Claws and Effect (Small Town Shifters Book 1)

by Lola Kidd

  She got the strangest feeling that the Keeper was mostly the town gossip keeper or secret keeper. She also figured out why they were always stocked with baked goods. The older women in town loved baking for these men. It also seemed to her that they were all humans. In her experience, shifters never got that old. Not physically, anyway, and the women had older-sounding voices. One who had stopped in looked to be about ninety. Joseline wondered why there were so many humans in town and why they were so interested in these guys.

  She went to Beau's desk and started surveying it. It was actually much cleaner than he had made it sound. He had a few things out of place, but mostly it was all confined to one junk drawer. She took the drawer out and dumped the contents onto the floor. Sifting through all of it was going to take her some time. She'd never been so happy to see a mess. This was loads more fun than answering more calls. She couldn't believe this was what Beau and Rhett did all day.

  "Thanks for this," Beau told her. "I know I can be a bit of a mess, but I really am trying harder."

  "At least you're giving me something to do. And this isn't bad at all," she told him. "I swear, Rhett isn't amusing anymore these days. I think he's grown bored of me, leaving me to waste away on the phones while he does all the cool work."

  "Maybe." Beau shrugged. "He's not really used to having women around."

  That stung to hear. "Why isn't he used to women? Does he not like having company at his house?"

  Beau sat back in his chair. "I think he's just scared of finding love. It's kind of a myth that all shifters have a mate. I mean, shifters do all have mates, but they don't all find them or seek them out. Maybe Rhett is one of those strange ones."

  "I've never heard that before. A shifter without a mate is like a hand without fingers. It works okay, but it's still incomplete."

  "Maybe. But that doesn't mean there aren't any fingerless hands out there, right?"

  This was a whole line of thinking that had never occurred to her. Rhett seemed so normal, but maybe that was why he wasn't asking her to stay. Maybe he was a shifter who didn't want to find his mate. Or maybe he had already found her and had decided that love and relationships were too much work. There were humans like that. It had never occurred to Joseline that shifters could be like that too. The whole shifter mate thing was such a huge deal, and she had never heard of a shifter going without a mate on purpose.

  All of this was also supposing that she was his one and only. He hadn't exactly called her his mate yet, and he hadn't tried to sleep with her in two days. If she were the one for him, there was a good chance he would have told her by now, or at least hinted at it. He hadn't been shy about telling her that she was his type the very first night they met. Maybe he'd been interested in sleeping with her and nothing more.

  "Special delivery." Nora entered the station, announcing herself loudly. "I tried Rhett's place, but no one was home. Didn't pick up his phone, either."

  Joseline looked up, and her spirits lifted. "We get the runt."

  "You sure do. Free of charge."

  Beau stepped over and took the wiggly puppy from her arms. "Hey, little guy. What's your name?"

  "Doesn't have one," Joseline told him. "I'm sure Rhett will come up with something clever."

  "I can't believe he wanted a dog," Beau said. "You must have talked him into this. There's no way the Rhett I know would want a dog."

  "Who doesn't like puppies?" Joseline asked indignantly. Rhett had loved the dog from the moment he'd picked it up. She'd loved seeing him with it and couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he found out the little guy was his.

  "You don't know Rhett," Beau laughed. "Nora, did you ever think you'd be setting him up with one of your rescues?"

  "No," she admitted. "But that doesn't mean he hates dogs."

  Joseline took the puppy from Beau. "You two are nuts. I'm going to go and give him the dog."

  Nora handed her some papers. "Give these to him too. The little guy has his shots, but he still needs to be neutered, and he needs to get his flea treatment in two weeks."

  Joseline took the dog and the papers to the back room, where Rhett was sitting in a pile of files.

  "Look what I got." Joseline held the dog out to him. "Looks like you're a doggy daddy."

  Rhett looked up and frowned. "Could you keep him in the front with you? I don't want him getting into these papers. None of them have been digitized, so if he ruins them, they're gone for good."

  "Sure," Joseline said. She waited for him to say more, but he was already reading again.

  "Anything else?" He looked at the papers in her hand. "Are those from Tuck?"

  "No, these are for the puppy. Have you thought of a name yet?"

  "Hadn't had a chance yet. You just told me he was mine."

  "You haven't thought about it at all since we first saw him? Not even after Nora said he was going to probably be yours?"

  "I haven't. It can't be that hard to come up with a name. Fido? Or maybe Rover? See, that's already two suggestions, and I didn't even have to think about them."

  Joseline shook her head. "That's not how you name a dog. You have to pick a name that means something to him."

  Rhett laughed. "Dogs aren't that smart. As long as it has one syllable, he'll love it."

  "Okay. Pick whatever you want. We should go and get dog food and stuff on the way home."

  "Great idea."

  She left him alone and took the puppy back to the front. Maybe she didn't know him so well after all. He wasn't even excited to get the dog. She'd been sure he was going to at least want to hold it, maybe even get a little teary-eyed. But she'd been wrong.

  What else was she wrong about?

  Chapter Twenty

  "I didn't realize puppies needed so many things," Rhett said.

  They had driven to Findlay and gone to the pet store, where he had let Joseline pick out most of the stuff for the puppy. She seemed to be in the know. They'd gotten food, toys, treats, puppy pads, leashes, a collar, and a crate. She had also signed him up for some puppy training classes. Those wouldn't start for a few weeks, but she couldn't wait to take him. She couldn't stop talking about all the cool things the puppy would learn.

  When they got back to his place, they spent nearly an hour puppy-proofing his downstairs. They would do the upstairs the next day, but until then the puppy would live on the ground floor. Rhett also looked up fencing companies. He wanted to be able to leave the puppy in the backyard without having to tie him up.

  All in all, he was very happy. It was another nice day to store away for when she was gone.

  "What are you going to call him?" Joseline asked him.

  "I don't know. What do you think about Fetch?"

  She rolled her eyes. "Does this look like a Fetch to you?"

  Truthfully, the puppy didn't look like much of anything to him. It was wriggly, and it was warm. The little guy already had a knack for stealing the show. That was probably his most significant feature. The women who would normally fawn over Rhett didn't even notice him when he was holding the puppy.

  "What about Spot, like spotlight?" he suggested. "Or, how about Thief? Or Brownie?"

  "Are you jealous of this little guy?" She started opening the toys they'd bought.

  "Why do you ask?" Rhett took the puppy from her and looked into his eyes. He didn't really look like a Thief or a Spot. Brownie was starting to sound good to him, though. He knew dogs didn't eat chocolate, but it fit. The puppy had warm brown eyes that drew everyone in. He could get anything with eyes like those.

  "You're trying to call him Thief and Spot, like spotlight. That makes me think you're jealous that he's taking the spotlight away from you." Joseline finished opening the toys and spread them around the living room.

  "I like Brownie best," he told her. "What you think about that one? And if you hate it, what are your ideas?"

  "Hold him up," she urged him.

  Rhett held the dog up to her. "Brownie? Does the name Brownie appeal to yo
u?"

  Joseline laughed. "He does look delicious. What do you think, little guy? Brownie? Are you a Brownie?"

  The puppy gave a mewling bark. Joseline looked up, eyes bright. "That's it! You got yourself a little Brownie."

  "That was really easy," Rhett said. "I'll pick him up a nametag when I go to the grocery store tomorrow. You want anything when I go?"

  She turned to look out the window so her back was to him. "I don't think you need to get me anything anymore, do you? I think you're pretty close to solving this, aren't you?"

  "It's over. I should have mentioned this sooner but one of the calls I had to return was to Tucker. The Abbott Keepers are no longer interested in you. But I still think you should stay a while longer if you can," he said delicately. "If you need to go home, though, I completely understand."

  And he wouldn't stop her. Even if he desperately wanted her to stay, it was not his place to keep her here. She had a life of her own that she wanted to get back to, one that was safer than what he could offer her. He had already waited long enough to tell her she could go. He could barely believe that the dragons were going to leave her alone.

  The call with Tucker had been quick. He would be in to explain the day after tomorrow. But Hayes had gotten on the phone himself to say that they "didn't give a rat's ass about the stupid human woman." It was almost too good to be true.

  It would be smarter to ask her to stay a few days longer. Just to make sure that they weren't lying. Or tell her exactly how he felt, but that would be trapping her. She knew all about shifters and how they mated for life. If he told her she was his mate, she might feel obligated to stay. If she didn't want to stay of her own accord, he didn't want to guilt her into it.

  Even if she went, at least he would have the puppy to keep him company. Brownie was going to be a welcome distraction from the long, lonely nights.

  "I don't necessarily have a job to get back to right now," she said. "I haven't scheduled anything for at least another week and a half."

  "Well, would you like to wait a bit longer to make sure it's safe?"

  "Would you like me to stay longer?"

  There she was, coming out and asking him point-blank. He needed to be careful. "I want you to stay as long as it takes for you to feel safe. I personally don't feel safe letting you go today. Maybe not even tomorrow. But if you feel like you need to leave, I won't stop you."

  She turned back to face him. Her eyes and body language were difficult to read. Her arms were crossed, which made him think she was trying to protect herself and keep him at arm's length. But her eyes looked sad.

  What had she wanted to hear? He'd said that he wanted her to stay. What more could she want?

  "If you want me to leave, I'll go."

  "I didn't say I wanted you to leave. I said I wanted you to leave when you felt comfortable."

  What was she pushing for? Did she want a stronger statement that she was the one for him? Why didn't she say she wanted to stay if she did? She was playing some kind of game with him and it was getting frustrating.

  "Do you think I'm safe now?"

  "I said you weren't." He put the puppy down. "I said I wanted you to stay longer. I may have closed this case but the dragons were tailing you just yesterday. This might be too soon."

  "I see." She picked the puppy up and sat on the couch with him. "Can I come back and visit Brownie?"

  He scuffed the dog's head. "You can come back and visit him whenever you want. I don't know much about dogs, and I feel like you could help me a lot here."

  "Okay. I think I'll go home tomorrow, then," she said. "But I'll come back and visit the dog at least once a week, if not more. Is that okay?"

  No. That was not okay. It was too early, and he wasn't ready to let her go.

  He forced a smile and nodded. "If that's what you want, it's fine by me. Before you go, I have something I'd like to tell you."

  ***

  Of course. Now that she wanted to leave, he was going to confess his "true feelings" for her. Sure. Whatever. Joseline was over it. He didn't want her to stay. They'd been having such a nice time, but that was all this was to him. He was probably stringing her along.

  "Shoot." She was glad she had the puppy to hold on to. She was going to freak out, she was sure. If she was holding Brownie, she couldn't throw anything at Rhett, and she was less likely to stomp out of the room.

  "First, I know I should have told you this earlier, but I could never find the right moment."

  "Uh-huh." She knew this speech. She had heard it a million times when she was trying to end a friends-with-benefits situation. Miraculously, when they were going to lose the free sex, the guys always realized they had feelings for her. That they were falling in love with her.

  "So, you know I'm a Keeper, but I didn't always work in Lake Magnolia. I started working in Abbott. That was my first territory."

  Joseline didn't breathe. She stopped petting Brownie.

  "I used to be just like Hayes and Knox," he continued. "I used to be pretentious and stuck-up. I didn't give a damn about other shifters, and I couldn't have cared less about humans."

  He reached out and took her hand. "What they were going to do to you? I used to do that. I used to mess with humans' minds. Not often, but I was good at it. I only made one mistake. I drove a man mad. I wiped his memory after he saw one of the dragons. That was back when we weren't out in the open."

  "What happened to him?" she whispered.

  "He went home and he killed his family and then himself. I was done after that. Because of me, three innocent people are dead. I didn't have to wipe his mind. I think he was afraid enough to keep his mouth shut, but I didn't care. He was just some stupid human to me. After that, I left, and I was alone for many years."

  "That's why you don't date." She understood. He was a monster. He couldn't be around people because he would hurt them. He couldn't trust himself. That was why he'd tried to protect her. He was making amends. It wasn't about her; it was about him and his past.

  "That's why I don't date," he confirmed. "I know this is shocking to hear, but I'm not like that anymore. I've changed. That's why I couldn't let them try it on you. I couldn't risk that happening again. Not if I could stop it."

  She nodded. "I understand."

  "I was thinking about doing it to you too. Or at least trying."

  She looked up sharply. "You were going to do it to me?"

  He nodded. "If I had to, I would have tried. But I'm glad it didn't come to that."

  "Me too."

  He squeezed her hand. "I wanted you to know everything before you left. If you're going to come back and visit me, I want you to know the whole story."

  "Thank you."

  He didn't love her. He might have thought she was hot, but he didn't think she was his mate. The sex was fun for him. It didn't mean to him what it meant to her. He wasn't protecting her this whole time; he was keeping an eye on her. He was nicer than the dragon shifters but he would have done the same thing to her in the end. He'd done it before. The only difference this time it seemed was that he was attracted to her.

  She understood completely now, but she would still come back. She wanted to see Brownie and make sure he was well cared for. It would take her time to get over Rhett, but she would.

  He was nothing like she'd thought. She'd been mistaken again.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Rhett looked at the phone in his hand. It had only been two days. He shouldn't call her. If she wanted to get in contact with him, she would have done it already.

  "Just call her." Tuck dropped into the chair across from him.

  "Call whom?" Rhett put his phone away.

  Tuck rolled his eyes. "Really, dude? We all know. Your mate. The one you let go home without telling her the whole truth."

  "I told her the truth," Rhett said. "She still left. But that's neither here nor there. You're here to talk about Murry."

  "Yup. Murry." Tuck kicked his feet up. "Have you looked at the f
iles yet?"

  Rhett picked them up off his desk and flipped through them quickly. "Basically."

  Tuck laughed. "Man, you're really messed up over this woman. I'm telling you, just call her."

  "I've been saying that all day," Beau yelled across the office. "You're wasting your breath. He wants to be sad about this."

  "Typical Rhett."

  Rhett shot the young dragon a caustic look. "I don't want to talk about her unless it's in this file."

  "Fine, fine. Anyway, Murry is feeling better. He didn't do any drugs. He used to party when he was younger, but he doesn't anymore. We don't think this is related to the problem you had here in the nineties."

  "Are you sure?" Rhett had done all the research, and it looked like the same problem. He couldn't believe this was all unrelated.

  "The Council Members are sure. They told the three of them to knock it off, so it looks like this is all done."

  "That's it? I don't believe this. What about Murry? What happened with him?"

  Tuck shrugged. "Went rogue but not feral? Was having a bad night? Crazier things have happened, and he's been without a mate for his whole life. He lives with a girl but she isn't his mate. Shoot, maybe he's even a virgin, man. At his age, that would be enough to make me go crazy."

  Beau came over. "That's a thing? I've never heard of that happening before."

  Tuck stood up and patted him on the shoulder. "You're not a virgin, man. Don't worry about it."

  "But have you found any instances of that happening?" Beau asked. "Did you at least Google it to check?"

  "I'm curious about this, too," Rhett said. "How did you guys decide to close the case?"

  "I don't know." Tuck took off his hat, fixed his hair, and put it on backward. "I'm not the research guy. I'm the face of my Keep. I don't know all this stuff you want. Check out the file. They gave you everything we have."

  "Can I see that?" Beau asked Rhett. "I'd like to do some research of my own, if that's okay."

  Rhett handed it to him. "Knock yourself out. If the dragons are satisfied, I guess I'm fine with it, too. I don't want to go around solving their cases and stepping on toes."