by Lauren Dane
He risked a smile, kissing her knuckles. “It’s the truth. I’d die to protect you from the tears I see in your eyes every time the subject comes up.”
“You’re absurdly good at getting out of trouble,” she muttered before kissing him. “No wonder you’re a lawyer.”
Renee was having her own heated discussion with Jack and Galen so Kendra took Max’s jaw in her hand, holding him in place. “No more. I accept that you’re nosy and pushy and in my business. I accept that you want to protect me and it means everything. This happened to me. To my mother and my sister. I need to see it end. I need to be part of that. Keeping me away from it doesn’t help the way you think it does. It makes me feel out of control and I really need control here. It’s the only way I can manage to get through it.”
She saw it in his eyes, when he’d understood exactly why he had to share this sort of thing with her. His sorrow that he’d missed it. And his resolution to tell her. Oh, he’d do this sort of thing again, it was who he was. But on this particular issue, he’d share everything. And what more could a girl ask for from an alpha cat?
“All this arguing is ruining my appetite so I think we should eat instead of fight.” She looked to Renee. Her sister had come through some rough times and Kendra hated that anything else would mar the happily-ever-after she’d achieved with her two men.
“From now on, you will share with Kendra and me whenever you receive new information about this situation.” There was no question in Renee’s statement and the men all nodded, agreeing. “Fine. Let’s eat.”
Gibson filled them in on the investigation. The information about the positive link had truly been the only thing he’d not told her, but it felt better to hear him lay it all out, complete with details about her father’s movements. What they’d found, where they’d found it and what it meant. He was careful and methodical, not drawing any conclusions unless the evidence merited it.
“You’re telling me our father and his wife are working with the mages to steal magic. Specifically the ones who’ve targeted Renee and now me.” Kendra sipped her coffee and thought.
Gibson nodded slowly. “Yes. And they’ve been a unit for quite a long time. From what we can put together, your father and Susan have been together, at least working together, since the year Kendra was born. Your mother may have been sure then and that’s why she took you to your aunt’s. Or she just suspected but couldn’t break away herself so she snuck you out.”
Kendra tried not to dwell on it just then. She had a job to do. “Mary told me about this magick, concealment and protection magick for one person on behalf of another. If that’s what my mother did, it might have been that she stayed in place to make a sacrifice strong enough to keep me hidden and Renee safe. It’s just conjecture at this point, but the way everything happened doesn’t make a whole lot of sense so it’s not that much crazier to think that.” And it had felt true when they’d discussed it.
“That may be it.” Gibson smiled briefly before continuing. “We managed to uncover their trail. From Gilroy to Santa Fe, where your stepmother read palms and ran crystal-healing seminars.”
Kendra growled. “She probably fleeced those who had true power, stealing their energies like a pickpocket.”
“We’ve found an arrest. A group of women filed assault charges against her. Said she’d physically harmed them during a reading. They let her go, but only after a full day in jail. My contacts in Santa Fe tell me there’d been a lot of suspicion toward Susan and your father the whole time you lived there.”
“I can’t believe I don’t remember that. I have had dreams of deserts and mountains, but that’s a common dreamscape so who knows.” Renee spooned up some of Amor’s delicious meatball soup.
“Your memories are beginning to fill in slowly. You’ll get it all back, though I wish we could scrub out the bad stuff first.” Jack squeezed her hand.
“Then they lived in New Orleans for a year, same sort of story, only this time they were run out of town. I’ve got investigators down there, seeing if we can’t connect up with some of these mages. Perhaps they’d have a reason to give us information if they thought it might hurt your father.”
“Be careful, Gibson. I think it’s important not to let these mages know how much power you have. I’d prefer it if you’d keep your distance and let humans deal with the mages when you’re poking around.”
“I take the safety of my people seriously. When you brought up the possible risks, I spoke to them about it to be sure they’re using local law enforcement and other shifters to get the info to stay out of the picture the best they can. I agree that it’s best to keep how much magick we have on the down low until you figure out how to handle this problem.”
Kendra nodded. “Thank you. So after New Orleans?”
“El Paso, Little Rock, and finally Boston where she opened her shop.”
“I imagine she’s stolen magick and life essence from thousands over the years.”
“She’s killed for it.” Renee spoke, putting her spoon down. “I know this, I saw it in her. Have always seen it in her. Not just our mother, but others.”
Galen’s cat shone in his eyes a moment. “She wanted to kill you, and there’s no reason for us not to believe she wasn’t part of selling you out to these other mages. Either way, she’ll be dealt with. They can’t hide from wolves and cats. Not for long.”
“When we find them, we’ll deal with them and end this threat.”
And then she could truly begin her life. Free of the shadow her father had cast on her life for as long as she could recall.
Chapter Fourteen
“Nice control.” Rosemary spoke from the other side of the room as Renee went through her paces in the practice space.
Two weeks had passed since the dinner. Not a whole lot of movement in the investigation. It wasn’t stalled so much as garnering small bits of information in the wake of a deluge. Max and Gibson both assured her it was a factor in narrowing down and focusing on the target. Gibson said it was often like this right before he got that final piece that broke an investigation open wide.
In the meantime, she had classes to teach and classes to take and a new life to adjust to on several levels. Max had been incredibly generous with his time and knowledge, answering every question, explaining, giving her the tools she’d need to be part of his family.
She knew she pestered him, knew it agitated him not to just take over and fix things. But he never made her feel guilty, even when she saw the exhaustion and annoyance with internal jamboree politics written all over him.
“Great job to both of you.” Rosemary clapped before hugging Renee and then Kendra. “I’m so impressed. You’re such a natural.”
Renee smiled, blushing, but clearly pleased with the praise.
“This is the coolest thing ever. Each new thing I learn makes me want to learn more.”
Jack grinned at his wife from his perch near the doors. He and Akio were on guard duty, along with Gibson’s right-hand man, Saul. Saul, who was also their brother-in-law, married to Diana, the third eldest de La Vega and a glass artist. The de La Vegas liked to keep family business in the family.
Saul was pretty awesome, so hanging with him wasn’t an imposition at all. He talked more than Gibson and didn’t complain if she wanted to stop for milkshakes on the way home from work.
“We should get over to dinner, Kendra. Max said he’d meet us there.”
“Five minutes. Let me change into a dress. It’s just in the bathroom so I’ll hurry.”
Max arrived at his parents’ home a little early. He’d wanted to speak with his father but ended up face to face with Beth, who’d wisely been avoiding him.
“Hey.” She rubbed her cheek along his and not for the first time, he wondered how it was she could be so good to him, so normal and affectionate with him, and so mean to Kendra and Renee.
“Hey yourself.” He let himself into the foyer and hung his coat up. “Why are you here? Is everything all righ
t?”
“Wanted to see Christina while she was around.”
Christina was their youngest sister, a history professor at Boston University who was about to leave to spend the next term in Spain with a small group of her students. He smiled. “Ah, good. I didn’t know if she’d be here tonight.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why? She’s my sister, I like seeing her. She and Kendra get on well, which is nice for my wife too.”
“No. Why a human? Why not Kelly, who you dated and seemed happy with until this bimbo blew into town. There are many beautiful, accomplished shifter females who’d have been better suited to you than Kendra.”
“Beth, you don’t even know Kendra, so how can you say that? I’m asking you seriously. See your problem, supposedly, is that she’s human. Well, Kendra never was, she’s a witch. And now she’s a shifter too. So what’s the real deal here? Why are you so dead set against liking her?”
“I think we have enough problems. We have enough solutions too. We don’t need to seek out any outsiders. We’re just fine without that. She may have a cat now, but she didn’t even get it on purpose. She’s rejecting what we are.”
He pushed from the wall. “I told Carlos and I’ll tell you, don’t fuck around with me or Kendra on this. As it happens, I agree we’ve got enough problems. But unlike you, Kendra is trying to help me solve them. Your bitterness is bad for you. Bad for me. Bad for the jamboree and for that baby you’re carrying. Let it go. Just ignore her. I’m not asking you to pretend to like her, though I think you would if you gave her a chance. I’m asking you to act like other families do. You go one way, she goes the other and no one needs to see any drama. There are children around all the time, soon to be yours. Do you want your baby growing up seeing all this antagonism all the time? If you push her, she’s going to push you back, and you know, as well as I do, how it’ll end.”
“I’m second born, Max. How do you know it’ll end up with Kendra victorious?”
“I would miss you every day for the rest of my life if something happened to you. I love you, even when you’re acting a fool. But my wife is a powerful witch and our bond and taking on a cat has made her even more powerful. She can take you out and she will if you push. You’ll end up excised from your family, you’d break Mami’s heart and still the result would be the same. Let go of your past hurts. Feel free to dislike my wife all you wish, but shut the fuck up about it already.”
He turned his back and went up the stairs where he knew his father waited.
Saul nodded to Gibson, who’d driven out to meet them both. There was some sort of ceremonial thing so Kendra waited patiently for it to conclude before Gibson held the door to the house open. “Come on inside. It’s early yet so you have a chance to see the fire pit and enjoy some quiet before the kids arrive.”
“Renee will be here shortly, though I expect you know that.” Kendra paused, noting a deliberate distance where usually he was more open. “What’s wrong?”
Gibson’s eyes skirted making full contact with hers. “Nothing. Just busy. I’ll be back shortly, I need to get something from my office.”
Kendra glanced over at Saul. “He’s odd today.”
Saul took her coat. “Darlin’, he’s odd every day. Like clockwork. Go on inside. I hear my wife’s voice and you’re good to go now that you’re here.” He rubbed his cheek along hers and ambled off toward Diana’s velvety laugh.
Kendra took advantage of not having a guard right on her heels and of the quiet to simply walk through the main part of the house and look at things. She smiled at the pictures on the walls and framed on desks and shelves. So much love in this family, so much respect and understanding, even when they were punching each other in the face.
She snorted a laugh and turned to find herself face to face with one of Carlos’s friends, a far-flung de La Vega cousin, Ramon. He was like one of those sitcom characters who stood behind the bully and said yeah a lot. She should have kept walking, but it was important to stand her ground with him. She was higher ranked and he needed to deal with it. He’d made comments the last time they all had dinner and she was just so very done. She’d promised to do her best to keep attending these dinners, and she knew how much it meant to Max that she did. So if that was going to happen, she needed to start acting like them more. Grinding this douchebag into a greasy spot would be a nice first step.
“Yes?” she asked.
“What are you doing to my family?”
“This again? I’m beginning to get so bored with you, Ramon. You don’t like me. Point made. What else is there to add that’s not clichéd and tedious?”
He growled and she raised a brow his way. It wasn’t that she was afraid of him, but that she hated having to do this because she hated harming Max.
“Doesn’t it matter to you that this hurts Max? That it hurts your aunt and uncle who’re doing their best to lead this jamboree in such troubling times? Do you have no shame?” It bothered her, this sort of thing. Not that she expected everyone to like her, that wouldn’t be normal in any family. But this faction in the jamboree didn’t seem to care how much damage they did, they didn’t even seem to think about the repercussions of what they did. And that was dangerous.
“He’d be better off without you anyway. I’d be doing him a favor.”
She didn’t bother with her snort of derision at this statement. He needed a spanking, and Max had stressed over and over that she had to give one to make a point. So she spooled up her energy, letting him see it, hoping he’d back off. But he seemed too stupid to get it and fear.
“Don’t use your filthy magick here, witch.”
This, of course, was the worst possible thing he could say. It pushed many of her buttons and had her fisting her hands to keep from popping him one.
“Some mouth you’ve got on you. I’ll use my magick anywhere I please. I don’t need your permission. I outrank you. Now back off.”
He moved so fast she would have missed it were she not a shifter as well. But she was and she saw the razor sharp claw coming at her face and jerked to the side as she brought a warding hand up, sending her energy through it, enough to lift him from the gorgeous hardwood floor. And enough that when she let go, he clattered down, the breath whooshing from his lips.
It was then Max let his presence be known with a snarled growl. Then he reached down, grabbed his cousin by the scruff of the neck and hauled him up the steps before tossing him out the front door. Kendra watched in awe at how Max moved, as he followed his cousin, getting close enough to own the other man’s personal space. “You’re barred from jamboree gatherings for sixty days.” He hauled off and punched his cousin square in the face. “That’s for showing claw to my wife.” He punched him again. “And that’s for being so stupid you’d do it after you were warned.”
It was at that point she noticed they had an audience. She’d knocked Ramon on his ass in front of pretty much his entire family and none of them seemed mad. Not even Beth, who shrugged and walked away.
“Kendra, would you please come up with me?” Max asked, or well, he sounded like he asked, but she knew she needed to speak to the alpha pair about what had happened.
But he didn’t take her directly to the office. He hustled her down a long, quiet hallway and into a room that still scented strongly of him.
“This is your old room.”
“Are you all right?”
She looked around at the space that, despite several decades of his absence, retained his presence. “I’m fine.” She turned, looking up into his face, treasuring it already. “Are you mad?”
She found herself on her back, on his bed, Max looming over her, the light of passion in his eyes and a very ready cock pressing against her mound. Then she smiled. “You’re a filthy boy.”
“You have no idea what it does to me to see you like that. Tough. In charge. Owning your role.” He said it, but the words were nearly a snarl as desire overtook him. He needed her so badly he couldn�
��t see straight.
“Then take me,” she whispered and he knew she’d felt the blast of his want through their bond.
And he drowned in her, taking, giving, consuming her, giving over to the near-narcotic effect she had on him, on his cat. Sure in the knowledge as they slid skin to skin, that he’d found home.
“Wow.”
She spoke from where she’d burrowed into his side, something else about her he adored. She sought him out, taking comfort from his body. It meant everything.
“Glad you’re not mad.”
Even without seeing her expression, he knew she teased, a smile on lips that would be kiss swollen.
“I’m mad at him. At the situation. It’s a waste of time better spent on other things. But it’s not about you.”
“This sucks.” She paused and started to laugh. “Not this part, this part’s pretty awesome. But I think I’ve had my fill of family acting like they’ve lost their damned minds. I hate that it hurts you. I’m sorry for that. Sorry I had a part in it. If it would be easier, I can stop coming to these things.”
He growled, pinching a cheek of the ass he could write epic poems to. “Not yours to make up for. Now, let’s get dressed and set to rights. I was with my father just before you arrived. He says he’s got something to tell us.”
“Oh great. So everyone’s gonna know we came up here and got it on. Icing is that your parents will know.” Blushing she headed toward the bathroom. “You ripped my hose.”
“Yeah. Well you’re going to need to carry around a change of such things. Or I can tuck them in a drawer or my pocket.” He leered as she disappeared into the bathroom.
“Or, you could control your lustful impulses.”
They both laughed at that.
By the time he’d gotten himself dressed and straightened, she came out looking beautifully unmussed, though it would have been impossible not to see the glow she had about her. “Don’t need hose anyway. Your legs are perfect.”
She smiled, flattered. “Thank you for saying so. But they’re cold. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s April.”