.
Brian nodded. "You look good... all grown up." For a second, his smile seemed insecure, as if he had just realized his daughter was grown up and a stranger to him.
Yeah, Griffin thought. Fifteen years will do that to a teenager. She stopped herself from saying it out loud. Never going back for another visit had been her choice — even though it hadn't felt like much of a choice. As much as her fathers might like to ignore it, the pride would never fully accept her, and she would never feel comfortable living with the close-knit clan that left her no space to breathe and be herself.
"How are your sister and mother?" Brian asked.
Leigh's cousins exchanged glances, and a few of the older pride members started to grumble. Obviously, they didn't like Brian's continued interest in Nella.
If it is true interest. Griffin couldn't tell whether Brian was really interested in Nella's well-being or just making polite conversation.
Brian had avoided contact with her mother because he knew that even the appearance of an ongoing relationship with a Puwar could hurt his career. So is this his way of keeping up with how she's doing? Does he curse her name and hope she'll drop off the edge of the earth, or does he still care and hope she's doing okay? "Both are doing fine," she said, keeping her answer short. She wasn't here to exchange news about the family.
"So, what brings you here? Still investigating that human writer?" Brian asked.
It came as no surprise that her father already knew about her top-secret mission. Brian Eldridge was still one of the most powerful nataks of the Allied Prides. His fathers had groomed him to become parwese, ruler of all Kasari, but then Brian had spoiled those ambitious plans by having an affair with a Puwar. Their fling had lasted only for a few days, but everyone involved still had to live with the consequences today. The Eldridge brothers had been heavily criticized for breaking the unwritten rule: a Kasari should only mate with another Kasari.
Gus's standing in the Kasari community had suffered too even though it had been Brian, not Gus, who couldn't resist Nella Westmore's Puwar charms. In Kasari society, all the members of a ruling coalition were considered the father of a child, no matter which of them was the biological father — on
e of many Kasari rules that Griffin had never really understood. She preferred to be responsible for herself and her own actions, not for those of others.
"Yes, it's still an ongoing investigation," Griffin answered. She saw no reason to lie.
"I hear Leigh has been very helpful in that investigation. Make sure you mention it when you report to the council." Brian made it an order, not a suggestion.
Oh, yes, sure, help along your daughter's political career now that you ruined your own. Griffin wondered if that was why he was discussing her mission in front of half the pride. Did he want to make sure that everyone knew Leigh's accomplishments? "I'll give praise where praise is due," Griffin answered, letting him draw his own conclusions about whether Leigh had earned praise or not.
"So you're really investigating J.W. Price?" Rhonda asked. She still hadn't learned to curb her natural curiosity. "Why? What has she done that suddenly everyone who has ever met her, no matter how fleetingly, is under suspicion?"
Both Brian and Gus turned toward her, growling to show their displeasure at being interrupted.
"You have to excuse Ronnie," Leigh said even though she knew better than to interrupt her fathers too. "She's a librarian and a little concerned that her favorite author is about to be killed." She gave Rhonda an affectionate look that softened her stern features.
"She's not my favorite author," Rhonda said, but a telltale blush crept up her neck. "I don't really care for her romance novels, but her historical fiction is wonderful."
Griffin ignored them both. "Can we talk alone?" She didn't want her sister or Leigh's little friend involved in her mission or her life.
Brian and Gus exchanged a quick glance, but not a word was spoken between them. It wasn't necessary.
The other guests, who had finished their dinner by now, began to file out. Leigh still hesitated.
"Stay the night at Rhonda's," Brian told his youngest daughter.
"Dad..." Leigh protested.
"Go," Brian and Gus said at the same time. The power of their green eyes drilled first into Leigh, then skimmed over Rhonda until both women turned and walked away.
Leigh took a moment to help an elderly woman get up from her seat.
Leigh's grandmother. Griffin watched Leigh escort the matriarch from the room. Her light grip on the old woman's arm was respectful and tender despite her anger at having to leave. Cat-shifters were notorious for their curiosity, and Griffin knew her sister was no exception. Leigh wanted in on this conversation.
Brian's gaze came to rest on Griffin. "Now tell us what brings you here. Do you need help with the investigation?"
His offer to help was a surprise. It was also an intrusion, and Griffin didn't want it. "No. All I need is some answers."
"From us?" Brian glanced at his brother, then back at Griffin.
"There's a very real possibility that Jorie Price, the writer, saw one of your people in his or her lion form," Griffin said, "so yes, I'm coming to you for some answers. Do any names come to mind?"
"How do you know it was one of ours?" Brian's deep voice resonated through the room.
Cat tactics. Never answer a question directly when you can answer it with one of your own. Griffin took care to stay relaxed and appear unimpressed. "Osgrove is part of your territory. If he wasn't one of yours, you're not doing a good job at protecting the borders of your territory."
Very slowly, very quietly, Brian rose from behind the table. The sudden growl he hurled at Griffin was a sharp contrast to the calm silence of his movements.
Gus stood too and took a step forward until he stood shoulder to shoulder with Brian.
"You've seen for yourself that no one enters our territory without us knowing about it," Brian said. "Our border patrol is very effective."
"Oh, yes." Griffin smirked. She stood with the same dangerous slowness, once again enjoying her slight height advantage over her fathers. "You have petite librarians patrol your borders. Very impressive."
"Stop provoking us, Griff," Gus said before his brother could explode. "You came here to ask a question, so ask it — or go."
Oh, so Gus actually can talk. Brian's younger brother had never said much. As a result, Griffin had never been sure where she stood with him. Did he really accept her and Ky as his daughters, as Kasari society expected of him, or did he secretly despise their very existence? For now, it was better not to try his patience too much. "Is there any chance that one of your people got careless and was seen in his lion form at the edge of Osgrove, maybe even more than once?" she asked, working hard not to put a silent accusation into her words. Her frank Puwar style of communication didn't go over well with her fathers. If she wanted answers, she would have to balance not cowering in front of her fathers with not angering them too much.
"Even if there was, do you think anyone is going to step forward and admit that it was them, knowing it will cost them their status... or maybe even their life?" Brian answered.
"Are you saying it's possible?" Griffin asked but ignored his question.
"Everything is possible," Brian said after trading yet another glance with his brother, "but I don't think so. We have our people under control. They know better than to be so careless."
Nothing but the clean scent of herbs surrounded Brian. There was no lie, no attempt at deception. Griffin stared into his eyes for a moment longer, then looked away. She believed him. Her fathers had almost lost their titles, political careers, and social standing when Brian had fathered hybrid twins. They wouldn't risk their shaky position by losing control over their pride and having one of their shifters make a fatal mistake.
"I suggest you have your people stay far, far away from Osgrove until I finish my investigation," Griffin said.
One of Brian's shoulders angled toward Griffin. His neck muscles stiffened. He knew it was more than a mere suggestion, and he didn't like receiving orders from his own daughter.
Griffin held his gaze. She wasn't here as his daughter or a member of the pride. She was here as a saru, and as such she stood above pride hierarchy.
Finally, after a few tense moments, Brian relaxed. "All right. I'll give the order. No shifting in or near Osgrove."
That wasn't enough. "Even in human form, every Kasari who doesn't work in Osgrove should stay out of town for the foreseeable future," Griffin said. "And I need a list of all your people who live in a twenty-mile radius around Osgrove." Unless the shifter had traveled to Osgrove by car before he shifted shape, he couldn't have covered more than twenty miles in one night in his leonine form. "It would help if you could indicate everyone on the list who has a history of behaving carelessly or losing control."
And I bet Tarquin's name will appear right at the top of the list. They always gave him too long a leash.
Thick ginger brown hair tumbled onto a strong forehead as Brian shook his head. "You know I wouldn't tolerate anyone who might endanger the pride. I wouldn't allow them to stay."
And if you did, you wouldn't tell me, because it makes you look as if you couldn't even control your own people. "Did you recently throw anyone out because he was a threat to the pride?" Griffin asked.
"No." This time it was Gus who answered. "Not for a lot of years. If we had, we would have alerted the council and the Saru. We follow the rules, Griffin."
His words held a hidden meaning, but Griffin couldn't tell whether they were meant as a silent accusation.
Griffin's birth had broken an important unwritten law, and she had continued to break the rules since then — she lived among humans; she had no partner and no children; she didn't try to fit into the pride, and she had inherited neither the political ambitions of her Kasari grandparents nor the sacred skills of her Puwar grandfather.
A rough shake of her head drove away the unpleasant thoughts. "What about political groups? Are there any groups within the pride that aim at having us come out to humans?" Griffin could easily imagine Rhonda as a member of such a group.
"The only politics within the pride are ours
." Brian snarled.
Wishful thinking. Even within a pride, there were always people who thought differently and tried to do their own thing, achieve their own goals, right under the nataks' muzzles.
"Gus?" Griffin asked. The younger Eldridge had always been better at reading between the lines, detecting the subtle nuances and undercurrents of what was going on in the pride. People underestimated him and talked more openly around him than they did around Brian.
"Groups like this are everywhere nowadays," Gus said, neither confirming nor denying that they had such a group within the pride too. "But what would they gain by giving information to a fiction writer? If they wanted to out us, wouldn't they contact a journalist? Getting pop culture to accept shape-shifters is hardly worth risking your life for."
He was right. Motivation was the biggest weakness in the political-group theory. Right now, Griffin couldn't figure out what any Wrasa would gain by having a shape-shifter novel published. All clues told her that there might not be an informant. But how else would she know so much about us? Just a string of coincidences? Her instincts said it was more than that, but she wouldn't find her answers here. "E-mail me the list," she said. She gave them polite nods. "Goodnight."
* * *
Griffin stiffened.
She wasn't alone. Someone was watching, lying in wait.
A shadowy figure lurked next to her rental car that Tarquin had parked in the driveway, but the wind wasn't carrying any information toward Griffin.
Slowing her steps, she stalked closer.
The tendons in her fingers twitched as if they were preparing to unsheathe claws they didn't have in this form. She didn't need them. Even in this body, Griffin knew she was a formidable opponent.
Another long step. Not even the pebbles in the driveway crunched under her feet.
Only the wind was a willing traitor, giving away her scent and her presence.
The shadowy figure turned. Cat eyes glowed when a ray of light from the house hit them.