Quinlan: Foster’s Pride – Lion Shapeshifter Romance (Foster's Pride Book 3)

by Kathi S. Barton

  He believed her. Quin wasn’t sure why he did, but he thought it wasn’t just horses she could speak to, but all animals. It would be her main reason for wanting to help him, he’d bet. Thinking about how to talk to her, he figured the straight-up approach would work better than anything with her.

  “You can speak to them too?” She nodded slowly. “All right. So today, when you were helping me with Shire, he told you something. Do I need to know?”

  “Yes. Robin stole him from another horse farm.” There was more. Quin knew it but waited. “He killed the man that was in the barn with Shire, as well as three other horses. It’s what made me so mad at Robin in the first place.”

  “The dead man. Do you know if he was found or not?” She shook her head. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

  “No. He fed him to the pigs. I know this because they told Shire, and he told me.” Christ, he thought. This was by far more than he’d imagined when he asked her about this. It was good information, but now what did he do with it? “I’ve not told anyone but you, Uncle Quin. I was afraid they’d think I was lying.”

  “Not my family. Here is what we’ll do. I’ll talk to your aunt first, then my family. You need to tell your mom what you can do. All right? That way, we can work in the open with this information and not have to sneak around.”

  “I will.” She hugged him, and he hugged her tightly. “Thank you so much, Uncle Quin. I knew I could talk to you about stuff, but this is freaky, don’t you think?”

  “Honey, I’m brother-in-law to a witch. I can change into a lion, and my brother is the king of lions. Now you can talk to animals. Nothing about this is freaky so much as it’s par for the course.” She laughed, which was what he’d hoped for. “We’ll take care of this, Billy. I swear to you. Even if I have to shift into my lion and kill him, we’ll get through this.”

  He wasn’t sure how, but he figured he’d go to the one person that would know how to handle this the best. Getting out of the car, he reached for his grandma. She’d either tell him to go kick some ass, or she’d help him. Either way, he’d welcome the help.

  Chapter 4

  Unsure of what to do with the information, Rogue stared at her glass of water. Jane had been with her when Quin had asked to speak to her, and she told him to come home and do it. That whatever he had to talk about, his mate needed to hear it as well.

  “Well, what do you think we should do?” Quin wasn’t being pushy like she might have been had she delivered the news to him, but she wasn’t ready to give him what was racing around in her head just yet. He seemed to understand that and turned to his grandma. “You should have seen Billy standing up to Robin. She didn’t hold back at all. Had I closed my eyes for a moment, I would have sworn it was you or Mom there. Or Rogue. She got right up in his face too. Then she told Robby he should have beaten Robin more as a kid.”

  “I wish I could have seen his face. I bet Robby hasn’t been spoken to like that since his missus passed on. Now there was a woman that could get up in a person’s face. She’d not suffer fools well. Also, she would have beaten Robin more.” He’d not known that Robin’s mom had passed away in childbirth. “I’m glad he is giving that child an outlet for her gift. She does think of it as a gift, doesn’t she?”

  “We didn’t talk about it much, other than her telling me she’s had it since she was a child.” Rogue asked him if she’d told him any other things about animals. “No. Just the horse named Shire. I do believe she can talk to more than just horses, but she was a little skittish, so I didn’t press her on that. What do you think her mom will do?”

  “She’ll take it well. I don’t know why, but I have a feeling Lily will have had some indication that Billy could do something special anyway. She’s hinted about— So the horse was contacted by the pigs to let him know the man in the barn was dumped by Robin to be eaten so no one would find his body. Even out loud, that sounds like I’m off my rocker. I don’t want you to think I don’t believe her, but it is a far stretch from being a shifter to an animal whisperer.” Quin nodded at her and told her she was doing well. “Thanks. But you’re not going to get any brownie points with this. This is big news, and someone is going to have to go to Mr. Quarter and let him know that some pigs told his horse, who told my niece, that his son killed a man. Christ, I’m going to be locked up before I can wrap my head around this.”

  “You do believe me, don’t you, Aunt Rogue?” She’d not known that Billy was in the house. Turning to her, she smiled and asked her to come and sit with them. “Mom is here. She wants to talk to Uncle Quin about the job.”

  “All right. We might as well share all of this. Did you tell her?” Billy nodded and smiled. “I take it she didn’t think it was all that different.”

  “No. She said she’d been watching me with the neighbor’s cats when we lived back home. Also with the animals here.” Quin asked if she could speak to all animals. “Yes. All I’ve come across anyway. You should know that the mother cat in the barn is sick of hard cat food. She’d like something soft now that she’s getting too old to have kitties.”

  Jane burst out laughing. It was as if all the tension of the room and the things being said were wiped out. Getting up, Rogue found the stash of cookies Mrs. Barclay had hidden from her husband and put them on the table. Not that she wanted to share the wonderful bits of sugary deliciousness, but this called for sweets and talk.

  Rogue let everyone else do the talking. While she had about ten billion questions, they were being asked as soon as she thought of them. The one thing that bothered her the most, however, was what they were going to do about Robin. Something had to be done, or he was going to find out about Billy and hurt her. Worse, kill her.

  The rest of the family showed up just as the cookies disappeared. Mrs. Barclay shooed them out of her domain, and they ended up in the living room, a room that Rogue was beginning to love most of all. However, now she understood the reason for four large couches. There were just too many large people in this family to make a normal three-piece set work. She looked at Quin when he said her name.

  Are you all right with all this? I don’t mean your niece, but with everyone being here? She smiled at him and told him through their link that she was slightly overwhelmed, but it had little to do with the crowd. Yes, I’m right there with you. But this is a good thing. Without her, Robin might well have gotten away with a good deal more deaths.

  I’m just worried about what he’ll try and do to her once he figures this out. I have no idea how he would connect the dots to her, but that’s what is on my mind. He sat down next to her after shoving his brother Cass to the floor. Not that he seemed to mind. I don’t know why you thought sitting closer to me was going to make me less overwhelmed.

  It helps me. Now hush. I think we need to pay attention here. Parker has some news you need to know too. Parker turned and looked at her. There was still tension between the two of them, but they were working it out. She’s not going to hurt you.

  I know that, dumb ass. He laughed, and everyone turned to her. Embarrassed now, Rogue stood up and asked what was on her mind. How to keep her niece safe during all this. “I’d rather die than have anything happen to anyone in this family. Well, with the exception of Quin right now. But the rest of you, I can help out if you don’t piss me off too much.”

  Laughter was just what she needed. As it seemed, the rest of them did. It was Parker that answered her. She might have said it earlier, but Rogue told the room she’d not been giving this her full attention. Rogue said she was still trying not to sound panicky when she thought of Robin.

  “You don’t have to worry about him killing anyone here. Not ever.” Rogue asked why not. “You’re immortal. Just the same as everyone in here is. Any of us can be hurt, and it will be painful, but nothing will kill us. You’ll also heal a good deal faster than you would have as a human.”

  “But I am a human.” Parke
r shook her head at her. “I am. I don’t shift, fly, or do any of the things the rest of you can do.”

  “The moment you can Quin came together, that is when you changed. You have magic too. You can change your clothing at a moment’s notice. Bring things to you that you might want. My favorite thing is this.” She put her finger on the glass she was drinking from, and it filled. Not just with water, but also ice. “You’ll need to drink more juice. Also, you’ll have more magic once you and Quin bond. So get on that. It’s important to your wellbeing.”

  The glass of clear water turned to a deep shade of red, like her favorite drink of raspberry tea. Drinking it down, it wasn’t a surprise to see it refill. She looked over at Billy when she laughed. She apparently could do that as well. Billy’s clothing changing was a little sickening, it was so fast. Rogue was happy to see that some of it was girly, but mostly things that would be nice to work in. She couldn’t love these kids anymore if they were her own.

  For the rest of the evening and well past dinner, they spoke about all the things that needed to happen before they could confront Robin or even his father. Rogue thought the best way was just as she did everything—straight to the point and telling Robby what they knew. Also, what Billy could do. It was thought that once she started working for the elderly man, he’d figure it out sooner or later anyway.

  “I don’t mind telling him. Just talking with you all has made me feel like I’m not some sort of a freak about this.” Gabe, Lily’s biological son, hugged Billy and told her it didn’t matter about the animal talking stuff. She still was a freak. “Thanks, jerk.”

  Rogue loved that they never seemed to be at odds with each other. While they did argue, it was never brought up how they weren’t related, nor did Gabe point out that it was his mom and not theirs. It wasn’t an issue. They all loved each other like they’d been born to the same parents.

  It was about eight-thirty when someone came to the door. Not having a clue who it might have been, she wanted to hide away the kids and make sure she was armed. Instead of doing that, she sat with her hands under her legs and waited for the bad news to be dropped on them.

  “Daddy?” Rogue looked to the doorway when Lily yelled. Getting up, not wanting to come between her dad and Lily, she hugged Lexi, her stepmother. “I’m so happy you came. I had no idea you were coming tonight.”

  After Lily moved back, Rogue hugged her dad. They’d been talking over the years, but this was so much better. Having Lily accepting Lexi and their dad’s relationship with her made her heart extremely full. Then Lily introduced her children to their grandda.

  “I’m a grandda again. I knew about Gabe, of course—Rogue told me—but I have a houseful. Oh my, come here and hug me. I’ve wanted to see all of you all my life.” Sandy went right to her new grandda. After he picked her up and held her, she wiped the tears off his cheek, asking him if he was sorry about having grandkids. “Never, my dear child. Never. I’ve never been happier than I am right now about finding out that I have little ones to play with again.”

  Everyone introduced themselves to her dad. It was her that told them she and Quin were mates and that had dad sobbing again. Happy tears tore at her like sad ones did, and she joined her dad on the couch with a box of tissues between them.

  “I want you to know, Mr. Fisher, that I’m going to let Rogue take very good care of me. Also, I don’t think she’ll allow me to be hurt either.” Dad laughed and shook hands with Quin. After telling him to call him Roger, they settled down for a short but very needed talk. “You’ll stay with us, of course. We have plenty of room and enough family around that you won’t feel like a stranger at any time.”

  “I’d like that. If it’s no trouble.” Quin assured her dad that it wouldn’t be. “Thank you, young man. You’re just about what I expected for this one. A good man with a heart big enough to accept her challenges. She has a few too. I’ll tell you about them sometime.”

  Showing her parents to their room, Quin held her hand as they walked to the living room again. Lily and her family went to their new home. The others had left just before her parents had been shown their rooms. Quin walked her to the living room and sat down on the floor in front of her. She was nervous about what he was going to tell her.

  “Don’t think the worst. All right?” She told him she’d try. “I’m in love with you. It’s not been a gradual thing like I expected, but is hitting me right in my heart, so there was never going to be any room for anyone else. I know we have a long way to go in getting to know each other. But I would very much like for you to consider marrying me, for a lot of reasons. One of them is that I love you, but also because I need to know you’re mine. Forever.”

  “Yes.” He laughed and asked her what she meant. “Yes, I’ll marry you. I love you as well. And like you, it was sort of like a slap in the face that I’m sitting in this big house with you and not enjoying all the benefits we could be sharing.”

  “Do you mean sleeping with me?” She asked him if he really thought there would be any sleeping going on. “No. Not much anyway. Christ, you have no idea how…well, maybe you do. I’ll race you upstairs.”

  ~*~

  Quin wasn’t mad. Not anymore. He was intrigued with what Rogue was doing at the crime scene she was working. While he didn’t speak to her, he had a feeling she was getting more than she usually did as she stood over the bodies of three men with her camera pointed at them. Finally, when she looked at him, she asked the lead detective if she could have just a moment.

  The phone call had come for Rogue almost as soon as they stepped into their bedroom. It was an emergency—in another state. She was to meet them in the back field in five minutes, or the police would come and get her. They opted for the chopper. Quin was happy when she said he was coming with her.

  “Sure, Agent. You go right ahead. It’s not like they’re going anywhere.” She glared at the younger man, and he shook his head and told her he was sorry. “I’m as sorry as I can be, ma’am. I’m new at this sort of scene and making jokes, however inappropriate, is my way of dealing with it. I swear I’ll work on it from now on. I’m sorry. You go on ahead and take as long as you want. We’ll wait for you.”

  She laid her camera on the table that had been set up for her. There were other pieces of equipment on the table—he recognized very little of it. When they were far enough away that he supposed they could talk, she put her head on his chest and spoke quietly.

  “I can smell the person who did this. I don’t know who it is, but I have a feeling I could find them if they were to walk past me. Not only that, but I can see things on the bodies that are giving me the willies.” He asked her what she saw. “Fingerprints. I can see them as clearly as I can see you standing right here. Also, this is the worst. I can see not only how they were murdered but the order in which he cut them up and killed them. I’m not sure what to do with this, Quin. It’s really important stuff, but I can’t just tell them it’s new to me too, and this is what I can see.”

  “Take the pictures.” She looked up at him. “Just take the pictures that you do and make observations as you go. Sort of like hinting, but more than that. Point out things you say you find on the camera lens, but it’s really just you seeing it.”

  “I don’t understand.” Quin tried to think of a way to explain it to her without being more confusing. “Are you saying I should fudge it up? Tell them there are markings where I see prints, and I want them dusted? I can do that. Yeah, I can do that. Thanks.” She kissed him and went back to work.

  “Doctor Foster?” He turned and looked at the man standing not five feet from him. “I didn’t mean to listen in, but I can help her too if she’ll allow it.”

  “That’ll be up to her, I’m thinking.” The man, an Agent Carlson with the Feds, nodded. “You’re a bear, correct?”

  “Yes. Most of the people I work with are aware of it. Also that I can smell out things they normally
wouldn’t be able to. That’s why I was assigned to Doctor Foster.” He smiled. “I’m betting that gets confusing at your house. But she doesn’t know. She might now, but she hadn’t known that I was also here to protect her.”

  “I can’t thank you enough for that. But as for you helping her, I can let her know you can do that. I’m thinking she is a little nervous about giving away too much with this newfound magic. My brother is the king of lions, and she got more than her fair share once we found each other.”

  He didn’t think it would be a good thing for him to say they also had a witch in the family. Parker was something that few believed in, and fewer still might be willing to think about being around her.

  After telling Rogue about Carlson, he went into the room where the bodies were currently being photographed. Quin stayed out of their way and had a good look around where they were. It was in a town that might well have been abandoned before he was born. Not only that, it was deep in the woods around one of the biggest national parks in the United States.

  I was wondering if I could come over and talk to Rogue for a little while. Her mind is blocked off from me. I wonder how she’s doing that. He told Cass what she was doing and where they were. I had no idea. Usually, I can hear overhead traffic when it flies over. Is she doing all right?

  She is, actually. Finding out a little more about her magic had her questioning herself for a minute, but she’s back on track now. I can have her call you as soon as we’re done here. She told me it usually takes about six to eight hours for her to be finished up. Something about the pictures loading up on the server takes a little longer. Cass told him that would be good but to wait till morning. I forgot it was in the middle of the night. The moon is so bright here it’s almost like daylight. I love it here.