by T. A. Foster
“It’s like you read my mind. I’m starving.”
“Did you get any sleep?” She started arranging the food on the coffee table.
“Yeah, some.” I wasn’t about to tell her my eyes had been open for only an hour after she left.
“You need it.” She looked alert. Her eyes were bright and green. Damn, I couldn’t get over the color.
“I think I’ll be calling in sick to work tomorrow.”
“I hadn’t thought about that.” She handed me a stack of napkins. “Can you work from home? Do they let historians do that?”
“A little. I could say I’m taking a writing day to work on the new book.”
“You should do that.” She walked to the kitchen and returned with glasses of water for each of us.
“Where did these come from?” She had a spread of grilled cheese, fries, and brownies.
“My favorite spot for comfort food, Cartwright’s. Thought you could use some comfort.” She smiled.
“What I could use is some morphine.”
“Not any better?” She drew closer to my leg, carefully lifting the bandage. “This looks worse, Zac.”
“Nah, there’s bad lighting in here. We should eat.”
The way her eyes squinted indicated she didn’t believe me, but for now, she was going to let me have my dinner without insisting I go to the ER.
“Thanks for coming back.”
Her eyes lifted to mine. “I told you I would.”
“But you didn’t have to. Thanks.”
“I’m not going to leave you here to suffer. I really wanted to get back earlier, but I had to take care of a few things.”
“I understand. You’ve got a lot going on with the end of the semester.”
“You could say that.”
I reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. I couldn’t help it. When she was close, I wanted to draw her closer, pull her next to me, and wrap my arms around her. I tried to shake it off, but this girl had gotten in my head.
“Do you have exams to study for or projects?” I asked.
“Both.” She pulled a string of cheese from her sandwich. “I’m in a group that has a final project due and then the rest of my classes have a final exam.”
“I remember those days. I think I loved everything about college except finals week.”
“Me too.”
We ate until there wasn’t a single fry left. I was glad she wasn’t a salad-only type of girl. I had dated my share of those.
“Can I get you anything else?” She started to clear the paper bags from the table.
“How about a beer? I’ve got a few in the fridge.”
“I guess that would be ok. You’re not on any pain meds.” She returned a few minutes later holding a pair of cold beer bottles.
“Thanks.” The beer was a relief. Maybe I could drink enough to numb the pain in my leg.
“I saw your gym in the garage. What do you do out there?” She tossed the beer cap on the table.
“It’s a good place to get my workout in. I haven’t found a gym with all the equipment I need, so I started putting it together myself. It was in a spare room in my last apartment, but the garage works. It’s actually bigger.”
“You box?”
“More kickboxing than regular boxing. I started focusing on tai chi. It’s a good stress reliever.” I smiled at her. “I picked it up on one of my trips.”
“Trips? Was this one of those where you stayed for a while?”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“Maybe you could show me some time when you’re up for it.”
“As soon as this leg is healed, we’ll do a session together.”
If she looked half as cute kickboxing as she did running, I’d have to find a way to set up more workouts. She didn’t need to know I had been running from darkness when I started. I started to feel like I was hiding so much from her.
“Do you think you could train someone to fight?”
“Like self-defense training? I could definitely do that. Do you need some help? Worried about the big cats in the woods?” I had to admit there was nothing I could teach her when it came to what I had faced.
She smiled. “Maybe. You can never be too careful.”
“Very true. But it’s not an overnight art. It takes time. Dedication. Patience.”
“I think it’s pretty impressive. How long have you been doing it?” she asked.
It had been six months in the Japanese countryside. It was gut wrenching and painful, but it breathed some sort of life back into me.
“It’s part of me now. I can’t remember not doing it.”
“I get that.”
She tipped the bottle back, and then sighed. “I was thinking about your writing. Maybe you should try a different book. This cat thing seems dangerous. Wouldn’t you rather get into the history of the pirates who founded the town? The Garson story was really great. Or maybe the mayor who outlawed children for a year? That guy was psycho.”
I studied her. No matter when or where, she was trying to steer me away from the she-panther. “You don’t like the she-panther story.”
“It’s not that. I just think there might be more interesting historical events from the town out there. Things that are real.”
“But I think she is real.” I watched as she flinched at my words.
“I know you were attacked in the woods last night by an animal. But come on, Zac, it wasn’t part of the town’s folklore. I just don’t want you spinning your wheels. That’s all. Houses aren’t haunted. Leprechauns don’t lead you to a pot of gold. And there certainly aren’t any panthers in Sullen’s Grove.”
She sat next to my hip, her body quickly slinking into the space. I knew men fell in love with their nurses all the time. It was a part of the history of war. I felt as if I was a wounded soldier, alive because she had stayed by my side. I didn’t know how else to describe this. She touched my skin and it fired. She looked in my eyes and I knew she could see my soul. She spoke and it was as if she was purring at me, begging me to kiss her. It was more than a patient-nurse syndrome. I was falling way too fast.
I called a truce. “What if we agree for now I’ll drop it?” I suggested.
“Really?” She smiled.
“Really.” I felt like I had accomplished something monumental. I made her happy.
She pulled out her phone. “It’s getting late. I need to get going.”
“Think you could help me to my room? I don’t want to sleep on the couch again.” It was lame. It was predictable. But I didn’t care. I wasn’t about to let her walk out of here tonight. I couldn’t.
“Sure.” She stood. “Now just be careful.” She helped me stand. This wasn’t the time to tell her I had made it to the shower on my own.
I pointed to the end of the hall where my bedroom was. I hopped on my good leg, using her shoulder as a crutch for the other one. We maneuvered through the bedroom door.
“Here you go.” She released my arm as I sat on the edge of the bed.
“Thanks.”
She smiled. For a second, I thought she was going to lean down to kiss me. The hesitation was in her eyes. “You’re welcome.”
I couldn’t break away. I didn’t want to. The nearness of her drove me crazy. There was more light than dark. I wanted the light. “I know this is a lot to ask, but would you stay with me again tonight?”
My heart thudded. My breath quickened. He asked me to stay over. And it wasn’t like last night, nothing like it.
I wanted to take my time and make a rational decision. One that fit all the circumstances I was dealing with. One I wouldn’t regret tomorrow. One that wouldn’t put his life in danger. One that would keep us both alive.
I was the one holding us in this moment. My indecision creating energy, feeding the connection we felt, giving us time to think about what it meant if I stayed, and what it ended if I left.
He didn’t move. His eyes pressed mine for a response.
“Stay,” he whispered.
“For a little bit,” I answered. I still had patrol, but he didn’t need to know that. “I’ll stay…until I have to go.”
I climbed into the bed, aligning myself behind him, careful not to touch his leg. I nuzzled my chin against his shoulder, sliding my hand around his chest. My fingers moved slowly, experiencing his skin. The smoothness of it, the firmness of his muscles, the ridges over his chest. I inhaled his scent, my head filled with it. He smelled like juniper and something masculine.
We should sleep. We both needed sleep, but as the seconds passed and my body fell into the rhythm of his breath, my chest pressed into his back, my fingers trying to still the want to explore him, I felt more alive than sleepy. It was the newness of him, the way I didn’t know him. The way I wanted to discover him.
It was like a fever sweeping through me, taking my veins in waves, pushing through my body until every inch of me felt warmth. I wanted to wrap myself around him, take him with me, but I couldn’t. We couldn’t.
I pulled away and rolled on my back. I needed air.
“You ok?” He could only roll so far. His leg kept him from lying on his left side.
I stared at the ceiling fan. “I’m fine. I’m going to try to sleep. That’s all.”
I steadied my breath and watched the blades circle. If I counted the rotations enough times, maybe I would forget I was sleeping next to an irresistible guy.
He propped up on his elbow. I didn’t need a light to see how he was staring at me. There was nothing but lust in those blue eyes. “I don’t know if I can sleep.”
I felt it again, the burning, the want. I looked away.
People were missing. People were counting on me to find them. He wasn’t going to bleed to death tonight. I couldn’t let myself steal this kind of time. It was selfish.
I wish I could be the type of queen who was selfish, but that wasn’t me. The Nox came first.
“I’ve got to go.” I landed on my feet on the other side of the bed. It was abrupt after agreeing to spend the night, but I was afraid I would talk myself into staying if I looked into his eyes again.
“What happened? What’s wrong?” He looked disappointed.
“Nothing. I have a lot going on. It’s complicated.”
“Not the first time I’ve heard that.”
I paused at the door. “I want to stay, but not tonight. I have to take care of a few things first. I-I—” There wasn’t any way to make this right. I had ruined tonight.
He still looked confused. “Good luck with whatever is complicating your life.”
“Thanks. I’ll check on you tomorrow.”
I wanted to crawl back in bed with him, and do all the things he was thinking about, but I didn’t have the luxury of time. For a split second, I had let myself believe I deserved a minute to rest, maybe even deserved a distraction from the crisis destroying my life. But queens don’t have those choices. I cursed myself for forgetting my responsibilities and my mind.
I closed the bedroom door. There was a witch I needed to see.
If he was surprised to hear from me, he didn’t let on. Detective Grace said we could meet in private, preferably somewhere no one would see us.
After I hung up from our call, I drove downtown. There was an old tobacco warehouse under construction. He said we could meet there.
I didn’t spend much time in this part of Sullen’s Grove. It was too far from campus to be a regular college hangout, and it wasn’t anywhere near the woods where I patrolled at night.
I stepped over a beam, kicking a bucket full of nails by accident. It appeared this was going to be a condo conversion. I could see the framework for individual rooms.
“Hey, there.” He appeared from the dark end of the building. I wondered if he had been watching me long.
“Hi.” I was nervous. I was about to out who I was. “Detective Grace.”
“Just call me Ian.” He walked toward me. “I thought we could talk here. It’s safe. I cloaked us when you walked in. We don’t have to worry about anyone seeing or hearing us.”
“Cloaked?”
“Yes, the doors are sealed. No one can get in.” He leaned against a sawhorse. “So, what is it you need help with? Should I assume it has something to do with that animal attack last night?”
I hadn’t thought through all the consequences of working with a witch. All I could concentrate on was getting the girls back. What if he had sealed me in and I was the one on lockdown? What if Case had gotten to him first? I was starting to doubt my instincts to trust him.
“First, I need to know what your angle is. Why do you want to help me?” I asked.
“Because I like helping people. I’m a cop.” He shoved his hands in his pockets.
“But you’re also a witch.”
“First timer?”
“I don’t usually reach out.”
“Then whatever it is, it must be pretty serious.”
I tried to gauge him. He had blond hair, green eyes, but not deep like mine. He was a good-looking guy. I couldn’t detect anything sinister about him.
“It is. My friends have been kidnapped.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Kidnapped? Who are they? Did you report them missing?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s not an ordinary human kidnapping. They were taken by something more supernatural.”
“Who?”
“The king of the Jaguar Tribe.” I finally sat on the sawhorse across from him. We would be here awhile.
“Can’t say I know him.”
“I wish I didn’t.” I let a low growl slip.
“That bad?” he asked.
“We’re betrothed through the council. Although, I’m not going through with it. Thus, the kidnappings. He’s taken my friends to prove a point.”
Ian looked like he was thinking it over. “And how exactly are you going to get out of the council’s commands?”
“It doesn’t matter to me what they command. I’m not marrying someone and handing over my territory.”
“And Sullen’s Grove is your territory?”
I nodded. “It has been since I was born. I’m sworn to protect it. If I marry Case, then it becomes his territory. I lose my kingdom. I lose my ability to shift.”
“What?” He looked alarm. “What kind of shifter are you?”
I was hoping maybe we could have this entire conversation without divulging my identity, but if I needed his help, I had to be honest.
“I’m Dare. Queen of the Nox. I’m a she-panther.”
His eyes widened. “Should I be calling you your majesty?”
I let a smile slip. “No. That’s only during formal events. Dare is fine.”
“Honestly, I’ve met a lot of shifters, but never a panther. I was starting to think you were only a legend.” He laughed.
“You mean like the famous Sullen’s Grove witches?” I taunted.
“Yeah, exactly like those.”
I was starting to feel at ease with him. He had a calming effect.
“I don’t understand why you won’t be able to shift anymore. Not that I’m condoning arranged marriages, because I don’t. Not cool.”
“It gives me hope that someone else in the magical community has some common sense.” I sighed. “I’ll give you the short version of the story. This is what happens. Panther shifters are given territory at birth, under their father’s reign. When it’s time to marry, which is when the female turns twenty-two, she gives her territory to her husband. He sticks around until he knows she’s carrying his cub, which usually takes less than a month.” This part was embarrassing. “She-panthers usually get pregnant in the first few times together.” I skipped ahead. “Anyway, he leaves and moves on to his next wife. But when a she-panther gives birth, she transfers all of her power to her cub. She loses the ability to shift again. Her magic is completely transferred.”
He looked completely stunned. “That is screwed up.”
“I know.”
&n
bsp; “And it just keeps perpetuating?”
“Yes. Well, not anymore. I’m ending it.”
“What do you mean?” He pressed his lips into a thin line.
“I’ve spent years gathering other she-panthers who would be willing to defy the council. I brought them together. We’re not going to marry any shifters, and we’re certainly not going to have a fatherless cub we have to raise alone. We don’t want to be human. I don’t want to stop protecting the city. Case doesn’t care about Sullen’s Grove. He just wants to add land to his kingdom.”
“How did you become a queen? Is it ok I ask that?”
It was a reasonable question. “My father was a king. It’s my birthright.”
“How did I not know this was going on?” Ian looked angry.
“It’s not witch business, I guess.”
“No, it’s not, but it’s the magical community’s.”
“I’m not asking you to get involved with the council. I just need help finding my friends. I was thinking there might be a spell or something you could do. If I can get them back and we go into hiding, Case can’t find us.”
“And you’re going to hide out forever? How does that work?”
“We’re not. I just need to get past my birthday. It’s in June.”
“And then what?”
I bit my lower lip. “I’m not sure. It’s never happened before. We’re defying everything I’ve ever known in the shifter kingdom.”
“You realize this is extremely dangerous?”
“I’m not scared of the council, but I am worried about the girls. I don’t know where they are, and I’m not sure anymore if Case would hurt them. He has become unpredictable. Desperation is making him dangerous.”
“Right. Well, I can do a Locality Spell tonight if you need. That is the easy part.”
I smiled. “You can?” For the first time in days, I felt a slight glimmer of hope.
“Yes. I can help you find them. You just need to bring me something that belonged to each of them. I can pinpoint where they are on here.” He pulled out a map from his back pocket.
“You don’t see those very often.”
“No, but I’ve tried the spell on GPS and it won’t work. Has to be something with zero interference.”