There was nothing she would not do to make sure that her son had a good start in life. But where would she take him if the council threw them off the island?
CHAPTER FOUR
Ferry
Ryan
He caught the ferry to Friday Harbor. From there he took the afternoon ferry to West Haven. Off season, there were only two a day. Ryan had negotiated a week from Grandfather before he was to introduce himself to his bride and stepson.
There was something way wonky about the whole set up. Not just the forced marriage. Things were a little different in a cougar clan. He was used to that. Every instinct he possessed had gone on high alert the instant Grandfather had told him it was his job to inform his new wife of their status.
What was crazy was that poor, fragile, little Claudia couldn’t handle one small cougar cub, but Robin and Sully couldn’t, wouldn’t, tell her about the marriage they had arranged to solve all her problems with said cub. What was up with that?
Not even the fever-ridden fog he had lived in for the last month and a half could make that seem rational. He had read and reread Charles’ notes about Claudia. She was twenty-seven. A college graduate with a degree in accounting. She had worked in Portland for one of the big insurance companies. And now had a job as a teller at the First Bank of Mystic Bay. Or the Bank of First and Last, as they called it in his family.
What was wrong with that picture? Everything. The image simply would not jell. For a start, sorcerers usually made a living using their talents. What talent made you ripe for a career as a mid-level accountant? Or a lowly bank teller? There was some secret there he was going to have to winkle out.
And then there was this tiptoeing around Claudia. As if they weren’t afraid to kick her off the island, but were afraid to bring her bad news. Maybe the witch was a bitch? She certainly didn’t look it. Not by a long shot.
Claudia Peterson was a diminutive beauty. Claudia Peterson Rutherford. Curvy and sweet-faced. With honey-colored curls that were every shade of blonde, and soft brown eyes shaded by long lashes. And a smile that stole a cat’s breath.
The boy looked like a Rutherford cub: blond, amber eyed, mischievous, with the trademark Rutherford dimple in his chin. Ryan had one exactly like it that was a pain to shave.
It would be no hardship to bed his wife. Might have a hard time remembering that she was bonded to one of his cousins. Not that she was likely to have time to break Ryan’s heart. The poison in his blood was sapping his strength day by day.
Time was running short. But he ought to have time to get her with cub before they buried him. He wouldn’t be around to see how the town council handled the Widow Rutherford and her two cubs. But he could trust his clan to look out for her and the boy.
He let the wind off the Pacific blow across his hatless head. It was October and the wind had a real edge. All around him folks were bundled in parkas and jackets. Scarves wrapped necks. Hats protected heads. Gloved hands were being slapped together to restore their circulation. He alone was standing in his shirtsleeves enjoying the icy blast. But even the chilling wind could not lower his temperature to normal.
He had better get his mission accomplished before he burned to death.
CHAPTER FIVE
Claudia~
No sooner had she settled Jimmy and booted up her laptop than her phone rang. Again. Kevin Spicer. Again. She had been dodging Two-Watt all week. He kept inventing errands at the bank and waiting in line until she was free. So far she had managed to avoid having to outright refuse a second date, but he was certainly persistent. And despite her shield, the jerk kept trying to hypnotize her.
Her boss, Morley Parker, was thrilled to bits to have a Spicer coming into his bank so often. He thought it raised the tone of his establishment if everyone knew that Kevin had an account with the First Bank of Mystic Bay. As if Two-Watt was going to persuade his wealthy family to make the First and Last their main bank.
She let voicemail take care of Kevin for tonight. Peterson Accounting had a new client who wanted to incorporate. She needed to review his finances and let him know if the tax advantages outweighed the drawbacks. Even though this task was just a matter of running the numbers, her online business was much more stimulating than her day job. If only she could do this full-time.
She had to be patient. It took time to become established in any new business. It would be at least another year and maybe two before she could quit her job at the bank. Going to work for Kevin was not an option. She was convinced he had picked up some rumor about her talent. Nothing else explained his continuing to hound her.
Her ability to unbind spells was supposed to be a closely guarded family secret, but Dominic had known and pursued her ruthlessly. He had wanted her genes for his children. Possibly her talent to help him run his real estate business or fuel his political ambitions. If only she had paid more attention to the ins and outs of summer visitors. But four years ago, while she had known of the Rutherfords, she could not have distinguished between them.
In any case, since his marriage, Dominic had not been a frequent a visitor to West Haven. His father-in-law the senator was a non-sensitive, and so was his daughter. There was no way that Dominic wanted to hang around with his clan and have his wife and in-laws to discover he was a shifter. She was safe enough from Jimmy’s father here on West Haven. And even if Kevin was not her one true love, someday her prince would come.
CHAPTER SIX
Cat’s Head Cove, West Haven
Ryan~
He was exhausted by the time he got to the Rutherford compound. He had been told to stay in the main house on Cat’s Head, because the Victorian cottage was the only place in the compound still open this late in the year. The caretakers had been told to fill the fridge and make up his bed. It was also the cottage closest to the old lighthouse where Claudia lived with her cub.
Not that he minded. The old house held only happy memories for him. Every summer as far back as he could remember Grandmother had held court here. In a family with many queens, she was the matriarch. He and his brothers and cousins had adored her and served her willingly.
He was going to use his first two days to try to heal himself. Starting by taking cougar and checking out his new family. In the morning, after he had had a rest. It was the pits being constantly fatigued after a lifetime of boundless energy.
This late in October, there was at best only another hour of full sun. After that the woods would be dark. Not that it mattered to a cougar. Ryan had excellent night vision. But he longed for sunshine, as if the sun’s heat could bake out this fucking fever.
The Marines had taught him the value of a quick change. He was unpacked and slipping naked out the back door in five minutes. His change into cougar took lots longer. Another side effect of the poison. In their teens, he and his brothers had practiced their shifts until they could do them in the twinkling of an eye. Not so much now.
But at last he was done. He took stock. The best he could say was that whatever the doctors thought, it was less painful being a great cat than a man. He limped towards the woods. The sights and smells of the trees and the moss revived him. This green forest was paradise on earth. He shook off the weariness compounded by two back-to-back ferry rides and his wound.
Already he could feel the stiffness in his right leg working out and new vigor energizing his entire body. He opened his jaws wide and inhaled deeply, letting the aromas of nature suffuse his senses. Stretched. The delicious scent of the pines and the larches were sweeter than perfume. The moss was cool to his burning feet.
Yup, this felt like home, as Portland never did. The larches were turning gold and beginning to drop their leaves. They lay scattered over the pine needles like gold coins over dirt. He lifted a pile with one giant paw and flung the leaves into the air. They fluttered down like golden rain. He pounced.
The joy of being able to move without agony was more exhilarating than skydiving. Not that he was pain free. Maybe it was just that his beast was l
ess focused on the pain? He tossed and stalked and tussled with the small golden leaves as if he were indeed a cougar cub again. He was so caught up in his game that it was some time before he realized that he himself was being stalked.
He spun around. If he hadn’t had that fever there was no way anyone could have sneaked up on him. There on all fours was a very small boy. Jimmy looked like his photograph. Blond. Golden eyed. Purring like a fool. Purring exactly as Ryan was. He approached the boy cautiously. He didn’t want to frighten his son. He didn’t. Jimmy crept forward until he was right in front of Ryan.
He put his little nose in the air, inviting acknowledgment.
Amused, Ryan touched his huge nose to the small, sunburned one. The boy’s purring was replaced by a giggle. Two hands hugged his face and tugged on his whiskers. While he was recovering from this audacity, the kid rose to his feet and darted away, still giggling.
The little bugger was fast. Even for a cougar cub. He turned around and grinned impishly over his shoulder, and went back to running on his itty-bitty sneakers. Ryan wanted to laugh. He stalked the child, pretending he could not find him when he slipped behind a tree.
The kid peeped out. Laughed. Dashed left and crouched down behind a shrub. Ryan could see him through the bare branches, but the child acted as if he were invisible. Probably thought he was. Ryan mimed hunting. He ignored the giggles until the boy popped out of his hidey-hole, hugged him, and took off again. And disappeared.
Jimmy should have been perfectly visible. But Ryan couldn’t make him out in the half-light. And then there he was. He popped into view and winked out again. Giggling happily the whole time. Ryan concentrated. But even with his preternaturally good cougar vision, even with every paranormal sense on high, he could not keep the kid in sight.
He was blinking on and off like a Christmas light. Fortunately he couldn’t eliminate his scent. Ryan knew where he was. He padded around the little clearing pretending he couldn’t locate the cub, while monitoring him by smell.
Like any three-year-old, the child emerged from hiding, laughing gleefully. “You couldn’t find me, Cat,” he boasted.
They played the game until Ryan realized they were losing the light. The shadows were growing longer. Jimmy would be missed soon. Better get him home. He stopped the game by sitting quietly. As he had expected, the curious little guy came up. Ryan flattened himself. The boy climbed onto his back.
A female voice shouted, “Jimmy.” Ryan’s sensitive hearing caught the note of panic in the soft contralto.
His passenger stiffened. “That’s my mommy,” he whispered in Ryan’s ear.
He only had to follow the sound of the boy’s name, repeated with rising exasperation, to find the woman. He learned a few things. The cub was well aware that he had been naughty. And that lust at first sight was entirely possible.
Claudia looked exactly like her photograph. Little, round, honey-haired. As soft as butter. And twice as sweet. As soon as Jimmy scurried out of the woods, her anxious shouting ceased. She knelt in the leaf litter and gathered her son against a generous bosom and held him tightly.
Ryan sniffed the air. Her scent, rich and powerful, and deeply feminine, clouded his senses and made him think of tangled sheets and long, hot nights. Wasn’t he a lucky son of a queen? Jimmy’s real father was an idiot if he had abandoned this woman. That jackass better not show up to claim her or his son. She was Ryan’s and he would keep what was his.
Jimmy tugged at her hand and started to tell her about his adventures. His mom lifted him into her arms and let him ride her hip home.
Lucky Jimmy.
The boy chattered on. He told Mommy all about his new ‘friend’ the big cat. Mommy didn’t even glance around, she just murmured affectionate encouragement. Probably thought Ryan was an imaginary friend. Probably best if he stayed that way – for now.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Claudia~
For all that he was still her baby, Jimmy was getting heavy. Growing up too fast, too soon. Claudia wanted to keep him little forever, this child who might be all her children. How different her life would have turned out, if Dominic had only been the man he pretended to be.
She had always wanted lots of children. Dominic had claimed he came from a big litter and wanted the same. Turned out that he didn’t mean that he included her in his dreams. She had spent a week in shock when she learned he was already married and had four children and another on the way. The bastard had intended to set her up as a second ‘wife’ in Portland, believing she and his real wife would never find out about each other. Puleeze.
Jimmy rubbed his head against her breast and continued to tell her about his new ‘friend’. She thought she knew which cat he meant. For the last week, she had seen a handsome, fluffy, marmalade-colored tom hanging around the backyard.
“He rubbeded his nose against mine,” Jimmy said. “And I pulleded his whiskers.”
Claudia stiffened. “If you tease a cat like that, it will scratch you. Maybe even bite.” She held him away from her body so she could look into his eyes. Those amber eyes that were so like his father’s. She loved her son anyway.
“Cat didn’t bited me. He made a noise like this.” Jimmy imitated a motor running. Or perhaps he was purring. “And he chaseded the leaves and hit them with his paws.”
“You got lucky.” So had she. If that cat had taken offense, she might be heading for the emergency room. Or at least to Grammy’s clinic. Cat scratch fever was a real thing, and cat bites could lead to abscesses. “Promise me you won’t pull kitty’s whiskers again.”
“Kitty,” he chortled. Then he looked directly at her sober face and went as solemn as an owl. “I pwomise, Mommy.” But he continued to chortle, “Kitty,” under his breath at intervals.
All the same, he had disobeyed today. He had left the safety of the yard and his sandbox for the forbidden woods. “Jimmy,” she said softly, “You left our yard without permission. Do you know what that means?”
He sighed gustily. “I have to sit in the naughty spot?”
“You do.”
He pouted. “But I wasn’t alone. I was with my friend. Me and Cat played hide ‘n seek.”
“I don’t mind you playing with that cat. Especially since he sounds so gentle. But you must stay in the yard. You’ll have to sit in the naughty spot today, and tomorrow, you won’t be allowed to play outside without me.”
“Aw!” He turned the single syllable into a cry of woe. “But Cat is big.” Jimmy spread his little arms as wide as they would go. “Bigger than this. He let me ride on his back.”
Perhaps Jimmy’s new friend was just an imaginary beast. Kids often had imaginary friends. Brought them to dinner. Or perhaps he had actually sat on that strange tomcat. The jowly orange tabby was big, but there were limits to any animal’s patience. She set Jimmy down, squatted to bring them eyeball to eyeball.
“You can’t sit on kitties. You’ll hurt them.”
“My kitty,” he chortled, “Is big as big. I didn’t hurted him. He gave me a ride on his back.”
Jimmy wasn’t a liar. Not unless there were cookies involved. Presumably this meant an imaginary friend.
“From now on, you play with your new friend in the backyard. Or the house.”
“Yes, Mommy.” But he practically bent double laughing.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ryan~
He opened the California shutters and slid the screen door across to reveal the wide rear deck. The sun was setting over the Pacific and turning the ocean to molten gold. Russet leaves turning to brown were scattered over the wooden planks. But he didn’t need perfection to enjoy the sunset. He could sweep after his swim.
As the sun tinted the sky pink, Ryan shifted into cougar and bounded down the twenty-seven steps to where the staircase disappeared mid-flight. Careful hands had lifted the last twenty risers, as well as the cedar frames of the dock, clear of the coming winter storms and lashed them to bolts driven into rocks high above the high-water line. Bu
t in cougar he didn’t need steps or a dock.
He leaped into the air, soared out over the rocks, and dove deep. He landed awkwardly with an almighty splash to the left of his target. Damn, that rear leg was still not working properly. Even after two days in cougar, the wretched thing was stiff and weak.
That fricking cobra had bitten him on the right thigh. Hilpin, who had remained in human for just such an eventuality, had immediately given him a shot of antivenin, while Benoit, who was in bear, broke the cobra’s spine with one mighty swipe.
The hypodermic they had been carting around for six days while they pursued the cobra-turned-professional-hitman was ordinary cobra antivenin. Not like you could ask at the drugstore for cobra shifter antivenin. Turned out that the ordinary stuff didn’t work that well on paranormal venom.
In human, his thigh was still swollen and hot, the four puncture wounds enlarging daily and still oozing. The fleshy part of his thigh continued to be probed by sadists with red hot pokers. He was still running a fever. But maybe the ice-cold Pacific would clean the damned thing out.
Normally, Ryan enjoyed his volunteer work with the shifter police. After a stint in the Marines he had been mostly satisfied to settle down to working for the family firm. Property development was what Rutherfords did after they got the wildness of their youthful cougars out of their systems.
But teaming up with the Fuck Alls* to track down and eliminate rogue shifters turned criminals satisfied some soul-deep need of his cougar that investment banking left restless. They pursued the criminals that regular law enforcement could do fuck all about. Hence the name. If necessary, the FAs could and did eliminate shifters who preyed on humans.
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