by PJ Schnyder
“Thanks,” she murmured. One sip and she almost moaned as the wonderfully complex flavor rolled through her, rich and creamy sweet with enough bitterness to accent the spicy character of the coffee. “You're right, this coffee is the best.”
“Don't mention it.”
On the other side of the counter, Adam surreptitiously adjusted his growing interest in watching Mackenzie enjoy her coffee. Even in sweats, she presented a tantalizing combination of adorably cute, and luscious curves. A few strands of dark silk hair had escaped the cap, and fell against the curve of her cheek. No one had a right to look so good first thing in the morning. And the way she enjoyed her coffee, Adam wanted to nip at her plump lower lip, and tease her into letting him taste the coffee directly from her mouth.
Luckily, or maybe not, her father emerged from the hallway dressed, and looking barely awake. Ruthlessly, Adam shoved his response deep inside. Oblivious to his reaction, she kept sipping at her coffee. Considering how much he'd be seeing her in the near future, he needed to get himself under control.
“Coffee, Dad." She spoke without taking her attention from her own cup. Nick grunted and nodded to Adam.
“Cream or sugar?” asked Adam.
“Black.” Nick's voice came out gravelly, and the creases across his forehead seemed even deeper.
Adam handed him a cup, and hid another grin as Nick leaned against the counter. Apparently, neither the man nor his daughter talked much in the morning.
“It's not like we're not happy to see you," said Mackenzie, sitting with one leg tucked under her, “but I thought you were going to be bringing company.”
Adam revised his observation. Apparently, the talking flowed easier after coffee.
“Funny, that.” He took another sip before continuing. “Turns out I'll be your own personal Sentinel for a while.”
“Come again?” Big brown eyes widened and blinked, once, twice.
"My pride brother is going to be laid up for a week or so." Adam shrugged. "Since you got to know me yesterday, we figured you wouldn't mind having me as a buddy."
"A buddy." Mackenzie said it slowly, as if she didn't understand the meaning, which she probably didn't, not the way the pride used the buddy system.
“You'll need a buddy for a couple of reasons.” Adam explained, holding up a few fingers and ticking them off as he gave her reasons. “You need someone capable of helping you control your beast until you can learn to do it on your own. You also need someone to explain pride social behavior to you, especially since you're single and definitely interesting to any male in his right mind. I'll be there to warn the interested males away until you know enough to make a choice and communicate it properly.”
Nick scowled, crossing his arms. “Tell them to move along or introduce themselves to family first.”
Adam paused, eyeing her father warily. With a look as deadly as Nick’s, he wondered how she had ever dated at all.
When he didn't say anything more, Adam continued in a slightly more serious tone.
“Finally, the attack may have happened in the city, under human police jurisdiction, but you were attacked by a shapeshifter who stalked you first.”
Mackenzie nodded, her face carefully blank. “I knew him, dated him for a few weeks, before…it happened.”
She didn't say the rest, but Adam had access to her full file because he'd been assigned as her Sentinel. She’d come through counseling well, managing the trauma better than other victims in the past. The attack had been purely physical, not sexual, but Adam still intended to keep her interactions with adult males to a minimum until she demonstrated she could handle close contact.
“It's the responsibility of his pride to make him accountable for what he's done to you.” Adam carefully kept his expression and tone neutral. If she knew the anger he felt for the heinous crime against her, she would be afraid of more than her attacker. “Your stalker hasn't been caught yet, but he will be. Until he is, I'll be guarding you specifically. It's what Sentinels do.”
“Guard duty?” Her tone held a slight bitterness, but she didn't say more.
Nick scowled. “The police set guards on our doors. Useless. More than useless. They made it clear they had better things to be doing.”
She spoke up as her father started to choke up with his anger. “I'd rather not have you stuck with me because you drew the short straw.”
Adam shook his head. “In the pride there are Enforcers and Sentinels. They both protect the pride, but in different ways.” She watched him with half-hooded eyes. He didn't know how to read the look, but she was listening so he continued. “The Enforcers are forward units who travel beyond pride territory to deal with threats before they reach the pride. Sentinels like me stay in the territory providing direct protection. You would have been assigned a Sentinel no matter what, but they figured since Jake still isn't back yet and your original buddy is laid up, I could teach you and provide effective coverage at the same time. It makes sense.”
“You've protected others before?”
He studied her youthful face. She had her head cocked to the side, considering him. The childlike stance summoned memories of a girl curled in the corner of a room, splattered in blood and staring at him, fearing him. Ruthlessly he shut them away as he answered Mackenzie. “Yes, I have.”
Too serious, he needed to back away from the past. She had him pinned under a strangely intense gaze. Like the eyes of the girl in his memories, hers held shadows of evils she never should have seen. The darkness squelched Adam's attraction to her for the time being, waking his protective nature instead. She wasn't ready for an adult male's interest. Of course, his inner jaguar tried to insist he could be interested and protect her at the same time.
“What are the chances the bastard will find her here?” Mackenzie's father cut into his jumbled thoughts. Adam shrugged off the random musings and refocused on the conversation and Nick's question.
“Dad…” She began, but her voice trailed off uncertainly.
“Possible, but not likely.” Adam answered them both with confidence and maybe a touch of feline arrogance. “There are Enforcers already out looking for him before he can reach River Gap territory. I'm here because I'll already be teaching you. We like to be thorough.”
Mackenzie let his words sink in, giving her a sense of comfort. She almost thanked him, but then Adam continued with a bright question. “So, who's ready for walkies?”
Mackenzie's teeth snapped shut. No one should be so bright and cheerful, especially not in the morning. What happened to the intense man she'd been studying only moments before? Besides, what man took impromptu little walkies? Who said walkies anyway?
“Pardon?” She gave him a chance to revise his invitation.
“Hiking.” Amber eyes lit with merriment. “No time like the present for you to get to know the pride territory. Besides, you need to learn to smell other things besides coffee.”
He won a chuckle out of her father. Mackenzie glared at the betrayal, but Nick only shrugged. He obviously liked Adam.
“Go learn, Bonk-head.” Her father tapped the rim of her cap. “I'll call your mother and finish packing.”
He had to return home on the evening train. He’d spent most of his vacation days with Mackenzie while she recovered from her injuries and then while she hid inside her home, too afraid to leave. His work wouldn't wait much longer. Besides, it strained both of them, knowing he had even a little fear of what she could do.
They needed space, and she needed to deal with what she’d become.
Mackenzie nodded and stood. “Okay, Dad.”
It took effort to leave the relative safety of the guest house. She refused to be afraid to walk outside anymore. Or at least, she would face the daylight. The dark of night would be goal for another day.
“We'll only be a few hours,” said Adam, “Back in time to take you both over to lunch.”
An hour later found them in the midst of deep woods. Sunlight slanted through the tree
branches in shimmering golden curtains. Birds called out and squirrels played hide and seek amongst the leaves and trunks. Darkness became a memory. Instead, rocks and roots provided an entirely different challenge.
“Tell me again why the great outdoors is so great,” panted Mackenzie as she struggled to keep up the pace Adam set for her. Somehow she'd thought being a shifter had her in pretty good shape. After recovering from the Change, she'd become significantly stronger and faster than any human in optimal condition. Obviously, his conditioning topped her.
“The wild wasn't shaped by the hand of man.” He pointed out. “It is what it is and you fit into it or you don't. That kind of simple acceptance is nice to find once in a while.”
“I thought the Conservation brought back most of the wilderness areas, recovered after the Cataclysmic Wars and all the systematic damage done before them.”
“You know some history, but do you really know what the Conservation is?”
“I know the Conservation is the only central governing entity for the shape-shifter groups. I'm not real clear as to how it governs or how they established it, but it is a governing body of people. Doesn't it mean what is wild now was 'shaped by man' back then?” She dusted off her pants and pulled her hair up and away from her neck to let the air cool her skin.
His nostrils flared, catching a scent on the breeze. “The Conservation put the land and water off limits so nature could reclaim lost territory. Work crews cleared out rubble and used technology to neutralize pollution. Representatives helped reintroduce a few species native to the area to help re-establish healthy ecosystems, but the wilderness reformed basically as it would have naturally. No shaping, but maybe some judicious coaxing.”
“Ah. All this accomplished in only a couple hundred years.” She sniffed at the air experimentally, following his lead.
“It takes a surprisingly short period of time for the chaos of nature to reassert itself and it does it in an ordered way, really, if you know how to look at it.” Picking up a dead twig, he snapped it between his fingers. Seemingly insignificant, the movement subtly demonstrated his strength, greater than anyone’s she’d ever met. What she'd originally thought to be a brittle twig turned out to be a branch thicker than a cigar.
“Okay, so the great outdoors is pretty amazing.” She decided not to watch Adam move around the way he did, so easily in the woods. All power and muscle, he embodied the perfect specimen of attractive male. Yum. Sweaty and tired, she didn't feel anywhere near his match. And, male companionship fell pretty low on her priority list for the near future. Keeping in mind her last choice in men, she made a rule to herself to avoid any at all until she felt whole again. “Why are we rushing around so much? I thought we were taking a short hike? This is more like heavy duty hiking up and down hills and over logs…and there were those rocks back there you swear don't make a mountain, but you could have fooled me.”
He gave her his gorgeous smile again with a hint of wicked in those amber eyes. Possibly, she'd make an exception to her rule about companionship. “Sorry, Kitten, but I needed to know what you could do before I start training you. I need to know where to start.”
She let her face darken into a scowl, but his amusement only increased. “So, this was all a physical fitness test?”
“Basically, yeah.”
“Ever heard of a structured set of tests instead of roaming all over the back end of nowhere?” She blew out an exasperated huff, blowing a few stray hairs up and off her forehead.
“Structured is for city living.” Adam swept his arm out to indicate the woods around him. “Your body is more challenged by taking on what comes.”
“Fine.” She relented. It hadn't been frivolous or a direct deception. “How'd I do?”
Adam shrugged. “There's no passing grade out here. I got an idea of what you can do and what you can't. That's what matters.”
“And up next?”
"I like the way you're constantly up for the next challenge." He paused and gave her an insufferable grin. He even had the nerve to take in a huge breath of air, expanding his chest until she could see the cords of muscle ripple under the stretched fabric of his shirt. “You need to learn to be at home out here. So, relax and enjoy the walk back. It'll be a real walk this time. Fresh air is good for you and the great outdoors is something the new part of you will crave.”
Doubtful, she paused on the trail and took in a slow breath. Scents flooded through her and she struggled to identify them all.
“Close your eyes.” His voice compelled her, guiding her. “It'll help you focus on the one sense if you close off one of the others for a bit.”
Mackenzie squashed the flutter in her chest in reaction to his deeper tone, but did as instructed. Every once in a while, his lighter, cheerful façade broke and she couldn't help but respond to the more serious side of him.
The next breath cleared more easily, carrying the clean scent of trees, earthy leaves and maybe something minty. Each of the scents had a different character and some of them held sun-touched warmth while others gave her impressions of cool, moist shade. Adam's spicy musk teased at her nose and the air currents against her face made her aware of where he stood, within arm's reach.
Like the coffee he brought, he had a rich laugh and an elusive bitterness to compliment his spicy scent. But, she couldn't quite pin down the bitterness. He covered it too well with the happy-go-lucky attitude, and at some point in the morning she figured she must have imagined it.
“Is there mint nearby?” She decided to focus on the elusive scent of herb. She'd rather munch rabbit food than tell him he smelled good.
“Actually, yeah.” His voice filled with approval, and maybe a little amusement. Getting to recognize the tones would take more time. “You'll find it here and there in patches.”
“Mint is good in tea to settle your stomach.” She stretched her mouth in a quiet smile as she opened her eyes slowly.
“Got a tummy ache, Kitten?”
She shrugged. “Nah, Mom always said so.”
He made a play on words as he turned to keep walking. “So…sew buttons?”
“Enough with the evil puns,” she snapped, even her inner cat annoyed with the hokey turn of phrase. He always seemed to have a pun or a joke ready, and she'd known him for less than a full day.
He turned to her and shook his head in mock disapproval. “Tsk. So easy to get a rise out of you.”
“Better than Mr. Happy Happy Joy Joy.” Irritation rushed through her, tightening her chest and raising fine hairs on the back of her neck. Lifting her lips away from her teeth, she growled at him, the rumble beginning in her chest and following her words out. “Not everything is all jokes and puns and easy, laid back… walkies.”
“For someone so determined to be positive and accepting of what's happened to her, you hang on to the dark side of things and stay grumpy.” He shot back easily, his voice still light.
Her fingers curled into claws, and she fisted them in an effort to control herself. The anger built and her cat snarled inside her head. “There's no choice but to move forward. I won't wallow in pitying myself. I won't let him win.”
She glared at him, knowing her pupils were changing shape as her vision sharpened. She bit out her next words in a flash of insight. “I won't walk around all cheerful pretending I don't have issues to face.”
His face grew serious, light amber eyes darkening to a burnished gold. “Issues. There are issues it takes a lifetime to protect people from.”
Again, she calmed at the serious tone of his voice. The bitterness had risen in his voice again, the taste of a memory. She hadn't expected to hit so close to home with her jab.
In a perverse way, she liked him better serious. But it didn't mean she wanted to cause him pain. She leaned her rump against a nearby rock, letting her hands fall open against her lap. Looking down at them, she saw human hands with only red skin at her fingertips to hint at the claws pricking beneath.
She softened her ne
xt words. “Some people don't want protection. How can you protect people from who you are? What you are? And still like yourself?”
“You learn how to control your beast.” He had his jovial tone back as quickly as it'd gone. “You are seriously too easy to tease, Kitten.”
“I used to take jokes better,” she admitted it to him, and to herself. When had she let him give her a nickname? She didn't know, but somehow it was the only thing he seemed to say all the time without tweaking her temper. And, her temper rose past her control all the time.
“Shifters have a wider range of extremes.” He bent for a moment to snag a few leaves close to the ground. Handing her a sprig of mint, he continued walking. “We see more clearly, farther, and don't need as much light. We hear sounds humans can't hear and at greater distances. We smell much more than feeble human noses. We're faster and more powerful. So, it makes sense that we feel more strongly.”
“We're a moody bunch, huh?” She tried for levity, pushing away from the rock and walking a few feet to one side.
Half a smile tugged at his mouth at her try. “We swing pretty drastically from mood to mood sometimes. It depends on the circumstance. That's why you have a Sentinel to guard you. I'll help you manage the swings until you can control yourself on your own.”
He paused then continued with a hint of sympathy. “I know it's rough, Kitten, but it's easier if you stay away from brooding. The lighter your mood, the easier your cat is to keep in check.”
“So, why is it just getting angry?” She struggled to understand, frustrated with the emotions seething inside her. “Why am I not blindingly happy like you?”
A rueful chuckle met her question. “Ah well, the rage comes easiest. Your cat feels rage for a lot of reasons. Think on it.”
She nibbled on the mint, savoring the cool flavor as it spread across her tongue. She’d always associated rage with anger. When Adam prompted her, she realized there were other reasons too, if she would admit them, reasons driving her to be grumpier than usual, even for morning.