by Em Ashcroft
Nathan dropped his head, staring at his hands, which were twisted together in his lap. Then he looked up again and met her eyes. “Before we bonded,” he said.
“What?” Bonding meant something specific in shape-shifter society. Surely he couldn’t mean that? “We—you mean before you realized he was your breed partner?” She searched her memory. “Don’t breed partners have to have sex to bond?” Bonding sealed them to one another. The way she’d read it, two shape-shifter breed partners had to have sex with their woman for a true bond. At the same time, or one after the other. She had to hold both men’s seed inside her for a bond to happen. She glanced at her wrists. “No breed rings.” A bonded female developed beautiful rings at her wrists, like bangles, but living as part of her.
Nathan kept her gaze. “You felt it, didn’t you? You couldn’t fail to.”
“I thought that was your bond happening.”
A smile quirked his mouth. “Our bond, my love. Usually, yes, the sex creates the bond, but occasionally it happens when we become one another way. As we did when we pulled him back from death.” His attention went briefly to her wrists. “The rings will come. Sometimes they take their time. They don’t always happen immediately.”
His gaze returned to her face. “We are a trio now. Together, for the rest of our lives. We can read each other deeply and over longer distances than other shape-shifters. We’re breed partners.” His face relaxed into a smile. “You’re my breedmate, sweetheart.”
Warmth spread through her. The world might be going to shit, but this man was her rock, her center. Opening the box, she slid the ring on to her finger. Looking up, she met his eyes. “I love you,” she said.
“Then that’s all that matters. I love you, too.”
Whether their outpouring of emotion did it, or it was just his time, they’d never know. That was when Vaughn chose to come around and shape-shift.
A naked man lay on the bed, where there’d been a panther before.
Shocked, not at his nakedness but the sheer size of him, the power that lay between them, Trinity gasped. Fuck knew she’d seen enough naked people in her time, but this—this man was different. He was hers.
Instinct pushed her to him, flowed between them.
“Don’t let me interrupt,” Vaughn drawled. He had amber eyes, almost golden, very much cat. His attention went from Nathan to Trinity, and a slow smile curved his lips. They were particularly attractive lips, the lower a little fuller than the top one, and both eminently kissable.
How could she be thinking that when she’d just declared her love for Nathan? Shouldn’t she have eyes only for him?
No, a little voice inside her calmly informed her. And it was right. This was her breedmate. Even though she was human, she felt the urge to keep close to him. “I never thought this would happen.”
“Neither did I,” said Vaughn and Nathan at exactly the same time. Nathan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’d ask you how you feel, but I know. I felt it the moment you came around, and the way you checked yourself. Besides, I worked on you. I had your heart in my hands.”
Vaughn glanced down and touched the wound on his chest, still red but sealed and healing fast. “Will I scar? I always wanted to have badass scars.”
“It’s possible,” Nathan said, reverting to doctor mode, “but the way you’re healing, I doubt it. In a month or two you won’t show a mark.”
“Did they catch the bastard who shot me?”
Nathan grimaced. “Not yet. They’re still looking for him.”
Vaughn scratched his skin just above the wound. “You shaved it.”
“Eventually. After we’d saved your life. We dressed the wound for the first few hours. You heal fast, man, even for a shifter.”
“I know. That’s one reason I chose the life I have.”
“So now we come to it,” Nathan said. “I didn’t intrude more than I had to. Tell us who you are and why you came here.”
Vaughn nodded to Trinity, his gaze lingering on her face. “I came for Driscoll. The man who shot me. Turns out, though, that I really came here for you.”
Chapter Four
Vaughn didn’t have time to say anything else because a man entered the room. He was in uniform, a blue shirt and navy pants, his jacket slung over his shoulder. He was unarmed. That was interesting. “Christopher Goldclaw, I presume?”
“Chris.” The man offered his hand, and Vaughn shook it, as well as he could. He didn’t want to admit it, but he felt as weak as a kitten. Used to fighting through the worst of conditions, he drew on all his strength and put on a good face.
But he couldn’t do it for the two other people in the room. They slipped through his shields as if they didn’t exist, and he knew they were fucking strong. Their presences infused him with calm and well-being. And he didn’t even know them.
“I’ve been talking to your boss,” Chris said. He dragged up a chair and sat, spreading his legs wide as large men were prone to do. “He vouched for you.”
“Just as well since he sent me.” Vaughn grunted. “Wildcats was tasked with retrieving Driscoll.” He glanced at Trinity, who was staring at him, wide-eyed, and received another surprise.
In this situation, he could read her completely. A shock racked him. This was Trinity Forrest, a.k.a. Katrin O’Shaugnessy, the woman who’d identified Driscoll when he was Rossi fifteen years ago. Did the others here know who she was? He flicked a question at his breed partner, who sent him an affirmative. She told me last night.
Belatedly he twitched the sheet over his nakedness. She was human, although she’d lived among shape-shifters for long enough to know they didn’t give a damn about nakedness. His action was more out of respect to her than for the other two shifters in the room. Two shifters too many, as far as he was concerned. Vaughn preferred being a loner. Even the meetings at Wildcats made him edgy and his cat pace.
“Hey, honey, it’s nothing to do with us being breedmates. That’s come just as much of a surprise to me as it has to you two. It’s because of who you are. Or were.” He buttoned his lip. Shit, he must be weak. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said anything aloud.
Chris nodded. “All of us in this room know Trinity’s history. Nobody else does, and I want it kept that way.”
That sounded good to Vaughn. “The fewer people who know, the better as far as I’m concerned. But the guy, Driscoll, escaped from prison. He came straight here, where I’d have expected him to head for a private airfield or the border. I want to know how he knew she was here because I sure didn’t, not until just now. It was fifteen years ago. He shouldn’t have known. You’re a cop, so you tell me.” He had just enough strength to firm his jaw and jut it at Chris.
Chris leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “I’m the only person in Goldclaw to know Trinity’s history. Until yesterday, that is. But I think I know how Driscoll knew where to come.” He glanced at Nathan, who was sitting quietly, his arms folded, listening to what was going on. “At least I was the only other person in Goldclaw who knew.”
“I told Nathan,” Trinity said. She flashed a nice piece of ice on her finger. “I didn’t wear it today, but we were planning to go public.”
“Congratulations.” The cop sounded sincere. Good. “Since you’re both in here, I presume everybody knows about the engagement now.”
“Not yet.” Nathan unfolded his arms and rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward. “Trinity is monitoring Vaughn’s progress. Your two goons on the door know she’s in here, but as far as anybody knows, she’s just interested in her patient.”
Vaughn was relieved. The fewer people knew about Trinity right now, the better he’d like it. He wanted to stare at her, drink her in and enjoy her. The draw she had for him when he was watching her was nothing compared to this. He wanted her. Perhaps it was just as well he’d pulled the covers over his lower body because a miracle was happening right here and now in his groin. A few hours ago he’d been facing death. Now he had
an erection that threatened to rip through the fucking sheet. The fabric covered it, but he wasn’t embarrassed. It wasn’t every day he met his potential breedmate.
He wanted to take her somewhere very quiet and very private, get to know her in every way possible. “I didn’t know why Driscoll was coming here until I recognized Trinity just now as Katrin O'Shaugnessy.” He turned back to the police captain. “So what do you mean, you know?”
Chris grimaced. “It’s my fault. Last year I married my breedmate, and Trinity was our bridesmaid. Renata is one of the few female shape-shifters left, so the wedding made national news. Even more so because it was a slow news day. Even more because the USA has its first openly shape-shifter candidate for the presidency.”
“So Orlando Sleekheart is at fault?” Vaughn smiled, amused at the thought. Orlando’s brother was a partner in the Wildcats agency, so he happened to know him pretty well. Orlando had given up his business interests before he accepted the candidacy. Since he was standing as an independent, there was no way he would win. At least the pundits didn’t think so, but Orlando never did anything by halves.
Chris huffed a laugh. “Hardly. But shape-shifters are making the news all the time these days.”
“Driscoll isn’t a shifter hater. He obviously wants revenge on her for what she did,” he said.
“He got off with a lighter sentence, just for involvement in the robbery and being at the scene of the murder. Forensics couldn’t match his gun with any of the bullets they found at the scene. Maybe they’d been paid not to.” Vaughn curled his lip. “He gave the order. He killed them, but he had enough lawyers on his payroll to get out of a life sentence. He might want more than revenge. Did you think about that?”
Trinity shook her head. “I don’t know anything, I didn’t see anything else, and my dad never told us kids about the jobs he was on. I’m no danger to Driscoll.”
Vaughn frowned. “He came here to find you for something.”
Chris leaned back, crossing a foot over his knee. He was uncomfortable, too. This room was just too small to hold three fully-grown shape-shifters. Two of who were mad as hell that somebody had wandered into their domain. The man in Vaughn pushed the cat down, told him to behave, but the panther continued to pace.
“I’ve looked into his history,” he said. “Driscoll isn’t the brute kind of criminal. He’s a thinker. He got a law degree in prison, did it easily. He wants something else, I’m sure of it. If it were only revenge, he’d have found out where she was and sent somebody else to kill her. He might be cut off from his gang, but he has money.”
“So why rampage into the hospital?”
“He wanted to capture her. And he’s arrogant,” Chris said. “He thinks Goldclaw is as much of a pushover as his own territory used to be. He didn’t give everything up to the cops. He has money stashed all over the place, fake accounts, numbered overseas accounts. He could’ve come down here for Trinity and have his getaway planned already.”
Chris gave a grim smile that revealed his determination. “That doesn’t happen here. He got away, but we’re tracking him.”
“Fuck,” Vaughn said succinctly. “I was his distraction while he got away. That’s why he shot me.”
“Something like that.” Chris shrugged. “He thought he could walk into the hospital, grab Trinity, and be on his way. We didn’t know who he was when he was in the hospital, only when he held Trinity hostage. He had a fake ID, and because I didn’t link the crash with Driscoll, I’d only started routine inquiries. We had no idea he knew who Trinity was, much less that he’d come to get her. I’ve got my men on it now, and I’m keeping very close tabs on this one. Nobody does this in Goldclaw and gets away with it.”
Vaughn got the feeling that few people would even try. Chris wasn’t exactly a shrinking violet. But then, neither was he.
“He left the hospital, probably to put his plans in place, but he came back. And he wants Trinity.”
“Dead or alive?” Vaughn asked crisply, forcing himself out of the wonder of discovering his breed partner and into professional mode. Even though the idea of Trinity dead sent shards of pain deep into his soul, he had to ask the question.
“Either.” Chris spread his hands. “I’m thinking alive. Otherwise, he’d have killed her in the standoff.”
Vaughn agreed with him and privately thanked God for it. He was right. Trinity could be dead. Driscoll was a professional. He must have wanted Trinity for a reason. “The way he was standing, holding her in front of him, and with somebody lined up to cause a distraction, he could have gotten them both away.”
Fuck, this was bad. He would hunt Driscoll down and kill him, but it was probably better not to tell that particular bit to the police chief. He might not like it.
He took a moment to glance at Nathan. He nodded, almost imperceptibly, but Vaughn didn’t need telepathy to know that his breed partner agreed with him. That could come in useful. Trinity meant more to them than keeping strictly above the law. Whatever it cost them, they would care for her.
Vaughn didn’t even know if they’d let him into their relationship. Although he yearned to share, that didn’t make any difference to the way he regarded her. He didn’t know if it was love at first sight or the result of the unexpected bonding, but there it was. He wanted her like he’d wanted no other woman. But he needed to protect her as if they were indivisible.
Perhaps they were. “Why are we bonded? I get the breed partners linking, but I thought bonding was a voluntary thing. Shifters can live with a woman for years without bonding to her.”
Chris stopped speaking, and silence dropped into the room, an unexploded bomb of a question.
After a few fraught seconds, Nathan spoke. “It was the only way we could bring you back. I knew what was happening, but Trinity didn’t. In any case, we’d gone too far to pull back. I couldn’t get to you so I reached for her for help. I tend to do that.” He gave a wry grin and glanced at his fiancée. The softening of his eyes and slight pull at the corners of his mouth told Vaughn more than words ever could. Those two were in love, and together. He’d be muscling in on something he didn’t understand or was a part of.
Fuck. Well, he’d spent his life as a loner, so no change there, then. Maybe they’d want a cub one day, in which case he’d do his best. His very best. But he wouldn’t force himself on what they had.
“So this wasn’t planned.”
Nathan gave a wry grin. “Not exactly. I’m a cardiac and vascular surgeon. I held your heart in my hands to keep the wound from bleeding out. It was only then I knew we were breed partners. But I couldn’t save you, not on my own. You were retreating. It was like you were standing on a crumbling precipice just over the cliff edge and I couldn’t quite reach you, however far I reached down to grab your hand. I needed somebody else, and Trinity came. That was when we were bonded.”
“When we were hanging like a daisy chain over the edge of a cliff?” The image made him smile. It was perfect for their situation. Fuck knew he never wanted to experience anything like that again, but yeah. In that case, Trinity was the one holding them all back from falling into the chasm. Even more reason he should do everything he could for her now.
“Yeah.” And Vaughn knew Nathan had just read his amusement. He prided himself on the strength of his shields. He’d kept them clamped around him for almost as long as he could remember, only using telepathy at the shallowest level when he was forced to do it. Communicating with his breed partner was as natural as breathing. Maybe with their breedmate, as well. But when he looked at Trinity, he couldn’t see recognition in her face. That was good since he’d just declared his intention of protecting her and he didn’t think she’d take that kindly. Trinity Forrest, a.k.a. Katrin O’Shaugnessy, was a tough cookie, used to taking care of herself. From all his research and now from meeting her, he knew that. She’d worked her way through medical school and then training on her own. She deserved respect for that.
But he still wanted to protect
her, wrap his arms around her, and keep her from harm.
They hadn’t intended to bond with him, but it was done now. “We won’t be able to spend much time apart, especially at first.” That was a bummer. He’d have to watch them getting it on with each other and pretend he didn’t care. Would he make Texas his home, or would they be amenable to moving to Washington? Maybe he could set up a branch of Wildcats down here. Goldclaw wasn’t too far from Houston. He could set up his office there. Then he wouldn’t have to watch them making kissy-face all day.
But newly bonded trios would have to stay together, at least in the short term. Tearing them apart could cause irreparable mental damage. Shit. “How long does it take to work through all this?”
Nathan shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“I’m no help either,” Chris said. “Odell and I have been together since we were boys. Grew up together. Most breed partners do. Why didn’t you?”
Nathan shrugged. “I looked. I guess I just didn’t look in the right places.”
“You did?” The knowledge touched Vaughn. Somebody wanted him, even though he didn’t know him yet. Somebody was thinking of him in his wilderness years. Real wilderness years. It wouldn’t do any harm to tell them. “I guess you have the right to know why you didn’t find me.” He cast his memories back to his childhood, although it was painful and he avoided doing it as much as possible. “My parents preferred to remain as cats. Remember, back in the old days, there were groups of shape-shifters who refused to acknowledge their human sides?” By “old days” he meant before shape-shifters were able to mate with humans.
Nathan nodded. “Even though the human shape is our base form. It’s the one we naturally return to when we die.”
That was true. Asleep, unconscious, or dying, the shape-shifter tended to melt back into their human form, even if they died shifted. They’d deliberately kept him in his panther skin so he could heal. Nathan and Trinity had probably worked all night getting him to do that. They’d done a good job. He was healing nicely now.