The Shifter's Secret

by R. A. Boyd

  Emma wiggled to get him to put her down, but he slid her up higher over his shoulder. “Jace. Put me down. I have to get my keys out of my purse, you goob.”

  Reluctantly, he let her slide down the length of his body and groaned inwardly as her full, soft tits rubbed against his chest. The image of his face buried between her bosom took over his mind, and the growl of his beast vibrated deep in his throat. He couldn’t wait.

  Just as she opened the door, she looked to the right, put her keys on a low sitting wooden table, and made a low hum in the back of her throat. A large bouquet of flowers took up most of the space on the table.

  “Maybe Jess brought them in,” she said, plucking the small, white envelope from where it sat amongst the vibrant flowers. She blew a raspberry as she unfolded the card inside. “What the hell?” she whispered.

  The instant spike of fear and surprise racing from her broke the spell of him watching her curvy ass as she turned and shoved the card at him. Her eyebrows sat high and disappeared beneath the coily dark hair that fell in her face and covered her forehead. Even from where he stood, he could hear the instant surge of her heart rate.

  His eyes darted from side to side as he took the note from her, grabbing her hand and pulling her back out the door. He settled her behind him and read the note two times before he could process it.

  Damn-it.

  This was bad. How the hell did they even find out about her so soon?

  Chapter 4

  It would be a shame if you or your daughter suffered like the Ghosts will.

  S.

  Emma watched as Jace’s eyes moved back and forth across the card, reading it over and over. It was the only thing she could do to keep from screaming. The note wasn’t just aimed at her. Emma could deal with that. No. It was worse than anything she could have imagined. Someone had threatened Lily. The only reason Emma got out of bed in the morning. And someone threatened her.

  Someone threatened her four-year-old daughter.

  Freezing terror dumped into the pit of her stomach, and she clenched her hands around Jace’s arm. He was steadily moving her back toward the car.

  It was starting. Damn-it all, it had already started. She expected being with Jace would bring some kind of repercussions from the people who hated him and his family, but she thought staying away from New Rose was the key to keeping her and Lily safe. Apparently, it wasn’t.

  She knew going into this that a pack of crazy shifters were trying to harm the Ghost shifters, but to threaten her daughter?

  Seething anger pushed the fear and confusion away. Heat blasted up Emma’s neck as she dug her nails into Jace’s arm. She didn’t mean to do it, but she had to hold on to something. Something that could steady her, make her feel safe. Other than her father, Jace was the only one she ever considered her anchor.

  “Jace—”

  “Shh,” he whispered, brushing his fingers along her hand that held him tight.

  She looked at him and realized he had his head canted to the side as if listening for something she couldn’t hear. His body was tense, wound tight as if ready to attack. His broad shoulders were squared, and his stance was wide as if waiting to strike out at an unknown assailant she couldn’t sense. He’d gone completely still, and when she moved her head to the side to look at him, she could see his eyes were focused at her partially opened door. Maybe someone was still in there.

  At first, she thought her neighbor Jess had dropped off the flowers. They both had keys to get into the other’s house. They trusted each other implicitly. Jess would have called if she came in to drop off a delivery.

  Lily.

  She needed to go get her daughter right now and hold her close, keep her safe from anyone or anything that would do her harm.

  Emma took notice as Jace’s body relaxed by a fraction. When he turned to face her, his eyes were a blazing gold that made her breath hitch in her throat. “Where’s Lily?” he asked, pulling her toward the car.

  “At school. I need to—”

  “Pack a bag for the both of you. Grab whatever you need.” He took a step toward the house but then stopped so abruptly she slammed into his back. “Fuck,” he hissed, moving her back toward the driveway. “Never mind. Don’t touch anything. Tell me what you need when we get home and I’ll get it. Does Lily have anything in her room she absolutely needs?”

  What the hell? She couldn’t leave. This was her home. She had a job and a life that couldn’t be put on hold.

  Emma took a deep breath. She put her hands on her wide hips and shook her head, eyes closed as she tried to figure out what was happening. “Just… wait. Don’t touch anything? Tell you what I need when we get home? Explain.”

  Some kind of emotion passed over Jace’s face that let her know he didn’t want any shit from her right now, and for her to do what he said. Shyeah. She’d never been that girl. His name wasn’t Shaun Morgan, her father, so Jace didn’t have the right to order her around with no explanation.

  “Emma. The last time someone in my clan received flowers that weren’t from one of us, it had a death curse on it. If someone got into your house to leave those there,” he said, pointing at the door, “that means they could have done something to any item in this house.” Taking a step toward her, he put his hands up as if soothing a wild beast, but it didn’t calm her. If anything, it set her more on edge. “Em. Just listen. Please. The only thing I need to do right now is take you and Lily to my house in New Rose. There is an entire community that will work to keep you safe. I can’t do it from here. Even if I stayed and killed anyone that walked through your door, I can’t defend you against a witch. So, please. Don’t argue. Can you do that for me? Hate me all you want. Demand we take this slow. But you need to come home.”

  The urge to reason with him flew from her mind the moment he mentioned a death curse.

  It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. They were supposed to take their time and get to know each other again. Hell yeah, she already knew that she wanted them to be together. The idea of putting up a front to keep him at arm’s length was a ruse she was using to protect herself. She wanted that happily ever after for them. But not like this. It wasn’t just her heart on the line anymore.

  Emma chewed her top lip. She glanced up at him and then to her door. Someone had violated her space. “Okay,” she said, moving closer to wrap her arms around Jace. She rested her head on his chest and listened to his heart drumming erratically. Inhaling deep, he pulled her closer as she sought out his comfort. “There’s nothing we need from inside. Lily keeps her microphone with her. That’s the only thing she carries around.”

  “Thank you,” he muttered into her hair. “Come on,” he said, reaching inside to grab the flowers and being careful not to let her touch them any more than she already had. “Willow or Zeke need to check out these flowers to see if they’ve been tampered with.”

  “And if they have?” She had a lot on her mind right now, and having a death curse attached to her would not be helpful.

  “Then Willow and Zeke can fix it. Get in my truck,” he said, lifting his chin toward their vehicles. “Open your car door so I can grab the car seat.”

  Emma got inside but then had to climb back out of the truck after watching Jace battle with the car seat for six minutes. She counted. It was all she could do to keep from crying.

  “How’d it take you all of ten seconds to do that?” he asked after she removed the child seat from her car and strapped it into the back of his vehicle.

  She snorted and wrapped her arms around her middle, trying to physically keep it together. If she didn’t, she would lose it and have a meltdown. “I’m a parent. I’m used to stuff like that.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Jace said as he helped her get into his truck. A line appeared between his eyebrows as he shook his head. He gave a humorless laugh. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

  Nodding, she put her hand on his as he checked the strap of the seatbelt across her torso, making sure it was sn
ug enough. “It’s not your fault. I don’t blame you.”

  “What are Lily’s favorite colors? Does she like cartoons or something?”

  Emma arched one eyebrow. “That’s a weird question considering what’s happening. Umm, she likes lavender and brown. Or pink and brown. It really depends on the day. And she likes My Little Pony stuff. Why?”

  Giving a devious smile, he started to close her door and said, “Just trying to get a feel for her before we meet.” The curve of his lips faltered, and it made Emma snort out a laugh. “You think she’ll hate me?” he asked as he pulled out his phone. “Give me a moment. I need to call Damon and Jax to let them know what’s happening.”

  As Emma filled out the notebook in the office to officially check Lily out of school, she had to hold back a laugh. From the corner of her eye, she could see Lily staring at Jace. Brown eyes lowered to slits and an angry but cute frown on her lips, she seemed to be staring into his soul. Kids had a weird way of doing that; looking at a person with the most innocent of gazes that held some kind of X-ray vision into the deepest recesses of your mind. And Lily was a professional at it.

  Jace kept offering her little smiles and a few waves, but she wouldn’t respond. He even tried to talk to her, but the little hellion just stared at him, daring him to maintain eye contact. He was a stranger with her mother, and Emma had always taught her to be careful of new people. They lived in a crazy world, and apparently witch-possessed shifters had now been added to the list of people to watch out for.

  Stranger Danger. It was last week’s lesson in school. Lily had screamed the ear-catching phrase at least three times since the teacher told them not to talk to strangers. The first time in the market had scared the hell out of Emma, even more so since they were holding hands. The deli clerk offered them, both of them, a sample of cheese. Lily lost her shit. The second time was just as frightening, but Emma was prepared by the third time. Lily looked as if she was having fun scaring people. After telling the teacher what Lily had been doing, the next lesson was based on ‘crying wolf.’ From what the teacher said, it seemed as if the entire pre-k class needed to be taught not to scream the phrase at anyone who looked in their direction. There hadn’t been an incident since.

  Jace cleared his throat and gave a weak smile to Lily. “I like your turkey baster.”

  “It’s a microphone,” Lily said, high-pitched voice level as her eyes bored into him.

  Jace turned a wary eye to Emma, but she only grinned and shrugged. “Yes. We were at the market a few weeks ago and saw the most lovely microphone in the whole place.”

  Lily’s lavender stretch pants and purple mermaid-sequenced shirt had spots of chalk in different places. She was the eraser cleaner that week, which meant she had the honor of taking the teacher’s erasers into the hallway and slapping them until she was covered in chalk. It was her third favorite job.

  He pointed at her face. “You have chalk on your nose.”

  “I know,” Lily shot back.

  Her dark, tightly curled hair was up in two pony-puffs, making her look like she wore mouse ears on her pretty little head. She was so tiny next to Jace’s large frame, but she seemed to be the one in charge of the situation.

  Emma held out her hand and nodded her head toward the door. “Come on, Lily Pad. Let me help you with your jacket.”

  As they walked outside, Emma stopped at a set of benches that sat along the perimeter of the playground. How was she supposed to explain this to her? Lily had never seen Jace a day in her life, and now Emma was going to tell her that they’d be moving in with him until things were safe. Damn-it. She couldn’t tell her daughter they weren’t safe.

  “Let’s sit for a minute.” Emma’s heart smiled as she watched Lily’s short legs wiggle to push herself up on the wooden bench. “So. This is Mr. Jace, and he’s a very good friend of mommy’s. We’re going to be staying with him and his family in New Rose.”

  “You mean where Pop-pop lives?” she asked, little voice growing excited. Her malt-chocolate brown eyes lit up. She loved her grandfather.

  Emma stooped down in front of Lily, trying to come up with the right words. On the ride to the school, she’d thought of every reason that would make sense to a four your old as to why they weren’t going to be able to go home.

  “Sweetie, remember when your teacher taught you Stranger Danger? Well, strangers don’t like my friend Jace, and now they’re mad at me for being Jace’s friend. They’re like bullies.”

  “Bullies are bad,” Lily said, leaning in and grabbing a few strands of hair from next to Emma’s ear. Pulling the coils and then letting go to watch it spring back toward Emma’s head, she made a boing sound and then laughed. She turned and looked at Jace. “Somebody bullying you, Mr. Jace?”

  A look of awe blanketed his face, and when he smiled, his eyes went soft like he was happy she was finally paying attention to him. “You can just call me Jace if you want.” He nodded and chewed his bottom lip. “There are people who are trying to bully my family and me. But we won’t let that happen. We keep one another safe.”

  “And now—” Emma said, taking Lily’s small hand in hers, “—we’re going to go stay with them for a while. So we can all keep each other safe. Especially you, Lily Pad. You being safe is the most important thing to me in this galaxy. And right now, the safest place for us is with Jace and his family. Baby, do you understand?”

  With a critical glance at Jace, Lily slid off the bench and whispered in Emma’s ear. “We can’t do that from home, Momma?”

  Something clipped inside Emma’s chest, making her feel miniscule and helpless. She couldn’t even keep her little one safe. It was one of the few things she promised herself after Lily was born; to always keep her safe. To love her and teach her to love herself. To treat people the way she wanted to be treated. To always admit when she was wrong and needed help. And right now, they needed help.

  “No, baby. We can’t do that from home. But, where Jace lives, they have magic to keep us safe. Real magic.”

  Lily’s eyes went wide as she gasped. “Magic. Like fairies?” She turned to Jace. “You know fairies?”

  Jace huffed a laugh. The smile on his face was genuine. “Not fairies. Witches and angels and shifters.”

  “For real, Momma?” she asked, wrapping her arms around Emma’s neck and whacking her in the eye with the bulb of the baster.

  Rubbing her eye and blinking away the tears from the sting of the thick plastic, Emma nodded and said, “Really for real. Those witches and angels and shifters are going to protect us.” She shifted her gaze and looked at Jace. “And we’re going to protect them, too.”

  A smile broke out across Lily’s face, revealing a missing tooth right in the front. It always made Emma smile to see that missing tooth. They’d named the tooth Harold. He was a nice tooth and died doing what he loved doing the most: biting into a pear. At least that’s what Lily said. The day wiggly old Harold came out and died was the day he’d crunched into his last pear.

  Assessing Jace from head to toe, Lily quirked her lips to the side and took three steps to go stand in front of him. Still holding onto Emma’s hand, she said, “You’re huge.” She pulled her hand away from her mother to give Jace another intimidating stare.

  Shrugging up one shoulder, he used this thumbnail to scratch his chin. “You’re tiny,” he said, eyes squeezing closed to block out the sunshine that now streamed into his face.

  “I’m only four.” Her voice was goading, and Emma could hear the lite tinge of happiness and adventure behind her words.

  “Well, I’m like a bajillion years old,” he said, using his thumb to point at himself.

  “You are not,” she responded, stomping her foot. She did not like when people fibbed to her.

  She looked at Emma for clarity. “He kind of is,” she said, voice deadpan as she realized her boyfriend was old. Really, really old. “So. We’re going to drive to New Rose and pick up a bunch of new stuff on the way. How’s that sound?” />
  “Good.” Crossing her arms, Lily turned to face Jace and then shoved one of her little hands toward him. “I’m Lillian Alexandra Morgan, Mr. Jace. You can sing into my microphone if you want.”

  She pointed it toward his lips. Emma’s heart sped up as she watched his expression change. He’d been nervous about meeting Lily. He wanted to make a good impression and had asked her what he could do to make her not hate him. Emma told him that it wasn’t up to her to control Lily’s feelings, but that kids were a great judge of character. Lily was not one to hold her tongue. From the mouth of babes must have been designed for kids just like Lily. Lying was not in her repertoire. The truth was her friend and she had no plans of hiding it when it struck. They needed to work on that. Well, at least work on her tact.

  Jace’s eyes lightened by a fraction as he sat and watched Lily’s baster. “I’d be honored to sing into it. Can I have a few minutes to think of a song?”

  “I know one you can sing about ants marching,” Lily said, almost shoving the bulb into Jace’s mouth.

  To distract Lily and save Jace, quick as a lightning flash, Emma grabbed her sweet little girl by her waist and started tickling her. The sound of her tinkling giggles sounded like small bells jingling over the entryway of a Christmas shop.

  Her little legs kicked at the ground as she fought to tickle Emma back, which made them both laugh even harder.

  She needed this. Needed to hear her daughter laugh after she’d told her what was going on. No, she didn’t need to listen to the entire story, but this would be good enough. Lily was one of those kids who understood things, and most of the time it had surprised Emma beyond the telling of it.

  They would be okay. Emma may have brought her and Lily into a craptastic situation, but she knew they would be alright.

  God, she hoped they would.

  Fuck someone threatening her child. She may not be as powerful as a shifter or a witch, but she was a mother who would do anything for her daughter. She would surrender her life and last breath to ensure the safety of her Lily Pad. And she would damn sure sacrifice someone else’s to make sure her daughter kept that beautiful smile and sense of happiness that held her right now.