“I’m afraid, if you want the truth. I don’t want to go back until things are cleared up.” She said she was on that. “I know you are. Christ, I’m glad that you’re on my side, but that doesn’t make me any less afraid of what shit they’re going to try and pull.”
“They’re going to think they have you right where they want you. They don’t. Not only that, but they think that I know a great deal more than I do. Which, to be honest with you, is very little compared to what I think is out there.” He nodded and said that wasn’t helping. “No, I doubt that it is. But I do know you well enough to know that you’re a man that can think quickly and well when pressured. Just listen to Toby, sir. He will be the only thing between you and an obit in the paper.”
“You and that truthful tongue. Perhaps you need to come up with a few lies, just to make someone feel better.” Harris told him that he’d never trust her if she did that. “Probably not. No, I probably wouldn’t. You’ll have my back in all this, right?”
“Yes. All sides of you. Just do what I tell you. Even if it goes against everything that you believe in, I want you to do it.” He nodded and said he’d try. “No. If you’re only going to try, then the battle is lost. You have to do it. It might make you feel wrong, but you have to trust me that I only have your best interest in mind. Just keep your head up and pay attention to things around you. You’ll start to see things that you didn’t before, but don’t deal with them. Leave that to me.”
“All right. I’ll do whatever you tell me.” Howard looked at Toby, and the man just looked like your everyday nerd, from the ill-fitting shirt to the jeans that had a couple of holes in them. “I’m assuming that looks can be deceiving with you.”
Toby nodded and lifted his arm, and flexed the muscles that were hidden under the shirt. It was then that you could see every muscle and bulge in his biceps. Toby knew what he was doing, giving the people around the president the illusion that he was nothing more than a pushover. But he was, as a matter of fact, a registered killer. His body was lethal.
“You remember the old saying, don’t you? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer? In this case, it couldn’t be more true. We will get through this if you just pay attention and listen.” He said that he would. “Good. You and Lily will live a long life if you just do what you’re told when they tell you. I swear to you, there isn’t anyone that is going to get by these two unless they are killed protecting you.”
“I don’t want it to come to that.” She told him that neither did she. “When this is done, I do want you to come and work for me at the White House. I could use someone like you.”
“No. I can’t, nor would I want to do that. I have a life here. A family that I want to start. When you are no longer in trouble, I will step down as your hired guns. I can’t do that anymore and have the kind of life I want. You understand.” He said that he did. “Good. I’m going to hold you to that.”
After everyone left, her and Shep sat in the living room on a couple of outdoor chairs. They were both exhausted, and still needed to take care of a couple of things around the house. Mainly to clean up. Just as she was going to tell him that she’d take this room, Grace and the rest of the staff came in and shooed them off to bed.
Harris was glad for it. She needed a four day nap really bad, and she thought that she might just get it. Dragging her ass up the stairs, she screamed when Shep picked her up in his arms.
“I love you, Mrs. Marshall.” She kissed him and told him that she loved him as well. “Good. I love you so much that I’m going to let you sleep tonight. Because right now, I’m going to be lucky if I get the covers over me before I fall asleep too.”
They were both laughing when they entered their room. The bed was turned down and there was a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket. Falling on the first and ignoring the second, they were both asleep in about ten seconds, Harris thought.
Chapter 11
Shep’s cock felt warm, hard and painful. When he opened his eyes, he saw the most glorious sight he’d ever seen—his beautiful naked wife sitting on his cock and riding him. This, he thought, he could wake up to every day and never be a sad person ever.
“You were so hard that I just couldn’t resist taking advantage of you.” Shep told her that she could take him anytime she wanted. “I will hold you to that. You’re so hard like this. I never knew that riding a horse could be so much fun.”
He pulled her down for a kiss, eating at her mouth like he had her pussy before. Christ, she tasted like heaven, and he was wondering how much longer he could last with her there. Putting his hands on her hips, he held her to him as she rode him, grinding her pussy along his groin so that she would cry out every time she did it.
When he knew that he was close, Shep rolled her to her back. Since her legs were already around him, he moved up her body and took her with her feet up over his shoulders. He knew that he was as deep as he could go, but Harris begged him for more.
“I love the way you’re fucking me. I love that you’re so deep. Take me harder, Shep. I want to feel you everywhere in my body.” He pounded her hard, knowing full well that she was going to be sore when he finished. And when she dug her nails into his back, he cried out. Not with pain, but with the pleasure of it. The nothing-held-back way that she screamed his name when she released.
“Again.” She shook her head hard, telling him that she couldn’t handle it anymore. “Yes, you can. Come for me, love, and when you do, my cat will take his bite of you and mark you as his own.”
She came screaming again. The way his cat ran along his skin made him realize how much his cat was enjoying this too. Not fucking her—he’d never do that—but the unbridled way that she accepted him into her life. His cat loved her as much as Shep did.
As soon as he released, Shep pulled from her. His cat took him quickly, much quicker than he’d wanted. Shep had wanted to warn Harris that he was coming for her, but before he could stop him, the cat bit down hard on her thigh.
This time her screams were of pain. Begging the cat to back off, he felt his jaws unclamp just a little, but the blood, venous blood, filled his mouth. He’d bitten into her vein. It was finish the job or lose her to blood loss. As she begged him to stop, that he was hurting her, Shep assured her that they were going to have to change her and that she’d be all right.
It was a lie. He was sure that he’d already lost her, and was working hard on not showing how terrified he was that he might have hurt her badly. The second bite was in her belly. Harris had stopped begging him to not hurt her anymore. She’d was out cold, and he wasn’t sure whether to be happier about that or more afraid. He couldn’t lose her.
He could taste her better with the belly bite. Taste the fact that she had a bit of something else inside of her. It wasn’t much, but enough. Shep was sure that was what gave her the gift of being able to manipulate cameras and computers.
Taking back his body, he watched her breathing. It was slow, and her heart rate was nearly nothing. It was there, very slowly beating, but he didn’t know for how long. Christ, he thought, he’d just murdered the best thing in his life. The longer he sat there, watching every breath she took, Shep was happy. But he kept waiting for the one that would be her last.
Harris continued to breathe slowly. Her heartrate, while it didn’t slow, was very faint. He held her hand and told her over and over how much he loved her.
“Don’t die on me, love. Please? I don’t know what I’d do without you. I will be worse than my grandda. I will die if you leave me. Please, you have to come back to me.” He kissed her forehead and realized how cold she was. Sobbing, he laid down beside her and held her to him to keep her warm. Shep wasn’t sure what else he could do.
He must have falling asleep at some point, because when he woke, he was alone in the big bed. Getting up, startled by all the blood that was on the sheets, he ran to the bathroom. Slipping on the rug, he hit his head on the counter and blacked out.
“Will you please
get your ass up off my robe? I swear to Christ, if our children are this clumsy, I’m going to be really pissed off at you.” He heard Harris’s voice, and while the words were mean, he could hear the humor in her voice. “Sheppard James, if you do not wake up this minute, I’m going to find my gun and make you have a real reason for not waking up right now.”
“Are you going to be this mean to our children when they fall and hurt their knees?” He opened one eye and looked at her, then opened the other. “Christ, you’re beautiful. Have I told you that lately?”
“No.” She flipped him to his belly, and left him lying there while she went into their bedroom. He watched her as she gathered up some clothing to put on. He was sort of partial to her being naked, but he decided now was not the time to be bringing things like that up. She did seem pissed right now. He asked her what had happened. “Maron is in jail. Manslaughter. I know that I should be happy about that, but I’m not. He’s out of commission, but I want him out where he can get himself killed. Mainly by me. This will come back and haunt him for a long time, however.”
“Who did he kill?” She told him that his butler was found dead on the floor with a sheet over him. “Why did he kill him?”
“He said that Cora Banks made him do it.” It took Shep a second to remember who she was. “Yeah. I guess the butler came into the room after I left and startled him. At least that’s what he’s saying.”
“Like you said, he’s out of commission for a while.” She was dressed and looked like she was leaving him there. “Wait a minute and I’ll join you. I have stuff to do today too.”
“You’re bleeding, by the way. And how do I explain that the sheets looked like we murdered someone on them? I’m sure the staff will be appalled by it.” He just smiled at her. “You’re not as charming as you might think you are right now.”
“You’re a cat.” She asked him if he was serious. “Yes. I rarely tell a joke well, so I don’t bother. Anyway, you’re a jaguar, just like me. Well, not like me. I’m a boy cat, and you’re so very not one.”
“I don’t like you right now. What do you mean, I’m a cat? I thought that I heard someplace that it took like a week for the human to be down.” He told her that she wasn’t wholly human. “Yes, I am. Or I was until you got all teethy on me.”
“Teethy? Well, that’s a new one. But yes, I did bite you. You aren’t human. I mean, you weren’t— This is too confusing. You’re a cat, I’m a cat. I don’t know what you were before this except not all human. I think that’s why you can mess with computers and cameras. I would think that you’re either part vampire, which I have no idea why I think that, or faerie. That would explain a lot too. The fact that you were able to get up so quickly after I changed you. Also that you seem to bounce back quickly when you’re hurt.”
“Okay, I can see that, I guess. Does it matter what I am in addition to being a cat? And what the hell does that have to do with the sheets and being able to explain them to the staff?” He’d forgotten about the first question, and told her. “So Grace and the rest of our staff are not human. I think that I knew a couple of them weren’t, but not Grace. So, she’ll know that I’ve been changed. She’ll know what happened.”
They were leaving the room then, and he was telling her that she’d be able to tell what other shifters were too. She asked why he’d thought vampire.
“I don’t know, really. But that’s what I’m leaning toward. It must have been a very old one to have been able to pass anything down to you. I mean, it could have been anyone in your family as far back as the beginning of vampires. I don’t know any, do you?” She told him that she knew two vampires. “Good. Perhaps you can ask one of them sometime to see if they could bite you and tell who you might be related to.”
“Is it important? I mean, to you?” He said that it wasn’t, but it might be to the vampire or his descendants to know that someone out there was carrying the line along. “Oh. Well, I’ll talk to them when this is done. Okay, for today, I need to go and visit Maron. He doesn’t know me as my real self, so I have to think of something as a reason to go and see him.”
“You could be the butler’s daughter or something.” Shep was eating the breakfast that was put in front of him when he said that. Harris was staring at him. “What did I say wrong?”
“Nothing. But wouldn’t he understand that I was not Gilbert Kane’s daughter?” Shep told her that he doubted that Maron could tell him the butler’s name, much less anything about his family. “That cold, you think?”
“You probably know everything about the people that work for you. I’d say even though I know you did a background check on all of them, you would still make it a point to know about them. I bet your parents were the same way.” Grace assured them that they were. “See? That is not the norm, I don’t think, for having a staff. Mostly, from my experience, they’re as far from caring shit about the house staff as they are the people that work on the grounds. You care, and that shows that you’re someone very special in that regard.”
“I’d have to be a niece to him. I know that Gilbert Kane was an elderly man. He had no children, as he worked for that particular house for a great many years. He stayed on when Maron the Moron bought it. A great many of the staff have been leaving over the last months, mostly due to having other jobs. A few have stolen a great deal from the man and disappeared. I would like to find them before this is done too. I have a feeling that they’re not far—Maron is a lazy fuck—but I don’t know at the present.” Shep told her that she could smell the dead now, being a cat. “Seriously?”
“Yes. You have a heightened sense of smell and hearing now. The latter I’m sure you’ve figured out. But you can smell people too, and remember their scent. That’s why when we want to find someone later, we try hard to touch them, or in your case, lick them. All my brothers, if you have noticed, have kissed your hand at some point. So that in the event they have to find you, they can.” She asked if she should return the favor. “I would if I were you. You’d be good at finding them now. Much better now that you’re a cat.”
Harris had a great deal to learn about being a cat. But right now, he just gave her the basics. Mostly things like he’d already told her. She would heal a great deal faster than she could before. She’d live longer. Smelling things and being able to hear well. He also told her that she could, if she wished, be able to shift a part of her body and leave the rest human. Say if she was a cat, she could shift her hand to human to open a door or something.
“I can see that coming in handy.” Shep told her that she’d also be able to do all the things like smell and hear even better as a cat. “Okay, so if I were to shift into a cat to find someone, I’d have an easier time than as a person? Cool beans.”
He’d never heard her say that before, and laughed hard. Shep loved this woman, and he knew that she was going to keep him on his toes for a very long time. He was really looking forward to growing old with her. When she asked him about children, he had to think on it. Grace told her what she needed to know.
“You’ll have children, just like you did. Because you’re only what is considered a half breed, any children you have will have to wait until they’re twelve or so to see if they shift. However, honey, I’ve known you all your life, and you never follow rules like most people do.” They both laughed. “Also, I want you to eat more meat. It doesn’t have to be red, though that would be better for you, but you’re a carnivore and they like meat. Feed your cat and she’ll be nicer to you when you need her. Not that she can hurt you, but she’ll be quicker to help you if she knows that you’re not going to take what she needs away.”
“I’m going to have a lot to learn about being a cat.” She put her hand over his when he told her again that he was sorry. “Don’t be. With all this shit going on, it might just save my life. Oh, before I forget to tell you, I quit my job. After this is done with the president, I’m stepping down.”
“Woo hoo! Best news that I’ve heard all year. I’ll have you at
home all the time.” She said for him not to get used to it. She did want to work. “I want you to as well. But less dangerous pursuits, right?”
“Yes. Though I don’t know if you’re going to be any happier about it. I’m thinking, with my degree, that I should apply for the job as police chief.” He said he could live with that a great deal more than hit man. “I hope you’re right.”
~*~
Sheppard was so happy that he could hardly contain himself. The kids were having such a good time that he was sure that he’d be a great granddaddy soon. He did a little jig as he was walking down the sidewalk toward the grocery store.
He’d been stopping by once a day to see if they had some work that he could do. Sheppard didn’t mind sitting around for a little bit, but all the time was making him a little antsy. He needed something to occupy his mind and body, or he was going to be old and stiff before his time. Then yesterday, they’d called and told him he could be the bag boy, if he could keep up.
“If I can keep up. Who do they think they’re dealing with?” Laughing a little, he saw his son just as he was moving across the street to the store. “What do you want, James? I don’t have time for your foolishness today.”
“Why do you hate me so much?” Sheppard said he didn’t hate him; he was just disappointed in him. “Why? What is it I ever did to you?”
“You don’t have a job. No home that you can call your own. You have six boys that you’ve not had a thing to do with in more years than I can count.” He pretended to be thinking on it. “Oh, and you beat your wife to near death on several occasions. Why did you do that to them, James? She was a wonderful woman. And those boys are about the best there is. Did you hear that Shep is married now? Got himself a good woman to love.”
Sheppard: Marshall’s Shadow – Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance (Marshall's Shadow Book 1) Page 13