“And what about you?” Elianna asked.
“What about me?”
She swallowed and looked down at her lap, unsure how to voice what she wanted to know.
“I want you in my clan,” he said.
She met his gaze. “Why?”
He hesitated for a second. “I need to know you’re safe.”
Her heart sank, but what did she expect? “I see.”
“Do you?” he asked. “Look, I told you before that I’m not looking for a mate, that hasn’t changed. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. I do, very much.”
The look he gave her had her blood rushing through her veins. Yeah, she was a goner all right, falling hard for someone who would never love her.
Then his expression went blank. “I need to talk to you about something else.”
“What is it?”
“Where are your parents?”
“I don’t know. My clan said I was found at the door. They think I was about three or so.” Elianna got up and riffled through her clothing that Hellfire had brought to her from the house. “I have a picture, I assume it’s my father and mother, but part of it’s torn, and it’s really worn out.” She handed him the yellowing photo.
Enyowas was silent for a long time, then he looked up at her. “When I was twelve, I met her. Your mother.” He pulled his wallet from his pocket and extracted a tiny piece of a photo and held it up for her to see. “I think this is you.”
Hand shaking, Elianna held the two parts side by side. “They match.” She sat down, world spinning. “How is this possible?”
“You look a lot like her.”
“Where is she?” Elianna asked, desperate to know more.
Enyowas pulled his chair beside hers. “When I met her, she’d already been searching for you for three years.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s … she died.”
Elianna blinked. All her life she’d wondered who her parents were, why they didn’t want her. “I used to make up fairy tales that my mother was a princess, and my father her prince. That they lived in a castle and one day, a monster stole me from them.” She looked at him. “I used to dream that they’d come for me, and we’d be a family again.”
“I’m so sorry, Elie. I’m afraid the truth does not have a happy ending.”
“I never really thought it would. But, what do you know? What happened? And what about my father?”
“Your mother never told me his name, but you did get one thing right. Your mother was a princess. She must’ve told you stories when you were little, and they stuck,” he said.
“A princess.” Elianna scoffed.
Enyowas nodded. “Yes, her father, your grandfather was king of their clan. Apparently, he arranged a mating for your mother, but she detested the male chosen for her. And she was in love with someone else.”
“Who?”
“Your mother said he was the son of her father’s general. He and your mother were in love and seeing no other way to be together, they left. But I guess by doing so, they dishonored the highborn man your mother was supposed to mate. He began to hunt them. On your third birthday, he finally found them. Your mother and father both tried to keep you safe, and in the end, your father died protecting you. When your mother refused to go with the other man, he knocked her out and left her. Then he snatched you up, and took off.”
Elianna tried to absorb what he was telling her. “What do you think happened? How did I end up with the clan I did?”
“I don’t know. Maybe the male who took you left you somewhere, or maybe he had a change of heart and gave you to a clan he hoped would take care of you.”
“Sometimes good people can do bad things, and bad people, good things,” she said, remembering something she’d once heard, but not really understanding at the time.
“Could be,” Enyowas said. “I’m sorry, I know it isn’t what you wanted to hear.”
“Where is she? I mean, is she buried, and if so, where?” Elianna asked, holding on to his hand.
“She was cremated. She was with us the night my family and I escaped our pride. She’d been working with the EfPP trying to locate you. But a year later, my uncle tracked us down in North Carolina. Your mother, she fought so hard to protect my little sister Ginni, but she didn’t make it.”
A sob caught in her throat. Why couldn’t anything in life go her way?
“I’m so sorry.” Enyowas held her close.
Elianna hung on, loving the comfort, the warmth, everything about this male who’d been so kind to her.
“I wish I could change things,” he whispered.
Elianna never wanted to let go, but after a bit, she pulled away. “Thank you for telling me.”
Enyowas grimaced. “Don’t thank me. It’s because of me your mother isn’t here right now.”
“How do you figure?”
“I was supposed to protect my sister. Instead, because I thought I’d fallen in love …” He shook his head, clearly angry with himself. “I had a crush on the wrong girl, and she ratted us out. She betrayed us for money, and your mother died because of it.”
Elianna cupped his face, drawing his eyes up to hers. “You were what? Thirteen years old?”
“My age doesn’t matter. I was a trained soldier—an assassin. I’d been on countless missions. I knew better.”
“Was the girl pretty?” Elianna asked.
“At the time I thought she was.”
“You were a thirteen-year-old boy, trying to take care of his family. A boy with his first crush. I don’t blame you.”
“How can you not?” he asked. “I just told you your mother’s dead and it’s my fault.”
She squeezed his hand. “You told me that my mother and father didn’t abandon me, like I believed all these years. You told me that they both loved me, and that my mother never stopped looking for me, and that she died trying to protect your sister.”
“It was for nothing.”
“How can you say that?” she asked.
“Because in the end, Ginni died as well.”
Though she hadn’t cried since she was a small child, tears dampened Elianna’s cheeks at the agony in his eyes.
Elianna held him tight until Enyowas finally picked her up and carried her to the bed.
He took his time with her until she was both boneless and breathless.
Elianna watched him in wonder, savoring every expression, imprinting it upon her soul. No one had ever made her feel this way, or looked at her as if they really did care.
It was a moment that she’d never forget.
When they were both spent and sated, Elianna wondered if that was what the term lovemaking meant.
“Tell me you’ll come home with me. Give it a few weeks, and if you decide you don’t want to stay, I’ll help you find someplace else to live, okay?”
“You’re not playing fair,” she protested.
Enyowas smiled. “Is it working?”
Elianna studied him, he was already very handsome, but his smile made him even more devilishly so. “I’m scared,” she finally whispered. Terrified actually, as her heart melted more and she craved his closeness. His touch, his voice, his warmth and comfort. All her life, well, most of her life she’d gone without, and now that he’d given her a taste, she didn’t want to lose that.
Enyowas slid a hand down her side in a soothing, honeyed caress. “You don’t have to be afraid. I promise, you won’t find the same prejudice there.”
Elianna shivered, already knowing she’d made up her mind. “Fine, but you better be right.”
Chapter 15
Enyowas drove them back into the city on his bike, surprised at how nervous he was to introduce Elianna to his clan mates. For some reason, he really wanted them to accept her, though he didn’t understand why that should be.
They passed through a chain-link fence with warning signs to stay out, and no trespassing, and pulled up to the front door of an ugly-looking warehouse.
With a large gravel parking area in front, and another in back, along with two covered garages large enough to hold more cars than the clan had, the place was surrounded on three sides by forest. An ideal location for shifting into their cats and going for a run. Plus, it was only a mile from the EfPP building.
Enyowas shut off his bike.
Without taking her eyes from the large, dilapidated-looking building, Elianna got off and turned in a circle. “It’s very secluded.”
“It is,” he agreed.
“Is this really where you—your clan lives?” she asked as she followed him to the door.
“Home sweet home,” he said, then opened the door.
Elianna stepped inside and gasped, then shot him a look, eyebrow raised.
Enyowas shrugged, a pleased smile tugging at his lips. “We did major renovations.”
“I can see that,” Elianna said, taking in the modern furnishings of the large common room. Just to the side of them, stairs led to the second and third floors.
“We decided to keep the outside looking the way it did when we got the place. It keeps the humans away.” At least, it did most humans. They still got vagrants looking for a deserted place to lay their head, along with humans who enjoyed exploring buildings they thought abandoned and disregarded the signage.
They were quickly disabused of the notion that the place was vacant, and generally didn’t return.
He introduced Elianna to the clan mates presently on the main floor common room, and pointed out the game room, workout room, and clan kitchen. “Help yourself to anything, anytime,” he said, and walked her over to the far corner. A second set of stairs led to the floors above. “Under here is the safe room. Each floor has one.”
“You expecting problems?” Elianna asked, a little surprised. She’d noticed the security, and the men guarding the place.
“No, it just pays to be prepared.”
Enyowas felt how nervous Elianna was as she greeted everyone quietly and took it all in. “Are those where you sleep?” she asked, pointing to the numerous doors lining the back wall.
“Those are the quarters of our male clan mates who are single,” he said.
“Is that where you live?” she asked.
“No. Veldi, Ferno, Shabina, and I have rooms on the third floor. Come on, I want you to meet my sisters.” He led her back toward the front door, then up a set of polished wooden stairs to the second floor.
He pointed down a long hallway just past the stairs. “That’s where the single females live.”
“Is that where I’ll be staying?”
“It is,” he said and showed her into a very cozy living area where a woman with long, dark hair, wearing a white sweater and faded blue jeans sat studying a notebook while talking on the phone.
At the sight of him, Kayta smiled, said her goodbye and hung up her phone. She stood, closed her notebook, slid her phone into her jeans pocket, and came over to meet them. “Hi, you’re Elianna, right?”
“Yes, ah—” Elianna looked from Kayta to Enyowas.
“This is my sister Kay—Kayta,” he said, then addressed his sister. “Do you have a room ready for Elianna?”
“She’s not staying with you?”
For the first time in his adult life, Enyowas felt his face heating up. “I want her to have a place of her own.”
“I’m sure I can find one,” Kayta said, then smiled at Elianna. “Do you want north facing or north facing?”
“Ah …”
Kayta laughed. “Never mind me, just joking.”
“Oh.” Elianna smiled, relaxing.
“Enyo,” Sima said, surprise in her voice as she entered the room.
“Sima,” Enyowas said.
His little sister folded her arms over her chest, an angry glint in her eyes. “Where’ve you been? I figured you were dead.”
“I’m sorry, I’ve been busy.”
“Too busy to call and check in?” She glared at him and then huffed. “Never mind.” Then she looked at Elianna. “Who are you?”
“Sima, this is Elianna. Elianna, my spoiled little sister, Sima,” Enyowas introduced.
“Hi, welcome to clan hell,” she said, then turned and left.
“What’s she so steamed about,” Enyowas asked Kayta.
Kayta bit her lip. “I knew where you were because Veldi told me, but I didn’t think to pass on the information, and I had no idea Sima was worried, but I suppose after Sary … she hasn’t been talking much lately.”
“She’s still mad at me over our sister,” Enyowas said.
“I don’t know.” Kayta shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I should have told her where you were, but I’ve just been so busy with the shelters and stuff.”
Guilt pierced Enyowas. Never before had he kept everyone informed of his whereabouts other than Veldi. “No, I should’ve told her where I was and when I’d be back.” Especially after what happened to Elsary.
“Picked up another stray, have you?” a voice snipped.
“Mom!” Kayta growled, while Elianna seemed to shrink in on herself.
Enyowas felt a headache coming on at the sight of the petite woman coming toward them. Face set in a disapproving scowl, his mother wore her black hair in its usual tight bun at the base of her neck. Dressed all in black, like she had been since Elsary died, today she wore a plain dress that fell just past her knees. She was the epitome of severe. “And this is my mother, Deidra.” Then he addressed his mother. “Aren’t we all strays here? After all, we are your children, and you yourself are part panther and jaguar, isn’t that so, Mother?” Over the years her anger toward him had turned to hatred, and she never missed an opportunity to let him know just how worthless she considered him to be.
Her green eyes sparked. “How dare you speak to me that way, I gave birth to your pathetic, entitled ass.”
Entitled? How did she figure?
“Stop it,” Kayta snapped, then turned to Elianna. “Ignore my mother, she’s just a bitter old woman. Why don’t we go pick out a room?”
Elianna glanced at Enyowas.
“Go, I’ll come see you in a bit.” He faced his mother once they were alone. “Crap over me all you want, but I expect you to treat Elianna with respect.”
“And if I don’t?”
Enyowas sighed. All these years he’d taken care of their mother, kept her comfortable and wanting for nothing. “What is your problem with Elianna? You don’t even know her.”
“I can smell you all over her.”
“That’s it? You’re pissed because I’ve been intimate with her?” he asked, stumped.
“I refuse to suck up to your whores.”
A headache threatened, and he had to fight to control his anger. “She’s not my whore. She is a guest here, and I do expect you to treat her as such.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then maybe it’s time you found your own place to live. Get a job, you know, start earning your own money.” Without waiting for her reply, he turned and walked out before he said anything more that he’d regret. He’s wanted to talk to her about running alone, because despite Ferno having spoken with her, she continued to slip out on her own, or evade her running partner. But now? To hell with it, maybe he should just let her do her own thing, maybe she’d get eaten by a wolf, or bear.
A little later Enyowas knocked at Elianna’s door, feeling self-conscious now that she was in his home.
“Is everything all right?” she asked.
“Yeah, sorry about my mother. She’s had it in for me since I was a kid.”
Golden eyes widened. “Whatever for?”
He shrugged dismissively. “Will this room work?” Kayta had given her a room with a large queen bed, a kitchenette, and small sitting area.
“It’s very big and bright, like what I’d imagine an expensive hotel would be like. Nothing like the tiny shoebox I had in my clan.”
Anger filled Enyowas once again at how her clan had treated her. Sadly, he knew she
wasn’t the only one. He walked over and glanced out the window that overlooked the forest, before turning back to Elianna. “Look, the last few days have been amazing, but I really have to get back to work. If you need me for anything, just call me on my cell.”
“I don’t have your number,” she said.
“That’s easily fixed, where’s your cell?”
“I don’t have one of those either.”
Enyowas frowned. “Right, I suppose your clan Tomlee forbade cell phones as well?”
“No, many clan members had them, but I was never considered worthy enough to warrant one.” She sat down on the bed, testing it.
“We’ll have to get your one. For now, let Kayta, Sima, or Veldi know and they’ll get a hold of me.”
“All right. Will I see you tonight?”
He hesitated, wanting nothing more, but he hadn’t been lying when he said he had work to do, plus, he needed to put some distance between them. At the very least, try to figure out what exactly Elianna meant to him. “No, I don’t think so.”
She nodded. “Right, forgot. Not looking for any commitments. Got it. Well, thank you for helping me, Enyowas. I know you didn’t have to, and I appreciate you saving my life.” She got up and walked around, studying the room.
“Are you going to be all right here?” he asked.
“Yes. I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.”
Enyowas winced, knowing he’d hurt her, but not knowing how to fix it and still keep her at a distance. “Be sure to tell Kayta if you need anything, and I mean it, make yourself at home here. This is your clan for as long as you want.”
“Sure.”
As he walked away, Enyowas should have been relieved, but instead his heart ached.
Chapter 16
Tense over the upcoming interrogation, or more accurately on what he might learn, Enyowas made the trip to his friend Garret’s clan home. “How is it going?” In the short time he’d known Garret, the leopard shifter had proven himself a decent, honest male.
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