by C. D. Hersh
“No,” she said and then amended her statement, knowing Eli could see right through her lie. “Yes, but that’s not what’s bothering me.”
“After the pummeling ye took I’d say if it’s nae, yer a right bonny strong lassie.” He smiled at her, the whiskers on the apples of his cheeks curling toward his eyes. “But then we all know the kind o’ strength ye have in ye, sae it dinna surprise me.”
His words made her burst into tears.
“See,” Rhys said. “Hormones.”
“I am not hormonal!” Her words reverberated in the truck. “I’m losing my powers!”
“What?” Eli and Rhys said in unison.
“I’m squirming like a bagpipe because unless I’m touching you two, I can’t sense you, and I can’t see your auras.”
Rhys braked so hard at the stop sign it threw them forward and locked her seatbelt against her throbbing chest. The heads of both men jerked toward her.
“When did his happen?” Rhys asked.
“Tonight. It’s why those shifters caught me off guard.”
“Shifters attacked ye?” Concern creased Eli’s forehead. “And ye dinna know?”
“Not until they touched me.”
The car behind them honked, and Rhys pulled into the intersection. “Hormones,” he repeated. “They’re screwing with your powers.”
She punched him in the arm. “Will you stop with the hormones already?”
“Woman, you’d better stop doing that.” He shot her a warning scowl. The passing streetlights made his menacing appearance flicker like a flip book cartoon in motion.
She punched him again. “And don’t call me woman.”
Eli grabbed her hand before she could swing it at Rhys a third time. “Bairns, quit yer squabbling. We canna let a little thing like hormones get under yer skins.”
“Little? I said, I’m. Losing. My. Powers. How can I be a Promised One and help Rhys fulfill the prophesy if I have no power? What if I can’t shift anymore? What if I can’t become Garrett?” She closed her eyes in preparation to shift.
Eli grabbed her arm before she started the process and shook her. “Dinna try it, lassie! If ye are in the family way, ye could lose the bairn.”
“What!” Alexi and Rhys said at the same time.
“A pregnant female shifter should only mimic shift tae a female form. Tae become a man, or her animal ego, could cause her tae lose her babe. ’Tis a well-known happenstance o’ shifter pregnancies.”
“Not well known to me,” Alexi wailed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I dinna ken ye dinna ken. Nor ye dinna confirm ye were having a bairn. In fact, ye said nae when I asked ye.”
“I meant no, the time wasn’t right, not that I wasn’t pregnant. I don’t know for sure. What if I can’t shift to a woman? What if something more is happening to me?”
“Lassie,” Eli said, in a soothing voice. “Yer working yerself intae such a state if yer nae careful ye won’t be able tae breathe.” He slipped his arm around her and patted her shoulder. At his touch her hysteria ebbed. “Ye should be able tae mimic another woman. Go ahead and try. ’Twill nae harm the wee one.”
She concentrated and started to form a picture of Delaney in her mind, then decided she should choose someone closer to childbearing age, so she mimicked Katrina. Within seconds a perfect mimic sat between Rhys and Eli.
“See, lassie,” Eli said soothingly, “ye havenae lost all yer ability. ’Tis merely the pregnancy getting in yer way.”
“I changed into a man at the Samhain meeting. Will that affect the baby?”
“Have ye experienced any o’ this afore the meeting?”
“No.”
“’Tis likely then ye’ve only been expecting a few days. The first month or sae ye might be able tae make the change without harming the babe, but since we suspect ye might be in the family way we’ll nae take a chance.”
“But what about my shifter senses?” she asked as she let her form melt back into her natural self.
“I know ye dinna want tae hear the word any mair, but yer man’s right. If ye are in the family way, yer hormones could be playing havoc with yer powers, especially if the wee bairn yer carrying ’tis as strong as I suspect.”
“She,” Rhys said. “I want a girl who looks just like her mother.”
Eli waved a dismissive hand in the air. “Lad or lassie. It dinna matter. Either ’twill be fine.”
“A boy,” she said. “Who looks like his daddy.”
“Are ye warming tae the idea, lassie?”
“Not really, but the alternative is even scarier.” Admitting that losing her powers was scary was a revelation to her. Only two years ago, she wished she was anything but a shifter. Now the prospect of losing her powers, in spite of the danger looming ahead, was not something she even wanted to consider. She leaned into her husband and kissed the spot on his arm where she’d repeatedly punched him. “I’m sorry. Forgive me?”
“Always, sweetheart,” he answered. “Always.”
“So where do we go from here?” she asked Eli.
“Tae the doctor tae confirm what we suspect.”
“And to a security firm,” Rhys added. “After tonight I want men protecting you.”
“They canna be human and we canna say why we really need them. Nae tae anyone. She’ll need protection o’ the magical sort until her powers sort themselves oot.”
“Do you know anyone?” Rhys asked.
“Aye. I have just the one. One I’d trust with my own bairn’s life, if I had a wee bairn. We’ll gather a few guid shifters tae protect our lassie.”
“I don’t need protecting,” she protested. “I can’t sense shifters, or become Garrett, but I can still kick butt and shift into another woman.”
“As yer time goes on, ye canna even do those two things. ’Twill become too dangerous tae mimic shift. The risk of miscarriage will grow with each shift. Even if ye weren’t a shifter, kicking arse as a nine-month pregnant woman isnae safe.”
“You will have protection, Lexi,” Rhys said, “or I’ll put you under house arrest until the baby’s born.”
A guttural growl crept from her throat. “You’re smothering me, just like you did when Baron got murdered. I don’t like it one bit.”
“Better me smothering you . . . with love . . . than Sylvia or Falhman’s thugs smothering you.”
Rhys’ comment caused a shudder to run over her as she remembered the attempt on her life last year.
“Like it or nae, lassie, ye’ll need tae accept it. If ye are carrying a wee one, the blood o’ the three most powerful Turning Stone lines runs in that child. Ye and yer man and the bairn are the key tae the promised peace I’ve waited centuries tae see. When time and age agree, trinity becomes unity.”
“That’s not how you defined it at the Samhain Council meeting. You said ‘The Promise Ones have three egos, and, as man and wife, Rhys and Alexi are in agreement.’ Are you changing your interpretation?” Rhys asked.
“Nae. The Keepers o’ the Stone have always understood ’twas mair tae the prophesy. I dinna understand clearly until the two o’ ye showed up. Tae release what I believe ’tis the real meaning ’twould be dangerous as there were dissenters at the meeting.”
“Are you saying we have to be afraid of our own people?” Alexi asked.
“’Tis easy tae keep a castle that’s nae besieged, and without complete agreement I canna trust all the knights in our keep. Even if yer powers weren’t on the blink, I’d be setting protection on ye. So dinna blame Rhys. Blame me.”
As much as it pained her to admit it, they were right. “Fine, I’ll agree, but I won’t like it.”
“Ye dinna havetae like it. Ye just havetae do it, which,” Eli said with a grin, “may be a harder thing fer
ye than delivering the bairn intae the world.”
He was right. Surrendering control to anyone was hard. A heavy sigh escaped her lips, and Eli gave her a tight hug. How could she manage a tiny life, when her own world spun out of her control?
“Dinna worry, lassie. Ye’ll nae be alone as long as I’m here.”
“Hey, old man, don’t leave me out.”
Rhys laid a hand on her knee. As the two men embraced her, she took strength from the knowledge she wouldn’t be alone. Then almost as quickly, the same strength turned to frustration. Nine months with two, no more than two, hovering men would be trying.
Who would strangle whom first?
After parking Alexi’s car in the garage, Hugh joined her, Eli, and Rhys in the kitchen where Eli brewed tea-again. The emergency call concerning Alexi had come just as their discussion of the night’s hunting had begun. Anxious to know what the hawk had seen and what theories Eli and Rhys had concerning the shifters at the shipping gate entrance, Hugh took his seat.
Alexi passed scones and jam. He put a couple on his plate and scooted the rest to Rhys. “Are you feeling up to this?” Hugh asked Alexi.
“Can’t be any scarier than what I’ve already experienced tonight,” she replied.
Reaching over and patting her hand, Rhys said, “Why don’t you go upstairs and rest, sweetheart? I can fill you in later.”
She shot a glare at Rhys which Hugh thought hot enough to start a fire on wet kindling.
“Over my dead body. I’m not letting you shut me out of your dangerous escapades, buster.” Leaning back, she crossed her arms over her chest, tucking her hands under her armpits. The hostile expression on her face clearly dared Rhys to say another word.
“Sorry, man,” Hugh said. “I didn’t mean to start something.”
“You didn’t,” the pair said in unison, their gazes locked in silent combat.
He cleared his throat nervously. “About tonight’s hunt . . .”
Rhys tore his attention from Alexi. “Shifters have overrun the shipping dock.”
“Rogues?” Eli asked.
“Probably. From the blinking auras, I’d say mimics.”
“What shipping company?” Alexi asked.
“WK Shipping,” Rhys said. “The one I’m doing some P.I. work for.”
Hugh’s jam-covered scone stopped halfway to his mouth. “I don’t think I like the sound of that.”
“You shouldn’t. The CEO of the firm, Fiona Kayler, asked me to investigate some shipping problems and some dock worker unrest the company is experiencing. From what I discovered tonight, there’s a good chance her problems and your terrorist are connected.”
“Why isn’t she using her own security to investigate?” Hugh asked.
“She suspects her security staff might be involved. One of her security guys left right after she started noticing things weren’t quite right. No notice. No warning. Nothing.”
“Missing persons report?” Alexi asked.
“Kind of hard to file a missing person report on someone who doesn’t exist,” Rhys said. “Every paper she has on him seems fraudulent.”
“Her security background checks didn’t find this?” Hugh asked.
“The man passed, clean as a whistle, according to her staff.”
“Nae wonder she wants an outsider tae investigate. The fox ’tis in the lassie’s hen hoose already.”
“Possibly even guarding the coop,” Alexi added. “What can I do to help?”
“Nothing,” Rhys said. “I don’t have any evidence yet. Just suspicions on her part. And since she wouldn’t know a shifter if it bit her—”
“Do you do that?” Hugh wondered if he needed to get a rabies shot.
“Usually not.” Rhys grinned. “But we are animals.”
Hugh harrumphed. “Doesn’t make me feel safer.”
“Anyway,” Rhys continued, “I can’t go to the cops with what I saw as a hawk tonight.”
“Besides,” Hugh said, “we can’t arrest shifters for trying to make a living.”
“Only if they’re breaking the law while they’re making a living.” Rhys stood. “I have another appointment with Fiona tomorrow. Want to come along as my associate, Hugh?”
“Guid idea, laddie. Two heads are better than one.”
“Works for me,” Hugh said, recognizing the meeting was over. “Maybe I’ll see a connection you missed.”
“Meet me here at eight. We can ride over together.”
He stood and checked his watch. Still plenty of time to head over to the Dew Drop Inn and see if LJ had anything new.
When Hugh entered the Dew Drop Inn, he noticed LJ at the table he normally occupied entertaining a dapper looking gentleman, sporting a black goatee. Taking a seat two tables away, he waited for LJ to notice he’d entered, but her focus remained on the man who’d usurped his seat. The man’s gaze remained on the woman Hugh was attracted to. The competition reeked of money and flirted outrageously with LJ.
Hugh tried to ignore the rush of jealousy running over him. She wasn’t his. He hadn’t even asked her out. They’d only had a business dinner together. So why did he feel like the man fished in his pond? One of the other servers came over and asked what he wanted to drink.
“Decaf,” he said louder than necessary. LJ still didn’t turn away from lover boy. “And bring me a burger.”
“You want fries with that?”
“Why not.” He’d drown his ego in saturated fat and salt.
When the meal came, the server left without giving him ketchup. He leaned toward LJ and her suitor and barked, “Can I borrow the ketchup?”
No answer, but LJ laughed at some comment the fellow said, her face blushing pink. The jerk probably paid her a compliment. Not that she didn’t deserve compliments. Maybe he should have paid her a few more than he had.
“Excuse me,” Hugh said, loud enough to make heads turn in his direction. “Could I borrow the ketchup?”
A stranger from the booth beside Hugh, dropped his ketchup on the table. LJ still didn’t turn around. Mumbling a thank you, he squeezed the plastic bottle so hard it squirted everywhere. Grabbing a handful of napkins from the dispenser, he mopped up the mess and then chowed down on his meal, watching LJ the whole time.
Finally, lover boy rose, dropped a handful of bills onto the table, and left. She scooped up the tip and turned to watch him leave. As she did, she spotted Hugh. Smiling brightly, she made her way toward him. “I didn’t expect you tonight.”
“Obviously,” he said with a harrumph. “Who’s the guy? Someone I should know?”
A pleased smile flirted with LJ’s lips. “Oh, you sound jealous.”
“I’m not jealous,” he lied. “Just concerned you’re getting yourself into more trouble on my account.”
Dropping onto the chair next to him, she whispered, “He has nothing to do with you-know-what. He comes in here all the time. Asks for me by name. Won’t let anyone else wait on him. He orders a ton of stuff he doesn’t eat and drops a big tip just so I’ll sit with him.”
“Cookie doesn’t mind? I noticed he didn’t yell at you once.”
“Like I said, he drops a lot of cash every time he visits. Cookie’d let the devil sit in here if he gave him enough cash.”
“I don’t like him.”
“You don’t know him, so what’s not to like?” The pleased smile on her face grew into delight. “You are jealous. I like that, you know.” Her fingers walked across the table toward his hand. “A girl likes to know she’s attractive to the fellas. Especially the right fella.”
His fingers itched to take her hand in his and tell her how much he liked her. Instead, he stuffed a mouthful of burger between his teeth to keep from saying something he’d regret. He’d already put her in e
nough danger letting her inform on the bar patrons.
Leaning back in the chair, LJ laughed and tucked the bills from lover boy down the front of her vee-necked blouse, smiling as she saw his eyes following the motion. “You don’t have to worry. He’s really not my type. Too cultured with his “my dear girls” and fancy schmancy ways. I like the more down to earth kind of guys . . . like you. Even if you don’t leave me a tip big enough to choke a horse.”
His attempt to swallow the burger stuck in his throat and he gagged.
She jumped up and pounded on his back until he managed to cough up the meat. “Geez, Hugh. Don’t scare me like that!”
“Sorry,” he managed to choke out. He took a deep breath to calm himself. “I’m so embarrassed.”
“Don’t worry. Just proves you’re a real man. So,” LJ continued, “you wanna go out sometime?”
Thankfully, he didn’t have another bite in his mouth or he would have choked at her impertinence. “I’m not sure we should do that, considering our business arrangement.” He hated saying the words, because after seeing her fawn over lover boy, he wanted to take her out and show her how a real man acted.
LJ’s lower lip protruded. “You don’t wanna?”
Oh, he wanted.
“Go out, I mean,” she clarified.
“Yes, I would love to go out with you. But mixing business with pleasure doesn’t always work, LJ. So don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t meet your expectations.”