“Maybe I should tell you alone.” Marylin tore off the piece of paper with the name and number of the private investigator set out in big, rounded print.
“I told you, you can say anything in front of Red, he is here to protect me from whoever might mean me harm.” Kate’s steely gaze rested on Marylin.
If he’d met these two women before today, Red might have believed that Marylin was the driving force of the relationship. Over breakfast, Carter and Caroline had implied as much. Yet watching the two women in front of him, he could see how strong-willed his mate was and how desperate Marylin was to hold onto her daughter’s respect and love.
Marylin glanced at Red, a look filled with distrust and resentment. To her, Red’s appearance on the scene, right when Kate needed him, must’ve seemed so convenient. Marylin must have looked upon him as a threat, not just to her relationship with Kate, but to her daughter’s well-being.
“I’m not sure.” Marylin turned to her daughter and stepped closer, her voice low. “What I have to tell you is going to seem a little…out there.”
“Out there?” Kate pressed her lips together. Her belief that Marylin was trying to manipulate the situation was evident.
“Yes. You’re going to think I’m crazy.” She held her hands out as if imploring Kate to give her a chance. “But you have to believe what I tell you.”
“Just say it, Mom.” Kate put her hands on her hips, her face set as she studied her mom closely. “Whatever it is, just say it and get it over with.”
“The man I hired. He has a special ability.”
“So you said.”
“He can turn into a bird.” Marylin’s voice flattened and faded away.
“Mom.” Kate’s strained voice was filled with disbelief. “Why would you say something like that?”
“Because it’s true. I was given his number by a trusted friend who told me this guy was very discreet, but that he had a quirky personality.”
Red had never heard being a shifter described in such a way. Although he might be the first to admit most shifters were quirky, their personalities often influenced by their other side.
“Mom, I can’t believe you bought into this.” Kate didn’t believe her mom for one moment. But then why should she? Humans turning into animals, that was a thing of sci-fi movies and fantasy.
“I didn’t buy into it,” Marylin objected. “Not until he shifted in front of my eyes. One minute he was a man, the next he was a bird. He flew right onto my shoulder and sang in my ear.”
“While feeding you a hallucinogenic drug?” Kate bit back. “How many times have you told me not to buy into what people tell you in this business?” Kate’s voice filled with pity. “I’m sorry my behavior forced you to expose yourself to this kind of person.”
“I did not expose myself,” Marylin said with indignation. “And I was not fooled. I saw it, it was real.”
“She’s right.” Red’s words were met with a look of incredulity from Kate.
“Are you two in on this together?” Her defenses were up, and she was not about to jump onboard and believe her mom’s words. Not without proof.
“No.” Marylin swung around and faced Red. “You know about shifters?” she asked with relief.
“Yes, I know about them.” He caught Kate’s eyes with his and, summoning all his courage, told her the truth. “I am one.”
Chapter Eleven – Kate
“This is nuts.” Kate’s confusion gave way to anger. “Are you both making fun of me?”
“No, honey.” Marylin approached Kate with her arms outstretched as if she were trying to calm a startled animal. “It’s true. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
“And you? You’re one of these shifters?”
“Yes.”
“Then do it! Turn into a bird, right here in front of me.” Kate threw down her challenge to Red. Red, who she was ready to trust with her life. Red, who she imagined having a relationship with.
Red, who had enhanced senses.
“I’m not a bird shifter,” Red told her bluntly.
“Right. Is that your excuse for not showing me how you can shift?” Kate accused.
“No. I can show you right now if you want. But since I turn into a bear, we would be better with more room.” He cast a critical eye around Kate’s trailer. There was not enough room in here for a full-grown bear. Not unless she wanted him sitting on her soft, plush sofas. What was she thinking? No man could change into an animal, it was impossible.
“A bear.” Kate fixed him with a critical eye. “You do not change into a bear. That’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard.”
“Let’s go somewhere. Somewhere private and I’ll show you.” He held out his hand to her and the temptation to take it was overwhelming. But she was tired of being pushed and pulled in different directions.
“Somewhere like the park?” she asked hotly and arched her eyebrow.
“Honey,” Her mom said quietly. “I know how this all seems, I really do. But I swear I have never met Red before you walked in here with him just now. I also swear that the guy I hired could turn into a bird.”
“Mom.” It was all too farfetched. Kate expected Red to suggest they go somewhere private where he already had some kind of special effect set up, so it appeared as if he were changing from a man to a bear. “Please. Don’t lie to me.”
“She’s not lying,” Red assured her, looking around the trailer. “What about the bedroom area?”
“What about it?” Kate asked.
“I could stand on the bed and shift.” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “My bear is house-trained.”
His remark broke the frosty atmosphere. “I did not expect to be showing you my bedroom today, but if you insist.” She pointed to the small room that contained a double bed, which she’d never used. Kate was too full of energy to nap in the day, and she preferred going back to the hotel as soon as her day on set was over.
“Okay. Now, please don’t scream or tell anyone else I’m a bear. We shifters are secretive creatures.” Red winked at her and pushed the door to her bedroom open wide and went inside. After a quick appraisal of the room dimensions, he kicked off his shoes and climbed onto the bed.
Kate couldn’t take her eyes off Red as he climbed onto the bed. Her bed. Over the last twelve hours or so she had envisaged Red in her bed, but never once in these daydreams had she pictured him standing on her bed, preparing to turn into a bear.
As she watched a look of concentration wash over him, she wondered at what point he was going to give up this game. But he didn’t. Instead, he shimmered. As if a heat haze had rolled over him. Only it didn’t stop with shimmering.
Slowly, Red faded from view until for a split second he was gone. Then, as she watched closely as if she were trying to figure out a stage magician’s magic trick, a large, dark shadowy shape appeared in its place. The heat haze cleared and there, on her bed, was a bear.
Not just any bear. This bear was huge, his soft fur brown with a tinge of red on the tips.
She swallowed down her nerves as she took a step toward him, but then she stopped dead in her tracks as a wailing sound filled the trailer.
“Mom,” she snapped and took hold of her mom’s hands, holding them tightly. “It’s okay. It’s only Red.”
“No.” Her mom shook her head while the keening sound continued.
“It is. Just like you saw the man turn into a bird, Red turned into a bear.” She let go of her mom’s hands and instead, Kate cupped her mom’s face in her palms and made Marylin face her. “Mom. Is this what you saw?”
Her mom nodded, her eyes wide. “But the private investigator was a bird. A small, harmless bird.”
“And Red is a bear. I’m certain as long as you don’t get on the wrong side of him, he is harmless.” She gave her mom an ironic smile. “That wasn’t a threat.”
Her mom’s eyes fixed on Kate for a moment before they slid sideways to where the bear stood firmly on all fours on the bed. “He’s a bear.”
> “Why don’t you go into the other room, Mom? I want to spend a couple of minutes alone with Red.” She placed her hands on her mom’s shoulders and turned her around. “Why don’t you go and make us a nice cup of tea?”
Marylin nodded dumbly and walked out of the room, only pausing in the doorway briefly to look over her shoulder at Red. Then she left the room and Kate shut the door firmly behind her. Next, she went to the windows and pulled down the blinds, dimming the room. Not for any romantic reasons, but so that no one looking in would see a real live bear on her bed.
That was one image she didn’t need the paparazzi getting hold of.
“Okay, big boy, it’s just you and me.” Kate went back around to the end of the bed, where the large head of a bear turned to watch her. “So this is really real?”
The bear nodded, and Kate looked into his eyes, seeing the same warmth, the same intelligence she had seen in Red’s. This was some weird shit. Said the woman painted blue. She had to acknowledge her life had taken a sharp turn and was heading directly for Weirdsville.
Kate plunged her fingers into the bear’s soft fur, certain Red would not hurt her. There was a connection between them, she was certain of it. And even now that she knew his secret, she wasn’t repulsed by him, she was intrigued by him and wanted to know every single detail of how this whole shifter thing worked.
“You really should shift back to your human form,” she told Red. “But I kind of like this version of you, too.”
What she liked about the bear side of Red was that there was no need to talk, no need to fill the silences between them. Those long lingering voids of talk would never be awkward while he stood on four large paws. Kate buried her face in his fur and savored the moment. For soon he would have to shift back, and the talking would begin, and somehow, she had to make peace with her mom, who had hired a private investigator to follow her own daughter.
Kate sighed. “It’s so much easier like this.” She pulled back and kissed his forehead, inhaling the scent of bear, which was a musky odor, not unpleasant, mixed with pine and damp earth.
As she rested her palms on his bear fur, the air around him snapped and crackled as the bear disappeared and Red’s human form returned.
“You liked him. My bear.” It wasn’t a question, but Kate nodded her head all the same.
“I did. I liked him a lot. When I touched his fur I could almost imagine we were high in the mountains somewhere. Somewhere away from here.” She gave him a weak smile.
“I thought you liked Space Monkeys.” Red climbed down off the bed and slipped his feet into his shoes.
“I do. That’s not the issue.” She rubbed the back of her neck, flattening the small hairs that stood on end. “Life in the mountains must be very simple.”
Red closed the small distance between them and she could feel the heat from his body. She wanted to reach out and touch him, to stroke her fingers down his chest, to feel the same connection she’d felt with his bear.
How crazy was that? She’d felt more of a connection with Red’s bear than she had with another human for some time.
And she knew why.
“Your life is complicated and it’s easy to want to walk away from it all. Especially if you think you’re in danger.” His soft, sexy voice lulled her, and she leaned toward him, wanting him to wrap his big strong arms around her and hold her tight against him.
“Walking away is never an option.” She shrugged and lifted her hand, placing it firmly on his chest. The beat of his heart registered in her brain, he was so alive, so intense. “Is there something between us?”
His body went rigid and he placed his fingers under her chin and tilted her head so that she had to look at him. “Yes. But I didn’t want to tell you. Not until you were ready.”
“And you get to choose when that is?” she asked.
He chuckled. “No.”
“Then tell me.” Her eyes lifted to his and she held him under her spell. For that’s what she was certain she cast over him, in the same way he cast one over her. They were linked.
All through filming this morning, she’d been aware of his presence. No matter where she moved around the set, she could sense where he was.
“I’m a shifter.” He placed his hand over hers and warmth flooded her body. “That means I can shift into an animal. In my case, a bear.”
“So a shifter can only shift into one animal?” Kate asked, intrigued by this amazing gift.
“Yes, I don’t get to choose. My dad was a bear shifter, my mom was a regular human.”
A sad smile twitched at the corners of her lips. “I don’t think your mom was a regular human. From what you’ve described of her she sounds pretty special.”
Red ducked his head, breaking eye contact with her. It was Kate’s turn to place her fingers under his chin and raise his head, so he had to meet her eyes. He gave a short laugh as he brushed a hand across them. “Real men don’t cry, huh?”
“No. Real men know how to cry.” She brushed her thumb over his lips.
He cleared his throat and continued. “Along with the ability to shift…we know our mate. We can sense them.”
“With your enhanced senses.” Kate nodded and then it all became clearer. “Last night, in the park, that’s why you were there. That’s why you found me.”
“Yes.” He nodded. “I was walking through the park, trying to clear my head. Then this feeling crept over me. A little like the flu.”
She grinned. “Are you telling me I made you go weak at the knees?”
He chuckled. “Yeah. You did. And I had to find you. But then I sensed someone else and I figured you were out walking with a boyfriend or something.”
“You sensed the other person?” Her heart raced. “Would you know them if you saw them again? Or sensed them again?”
“Probably. I got pretty close.” He looked apologetic as he made his next confession. “But honestly, I was so overwhelmed by finding you, I can’t say for sure. All I can picture is the silhouette.”
Kate sighed. “Well, let’s go see this private investigator and you can let your enhanced senses do their thing.” She waved her hand around as if she were a magician putting him under her spell.
“I’ll go meet him.”
“Oh, no.” She waved her finger in front of his face. “You just said we were mates. We’re a team. If you go, I go.”
“I don’t want you in danger. I’ll go alone,” Red insisted.
“You don’t have a choice. Since I have the address and you don’t.” She tilted her head to one side. “So either we go together, or I go alone.”
“Then I guess we go together,” Red replied begrudgingly.
“We do.” She took a step away from him since the urge to kiss him and seal the deal was almost too much. “I have to get back on set.”
“One thing first.” He stepped forward and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her back against his hard-toned body. As he lowered his head and kissed her neck, he whispered, “I never thought I’d find a blue woman quite this sexy.”
She giggled and turned around to face him. Slipping her hands up his chest, she stood on tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. “You can help me scrub it off if you want.”
“I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.” He lowered his head and captured her lips with his, just as she’d captured his heart. As the heat of their kiss seared her lips, she knew she was lost. She also knew she was safe and would never be alone again.
She just hoped her relationship with Red gave her more freedom to do her own thing than her relationship with her mom.
Who was going to just love learning her daughter belonged to a shifter now, mind, body, and soul.
Chapter Twelve – Red
“I still don’t like this.” Red looked up at the offices of one Wayne Reeves, PI.
“You don’t have to like it,” Kate told him lightly. “All you have to do is play along and let me do the talking.”
Red glanced across at t
he woman sitting next to him who looked nothing like Kate Kellan. “Imogen did an amazing job with your makeup.”
“She did, didn’t she?” Kate sat up and tilted the rearview mirror toward her and looked critically at her reflection. Imogen had been more than happy to help, blending the makeup on Kate’s face to change the shape of her eyes and lips. “He won’t recognize me, I’m sure. Even I didn’t recognize myself when Imogen told me to go and look in the full-length mirror in Wanda’s trailer.”
“Not from your face, but a shifter doesn’t always rely on what he sees before him.” Red looked up at the building once more.
“Damn those enhanced senses.” She grinned at him, her bright red lipstick like a blood stain across her pale face. Her heavily made-up eyes beckoned him to come to bed, as she fluttered her eyelashes at him.
All he wanted to do was drive somewhere remote and make out with her in the back of his truck.
I forgot you were such a sophisticated kind of a guy, his bear told him with more than a little humor.
What can I say? I never grew out of making out in the back of a car. Red pulled on the door handle and the car door popped open. “Let’s do this.”
“Okay.” Kate got out of the car and stood up, straightening the tight pencil skirt that hugged her thighs, and tugging the smart-fitted jacket down to cover her fabulous ass. “I feel like a trussed-up turkey.”
“You don’t look like one,” Red replied. He looked down at the suit he wore and knew exactly how she felt. He hadn’t worn a suit since forever. Even at his mom’s funeral, he’d worn his uniform.
As he walked toward the office of Wayne Reeves, PI, he felt as if he had the word imposter tattooed across his forehead. Red didn’t think for a moment that Wayne would buy their act. But then it didn’t really matter. All Red really needed was to see the guy and smell the guy. Then he would know if he was the same guy who was in the park and at the restaurant.
We already know, his bear replied.
Not for sure, he told his bear.
This was the guy who got away at the restaurant, but it’s not the same person who was in the park. His bear was adamant, and under normal conditions Red would never doubt him, but they were both aware of how fogged up his brain was that night.
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