Birthrite (Legacy Series Book 2)

by Max Ellendale

  "That's terrible." Xany frowned at me. "Does it happen a lot?"

  "More than it should. They'll take humans too because there is a small chance humans can carry a Changer baby, and a high chance they will have a Breeder baby, which makes it all worthwhile in the end," I told her.

  "You know all the statistics, Shawnee?" Caden lifted a knowing brow at me. Sometimes I wondered if he and Xany were in the business of getting me to talk about everything I knew. After all, I'd kept it locked up for a long time. Everything my mom ever taught me, and everything I learned while working for the Andrus was all locked up inside my head.

  "Statistics of what?" Xany said.

  "The chances of Breeders and Changers being born," Caden said.

  "Oh, what are they?" She looked at me for answers.

  "It's easier to write down," I said, overcome as my brain began to spin around the numbers Xany was asking me to explain. She hopped up and got a piece of paper and pencil for me.

  "Here you go, NeeNee," she said with a grin.

  "You're going to be the death of me," I said and began scribbling the numbers down for her.

  "Burn that after you read it." I frowned. I didn't like seeing facts about Changers and Breeders written down on paper. It made it too real and too available to fall into the wrong hands.

  Xany read it eagerly before showing Caden. Mal rubbed his hand on my stomach and kissed my shoulder. Vanessa seemed like she was trying very hard to distract herself from the conversation.

  "Is this true for all werecreatures?" Xany asked as she tossed the paper into the fireplace.

  "It's relatively accurate for all," I said. Talking about this made me painfully aware of my role in studying werecreatures when I worked for the hospital. It never should have happened. It was my biggest regret.

  "You learned all this while working for the Andrus?" Xany asked.

  I nodded when she caught on to my feelings. "Yes, Xany, that's where I learned it. I'm not proud of it. Though giving myself the benefit of the doubt, my mom told me something similar to this when I was younger, just not with all those numbers like that." I clenched my teeth. The anger I held toward myself was crippling when I focused on it too much.

  "Some of the stuff you learned at the Andrus is helpful, Nee. Don't discount that. It's important to know this. Gaia put us on this earth to protect it and procreating is a part of it," Caden said.

  "We have to rescue those captured people, Caden. We can't let them go through all of that," Xany interrupted. I agreed with her.

  "Just the thought of what could potentially be happening to those people." I shook my head. Vanessa ran her fingers through my hair.

  "We'll do our best to recover them," Mal reassured me.

  "I want to help," Xany said.

  "Me too," I said.

  "You'll all be able to help but we're going to have to be patient. Remember, it's Hank and Barron who are calling the shots. Alice is Barron's pack member and Hank is Barron's Leader," Caden said.

  "Why do wolves have to be so annoyingly organized?" Xany complained. "I need to cook something." She hopped up and went to the kitchen. Caden glanced to Mal who laughed.

  "She's your spitfire now, bro." He grinned.

  Caden chuckled as he stood to join Xany. I watched her as she scuttled around the kitchen. I imagined she was distracting herself from the pain and worry she felt for the victims. It was a familiar type of scuttling. She reminded me of how I used to act while at work when something distressing happened. I knew what it was like to feel helpless, both personally and professionally. My heart ached for her. As she mixed batter in a bowl, she turned and looked over her shoulder at me. Our gazes met and we shared a quiet moment of understanding.

  Chapter Thirteen

  That night, Caden and Mal joined the search for Alice and the other victims but to no avail. Xany, Vanessa, and I stayed home together despite Xany's protest. Caden, however, came back later on to escort her to Hank's to join the others to discuss additional tactics or any abnormalities they came across. Mal returned home around midnight, seemingly forlorn about not being able to recover any new information. Vanessa and I were lying together on the couch when he came in. She had spent the last two hours rubbing my stomach and purring against my chest to keep me calm.

  "No luck at all?" I asked and sat up a bit to greet him.

  He shook his head. "None at all. Their scents completely disappear. But one thing I did point out was just that—there are no scents at all, not in their places of work or cars or anything. Scents should be there, regardless," he said. "So in essence we have to follow the unscented trail."

  "That's just strange," I said.

  "It's magic," Vanessa chimed in, her voice soft and distant.

  "Magic?" Mal asked. She nodded and rested her head on my chest while grinning up at him mischievously.

  "Magic." A purr followed the word this time, accompanied by an impish smile.

  "What do you mean by that, Ness?" I asked just as she snuck her hand up the front of my shirt to toy with my bra. With this gesture, I knew we were in secret territory. Cats are notorious secret keepers. They love having secrets, and finding out secrets. She meowed and licked my neck in tiny bursts. This overt feline behavior was a tell-tale sign. I squirmed under her while Mal looked on with interest.

  "Someone conjures," she said, her voice laced with the rattles of purrs.

  "What does she mean?" Mal asked me since she wasn't responding to him. I grunted when her affection got a bit more serious in the nether region.

  "She..." I gulped and gripped her hands to hold her in place. "She means that someone is using magic to cover up the scents."

  "How can you tell, Red?" he asked and crouched down beside us. I could sense Mal's eagerness to pry the information out of Vanessa. Suddenly I felt a pop as she unhooked my bra.

  "Ness," I muttered. "This is important." She glanced up at me before looking to Mal with a grin.

  "Secret." Her eyes gleamed with mischief and she bit her bottom lip. Her eyes searched Mal's and I saw the distinct flash of yellow in his eyes as she baited him.

  I'm going to strangle your cat. Mal's voice burst into my mind. His mental tone, gruff and boorish, greatly contrasted with his outward tone. "What's it gonna take for you to tell me your secret?" Mal bought right into her feline antics.

  She shrugged dramatically and turned her nose away from him. Without warning, she lifted my shirt to place a long lick around my navel.

  She's doing it on purpose. Don't give in. I tried my hardest to ignore it, knowing full well her behavior was simply to get at Mal rather than sexual.

  She smells different. He said. So do you as a matter of fact. He was quiet for a moment and then said, Mine. His eyes wandered over me from head to toe. A battle would no doubt ensue if I didn't put a stop to this right away.

  "Gah!" I shoved Vanessa back a bit and sat up straight. She mewed at me and tried to nuzzle me back down. "No playing until you talk properly to Mal," I lectured.

  She slinked into my lap and straddled my thighs, littering my neck with kisses. I tilted my head and melted into it for a moment. Then reality struck me. I put my hands on her shoulders and pressed her away from me so that I could look at her.

  "This isn't a game, Vanessa, lives are at stake. People are being tortured. What if it were me out there?" I couldn't prevent myself from frowning at her.

  Her emerald eyes twinkled as she looked at me. Mal was grumbling. It was clear that he was not getting a kick out of Vanessa's quirky behavior. The inner battle he waged raced through me like currents of a river rapid. I could sense his desire to tear me away from Vanessa and dominate her into telling him whatever secret she held on to.

  Why does she smell that way? he asked.

  She smells the same to me. Maybe she's on to something about the magic. I squirmed out from under her and she was forced to sit in front of me cross-legged. I mimicked her posture and put a pillow in my lap so that she couldn't get at me again.<
br />
  Like... something sweet, and lilacs or clover, or something. He shrugged. I glanced at him and shrugged, too.

  No idea. I took Vanessa's hands in mine. "Tell me about the magic, Vanessa." She pouted but continued to purr.

  "The magics cover the scent. It'll wear off. You have to go back and scent again," she said and looked from me to Mal now. I'd finally broken through after quite the mini-battle.

  "You can sense magics?" he asked. Vanessa shrugged.

  "She can," I answered for her. "All cats can. They get caught up in the magics. That's what my mom used to tell me. Cats get themselves in trouble because they get caught up with witches, leprechauns, fairies, and other magical creatures." Mal looked to Vanessa and lifted a brow.

  "Red, there are people missing who could be getting hurt. We need to know as much as you can tell us," he implored.

  "Caden sent me away." She turned her nose up at him again and he growled.

  "I see how it is. You keep your secrets to get back at Caden. Just like a typical cat," he spat. "I thought you were an ally." She hissed at him then stuck out her tongue. A vision of Mal tearing out her tongue raced through my mind. In response, I gave his hand a squeeze.

  "Vanessa, that's very naughty." I frowned. "How can you expect to be included when the time is right if you get all defensive?" I knew Vanessa well enough to know that she hated to be called naughty. She mewed at me and pouted again. "You know better than to play games with wolves. Especially my wolves." My statement seemed to bring her to her senses.

  "Start from the beginning. From the first." She turned to Mal now and looked him right in the eye. Rather than challenging, her gaze was serious.

  Mal eyed her for a moment before nodding. "All right, I'm going to tell Caden this. But when I get back, you're going to explain to me all about the magics." He stood up and placed a soft kiss on my lips. I cupped his face apologetically. Part of me felt responsible for Vanessa's behavior. He slipped out the door and I turned my attention back to her. She gave me an innocent smile before leaning in to kiss me. I returned her kiss but she knew I wasn't happy.

  "That's how you create enemies, Ness. I don't like when you play games like that. People can get hurt." I drew my eyes away from her. The last thing I wanted was for Vanessa to lose her status in the pack.

  "But it's fun to make the dogs bark." Her voice was a sweet singsong.

  I crossed my arms.

  "A little fun?"

  I shook my head. "Not fun at all," I said.

  "I'm sorry. I won't be naughty anymore." She totally didn't mean a word she said but I accepted it anyway.

  "And you'll tell Caden and Mal whatever they need to know?" I lifted a brow at her.

  "Okay, okay. I'll tell the dogs," she said. Her voice was sulky like a disappointed teenager.

  "Mal said you smell different. Like lilacs or something sweet. Why do you smell different?" I asked her. "Are you playing with magic?"

  "You don't remember?" She stared at me. I shook my head no. She flopped back onto the couch and put a pillow over her face. I blinked at her mock fainting and crawled over her to yank the pillow away.

  "What's going on?" I asked.

  "We have to talk about something..."

  ***

  Mal and the others appeared by the front door chattering away only a few minutes after receiving the new information provided by our resident werecat. She was still lying on the sofa trying to hide under a pillow while I sat on top of her wrestling it away.

  "Why can't we go tonight? What if she was right and the magic has gone away and we can track them now?" Xany spoke to the guys until she saw me jerk the pillow out of Vanessa's hand and toss it away. Caden side-stepped the pillow as it slid past his feet.

  "Hey now, what's going on?" he asked. Xany looked in our direction and giggled.

  "I think we walked in on some foreplay, TB. Ohhh la la, NeeNee." She waved her hands in front of her.

  Vanessa snickered and I swatted her as Mal returned and plopped down in the armchair by the hearth. Caden whacked Mal on the shoulder, which, of course, caused him to roll off the chair onto the floor.

  "Easy there, bro, first day with your new feet?" he said before he stole Mal's spot. Mal grumbled and sprawled out on the carpet.

  "Jerk," he said. Caden laughed and pulled Xany into his lap.

  "You didn't answer my questions, Caden. Why can't we go now?" Xany said as she sat down with his guidance.

  "For the thousandth time, Xandrea Wade, Hank dismissed us for the night. It's up to him to elect who searches next," Mal said.

  "How would you feel if it was one of us who got taken, Mal? Besides, I wasn't even talking to you." Xany huffed at him.

  "It would be different then. We'd have more say. Chill out." He growled at her.

  Vanessa reached for another pillow and tried to smother herself with it. I yanked it from her again and she hissed at me.

  "That's not fair." Xany looked over at me. "What are you doing to that cat, Nee?"

  "She said we need to talk about something and now she's hiding instead of talking," I said.

  "Sounds like somebody I know." Xany smirked. I shook my head at her.

  "Did what she suggest about the magic help at all?" I asked. Vanessa moved me around so that I was sitting completely on her stomach rather than to the side. I huffed and squeezed her with my knees. Caden watched us and looked rather amused.

  "It did. Hank and the others are going to arrange to search the areas where the earlier disappearances occurred," he said. Vanessa purred under me as she listened to Caden.

  "There's no one in the Sept that can sense magics?" I asked.

  "Not right now, no." Caden shook his head.

  "It's not that hard. You just have to follow the tingles and the twinkles." Vanessa's voice sounded dreamy.

  "What if you can't feel the tingles or twinkles?" Xany looked at Vanessa oddly.

  She shrugged. "Then you just kiss Shawnee and it makes you feel tingly and her eyes twinkle," she said. Everyone erupted with laughter but I swatted her.

  "Okay, c'mere, NeeNee. I need to feel the tingles and twinkles." Xany grinned and baited Vanessa who turned to hiss at her. I shook my head at them and Xany jumped up and rushed over to pop me with a playful kiss. I shooed her away. Vanessa reached out to thrash at her, hissing wildly.

  "Okay okay, that's enough," I said to both of them.

  "It smells like flowers in here," Caden said out of nowhere.

  "Huh?" Xany looked at him.

  "I smell flowers," he repeated.

  "I don't." Xany sniffed the air as well. Caden shrugged and returned to idly twirling his mobile phone.

  "It's bothering you just as much, not being able to help." Xany nodded at his juggling.

  "'Course, but Hank and Barron have the final call. We have to respect that," he said. Xany pouted and put her head on his shoulder. Mal picked up the remote and turned the television on to check the late night news report, which caught the attention of Caden and Xany. I brought my focus back to Vanessa.

  "What did you want to talk about?" I whispered. She put her hands on my thighs.

  "It's embarrassing," she said. I moved to lie down beside her on the sofa and pulled the blanket over our heads. I propped it up with a pillow like a fort.

  "Okay, now we're in private."

  She turned on her side so that we were facing each other, but we both knew everyone could hear us just fine. The gesture seemed to comfort her at least.

  "You don't remember at all?" she asked.

  I shook my head. "There are a lot of things I don't remember, Ness. You've got to give me some hints here."

  She chewed her lip and glanced away from me. "Can't I be feline and tell you?" she pleaded.

  "Nope. English only." I ran my fingers through her hair. "What is it?"

  She took a deep breath. "Think about the end of summers in the past. Like in school and stuff..." I nodded. The only thoughts that really came to me were leaves on
the trees rather than snow on the ground.

  "I'm coming up dry here," I said.

  She glanced away again. "Do you ever remember me acting particularly different during that time of year?" she asked.

  "You act particularly different all year round," I said apologetically.

  She laughed but groaned. "Think about all the men..." she said with emphasis on the word men. That sparked something familiar and I tried hard to remember. I really wanted to make this easier for her if it were possible.

  "You sleep with guys year round, too. Or at least you did until lately," I said. She pinched me and I laughed. "I'm trying here, baby, I swear."

  "Did you ever notice that I was with significantly more guys around that time of year?" she said and took another deep breath.

  "I'm sorry, baby, I don't remember. What is it you're trying to tell me?" I asked. She slumped.

  "Some cats have heat. For a about a month each year, we can get pregnant more easily. Our numbers are a lot lower because of it, especially weretigers," she said in one quick exhale.

  "That sounds familiar. You're warning me about something, aren't you?"

  She nodded. "I um...can't help myself sometimes. It's like I have urges and I need to take care of it or I get really uncomfortable," she said. I could tell she was trying to soften the reality of it.