by R. A. Boyd
“Don’t you do it, Aaron,” Riley said, pushing the words passed gritted teeth. “I’m the only thing that’s keeping that girl from hating you right now. Ruin that and once she turns eighteen you will never see her again. She will run away from you and never look back. I may not have birthed her, but legally she’s mine too. Besides, we already have it in the divorce papers that we would share custody. Any judge would see that you’d be doing it out of spite. You want me to hate you, too? Because that’s the one thing that would do it.” She took the bagged up pastry and shoved it into his chest. “Get out.”
With one hand he grabbed for the bag before it fell on the floor. “Fuck,” Aaron spat out, running his hands through is hair. He pulled his lips in and chewed on them. “I’m sorry, baby.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“I’m sorry. We’re a family. I’d never keep you away from her, and please fucking forgive me for even implying it.”
Riley wouldn’t correct him on saying that they were a family. She had too much anger roiling around in her middle right now, and correcting him would make her pop. Was this his strategy to get her back? Threaten to fight for sole custody of Liv. He’d have a fight on his hands. Riley would never let that girl go. No judge would keep her from her daughter.
She looked down at the counter and paid attention to the smooth grain of the wood to calm herself. When she looked up Aaron was clipping his sunglasses to his shirt but he wouldn’t meet her gaze.
“Baby. Riley. I’m so sorry. I’d never… I just need to learn to control myself. You’re the one thing that makes everything I’ve done worth doing. You’ll see. I’ll make you understand. It’s your night so I won’t deny you time with Liv. Just so you know, I changed my shift so I won’t have to see him.”
He made a pathetic growling sound in his throat, and Riley was disgusted. He used to make a sound similar to that when they’d had sex. She threw-up in her mouth a little.
“Aaron, please.”
“Okay. I— I’ll see you when you pick up Liv. I’ll send you my schedule. I’m a changed man, Riley. You’ll see.”
Still not meeting her gaze, he turned around and left the shop.
Riley took a deep breath and ran her hand through her hair, fluffing it out. She had to give her hands something to do besides shake.
Aaron was off. She could hear it in his voice. See it in his movements. He could see now that it had all fallen apart when he wasn’t paying attention, and that there was no putting it back together. She remembered feeling like that. Like her entire world was falling apart because the one person she picked to spend the rest of her life with was practically shoving his middle finger in her face.
“Now you know how that shit feels,” Riley murmured, wiping down the counter.
A shifter was after Teague and Aaron wouldn’t leave Riley alone. This sucked, but it would pass. She was sure of it. Aaron just had to keep himself level until he worked his way through their divorce and accepted it was over. She didn’t have time in her life right now to constantly fight off his advances. If he kept on this current path and kept trying to pull her to him, she was going to have to do something really drastic to make him stop. What else says ‘I don’t want your sorry butt in my life’ like divorce? Nothing she could think of.
The small part of her that remembered their good times made her worry for him. He wasn’t his normal cocky self. Through all their ups and downs he’d always remained the same, but something had changed. It was more than them not being together. Was it because she’d chosen Teague? He had to feel supremely angry that his co-worker was now sleeping with his ex-wife.
Didn’t matter. She’d felt a myriad of ways each time she found out he was sleeping around. Nope, she wouldn’t worry herself. He was no longer her concern. Just like he had to learn to let go, she had to as well. She didn’t want him to suffer. Well, not really.
She locked eyes with Daisy again and they both nodded this time. If Riley had to make a wager, she would bet Daisy was the one who made sure Aaron’s chart made it to her files. And that was fine. In fact, one day she would ask. And if it was Daisy, Riley would give her a free chocolate strawberry tart every time she stepped foot into her shop.
Yeah, finding out what Aaron had done broke her heart and threw her life into disarray, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. Life was good now, and Aaron could take his crocodile tears and shove them where the Sun don’t shine.
You’ve got visitors.
Teague chuckled as he read Cass’s text message. He knew he was being watched. At first he thought he was being paranoid, but then he caught sight of reflective eyes in the wooded area that sat across from the fire station after the engine’s second run this morning. And now half way into this shift, another set of eyes that were almost as blue as the first had joined in. Both cougars were blond, one slightly darker than the other.
And now somewhere in the forest, Cass sat hiding behind the shifters watching them as they watched him. They were so fucked if she lost her cool.
I know. Can’t do much now while I’m at work unless they attack. Cass, DO NOT KILL THEM!
He tried not to let on that he knew they were there but he was losing his patience. While he stood outside he kept his sunglasses on and toyed around with his phone, but his gaze was strictly out there keeping an eye on the cougars. Until his phone vibrated in his hand with the message from Cass. It rang this time, and Cass’s name appeared on the screen.
“Hey,” she whispered. “I’m about a mile away. It’s two of them. Want me to grab one? Am I too loud?”
“You’re fine,” he said, giving a wide smile to let his watchers think he still was oblivious to their presence.
He knew that from this far away the cougars wouldn’t be able to hear her voice. They had nothing to compare it with, but from Cass testing out her saber-tooth shifter abilities they’d figured that the Ghost’s senses were better than the average shifter. Cass had taken to shadowing shifters around town, seeing how long it would take them to notice her stalking them. She was getting scary with her tactics, but she was such as sweet talker that they took her antics as a curious new shifter figuring herself out.
“Why don’t you head on home and we’ll talk later?” He already knew her answer before she spoke.
She blew out an irritated breath and then growled low into the phone. “Because you forgot your lunch, again, and I can’t have someone in my clan hangry. I can’t help it damn-it,” she whisper-yelled. “Teague, I think I’m about to ruin my new favorite jacket.”
“What?” It was the only thing he managed to say before the sounds of fighting came through his phone. At the same time, the two lions that were watching him ran in Cass’s direction.
Shit. He’d had his sights on his two watchers. That meant another had snuck Cass.
Without glancing around to see if someone would notice, Teague broke into a run that would let any passer-by know he wasn’t completely human. He cleared the tree line and ran in the direction of their community, hoping that Cass had taken her usual route to the fire station. He stopped for a moment and quieted himself, listening for the fight, sniffing the air to follow the two cougars that had been watching him.
His heartrate hitched as he heard a cry of pain that sounded like Cass. There were three of them against her. She might be a badass but she was still clumsy in her new shifter form.
He pumped his legs as fast as they would go as he tore through the woods in her direction. Low-hanging tree limbs and scattered bushes scratched at him as he sprinted past. He almost fell into a small ditch as he ran, not bothering to look down to keep his step. His friend was in trouble.
Teague came upon a small clearing and stopped. All was silent except for the sounds of the woods. Little tufts of snow falling from leftover leaves that had not yet fallen from the trees. The creek that ran about half a mile away from where he stood. But no fighting.
Oh, God. What the hell happened? The echo of movement sounded
off to his left, and he saw the two cougars that had been watching him running further into the woods.
“Cass,” he yelled. “Please let her be okay. Cass!”
“Stop yelling,” she said, limping from a cluster of trees.
She leaned against a towering Loblolly Pine and panted, holding her bare arm as blood trickled from her fingers. She looked like a warrior angel standing there, wild and coily hair framing her face as ringlets of cold air punched from her lips.
“Can you fix my arm?” she said, her voice wavering and small. She was in pain. Shifter or not, a broken bone was a broken bone.
As he walked closer to her he saw teeth and claw marks all around her where she held on to her arm. A bone jutted out near her elbow.
“Damn-it, Cass,” Teague said in relief. He gently took her arm and examined it while she looked away. “I’ll set it but—”
He grabbed her by the wrist and snatched downward, pulling the bone down into place and then twisting. He figured if he’d warned her she would flinch.
“Son of a biscuit!” she screeched, grabbing hold of her arm and holding it to her. “Why didn’t you warn me?”
“Because it was best if you didn’t see it coming,” he said, stooping down to examine her arm. He was afraid that if he touched her she might hurt him. “Flex your fingers.”
Slowly at first, Cass wiggled her fingers and then balled them into a fist. “Wow. It still hurts but, wow. Shifter healing is awesome.”
He walked a circle around her to make sure she wasn’t hurt anywhere else. She cared for him. Not just because it was something that came second nature to her because she was part of the Alpha Triad, but because she wanted him to be okay. And to be happy.
When he came face to face with her he pulled her in for a hug. “You’re my friend,” he said.
She pulled away and shrugged. “I hope I am. And I hope one day you can see me as a sister. In-law. Or whatever.”
“Yeah,” he murmured, looking around and not meeting her gaze.
Teague hadn’t made any new real friends in a long time. Riley had been his friend, but he was in love with her from the start. But Cass, he really did look to her like she was family.
He stepped away from their hug and examined her arm again, making sure the bone was set just right. “This emotional feeling shit is making me uncomfortable,” he said. “Did they ruin your new favorite jacket?”
“Heck no. I snatched it off before the fight started. Do you know how many coats and shirts and shoes I’ve ruined since my men bit me? I’m going to start charging Simon every time he provokes me and makes me change. I swear he’s doing it on purpose.”
Teague laughed and started looking around for her jacket. “Well, at least we know that they are after me and not my mate. Just wish we could have gotten some information.”
Cass lifted her good arm and pointed toward a tree. “Well, if that one isn’t dead you can ask him.”
Confusion creased the center of Teague’s forehead. He followed her gaze as she pointed to an Eastern Hemlock tree. Almost at the very top of the tall, almost leafless tree was a cougar uncomfortably situated between a few branches.
“How did it get up there?” Teague asked, walking toward the lifeless form.
Teague knew if the shifter was trying to hide from them it would have gone by now, or attacked. It kind of looked like it was sleeping, back legs lazily draped over a thick branch and the front legs dangling from another. Its eyes were open, giving a death stare that Teague new all too well.
Cass appeared in front of him and pulled her jacket on, still letting the arm that had been broken hang at her side. She also had a lunch bag neatly tucked under her arm. “Well me and that one up there started wrestling and when I heard the other two coming I beat them with him. Just kind of swung him around by his back legs. Once he managed to get free he bit me. So I pried him off and threw him. Didn’t mean to throw him that high, though.”
Eyes wide and lips pursed, Teague looked at her and frowned. From where he stood in the fallen snow looking up at the shifter, it looked to be at least two hundred pounds of pure muscles. Cass had tossed his ass up there like she was throwing a snowball.
A warning siren blasted off from the fire station. Teague bared his teeth and massaged the bridge of his nose. “I have to go. You still need to rest your arm. Call someone from the clan to help get him down. Pretty sure he’s dead.” He looked around the woods and started walking backward. “Want to come with me until someone comes to get him? I don’t want you out here by yourself?”
Cass lifted one shoulder and blew a raspberry. “I’m cool. I’ll call someone and wait here. Go on before the other fireman start looking for you.”
He gave her a two fingered wave and started running for the fire station.
“Look on the bright side,” she called after him. “At least they’re not after Riley. Eat your food.”
Chapter 8
“So they are trailing Riley?” Teague asked Audra.
They stood in his kitchen while he made coffee. The first thing he wanted to do was run straight to Riley when he finished his shift this morning, but he didn’t. She was starting to feel stifled by their constant presence. The Ghost Shifters were watching her night and day. Now that she knew it was making her uncomfortable.
“Yep,” Audra said, plucking a peach from his kitchen counter. She still had on her pajamas from the night before. “Me and Cass could smell them all around her property, but no one came near her place last night. She was cool with the sleepover but she knew we were there to keep her and the girl-child safe.” She grabbed his coffee cup from him before he got a chance to taste it. “Hmm. Just the way I like. You should probably make yourself a cup.”
Teague stood and looked at his sister as she took alternating sips of coffee and bites of the peach. That had to be a gross combination.
“Did she say she was tired of us being around her?” he asked, grabbing his second favorite coffee cup from the cupboard.
Audra finished the peach and then sucked on the seed for a moment, watching him with uneven brown eyes. She was slipping. One eye was her normal soft brown and the other had the bright reflective shine of her beast. He was scared for his sister. Day by day her sanity crept away from her, making her behavior more and more sporadic. Was it too late for a mate to save her? God, he hoped not.
Her pupils flashed black, and then went back to their normal color. She shook her head as if coming out of a trance and took the peach pit from her mouth. “She didn’t say she was tired of us. Only that she was tired of not being able to do anything about what’s going on. And that she was an adult and didn’t need to be babysat. Is that why you aren’t there with her at the shop right now?”
He put his cup in the machine and pressed the little blinking button to get the coffee brewing. Teague ran his hand through his hair and rubbed his scalp. “Yeah. I could hear in her voice last night that she was getting tired of my shit. I don’t want to smother her.”
Audra scoffed and then downed the entire cup of coffee. “She’s not sick of your shit. It’s not just your shit. It’s all of our shit. It’s those douche nozzles who are causing the trouble. You’re not asking for this. They’re just pissed because we are awesome and they suck donkey balls. And we rock. And they are weak and scared. Trust me, brother. She’s not tired of you. She’s afraid, and she’s got a lot of stuff going on.”
“But you don’t understand, Audra.”
“Why don’t I?” Her eyes were uneven again, and a low growl had started in her chest. “Look, damn-it. I may not have a mate yet, and fuck it all I may not make it until I get a mate, but let me tell you this. That woman loves you so much and it’s confusing her. She spilled her guts after the girl-child went to sleep. Me and Cass got her to take a few shots of whiskey. She loves you hard and deep. She’s known it for so long and just managed to make herself stop feeling guilty about it. She was married to that creep who made her feel like crap. And now she
’s free of him.”
Teague put his hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“I don’t need your apology. I’m just telling you the truth. She got divorced and then found the love of her life within a matter of days. Can you imagine how emotionally taxing this is for her? Hippotwattamus is still trying to win her back, she really is being babysat, and now she has a custody hearing tomorrow. She’s scared. And full. And she’s my sister, and the only thing my beast keeps telling me is to kill her ex to make life easier for her. And to track down and kill all the shifters who mean us harm so that it’ll make life easier for my family. But I can’t. I won’t. I’ll really lose myself if I go on a murdering spree, but that’s all I want to do. In the name of love and family, I want to kill.”
She was full on growling now, her voice teetering between human and monster.
“Audra, how long has your beast been awake?” he asked, worry pounding in his chest.
That was the thing with the Ghost shifters. Their beasts had been dormant, sleeping since right after the Great Flood. They’d all talked about it off and on over the years, all agreeing that none of them had felt their saber-tooth since not long after the Ark.
It was part of their curse. Having a sleeping beast inside but not being able to shift or communicate with it. Just like Jax and Damon, Teague had felt the first communion with his saber-tooth when he touched his mate. The first time in millions of years. Just as they’d made contact his beast began waking up and scratching at his skin to claim their mate.
But Audra’s beast was awake.
“It’s like a rage in my head,” she said quietly. “That rage is pissed off that it can’t have my body. My beast talks to me every day, telling what to do to make it better. How to make her feel more at ease while she’s stuck in my skin. She wants blood.” She took her small fist and rapt it against the side of her head a few times as if knocking on a door. “I don’t want to talk about me anymore,” she said, voice now back to normal.
