Willow blinked. “You’re on the shifter council?”
“I am. The council is divided between predators and non-predators, as well as by habitat. For example, the porcupine also represents the skunks, raccoons, opossums, groundhogs and hares, the eagle was elected by the hawks, falcons, vultures and other meat-eating birds, and so on.”
“You being on the council can’t help where Guy is concerned.”
Katie looked off in the distance, and Willow could tell her friend was trying to keep from crying.
Suddenly Katie turned back, forcing her face into a neutral expression. “I happen to believe in modernization, and I was elected by all the big carnivores in the Kingdom with a lick of sense to represent them. The Beaugrands held out and refused to participate in the election, saying that they would never recognize the authority of the council—that each species should be autonomous and determine what was right for them.” Katie sighed. “They have a point, except if you were a rabbit, would you trust the wolves and bobcats to let you live in peace without some kind of law?”
Suddenly, Willow was horrified at the thought that when she shifted, she might accidentally eat one of her neighbors. “When—when you shift, can you tell the difference between an ordinary rabbit and a shifter?”
“You can tell. It’s hard to explain. There’s kind of an aura around the shifters. I suppose it’s our magic, or whatever you want to call the mechanism that causes us to shift.”
Willow checked her watch. “We better get going, Katie. I have to be home in an hour.”
Katie rubbed one eye, as if something was in it. “I know, you have a date with Guy tonight.”
Startled, Willow stammered, “How—how do you know that?”
“There aren’t many secrets in the Kingdom—and shifters, well, we’re kind of busybodies.” Katie tried to smile. “It’s okay. He’s a cat, and you’re going to be a cat. If you like each other, then you should go for it.”
“Katie.” Willow paused, her voice soft and serious. “You don’t think Guy is the one who…turned me…do you? I mean, if he was getting pressure from his family to find a…partner?” Willow couldn’t bring herself to say ‘mate,’ it was more animal like than she could handle at that moment.
“No, absolutely not.” Katie’s voice hardened a little as she defended Guy. “Guy has his issues, and he’s old school about certain things, but he’s not a rapist. He would never force a woman to do anything without her consent.”
Willow flashed on Guy asking her if she wanted him to stop as he came on to her. Their kitchen interlude had been, if anything, completely consensual.
“I’m sorry, I’m just…confused about everything. You know…Mace is a catamount.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Not at all. I pushed things between us, because I had to know if he was a shifter, and then, they went a little too far. It didn’t end on a good note.” Willow’s voice choked a little.
Katie’s eyes widened. “So you think Mace turned you?”
“He swears that he didn’t, but I don’t know what to believe anymore. I guess things will be clear at the next full moon.” Hugging herself, Willow looked toward the path. “Let’s go before I become completely morose. I’m sorry to bore you with all this crap.”
Katie took off and looked over her shoulder. “Catch me if you can!” she shouted back, and Willow sped off after her, trying to forget that someone in her small circle of acquaintances had willingly attacked her for their own perverse reasons.
***
The hot shower after the run felt good, and Willow realized, as she brushed her hair out, she actually felt calm about seeing Guy. Tonight they would spend time together, and she resolved to use their evening together to get to know him and to not jump in the sack. Her ‘hyper-sexuality’ as Chris termed it, wasn’t doing her any favors. If Guy was the one, she decided, there would be plenty of time to get hot and bothered later.
The doorbell rang promptly at eight, and Willow looked lovely as she opened it. She had put on some khaki hiking pants, and wore a form fitting light blue-green, V-necked T-shirt with a turquoise and silver choker and matching dangling earrings. It was understated, but effective.
Guy smiled a little shyly as Katie held the door open for him, and she knew that both of them were remembering their kitchen counter antics. Guy gave her a restrained peck in greeting, and Willow liked the way his long sideburns felt as they brushed against her cheeks.
“You look nice,” he said, his thumbs hooked in the front pockets of his jeans.
“You look pretty nice yourself.” Guy flashed her a smile of strong, white teeth, and it took little imagination to superimpose his bobcat features on his handsome face. “You want a beer before we go?”
Guy shook his head. “Let’s save it for after. There’s something I want to show you, and we’ll miss it if we wait too long.”
Guy’s pickup truck felt comfortable to Willow, despite its well-worn appearance. The interior was tidy, although a few tools of his trade were tucked into the console: a hand-held GPS, a hunting knife, topographical maps, and a plastic box with fishing flies.
“You love the outdoors, don’t you?” Willow asked. She thought about Mace’s manicured home and wondered why the big cat didn’t go a little crazy.
Scratching behind one ear, Guy nodded. “This place—the Kingdom—I can’t imagine life anywhere else, or that any place on earth could be more beautiful. I was born down along the river, and I suspect that’s where I will die…not any time soon, mind you.” He turned and grinned at Willow as his steered the truck up a little dirt lane, coming to a stop. “We’re here!”
They hopped out of the truck, and Guy wrapped his hand around Willow’s, gently tugging her after him. She followed along, and even though it was getting dark, she realized that she had no trouble seeing in the woods. Cat super powers, she thought, giggling.
“No secrets, now, you have to let me in on the joke,” Guy chided spiritedly.
“Oh, it’s nothing, just my ‘Spidey’ sense tingling,” she said.
“I see,” said Guy. Willow realized that his eyes were luminescent in the murky shadows, even as he used his free hand to give her a frisky swat to the behind. He cast a mischievous look at her. “It’s time you got a preview of how special life in the Kingdom can really be.”
Guy let go of her hand, and in less than a heartbeat, the air began to shimmer the way it had when Chris shifted. Next came the rippling energy force, which nearly pushed Willow off her feet. A moment later, a very large, tawny bobcat, speckled with handsome, leopard-like spots, stood before her. His ears stood at attention, with little tufts sticking up, and he swished his short tale rhythmically. He rubbed against Willow’s legs, and then turned, and she understood she should follow him.
Bobcat Guy trotted along at a comfortable pace, and Willow found that it wasn’t only her eyesight that had improved. She felt more agile and sure-footed, and a kind of suppleness seemed to infuse her movement. It felt…magical.
They broke into a clearing, and above them, the entire Milky Way shone down. Guy lay down in front of a little patch of green plants with broad green leaves and toothy edges. There were closed white shoots coming out, and then, as they watched, each of the little folded trumpets began to unfold into gorgeous white blooms. Willow sucked a breath in, the awe of the moment overcoming her. She had never seen anything like it, and the effect was mesmerizing.
Guy swished his tail a little, watching the expression on Willow’s face. She looked into his eyes, “It’s—it’s amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.” She reached for a flower, drawn by its beauty. Suddenly, a paw smacked her hand away, and in an instant, human Guy materialized next to her.
“Look, don’t touch. It’s poisonous to shifters.” He stroked the red mark he had left on her wrist. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scratch you.”
“What is it?” Willow asked, feeling a little taken aback.
“Your first lesson
on what it means to be a shifter. Some people call it Moonflower, because the blooms only open at night, and close in the day. Its ordinary name is jimsonweed, but properly speaking, it’s datura.”
“Jimsonweed? That makes cows go crazy if they eat it…I remember reading about it in vet school.”
“Exactly. And if it can do that to a 1200-pound steer, imagine what it can do to you. In normal humans, even a few seeds can cause hallucinations, and make your heart beat out of your chest. For shifters, it’s the most toxic thing we can possibly encounter, and even superficial contact can lead to big problems, or even death. We’re hardier than humans when it comes to most things, but…not this.” He cupped Willow’s face in one hand. “There’s a lot you need to learn before your first shift. Let me help you, let me keep you safe.”
Willow could detect no ulterior motive in Guy’s expression, but she didn’t like the fact he had deceived her. “If you’re going to help me, you have to be honest. I don’t like to be tricked.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I was only trying to make the point that you are joining a world where nothing is exactly as it appears.” He brushed the hair back from Willow’s face. “Forgive me if I was clumsy.”
Finding it impossible to stay angry with Guy in the face of what seemed like a genuine apology, Willow conceded. “Okay, I get it, there’s stuff I’ve got to learn if I don’t want to be a dead shapeshifter after my first run.”
“Some people have this ‘catch as catch can’ attitude about it—throw the young shifters into the woods and let them sort out things for themselves, but I can’t say that I’m in favor of natural selection when our numbers keep shrinking.” He traced a finger along Willow’s cheek. “It’s a little too harsh for my taste anyway.”
“Is that what happened to you?” Willow thought about Guy’s father, king of the bobcats and apparently, according to Katie, a hardline traditionalist.
Guy sprang to his feet without answering, then pointed up. “Did you see that shooting star?” He reached down and grabbed Willow’s hands, pulling her upright and then into a playful embrace. “You’re going to be one awesome cat. We just have to see what kind you will be.”
“You don’t know?”
Puzzled, Guy released her. “Why would I know? It’s entirely dependent on the cat that made you, and no one seems to have any idea who that might be.” A thought hit him, and he stepped back. “You—you don’t think I did this, do you?” He immediately looked crestfallen. Willow couldn’t respond; it had, of course, been at the forefront of her mind, and she couldn’t bring herself to lie. When she didn’t immediately contradict him, Guy dropped his eyes, his face tightening with a mixture of wounded pride and emotional pain.
“You’re not a cat, you’re a bitch,” he spat at her under his breath. He turned and stalked away, then shouted back at the dumbstruck Willow, “Get in the truck. I should make you find your own damn way home, but I’m too much of a gentleman to do that.”
The stony silence in the truck on the way back to her place made Willow’s stomach churn. In one fail swoop, she had insulted a potential mentor and lover, in much the same way she had botched things with Mace. Suspicion was poisoning everything. But wasn’t it a case of “he doth protest too much?” Despite their assurances, either Mace or Guy had to be her attacker. Willow sat rigid in the seat, not wanting to admit any doubt into her mind.
Guy didn’t get out to open Willow’s door for her, and he slammed it loudly after she spilled out the door. Then, as Willow watched Guy’s taillights disappear down the road, a new possibility finally hit her. What if neither Guy nor Mace had savaged her? What if it were a third-party altogether? Had her mistrust just buried the only chances she might have for love and companionship in her new life? Normal men were going to be off limits from now on. She thought about Katie, a beautiful lone wolf trying to allay her sadness by deliberating over new menus, poking fun at customers, and protecting small shifters by sitting on the council. Was that her future, too, a lifetime of feline solitude?
As she eased her tired body into a hot bath, Willow wondered if she would be one of the new shifters that nature quickly picked off as too weak and inept. She had no shifter parents to clue her in on the facts of life and survival, and now, few shifter friends. Katie, she was sure, would do her best to stand by her, but Willow feared that there were limits as to how much a canine could help a cat. There was Chris, but she wasn’t sure—after the unfortunate biting incident—that he would be thrilled to help her. She hoped, as head of the shifter council, it would be his duty to educate and watch over her…at least, until she tried to eat him again.
Sliding deeper into the tub and leaning back, Willow could feel her hair fan out on the surface of the water. She closed her eyes, trying to both relax and gain clarity, believing strongly that bathtub meditation could cure most ills. Her hands dipped idly at the water, and she wondered what it would be like to be a big cat, fishing at the stream. What was it like to have claws instead of fingers, a tail that could be twitched, or jaws that could break a rabbit’s neck? She wasn’t sure how she felt about the more grisly aspects of being a carnivore, but nature, she assumed, would take its course and her squeamishness would have to eventually dissipate.
The water in the tub was beginning to cool off, and Willow sat up in order to turn on the hot water tap. As she did, she looked out the little window over the end of the old-fashioned claw-footed tub. An ear-piercing scream shattered the stillness, and when Willow recognized it was her own voice, she quickly folded her arms over her breasts to cover her nakedness.
In the darkness, framed by the window, there were two golden, glowing, feline eyes— and those eyes were staring at her.
TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK FOUR: Life Lessons - Volume 4
***
Life Lessons
***
Synopsis
Dr. Willow Ryersen, veterinarian and feline shapeshifter in training, is discovering she has a lot to learn before the next full moon. Between cramming to avoid potentially fatal mistakes and learning the subtleties of cross-species etiquette, who has time to sort out their love life? With two cats on her tail, a buck in the picture, and some pervert peeping in her windows, the only thing that makes sense is to shut romance out of her mind until she makes it through her first shift—alive. But Willow’s suitors have very different ideas.
***
When Willow screamed, the eyes peering through her bathroom window quickly disappeared, leaving her distressed and alone in eight inches of cold water. She shook herself and sprang out of the tub in one fluid motion, now more angry than afraid. Who would dare spy on her in her own home? Thanks to her blundering moves, Mace and Guy were both pissed off at her, and besides, they had already gotten a gander at what she looked like in the buff. There seemed to be no other option than a third cat shapeshifter, and a sick feeling rolled over her that the cat observing her had been the same shifter responsible for all of her newfound problems.
Throwing on a bathrobe, she raced to the door, but when she stepped outside, everything was placid. She could hear no sound but the wind gently stirring the leaves on the trees, and an owl hooting somewhere in the distance.
Closing the door, Willow flopped on her couch. Life had been so promising when she arrived in the Kingdom—she had a great job and a cute place to live, and had made a friend almost immediately. Then two of the hottest guys she had ever met appeared, and both of them had been interested in her! How had everything gone wrong so quickly?
On these kinds of occasions, Willow usually sought solace in a pint of Chunky Monkey ice cream, but her new feline taste buds were repulsed by the idea of bananas. Moving to the kitchen, she restlessly opened and closed cupboards, successively rejecting canned tomato soup, macaroni and cheese, and a bottle of tequila as comfort foods. Sighing, there seemed nothing to do but gobble down a couple of cans of tuna fish. Still hungry, she found an unopened package of smoked salmon that someone had given her f
or Christmas, and that went down the hatch as well.
The fish seemed to temporarily sate Willow’s cravings, and she decided to get dressed and go sit on top of her picnic table to see if she could sense anything amiss. Maybe the shifter would be so bold as to come back. Maybe she could dangle herself as bait.
The night air seemed to stimulate all of her senses, and Willow realized that she was aware of subtle sights and sounds that she never could have picked up on as a normal human. Some field mice scurried through the grass near the table, and she could smell the smoke of a distant campfire. Was the perpetrator of her assault out there, hiding in the woods? She thought about Guy, and his knowledge of the land, but it didn’t add up that he would secretly assault her, but on another occasion, drive her home safely—even when he was totally ticked off. Mace, more accustomed to luxury, didn’t seem a likely candidate to be squatting by a campfire, planning his next move in some strange game of cat and mouse, or more aptly, cat and cat.
The idea of a third shapeshifter seized hold of Willow’s imagination, and she tried to picture the person who might have been watching her as she bathed. She reviewed the men she had met casually at Katie’s diner, clients who had brought their pets to the clinic, and men who had nodded to her at the local general store. Everyone seemed disappointingly…normal. Her discussion with Chris gnawed at her though, the one about beaver carpenters and snapping turtle plumbers; not all shapeshifters were kings, princes, or reclusive best-selling authors. Some were, apparently, simply average ‘Joes,’ more interested in having a normal life than exploiting their magic.
Shaking her head, Katie stood up and stretched a little, and then she felt overcome by fatigue. Obviously she wasn’t going to solve any of it by becoming sleep deprived, so she decided to head into bed. As she pulled open the screen door to her apartment, she heard a very faint, cat-like yowl in the bush that she could only interpret as laughter at her expense. Turning, she caught a glimpse of movement, but no discernable features, as something quite large slipped away into the forest.
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