Blown Away (Rogues Shifter Series Book 4)

by Gayle Parness

  "This is... I mean this is huge. You never..."

  "I know. I didn't remember that he'd—raped me." It was still such a hard word to say. "I'd blocked it completely, although bits and pieces are coming back now that I know for sure."

  "How do you feel? I mean really."

  "I’m not gonna lie, I’m scared shitless, but Garrett and I want to raise him and—and I think we can make it work. He’s going to be an amazing Dad. He’s singing to the baby in French already.” Just saying that stuff out loud made me feel a little more confident about our decision.

  Ethan laughed softly. “You’ll both be naturals. The little guy’ll have an awesome extended family. This is just a heads up, but I'm probably gonna spoil him rotten."

  I thought about my team and Garrett’s nest and my fae friends who’d be a part of his life and I smiled. “Hmm, well that’s reassuring. It won’t only be me sending him running to a shrink when he’s an adult.”

  Ethan cracked up. "We'll blame everything on his uncle Kyle.”

  I giggled, picturing Kyle trying to give Charlie advice on how to hold his temper. "Kyle can teach him to play Mario Kart and give him self-defense lessons."

  "That'll work."

  “I’m going to the hospital in a few minutes to visit Sinc and then meet with Flynn.”

  “Kyle and I were with Sinc this morning.”

  “How’s she doing?”

  “She seemed better today. Knowing that Garrett and you still want her on the team really helped."

  "How could she think we'd kick her off the team?" I hesitated a moment then blurted out, “She told me that you two...”

  “I’ll help her in any way that I can, you know I will. Sinc was my first real love so she’ll always have a special place in my heart. But I've grown up a lot with all that's happened. We both need to move forward.”

  “You’re right, Ethan. I want you to be happy, that's all.”

  “Ok, Mom.”

  "If you were here I'd punch you."

  "Then I'm glad I'm not. You can do serious damage."

  "Don't forget that when I start acting all crazy from my wild pregnancy hormones."

  He was quiet for a moment, then said softly, "I'm here if you want to talk, Speedy." That was his nickname for me, from when I first transitioned to cheetah on Solo Island and it brought back some good memories.

  "Would you mind telling Kyle and Peter about Charlie? I'll tell Sinc when I see her later."

  "No problem. You take care of yourself."

  "I will. Thanks, Ethan."

  At two I materialized in the woods behind the Crescent City hospital and headed straight up to Sinc’s room. Brina and Kaera were with her. Brina looked healed, with only some redness on her arms and face. Sinc looked happier too. The word had apparently come down that she was definitely going home today.

  The fae sisters stood as soon as I walked in the door, nodding deeply with their hands on their hearts. “Jacqueline, Kaera and I offer your team our support whenever you have need of us.”

  “Thank you.” I nodded back and we grinned at each other. “Working together again will be great.” Sinc looked sad, so I sat on the bed with her and teased, “Don’t even think about going on extended leave and not helping out with the team’s next mission.”

  “The French Riviera was calling my name.”

  “You’re not allowed to go to the French Riviera without your best friend, don’t you know that?”

  She smiled briefly and then took my hand. "Okay, it's a deal. I won't go unless you go with me."

  I looked from Kaera to Brina. "Did you tell her? I hear it's all over Faerie."

  They shook their heads. "Tell me what?"

  I pulled a chair over to the bed and told her everything. As soon as I mentioned the rape, she squeezed my hand, looking concerned, “Garrett and I are going to raise him here in Crescent City. We’re naming him Charles after Garrett’s dad: Charles Liam Cuvier.”

  “Garrett is okay with this?”

  “Garrett loves him already. I’m the one who wasn’t sure about what to do. Now that we’ve decided, I feel 100% better about everything.” Sinc gave me a look. “OK, 80%.”

  “You were raped. You can’t be okay with this.”

  “Charlie didn’t hurt me, his fath...Kennet did. Garrett loves him and..."

  "What?" She asked softly.

  "I’ve never been a part of a real family, Now I’ll have one of my own. I really think I want this.” And at that moment it became crystal clear to me that I did.

  She looked at me closely and then smiled. “I just needed to be sure.” She grinned suddenly. "I'm going to be an aunt! I'll buy him his first designer suit and his first sports car!" When I laughed at her, she scowled and shook her head. "Don't mess with my fun."

  "I wouldn't dare."

  “Jacqueline.” I turned to look at Kaera. “The Elders want the child raised in Faerie.”

  “She and Garrett will raise the child as they wish, sister.” Brina looked annoyed.

  “Of course. I’m only giving her warning that they may try to influence her to change her mind.” Kaera was her usual practical self.

  “They can do nothing. Jackie and Garrett are allies and Jackie has saved the life of Aedus.” Brina's amethyst eyes glittered with mischief, obviously enjoying the debate with her older sister. Sometimes I was surprised that she wasn't part demon.

  “Jackie should know that our first loyalties are to our people.” Kaera was scowling at Brina now.

  “Charlie is as much a fae as Liam. As warriors we pledge to defend all of the fae and our allies. The Elders can't interfere with Jackie's decision.“ Brina grinned at Kaera, managing to annoy her even more. It made me smile to see these two amazing females behaving like typical siblings.

  "A fae child with demon blood—that's gotta be a first." Sinc piped in. Her inner scientist had struck straight to the heart of things.

  I glanced at Keara who tilted her head and nodded. "This will be a matter discussed at many Elder Council meetings. Although half fae, your tiny son could be looked at as a threat to our safety. Many fae will fear him. Even you must agree that this is true, sister."

  Brina frowned. "Yes, some may. I trust that the Elders will leave Charlie with his mother and father where he belongs and treat him as one of us." She turned to look at me. "You should be prepared. They will assign him a guard.”

  “A guard?” I was shocked.

  Brina shrugged in a very human way. “The Elders will not take any chances with his life. He will be guarded every day and night until he comes of age at fifteen and is deemed able to protect himself.”

  An adult at fifteen? “He’ll have Liam.”

  Kaera shook her head. “Liam will not have time to guard Charles. Liam is committed to guarding Garrett and now you, as Garrett's mate. Brina is correct. They will assign Charles two or three guards of his own.”

  “Well, I hope we get to have some say in who they are. They’ll have to be rather—um, open-minded to live with us.”

  “I am certain that Liam can find you three who are appropriate. Please forgive my sister and I if we do not volunteer. We are more interested in fighting beside you than babysitting your sweet son.”

  I laughed at their honesty. “It’s perfectly fine.”

  We chatted for a while longer. When the doctor arrived to say that he was signing her out, Sinc called Kyle to bring her home so she could pack some things and then take her to our house later that evening. The fae sisters left in the usual fae manner, and I left soon after that to meet Rob on the fifth floor.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Rob and I had arranged a meeting with Flynn, the young rogue lion shifter who was having a really hard time believing that he wasn’t human. Rob had worked with him for a few weeks now, but he wasn’t making much progress and had refused to change again after the first time. The problem with that scenario was that one day he’d change without having any control and someone might get seriously injur
ed. Then he’d have to be put down. These were the laws and we couldn’t help him if he refused to let us.

  Rob saw me when I got off the elevator on Flynn’s floor and he ran over and hugged me. “How are you feeling Jackie? I'm glad to see that you’re looking so well.” Rob was the man who’d helped me through my first transition into a cheetah and with so many other milestones as well. Because he’d been through a nightmare experience of his own when he’d first shifted, he’d dedicated much of his time to helping other troubled shifters learn to accept themselves and their new abilities. He’d helped Ethan, Kyle and Sinc as well and had become a very close friend to Garrett over the years, working on the Rogue project together. Lately, I'd grown to think of him as an older brother or uncle who I could go to for sound advice. He was tall and handsome with dark hair, olive skin and shining dark eyes. When he shifted into his magnificent black leopard, I often found myself staring at him in awe.

  I hugged him affectionately then broke away.“ Must be the glow of pregnancy.” I cringed the next second, realizing that blurting it out like that probably wasn’t the best way to tell him.

  He looked extremely confused and obviously couldn’t tell if I was kidding or not, so I twisted my mouth up into a half smile and told him a shortened version of the story.

  "We’re naming him Charlie, well Charles, after Garrett’s dad.”

  After only a few seconds of shocked silence, he took me into his arms and hugged me again. “Jackie, you’re an extraordinary woman. Garrett has always wanted to be a father. You’ll be terrific parents." He pulled away to take a closer look at my face. "This must have been a shock for you. I hope you know you can always call me if you need to talk or anything else."

  “Thanks, Rob. We'll give parenting it our best shot, anyway.” We both managed to smile. “Now tell me about Flynn.”

  We headed down the hallway to Flynn’s room. Rob had already let him know that he’d be having another visitor, someone who’d been though the same thing he had, but when I entered, smiled at him and introduced myself, he turned away to look out the window and then refused to speak even to Rob.

  I glanced in Rob’s direction and he surprised me when he said, “I’m leaving for a while, Flynn, but Jackie’s going to stay. Talk to her, you have a lot in common.” Rob had grasped his shoulder, obviously fond of the young shifter. Flynn didn’t acknowledge him and so Rob just looked at me sadly and left.

  I moved a chair closer to the bed, on the same side as the window so I’d be on the side he was facing. Flopping in the utilitarian chair, I tried to make myself as comfortable as possible, figuring that this could definitely take a while. While we sat in silence, I looked at him carefully for the first time.

  He was strapped down so he wouldn’t hurt himself, hardly able to move his arms or his legs. If that had been me I would have been screaming bloody murder. Instead, he just lay there, looking depressed and miserable. His shaggy light brown hair hadn’t been combed in a while and his large amber brown eyes were clouded by sadness. I felt a sudden urge to muss his hair, but there was nothing cuddly about this seventeen year old. He was Heinrich’s size, 6’6” at least, and as broad as a bridge, his chest and shoulders straining under the hospital robe. I tapped into the lines and slowly reached out to touch his arm, hoping to do a little subtle healing.

  He glared at me and tried to move his arm away from my touch, the strap straining against the bolts. “Why don’t you go home, bitch.”

  Okay, so he was obviously angry as well as sad. I decided to ignore it. “My name is Jackie.”

  “So what fairy tale creature are you?”

  “I’m a cheetah shape-shifter and a magic user.”

  He laughed. “What you are is full of shit. Shapeshifters don’t exist and there is no magic.” He turned onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

  “How do you explain your shift into a lion?”

  “Rob gave me some freaky experimental drug. Maybe he did the same thing to you. It must have messed up your mind."

  “The drug only brought on what was going to happen naturally anyway.”

  “I’ve heard that crap already. Don’t even bother. I know the truth.” He was getting angrier, practically growling at me.

  I tried for a change in subject. “So you were adopted?”

  “I’m not talking about my family. You guys are all crazy and I’m not putting them in danger.” He looked worried.

  “Rob and Garrett already know who your family is. No one will hurt them.”

  I’d been briefed by Rob. Flynn had been adopted as an infant and raised by a human family in San Francisco. He grew up normally, although his school records showed that he had a temper and got into a few fights in Jr. High and High School, but nothing too serious. Our San Francisco source had flagged his report and so Rob had kept an eye on him from a distance, stepping in when he saw the first symptoms of a shift about to happen. Garrett had spoken to his family and glamoured them into thinking that Flynn had enlisted into a special ops unit in the government after lying about his age. They had two other younger kids to raise and were relieved that he’d found something that he was passionate about. They could never know the truth.

  “The cops will find me here, and then all of you are going to jail for kidnapping.” I remembered saying that exact same thing to Rob three months ago on the island and so I laughed and told him that. He sneered, “So you were just some runaway they figured they could experiment on?”

  I told him about my life, being passed from family to family in the state foster care system until the last family, the Crawfords, had adopted me. I explained about my unusual speed and my acute senses and how that had made it difficult for a human family to accept me, especially since I had a habit of taking off into the woods to run without telling anyone where I was going.

  “So you’re fast?”

  I nodded. “Even faster than a real cheetah.”

  He snorted in disbelief. “Oh yeah, you’re not crazy at all.”

  Maybe he just needed to be around more shifters. Rob was a great guy, but weeks of only his company could get a little monotonous. Well, I could remedy that. “How would you like to be a guest at my house for a few days? You could meet the rest of my team, and also my mate, Garrett. He’s a vampire and he’s the one who started this rogue shifter recovery program.”

  “Gee thanks, Jackie, but I’m already in the loony bin here at the hospital, I don’t need to visit another one where people dress up like Dracula and the wolf man.” He strained at the straps again and I wasn't surprised to see that they were weakening. “I need to get home. Untie me and let me go.” I shook my head. “This isn’t fair, I never did anything to you.”

  “What do you think would happen if I did loosen your straps and let you go home?”

  “I’d go back to my house and to school and live a normal life.”

  “You’re wrong. One day really soon you’d get angry or frustrated and you’d change into your lion, and you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself. Then you’d freak out and hurt someone. Do you want to take that chance? It could be your parents or your brothers or a friend.”

  “You two just don’t give up do you? I'm not changing into a lion. I'm getting the hell out of this bed with or without your help!” He was yanking and straining against the straps. They wouldn’t last much longer.

  Maybe a little confrontation was exactly what he needed. Honestly, I was getting angry myself. I mean it isn’t like this was the first time he’d heard all of this. He’d been working with Rob for a few weeks now.

  “You know Flynn, I’m already getting tired of you laying there and feeling sorry for yourself, and I’ve only known you for fifteen minutes. You’re a powerful shifter who'll be an awesome fighter. But instead of taking Rob's advice and starting to train, all you’ve done is whine and complain and disrespect him. Then on top of it all, you pull this diva stunt and try and kill yourself.” I was doing my best to channel Kyle's annoying tone, trying to get t
hrough to bricks-for-brains. I was counting on a strong reaction so he’d let down his guard and I’d be able to help him. However, his reaction turned out to be a little stronger than I’d expected.

  “You fucking bitch, I’m going to strangle you for that.” He grunted as his right hand broke the binding restraining it and then his left repeated the process. He sat up, unbuckling his leg restraints as I slowly stood and moved away from the chair, putting my back to the door.

  He jumped off the bed and moved toward me in a threatening manner, but I held my ground. “Why aren’t you running now, cheetah?” He was absolutely furious, but he wasn't stupid. He didn't want to end up in jail for assault. He just wanted to get away from us and back home again. Too bad that wasn't happening anytime soon.

  “I'm not running because I can protect myself.” I’d already locked the door so he wasn’t getting out that way. Plus the window s had bars. He looked me over more closely now, still angrily clenching his fists, probably tempted to punch me but not really knowing if he should. I was happy to see that punching a woman didn’t come naturally to him.

  He narrowed his eyes in thought as he looked at my defensive stance. “You know martial arts?”

  “Some, but I’m not great, not like Kyle or Sasha who are both on our team.”

  “Do you box?”

  I laughed. “Nope, never tried that.”

  “So how do you think you’re going to stop me from punching you or pushing you aside and leaving? You don’t have any weapons, do you?”

  "Only magic." He made a derisive noise. "I'm pretty sure you wouldn't really hit me or even push me. I think you're a decent guy, Flynn. But if you tried, I’d do this.” I formed a wave of energy into a brick and threw it at his chest, not too hard, I didn’t want to break a rib.

  He stumbled backward but didn’t fall, looking around for the object that hit him. “What did you throw at me?”

  “Magic.”

  Glaring, he twisted his mouth down in a frown. “I told you that I don’t believe in that crap.” He took a threatening step toward me, his eyes full of anger and his arms and hands stretching out to grab me.