by Cait Miller
Chapter Ten
Jack climbed out of the shower and dried himself off with brisk swipes of the towel. A quick study in the mirror told him that his knife wound was completely healed, not even leaving a scar to mark its seriousness. One of the benefits of his species. He began to dress, trying to shake off the tension that gripped him. It was obvious that Megan was beginning to realize something was wrong. Something other than being the target of a mysterious assassin, that is, he thought with dark humor. But the fear would not be brushed aside this time, there had been a point in the early hours of this morning when he had thought that it was over and he had waited too long. The cat had taken over completely. He couldn’t wait any longer, he would ask her today if she would complete the bond with him, and if she chose not to…the thought shook him… Then he would leave her in Cameron’s care and use whatever time he had left to find and stop whoever was after them.
The idea of leaving her with his friend wasn’t one which sat easily, and he growled in instinctive protest. Cam was beginning his mating cycle and though he had no intention of taking a mate, even Cameron’s formidable will would be tested. Jack trusted him to find somewhere safe for Megan before he lost control but there was little he could do about any shapeshifters who might seek her out in the future. In the end, it had been fairly easy for him to track her down. It might be wise to take further advantage of Cam’s skills and wipe mention of her birthmark from her medical files.
The thought had barely formed when he heard the bedroom door snick shut, but it wasn’t Megan’s presence he felt. A cool breath of air slid through the half-open door causing the steam to swirl and eddy and bringing with it a familiar scent. Prepared for the conflict that had been building since they had arrived, he pulled on a sweater and walked into the bedroom.
Cameron lounged against the wall, his tone and posture deceptively relaxed, but Jack had known him too long not to feel the barely restrained anger and worry.
“So, how long have we got before I have to call your parents and tell them to start building a cage?”
Jack’s laugh was sharp and bitter as he turned his back and stared out of the window into the misty gray morning. Trust Cam to get straight to the point.
His silence seemed to push his friend over some invisible line and the calm façade disintegrated. “Dammit, Jack! They have already lost one son this year, they do not need to lose the second! What were you thinking?”
As his friend no doubt intended, mention of his missing brother provoked instant reaction. Jack rounded on his friend and growled, “Nick is not dead.”
He drew in a calming breath, guilt, fear and anger swarmed in his veins. “It was time. They know I was looking for a mate, I couldn’t put it off forever.” He shot a glance at his friend who had every intention of doing that very thing. “She’s the one, Cam. I felt it the minute I saw her, a Dearbh Ceangal. I know you don’t believe in it but it’s real.”
Cam shook his head in his usual stubborn denial and began to pace out his agitation. “If you believe that, then why haven’t you finished it?!”
“I will not force this on her, Cam, she has to choose.” He faced the other man knowing his sharp mind would eventually reach the logical conclusion.
“How can she let you do this? She is your mate, how can she stand back and let you throw away your humanity…your life, like this!” The pacing halted abruptly. “She doesn’t know, does she? Why the hell haven’t you told her?!”
“I was going to tell her… No, the hell with it, that’s a lie. I was just going to take her, seduce her, complete the bond then tell her what I had done to her!” Jack’s voice rose to a near shout, rich with disgust at his own arrogance. He ran a hand through his dark hair and said softly, “Then I fell in love with her…and I couldn’t do it. If I tell her what happens to me if she walks away, she’ll stay. She’s too good, Cam, too damn nice! I want her with me because she feels the same way I do. If that means I have to let her go, then so be it.”
An uncomfortable silence fell around them thick with unspoken anxiety. Cameron was the first to break it. “I’m making some progress into finding out who is after you but I don’t have anything concrete yet.” He blew out a frustrated breath and stalked to the door, halting with his hand on the doorknob. “I don’t want to lose anyone else I care about either, Jack. Tell her…or I will.”
He found Megan just closing the conservatory door in the kitchen. Droplets of moisture clung to her dark hair like diamonds from the light rain that had begun to fall. His feet were silent on the tiled floor as he stalked towards her, drawn by the fierce urge to take her, possess her. Her scent filled his lungs mixed with the fresh tang of Highland air and his cock hardened painfully.
She turned towards him taking a quick startled breath. “Jack.” Her hand went to her chest. “You scared the life out of me. I am definitely going to have get a bell for around your neck,” she drawled, her rueful grin taking the sting out of her comment.
With effort, Jack reined in the demands of his body. This was definitely not the time. Taking her hand her led her to the table and before she could take another chair, pulled her onto his lap. Their gazes met when she felt the evidence of his desire and she grinned and rocked her hips. “Good God, woman!” he ground out, “Hold still!” Jack closed his eyes and fought to cool his unruly body. The problem would be easily solved if he moved her to the other chair but he wanted her closer than that.
“I need to talk to you,” he said quietly. Absently he traced a finger over her jeans high on her thigh where he knew her birthmark lay, making her shiver. Her fingers played in the hair at the nape of his neck and he leaned into the caress and purred.
Megan laughed delightedly, “You do that a lot recently.” Jack’s arousal vanished as he realized the truth of her words. He hadn’t even noticed he was doing it. More and more the behavior of his counterpart was seeping over outside of his shifting. It only emphasized how little time he had left to finish this, one way or the other.
“When we first met… You were right to think I had been sitting in front of that door waiting for you.” She stiffened and her fingers withdrew from his hair. He mourned the loss but pressed on. “The fact that you could hear my voice in your head had nothing to do with an active imagination. I was testing you.” She tried to pull away from him and he held on, looking into her angry eyes.
“Don’t, Jack, I don’t know how you found that out but there is no such thing as telepathy.”
Yeah, right. That’s what you said about shapeshifters.
Her eyes widened. Astonishment and acceptance replacing anger, she demanded, “Do that again.”
You told me shapeshifters didn’t exist, either.
“Oh, good grief. Can you do that to anyone?” The tinge of excitement in her voice surprised him.
“No, sometimes with close family and friends I feel their emotions. Finding someone who is…compatible with you is…difficult.”
A crimson flush of embarrassment washed over her face. “I suppose you…read thoughts as well?”
“Only yours and at the moment it’s like a badly tuned radio. The closer I am to the signal, the more easily I receive something.” Hers were a blur as her mind worked to accept the new information but he saw the instant she put two and two together.
“Wait a minute. You said you were testing me…and what do you mean, ‘at the moment’?”
Jack paused, gathering his thoughts and ignoring the nerves that tap-danced in his stomach he again caressed her jean-clad thigh. “Have you ever noticed how your birthmark resembles a cat’s paw print?”
Megan’s hand closed over his, ceasing the restless movement and he thought she was going to demand he answer her questions. Instead she said warily, “Yes, it does but…what does my birthmark have to do with this?”
“When my kind reach adulthood they have the ability…the need…to form a bond with a mate, a connection that joins the couple for the rest of their lives.” She listened in
tently as he tried to explain. “So when the time comes, we begin to search for someone bearing the birthmark that tells us they can be mated. I searched for a long time for the right person, all over the world.”
She frowned at him and he felt her tension rising as she made the connection. “So it’s just a lucky dip? You find a girl who has this mark and that’s it, she’s the one?”
“Well…yes, it can be. The physical attraction between a pair is usually very strong—”
“But—”
He carried on before she could protest further. “Wait, please, I’m not finished. It can just be about sex but if you’re patient, and very lucky you can have a Dearbh Ceangal. A true match in every way, heart…” He placed his hand on her chest. “…mind…” His hand moved to touch her forehead and down to tilt her face up, his lips a breath away from hers. “…and soul.” He kissed her gently. “You’re my Dearbh Ceangal, Megan.”
When she pulled away this time he let her go. “Why me? I mean how do you know I’m your…Derv Ke-an-gal? I mean, I have feelings for you, Jack.” She gave an uncertain smile. “Big scary ones, but we barely know each other.”
Jack’s heart turned over in his chest at her admission. He was becoming well acquainted with those kind of feelings himself. “The first things you already know about—the birthmark and the telepathy, those are present for any couple. When we meet our true mate, it’s like all the magical energy that makes us what we are becomes supercharged and reaches out for her. It’s an unmistakable feeling and many of us never get to experience it.”
For an eternity she stood in silence, hands fisted in her unruly curls, absorbing the implication of his words, before she faced him. “How do you do it? I mean, what exactly is involved in ‘bonding’?”
She’s asking questions. Asking questions is a good sign, isn’t it? A tiny seed of hope took root in Jack’s heart. She hadn’t agreed to do it, but she wasn’t running away either…yet. “The moment we touched that first time it started.”
Her eyebrows rose and she dropped her hands to her sides. “I remember feeling something, like the shock you get when you take your laundry out of the drier, only stronger. When we shook hands…” She looked at him for confirmation and he nodded. “You know you freaked me out that day, Jack. I thought I was having some sort of paranoid delusions. I convinced myself it was my imagination.”
“I know.” He shrugged. “You are my mate, and sometimes your thoughts are loud.”
Her cheeks pinked again and she scowled at him. “Little did I know, my life was about to get a lot stranger. So what else do you have to do to finish it?”
“We need to exchange a few drops of blood.”
“Exchange? Exchange how, Jack? Transfusion? Slice our palms blood brothers style? Hell, the way things tend to go in our conversations, it probably involves drinking it…” Her voice trailed off and she read the truth in his face before he said a word.
“Oh, no! Yuck! Jack, that is just disgusting! Do you have any idea how many blood-borne diseases are out there? How can you do that with a stranger?”
Jack’s mouth curved in a reluctant half smile, it wasn’t quite the reaction of horror he had anticipated and she still hadn’t refused him. “First of all, you’re not a stranger. Second, I can’t get those diseases and third, after the exchange, it won’t matter to you, either.” Her mouth dropped open and he almost laughed. This woman never reacted the way he expected. “If you bond with me, you become like me.”
The amusement evaporated like water in the desert when he caught Megan’s immediate and unguarded thought. Well. Bet Jayne never thought about this when she encouraged me to believe him… She slapped a hand reflexively over her mouth. Anger shot through him. “You told Jayne!”
Megan threw up her hands. “Well, look at it from my point of view. I thought you were a fruitcake and I had just had sex with you on my kitchen table! Women share those kinds of events. It’s almost the law!” She paced away towards the windows and back again, remorse warring with indignation with every step. Jack tried to put himself in her position and though he didn’t want to admit it, she had a point.
“I don’t think she really believed it anyway and even if she did, she wouldn’t tell anyone. You saw her library, she loves all this stuff!”
Jack began to calm down. There was nothing he could do about it now. He didn’t have a clue what Megan meant by the library comment since he’d been a little busy at the time to pay much attention. Something about Jayne Davis niggled at him. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was, but it told him he could trust her. It was time he started to trust his instincts. After all, ignoring them had gotten him nothing but trouble so far. “All right! Okay! About the bonding thing?”
Megan looked at him, her relief clear at the change of subject. Her expression became serious. “What if I don’t want to be furry and telepathic?”
Despite the lighthearted phrasing, a shaft of fear thrust through as he answered. “Then you walk away and I’ll never come near you again.”
He held his breath, unsure of her intent as she walked back over to the chair. Hands on either side of his head, she leaned down and kissed him. Immediately her tongue demanded access and he provided it, parting his lips while she teased and explored his mouth for too short a time before straightening and stepping away from him. He ached to gather her to him but the distance of her body told him it wasn’t what she wanted so he kept his hands clenched at his sides. He expected questions, protests or both but she surprised him again.
“Thank you for telling me, Jack, for giving me the choice. I’m guessing you didn’t really need to. I’m asking you now to give me a little time to think about it.” She left the room quickly, leaving him alone and praying like he’d never prayed before.
Megan’s head was spinning by the time she reached the bedroom. Just when I think I have things under control, Jack Douglass finds new ways to turn my life upside down! She sat on the edge of the bed and flopped backwards staring hard at the ceiling as if she could somehow find some answers there. She thought back to her conversation with Jayne about whether or not shapeshifters could be real. Yeesh, was that just two days ago? Now, here she was actually considering becoming one, worse still she had not even hesitated in believing it was possible. What did that say about her sanity, she wondered vaguely. Was she becoming so open-minded her brain was in danger of falling out? She still wasn’t entirely sure why she hadn’t turned him down flat and ran for the hills or laughed at him. A few days ago, that was exactly what she would have done.
Speaking of open-minded… The man could read her mind! She might never have privacy ever again. How could she accept the fact that her thoughts might not be her own? She shuddered to think what Jack might have heard crossing her mind the last few days, especially concerning her lustful thoughts about him. At least now she had an explanation for the immediate attraction between them. His Dearb Ceangal… It sounded as if it might be Gaelic, even mentally she struggled with the pronunciation. Was she, with her romantic streak, reading too much into those words? Definitely too many paranormal romances. How many mates could he actually have? After all he hadn’t actually said anything about her being his one and only, though it was implied. Would he turn her into a cat and leave her to go find someone else with a funny birthmark?
Questions, questions…now she had questions! Where were all these thoughts a few minutes ago in the kitchen? Instead her mind had gone blank and all she could think of was what it would be like to spend the rest of her life with Jack. She ought to get a pen and paper and write them all down. Her fingers drummed on the soft quilt and the room suddenly felt too small. Jumping up she grabbed her jacket and raced down the stairs and outside, quietly pulling the heavy front door closed behind her.
Heedless of the light misty rain that brushed her cheeks, Megan hesitated on the wide curving driveway. She wasn’t entirely sure where she wanted to go, only that she needed to get outside and away from Jack and his
mysterious friend for a while. Indecision nagged at her until she remembered the loch. Sweeping her already damp hair away from her face, she made her way around the building and headed towards the screen of pine trees.
Ever since she had been a child, the castles, lochs and the pine forests that often surrounded them had fascinated her. Her mother had loved the history of the buildings and her father the natural beauty surrounding them. Though she still loved to visit the castles, it was her father’s world that had captivated her. Megan still remembered most of the stories of enchanted woods and loch monsters he had charmed and, as she got older, scared her with. It was to those places she still gravitated when she felt a need to escape.
By the time she found a path, her shoes were wet through from walking on the damp grass. Second thoughts assailed her when she saw the trees were denser than they had seemed, the loch not quite as close as it had looked. Too busy thinking about Jack’s revelations, she hadn’t stopped to consider the wisdom of straying from the house. But, she reasoned, he wouldn’t have brought her here if he didn’t believe it safe. Reassured, she allowed her memories and her innate stubbornness to lure her into the shelter of the trees.
Though ferns and other greenery grew around the edges, the ground underneath was bare but for a thick, springy brown carpet of fallen needles. A heavy growth of branches above her head dimmed the daylight and gave any sounds a muffled quality. In fact the steady drip of collected rainwater from the boughs above her was all she could hear beyond the scuff of her own footsteps. Megan felt watched. It caused the hair to stand up on the back of her neck though she could see a good distance through the trees on either side. That seems to be happening to me a lot recently.