Willow Run: Boxed Set (Books 1-6)

by Hart, Melissa F.

  Rolling her eyes a little, Katie snorted, “Bigger than a breadbox? What? Are we playing charades now?”

  “Well, I don’t know exactly…a big bobcat is forty pounds, and an adult male cougar is probably 125, although I’m guessing shifters run bigger than average animals?”

  Katie nodded in agreement. “Yeah, the average female wolf tends to top out at 85 pounds, a male a little over 100. But when I shift, I’m at least six inches taller at the shoulder than an average wolf, and my body weight is like my human weight. Guy, for example is one very impressive bobcat—even bigger than an average cougar.”

  Willow thought for a moment. “Are you suggesting that there are skunks and porcupines out there that could potentially weigh 200 pounds? Oh my gawd!” She opened her eyes wide in mock horror. “Hide the children!”

  Cracking up, Katie continued, “At least you have your sense of humor intact. For some reason, smaller shifters are only somewhat larger than there animal counterparts, maybe twenty percent bigger.” Her faced tightened a little, and her voice grew husky with emotion. “The size thing is a big part of the reason we become targets for hunters, though. They think they are bagging some record animal.” She wiped at a tear welling up in the corner of her eye. “That’s how I lost my best friend, Lana, two years ago. Damn deer poachers thought they were taking down the biggest coyote they’d ever seen.” Rubbing furiously at her eye, Katie’s voice hardened again. “That’s why it’s so important to get you ready for your first shift. You have to know how to avoid any assholes who might be lurking in the woods.”

  Willow grew somber. The reality of her new condition was sinking in. It wasn’t simply that she had to cope with turning into a cat from time to time, she had to constantly be on the lookout for ever present danger when she did. She puffed out a breath. “Danger without, danger within, and some unknown cat out there that thinks that I belong to them. Tell me this will get better with time.” She looked directly into Katie’s eyes.

  Swallowing hard, Katie held Willow’s gaze. “It’s never going to be easy, Willow. I’d be a lying fool if I told you that. Friends help a lot, and if you can find a life companion, that’s even better.” Her face brightened a little with a new thought. “This weekend, there’s a shifter wedding—you need to come and see the positive side. A New Hampshire moose prince is marrying a Vermont girl. Everyone will be there, and it’s going to be a heck of a party—royals definitely know how to throw an event.”

  Willow couldn’t help but smile at the notion of a bunch of moose ‘getting down.’ “As long as I don’t have to do the chicken dance, I’d love to come.”

  “This will be great, it’s a perfect time to introduce you to shifter society—it’ll be your coming out.” Katie thought for a moment. “You’re going to need a killer dress though.”

  “I hope you’re speaking figuratively about the dress?” Willow blinked innocently and both of the friends dissolved in laughter.

  “Speaking as a fellow carnivore, believe me when I say that moose don’t take crap from anyone!” Katie laughed.

  “Will there be New Hampshire wolves coming over for the shindig?” Willow wiggled her eyebrows at Katie.

  “Yeah, maybe. I didn’t think about that. We’re going to both have to do a shopping run.” Katie grinned. “Can you get off work early on Friday? We’re going to have to go either west to Burlington or south to Concord, New Hampshire for any hope of a decent dress. Either way, it’s almost a two-hour drive.”

  “Samuel told me he likes to knock off around three on Fridays so he can go to town with Grace and do grocery shopping and other errands, so it shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll tell him I’ll catch up my paperwork on Sunday.”

  ***

  Willow and Katie spent the next two hours drinking beer, flipping through fashion magazines, and debating the relative merits of different hairstyles, dresses, and make-up trends. It felt great, Willow realized, to just be a girl, and to not worry for a little while about becoming a cat. She was also quite relieved to give the subject of her peeping pervert a rest. When finally she glanced at the clock and realized it was a little after ten, she folded the magazine and stood up from the booth.

  “I’ve got patients I need to check on, and then I need to get home to bed or I won’t be fit to work tomorrow.” She yawned a little. “Beer makes me sleepy.”

  “Another day, another dollar.” Katie stretched, too. “And you have your first shifter lesson with Michael tomorrow evening. Since the next two nights after that are going to be devoted to shopping and partying, we better get our beauty sleep.” She patted Willow’s shoulder. “We’ll use the drive time on Friday for a shifter brain dump, so don’t worry, we can kill two birds with one stone.”

  “The idea of killing birds is oddly appealing.” Willow licked her lips, then smacked them loudly. “Delicious.”

  Katie giggled. “You are one twisted cat. Go check on your patients and don’t eat any of them.”

  “I’d never eat a kitty!” Willow said, faking indignation. “And I’m sure that old retriever is way too tough to be appetizing.”

  Katie pushed her friend toward the door. “Get out of here. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  The tiny main street of East Lindenbury was silent as Willow made the diagonal walk over to the Wetherwell Clinic. She had a little bounce in her step. The idea of going to a wedding cheered her; maybe she and Katie could meet some nice boys from New Hampshire, and she could stop worrying about botching things with Guy, Mace and Chris. She found herself humming the tune George had been whistling earlier in the day as she let herself in the side door to the kennel area. She would study very hard until the full moon, and once she got through the first shift, life would resume some kind of normalcy.

  When Willow flicked on the light, the calico blinked sleepily, and yawned, showing off her sharp little teeth. She was wearing a cone to keep her from biting at her stitches, and Willow was pleased when she checked the incision. Everything was as it should be. She scratched the kitten under the chin, and she purred.

  “You’ll get to go home in the morning,” Willow purred back. “Such a sweet girl.” She put the cat back on the soft towel in the cage and carefully relocked the door. The retriever had stood up, shaking himself. Waiting for attention, he looked doleful wearing his cone of shame. Willow laughed softly to herself. “I know, boy, that cone is undignified. But we can’t have you pulling out your stitches, now can we?”

  She gave his ears a good rub as she checked him out. “That’s a good boy, you’re doing great. You’ll get to go home tomorrow, too.” Guiding him back into the cage, she checked to make sure that both her patients had enough food and water, before noticing the X-rays George had left in an envelope on the counter.

  “Oh right, Winston,” Willow murmured. She clicked on the light and snapped the film in to read it. Winston’s bad tooth was plainly evident, and she didn’t see anything that should complicate the procedure. She made a mental note to call George early, so he could bring Winston with him when he came in to work. Satisfied with her check on things, Willow flipped off the light switch on the wall, turning to leave. Except now, she wasn’t alone. The silhouette of a man was visible in the shadow of the open doorway, and the golden eyes were those of a cat. Willow screamed.

  “Willow! Shhh! For god’s sake, it’s me!”

  Guy’s familiar voice only served to turn Willow’s fear to annoyance. “What the hell, Guy?” Unconsciously, she reached out and smacked him with an open hand in a very cat-like gesture. “You nearly gave me a coronary!”

  “I saw your car, and figured you and Katie were hanging out, and she told me that I’d find you over here.” He drew close. “I’m sorry I frightened you, truly.”

  “You didn’t frighten me,” Willow said in a huff, pushing Guy away with her hands on his chest. “You…startled me. There’s a difference.”

  “Really?” An amused smile crept over Guy’s face. He sidled back up to Willow, gently looping a s
tray hank of her hair over her ear. “Do tell.”

  Willow could feel herself melting in the heat of Guy’s aura. The fact he was showing cat eyes told Willow he was sexually aroused. Half-heartedly, Willow tried to maneuver away. “I need to get home, it’s late.”

  Guy caught Willow, pulling her to him. “Look, I came to apologize. You were right. I shouldn’t have tricked you the other night. This has all got to be terribly confusing. Some stranger attacked you, and you don't have any idea who it is—it’s no wonder you don’t know who you can trust.” He wrapped his arms around Willow, even as she tried to hold him away with her hands on the front of his shoulders. “You can trust me, Willow. I’m a cat, I’m a prince, and no one knows every square inch of the Kingdom like I do. I can help bring your attacker to justice, and I can help protect you during your first shift. I’ll shift and run with you.”

  “I didn’t think the Beaugrands believed in the shifter council.” Willow could feel her resolve to keep Guy at bay weakening.

  A threatening little growl rolled up from Guy’s throat. “That’s not the justice I am talking about.” He leaned in and nipped Willow’s neck, then nuzzled her. “Let me help, Willow.”

  “Katie and her friends are going to train me.”

  He straightened up. “That’s fine and good, Katie is a first rate carnivore, for sure.”

  Willow thought she heard a pang of regret in Guy’s voice. A cloud came over his face, and then he rolled his shoulders back with feline limberness, pulling Willow hard against his body. “Tell me you don’t want me, Willow. Tell me right now, and you know I’ll unhand you.”

  He let his pelvis sink into Willow’s, his hardness setting her nerve endings on edge. His fingers combed through her hair and trailed down her back like icy fire, until he cupped her butt, rocking her body against him. The soft place between her legs grew wet, and she found herself matching Guy’s rhythm as the weight of his cock made her intimate parts tingle.

  Guy’s voice softened with longing, and his words shifted ever so slightly. “Tell me you want me, Willow. Tell me right now.” He closed his eyes and buried his face against her neck.

  At that moment, before Willow could say anything, she heard whistling just outside the door. Quickly, she pushed Guy away. “That’s George, our vet tech, act decent, please,” Willow pleaded in a whisper. “I don’t want him to tell my boss I’m…you know…in the clinic after hours for other than professional reasons.”

  Guy swallowed and took a step away, even as George sauntered through the door. George’s face lit up as he saw Willow. “Oh great, you’re here!” His expression quickly soured when he caught sight of Guy standing in the shadows.

  “Hey, George.” Willow tried to act nonchalant. “This is my friend, Guy. Guy, this is my colleague, George.”

  “I know who he is,” George said. “Guy Beaugrand, outdoorsman extraordinaire.” George’s voice had a sarcastic edge that Willow had never heard before, and she immediately wondered if the two men had some kind of history.

  “Evening, George.” Guy’s voice was level. He clearly didn’t see George as any kind of threat, nor did he seem to feel the need to respond in kind to George’s acidic manner.

  Willow tried to defuse whatever animosity George was feeling. “I just looked at Winston’s X-rays. It should be a clean extraction, and it should fix him right up. Bring him with you in the morning, maybe come thirty minutes early, and we’ll do it first thing so you can take him home tomorrow evening.”

  “Thanks. Of course a guy like me doesn’t have anything else he could possibly be doing with his evening.” George shot a venomous look at Guy.

  “I didn’t mean to assume, George. I just figured you’d want Winston home where you can keep an eye on him.” Willow glanced at Guy to see if he thought George was acting as weird as she did.

  “So why are you here, George?” Guy asked. His voice was soft and even.

  “Why am I here? Why are you here? I work here, for god’s sake, and I wanted to make sure Willow was okay coming in late by herself.” George was fairly frothing at the mouth.

  “That’s really thoughtful of you, George,” Willow said, trying to smooth things over. “I was over at Green’s with Katie, and Guy stopped by, so I asked him to come over to the clinic with me for that very reason. It’s late, and everyone needs to go home now.” She looked at Guy meaningfully.

  Willow caught a flash of golden cat eyes from Guy, and she knew his inner cat was not pleased by the interruption. Human Guy, however, was a gentleman. “Good night, Willow… George. See you around.” He slipped out the door, but Willow knew he wouldn’t go far until he saw her drive away.

  After Guy left, George rolled his eyes at Willow. “I know you’re new around here, but really, you should be able to see through that asshole from a mile away.”

  “So what makes him such an asshole?” Willow asked.

  “You need something beyond all that smug condescension?” George harrumphed.

  “I—I don’t get that vibe from him. Has he…done something to you?” A wave of genuine concern rolled through Willow.

  “I’m just saying, watch out. He’s a smooth operator. I’d hate to see someone…take advantage of you, because you’re new. That’s all.” Suddenly, George’s moment of bravado was over, and he seemed to shrink back into himself. “Forget it, you’re right,” he mumbled. “It’s late. I’ll bring Winston at 7:00 tomorrow morning.”

  Willow smiled. She sincerely wanted to be on good terms with George as her co-worker was great at his job, and essentially a nice guy. A little social awkwardness was an easy thing to forgive. “Thanks again for checking on me. That was really nice.” She was starting to understand that George had a crush on her, and she honestly didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

  “No problem.” He seemed to stand a little straighter and a bit of confidence edged back into his voice, “Any time. See you in the morning.”

  As Willow climbed behind her steering wheel, she could once again hear George whistling as he walked to his vehicle.

  ***

  Thursday was an ordinary day. Well, ordinary in the sense that nothing attacked her or no one tried to sleep with her. She extracted Winston’s bad tooth, then Samuel asked her to go call at a dairy farm to check out a couple of lame cows. The problem turned out to be a foot rot caused by a bacterium that sometimes takes root in mud holes and pastures.

  Willow had the farmer separate the affected animals from the rest of the herd, as it was a contagious condition. She administered antibiotics, cleaned and dressed the feet, and then prescribed an antiseptic footbath for the rest of the herd to walk through several times a day to keep them from catching it. Willow felt great about helping one of her neighbors keep his herd healthy, but it was a little disconcerting that during the entire visit, all she really wanted was a big bite of cow rump.

  Lunch was, instead, a ham sandwich out on the road, but as she headed back toward East Lindenbury, her cell phone rang. One of the Johnson’s horses had colic, and Samuel asked her to get out to their farm stat. Dutifully, Willow set her GPS and turned around.

  It turned out that someone hadn’t locked the storeroom in the Johnson’s barn, and a clever gray gelding had taught himself how to unlatch the door to his stall. Stumbling upon the free smorgasbord, the gelding gorged on grain until his aching belly brought him down. Finally someone noticed the cleaned-out bin, and then found the gelding rolling in the paddock. They got him on his feet and kept him moving until Willow arrived, otherwise it could quickly turn into a dangerous, or even fatal, event.

  Giving a rectal exam to a gassy horse wasn’t exactly Willow’s idea of fun, but she had to make sure he didn’t have any impactions that might require surgery. Fortunately, she was able to treat the gelding with medication to relieve the pressure in his system, and she also clued the Johnsons in on some better hardware for their barn as she packed up her kit. Her grateful clients then forced her to come in for coffee and dessert, as Willow
did her best to exclaim over the carrot cake and not to think about delicious, rare and juicy…horse steak. On the drive back to town, she called Katie.

  “Okay, this meat craving thing is getting ridiculous. I’ve been on large animal calls today, and all I want to do is filet my patients and devour them with a little horseradish sauce.”

  “Welcome to carnivore world. Wait until it’s someone in line with you at the bank who looks absolutely scrumptious.” Katie laughed. “Seriously, you’ve got to believe me, after the first shift it really, really, won’t be like this. In the meantime, come over to the diner, and I’ll stuff something down your gullet before your session with Michael.”

  “Oh crap, I almost forgot! I have shifter school tonight! Yeah…food, an excellent idea, see you soon.”

  Willow’s first shifter lesson with Michael went well enough. He was a laid back guy, and happily married, which served to put Willow at ease. He spent a lot of time describing how the shift would feel, and how to know when it was okay to shift back. He explained that with practice, her shifts would be effortless, and could be done at will, although in general, most shifters went running once or twice a week for a few hours. The longer one held off shifting, the longer the actual shift would need to be. The first shift, though, was generally a twenty-four hour affair, and her animal nature would be running hot and heavy.

  Shifters often got in trouble on their first shift, Michael explained, essentially because they lost sight of their humanity and allowed instinct to overwhelm reason. Michael gave her tips on using her own will to keep her rational mind functioning, and how a strong friend running—or flying—with her could also help. He also went through some of the best—and safest—places in the Kingdom to run, how to look for signs of hunters or worse, poachers, and what to do if she found herself stranded somewhere without clothes when she shifted back. What was an embarrassing problem in mid-summer was potentially life threatening in winter. Finally, after three solid hours, Michael wrapped up.