There was still two weeks before they had to leave for Maine for the formal recognition celebration. With both babies down for naps, the Triad taking the afternoon off after wracking their brains all morning, and the world apparently not about to end before dinner, Elain sought out Cail, where he was working in his office.
There was an errand she’d been wanting to run and hadn’t had the time to do since their return from Maine.
Mostly because she hadn’t had the opportunity to get away from Lina and Mai long enough to do it without them asking a lot of questions she didn’t want to answer.
Rather, couldn’t answer.
“Hey, I need a favor.”
Cail looked up. “Yeah? Sure.”
“You haven’t heard it yet.”
He pulled her into his lap and kissed her. “I don’t need to.”
“I need to go to Lacey’s for a little bit.”
He frowned for a moment before his brows lifted. “Ah. Not a road trip.”
She smiled. “Not a road trip.”
“And it can’t wait?”
She shook her head.
“Okay. Any idea how long you’ll be gone so I know what to tell Ain and Brod if they get back first?”
“Probably not long. No more than a couple of hours, if that.”
“Take your cell phone, please.”
She leaned in to rub noses with him. “Thank you for not asking more.”
“Hey, I know this has to be a Seer Says thing. I’m good with that.” He touched his finger to the tip of her nose. “As long as you don’t go getting into dangerous situations.”
“No. No danger. I promise. Just a quick chat with someone. But it’s confidential stuff, sorry.”
“No worries.” He kissed her one last time. “Say hi to Lacey for me.”
“I will. Thank you.” She found her cell phone, and then grabbed her purse, just to be on the safe side. After closing herself in the bedroom, she stood there and calmed herself, envisioning Lacey’s front porch.
Before her eyes, the world shifted and changed, the two scenes barely having time to overlap each other before she was smelling the piney woods surrounding Lacey’s cozy cabin.
Elain turned and knocked, smiling when Jasper barked.
“Just a minute.” Lacey soon appeared, smiling as she opened the door. “Well, this is a surprise.” She hugged Elain. “Come on in. Or is this a business visit?”
“Um, kinda sorta.”
Lacey arched an eyebrow at her. “Kinda sorta?”
“Yeah. Can I borrow him?” She pointed at Jasper, who plopped his butt down and started eagerly wagging his tail in apparent agreement.
Elain would swear the dog knew exactly why she wanted the pleasure of his company, and that she wanted to take him with her.
“Sure, but why?”
“Just a…a quick thing I need to do.”
Lacey glanced down at her dog. “You do realize beyond his special talent he’s more than just a dog, right?”
“I’m starting to get that, yeah.”
“Let me get his leash for you.”
“Thanks.”
“Any idea how long you’ll be? The only reason I’m asking is that Jocko mentioned he’s dropping by later.” Lacey glanced back at her and Elain caught the twinkle in her eyes.
“Seriously, why don’t you two just get married?”
The old Seer shrugged as she returned with the leash and snapped it to Jasper’s collar. “We’re old and set in our ways. We were both mated before. Neither of us want to do anything more than we already are. It suits us for now.”
She handed Elain his leash, her smile fading. “Keep a tight grip on his leash. If it’s a strong enough scent, he’ll go after it.”
“Yeah, I figured he would.” Elain slung her purse over her shoulder. “Actually, I’d like to walk down the path a little out back. I need to make a quick phone call before I drop in.”
“What’s going on?”
She sighed. “I’d like us to be able to recognize another special little baby. But…I want to check something out first.”
“All right. If…heh, if the back door’s locked when you return, just lock Jasper on the porch. He’ll be okay there until we’re…done.”
“No problem. And thanks.” She hugged Lacey before heading out with Jasper. She wanted to be far enough down the path before she made her call so that Lacey’s keen wolf ears couldn’t hear her conversation.
Her first call was to Marston’s cell. “Hey, Damocles,” she lightly teased when he answered. “How’s tricks?”
He laughed. “Hello, Elain. I’m still here.”
“Hey, quick question. Is Fiona still at school?”
“Yes, I believe so. For at least a little while.”
“Are Ortega or Lucy home?”
“No, just me and the baby and some staff. Why?”
“Okay. Where is the baby?”
“Down for a nap in her room.”
“Are you in your living room?”
“Yes, but—”
“Perfect.” She hung up on him and took a tight grip on Jasper’s collar with her fingers. Closing her eyes, she imagined Marston’s living room in his suite at Ortega’s compound. When she opened her eyes, Marston had an eyebrow arched as he stared at her.
“That certainly saves on air fares, I imagine.”
“And TSA full-body cavity searches. Homeland Security would hate me if they knew about this.” She looked around and spotted the high chair next to Marston’s chair. “Listen, please don’t panic.”
“Saying something like that doesn’t make me want to not panic, Elain.”
“I’m serious.”
“What do you want?”
“A quick sniff test.” She set her purse down, shoving her cell phone into it, and not only did she hold Jasper’s leash, she kept her other hand wrapped around his collar.
“Who is that?”
“Lacey’s dog, Jasper. But he’s not exactly just a dog.”
“Of course he’s not.”
Elain felt tension coiling inside her as she walked Jasper over to the high chair and patted the seat. “Here, boy. Sniff away.”
He hesitantly did, almost like he was not sure what to think. He cocked his head one way, then the other, then took another sniff.
When Jasper looked up at her, she would swear he was asking her a question.
But he didn’t growl.
“Is that good?” Marston asked.
“I don’t know. I hope so. Come here.”
Marston slowly approached, holding out a hand. She let Jasper nose his hand, then the dog sat and looked up at Elain, wagging his tail at her.
“Okay, you’re safe. Can you go get me something of Colleen’s, like a dirty outfit?”
“A diaper?”
Jasper sneezed.
“Ew, no. Just clothes she’s worn that you haven’t washed yet.”
“All right.” He disappeared for a moment.
Jasper looked up at her, head cocked.
“I know, buddy. I have to know for sure.”
Marston returned a moment later with two different outfits, one an adorable little pink dress that Elain imagined Lacey had probably purchased for the child, and a onesie romper with food stains on the front.
“How about these?” he asked.
“Good. Put them down on the floor and back up.”
He did.
Elain took a deep breath. “Okay, boy. Go ahead.”
Jasper took a long time sniffing both outfits, actually nosing at them, turning them over, before sitting down and looking up at her with that same quizzical head cock.
“I’d swear,” Marston said, “that it’s like he’s not sure what to think and he’s seeking your opinion before he renders his.”
“I think you’re exactly right.” She knelt down next to the dog and cradled his huge head in her hands. “I don’t know how much you understand.” She thought to him about Colleen, how her mother
was an Alpha wolfatrice, how Marston was her birth father.
How Mercedes had died, and how Mercedes had turned on the cockatrice long before that point. How she’d saved Jim in Yellowstone.
That Elain’s own baby—whom Jasper adored—was Mercedes reincarnated. How Elain was trusting Marston to have turned over a new leaf and having a basically decent heart.
Jasper cocked his head the other direction.
“Get it?” she asked him.
She’d swear he nodded.
When she released him, he nosed at the clothes again, then lay down and gave a soft chuff.
“What’s that mean?” Marston asked.
“Well, he hasn’t growled.”
“Why would he growl?”
“Let me finish this first.” She stared at Jasper. “You want to see her first, don’t you? Before you’ll tell me one way or the other.”
He looked directly into her eyes and chuffed.
“Son of a bitch,” Marston whispered.
“You have to promise me—promise me—that you won’t hurt her.”
“What?” Marston asked, alarmed.
She held a hand up to silence him. “She’s just a baby,” Elain said to Jasper. “Not even a year old yet. An infant.”
Jasper softly chuffed again and stood.
Elain would swear it was like he was saying, Take me to her. I’ll be gentle.
She looked at Marston. “Can you please go open the door to her nursery? Let the side of her crib down, but stand close to the crib, just in case.”
“In case of what?”
“Just…in case.”
She kept a grip on Jasper’s collar and they followed Marston in. After Marston lowered the side, Elain took a deep breath and whispered in Jasper’s ear.
“She’s a baby,” she said. “Okay?”
Another soft chuff.
Jasper let her lead him, but he didn’t pull, didn’t hesitate, didn’t dig his heels in. As if he knew he was being tested as much as the baby was.
Jasper put his front feet up on the crib and slowly stuck his nose out. Elain watched his nostrils flaring, working, his head cock from side to side, moving up and down the baby’s body before he finally, carefully got down and sat, wagging his tail.
Elain wanted to cry with relief. “You can tell, but no one else will be able to?”
He cocked his head, his tail coming to a stop.
“You can tell, but a Seer probably can see it in her?”
He wagged and chuffed.
Marston put the side back up. “All right,” he whispered. “You bloody well have me spooked. Mind informing me what this is about?”
Elain led them out. No longer worried about Jasper hurting the baby, Elain let him lead the way on a slack leash. Once they were in the living room with the nursery door shut, she sank onto the couch.
“Jasper is a cockatrice detector.” She petted his head, stroked his ears. “He adores BettLynn, and she’s Paul Abernathy’s biological daughter.”
She left out the part about Baba Yaga having occluded BettLynn by bonding her to the Beasts.
“So that was…”
“That was to see if he’d react to Colleen, yes. I wanted time to figure out a way to disguise her cockatrice side if necessary before she gets older without having to kill anyone to do it.”
Or give up her own powers, but she didn’t say that part aloud.
He sank to the couch next to her. “She can pass as a wolf?”
Elain looked at Jasper. “Wolf?”
He softly chuffed and wagged.
“All right,” Marston said. “That’s a relief, I’ll admit, but why today?”
She met his gaze. “The recognition celebration in Maine.”
“Yes? Ortega told me about it.”
“I’d like her to be recognized, too. So she has the official protection of not just the wolf Clan, but the mega-Clan.”
His expression softened. “Have Ortega bring her up?”
“No. I’ll poof down, get her, take her there, and bring her back in a matter of hours. Give Lacey a little time with her.” Elain paused, realizing how dictatorial that sounded. “If that’s okay with you?”
He cocked his head. “You’re asking my permission?”
“Well, duh. She’s your daughter.”
He smiled. “Thank you. That’s very generous of you. Yes, I would love for her to have official Clan recognition. We did change her birth certificate records to list her last name as Hillyard.”
“I won’t need her records. Not exactly worried about clearing customs or the TSA.”
“Ah. true.”
“Please tell Ortega to keep it a secret. We’ll tell everyone else it’s a surprise for Lacey as a cover story.”
“Does she know you’re here today?”
“Of course. I borrowed her dog.”
“What about Fiona?” Marston asked. “Do you think she’ll pass as a wolf?”
“That’s why I wanted to know if she was home.”
“So you can run him through her room?”
“Exactly. Can you go with me?”
“Let me get the portable baby monitor.”
Elain was still having a hard time reconciling what she knew about this man’s past with the doting, loving father he obviously was. Another case where, had just one thing gone differently in his past, perhaps he never would have done any dark deeds.
Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
They walked through the upstairs to Fiona’s doorway, which stood open. Jasper hesitated at the threshold, sniffing, his face a little wrinkled, even under his shaggy fur.
“Jaguars,” she said. “And Fiona is the biological daughter of a female Alpha wolf, and of a man who was an Alpha wolf, but one quarter cockatrice. Although he tried to pass as a wolf.”
Jasper looked up at her.
She nodded toward the room, dropping his leash. “Go ahead.”
He walked in and started working his way around the room, sniffing as he went, especially around her bed, around a dirty clothes hamper, the chair pushed in at her desk.
When he finally completed his circuit a few minutes later, he returned to her and sat, but he wasn’t wagging.
Yet he hadn’t growled, either.
She knelt in front of him and once again held his head. “Her biological mother was the jaguar’s daughter-in-law. The bio mom’s mate was actually a jaguar, but she was abducted, raped by the wolf with the cockatrice line, and then he held her hostage and she died when he cut Fiona from her womb and took her. He raised her as a wolf. The people who own this house, the Montalvos, Ortega and Lucy are both jaguars and are raising her as if she is their son’s daughter. Fiona doesn’t know about her cockatrice lineage from Rodolfo Abernathy. They told her that Rodolfo wasn’t her real father, that she is half jaguar and half wolf.”
Jasper stared at her, an intense glare, as if daring her to pull his other leg, or one of them, at least.
“I’m not making it up.”
“He can bloody well understand you, all right,” Marston said. “Even I can see that.”
Jasper took another turn around the room and returned, still looking as perplexed as he did before. He sat, but it was as if he was staring off at a wall before looking at Elain. He softly chuffed.
“You think she’ll be able to pass?”
He made another chuff.
“You need to sniff her in person?”
He wagged his tail.
She looked up at Marston. “What do you think?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, Dr. Doolittle. You tell me.”
She flipped him a bird, making him smile. “I’m serious.”
“So am I. If he needs to sniff Fiona, then he’ll have to sniff her.” He glanced at his watch. “I think she’ll be home soon.”
“Where are Ortega and Lucy?”
“I believe Ortega said he was handling some things today, and Lucy will be going to pick up Fiona from school.”
“Where
’s school?”
“Oh, just a few minutes away walking. Inside the compound walls, over back in the other section. I don’t believe you’ve ever been there.”
Elain focused on Jasper. “If I take you downstairs and outside and we go find Lucy and wait with her for Fiona, you cannot growl at Fiona. At all. You can wait and tell me after we leave what you think, but you have to be careful. All right? She’s a little girl, and she thinks that she’s half jaguar and half wolf.”
He wagged his tail and softly chuffed his agreement.
“Bloody hell,” Marston swore again. “Well, good luck with that.” He smiled. “The baby’s asleep—”
A cry came over the monitor.
Elain grinned. “You were saying? I think Colleen wants a walk in her stroller.”
He turned and headed back toward his suite, softly muttering under his breath.
Jasper cocked his head at her, his gaze narrowing.
“I know,” she said, “but he feels guilty and he has changed. I’m willing to give him a shot. Ortega and Lacey both trust him.”
Jasper chuffed and wagged his tail.
Apparently, that was good enough for him.
* * * *
After Colleen had a fresh diaper and change of clothes, and delighted over Jasper, who let her pet him and stroke his head—much to Elain’s relief—they headed out of the house and down toward the back part of the enormous secure compound. Ortega’s two brothers, Juan and Ricardo, as well as other siblings and relatives, lived within the compound walls. There were others who lived just outside it as well, a very secure community.
Marston led the way, and within a few minutes they found Lucy sitting on a bench in the shade of a tree and reading a book.
“Elain, my dear, we had no idea you were coming.” She stood and hugged Elain, who was relieved when Jasper did little more than give Lucy a cursory sniff before wagging.
“And who is this?”
“Oh, this is Jasper. Lacey’s dog. I wanted a little companionship. I just stopped by for a few minutes but didn’t want to leave without saying hi to you and Fiona, at least.”
Lucy glanced around and dropped her voice. “I think she’s doing a lot better since the last time you were here. Whatever you did or said to her, it certainly seemed to help. She’s acting much happier now.”
“Good. Excellent.” Relief filled Elain. She didn’t want Fiona getting eaten up with rage over Abernathy.
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