by Terry Spear
Even though she was irritated that the guys had all seen them together like that, in the raw, though as shifters they often saw each other sans clothes before they shifted, this wasn't the same. Not when she was sure Dan thought she was some lowlife criminal. Not to mention they couldn't help but see the sexual interest she and Stryker had in each other—which meant? They were sure to think she had influenced the deputy with her feminine wiles.
She heard some of the guys out front yelling, "Zander, hold still!" "Sydney, no shaking!" "Zander!" "Sydney, hold on!"
She smiled. Apparently, they were trying to wash Zander and Sydney outside and the dogs weren't making it easy for them. She had to admit she was thrilled they were cleaning up the dogs. She couldn't believe the guys all got skunked and she had done the nice thing, even if they thought she might be a bad guy and had started the skunk cleansing baths for the rest of them.
She guessed the men hadn't seen her and Stryker's clothes out in the snow when they'd barged into the house, or they might have thought she and Stryker had run off into the snow as cougars. Now, Dan, thankfully, was washing their clothes, after pretreating them outside.
If she never had to see another skunk in her life, it wouldn't be too soon.
She had dressed and finished drying her hair with the hair dryer and was getting ready for the inquisition, driver's license in hand, when a wet Zander and Sydney raced down the hall and she dove out of the way before they knocked her down, two of the men running to catch them, towels in hand.
Looking a little frazzled, both men gave her lopsided smiles and continued down the hall to grab their wet, furry charges, that had escaped into her guest room. She hoped they hadn't jumped on her bed and gotten it all wet.
She handed the man she assumed was Dan, who seemed to be in charge, her ID, then headed into the kitchen. She was surprised to see a woman there now too. Hadn't they told them that she was already in "protective" custody? Six men and one woman, besides Dan and Stryker, boy, Nina sure rated high on the list of dangerous criminals.
"Anyone want some cinnamon tea?" Nina walked over to one of the kitchen cabinets and the woman followed her in there as if she was going to keep an eye on her.
"I've never had any of that. It sounds good. I'm Bridget MacKay, by the way." Bridget began bringing down mugs, once she found the right cabinet.
Four of the men called out from the living room, saying they'd try some.
Nina heated the water and began adding cloves and cinnamon to the black tea. "I love this as a holiday drink." She turned and studied the dark-haired woman, her blue-gray eyes studying Nina right back. "So what's your specialty?"
"Oh, you mean what do I do as an occupation? Travis, my mate, and I are Cougar Special Forces agents. So is Leyton. He's Stryker's brother and he's in charge of the branch in Yuma Town. And Jack Barrington, with the other men in the living room, is also with our team. We take down rogue cougars."
So they were all part of a policing force. That figured.
"The others are deputy sheriffs. Hal, Chase, and Stryker, of course."
All law enforcement.
Nina poured the tea into six mugs. She imagined the woman was supposed to be the good, lady cop in this situation. And truly, Nina wouldn't mind talking to her alone, if Bridget wanted to.
Nina pulled out a package of her favorite cookies for the holidays: Pfeffernusse gingerbread spice cookies. Then she set the cookies and all but the two mugs on a tray, signaling that she wanted to talk to Bridget alone in the kitchen.
Bridget said, "I'll take this in to the guys and be right back."
Nina put their mugs on the table and brought over a plate of the cookies. She'd have to get some more if the guys ate all the rest.
The next thing she knew, both dogs were sitting at her feet, waiting for crumbs, their fur still damp. She'd have to take the hair dryer after them as soon as the inquisition was over.
Bridget returned while the guys talked about the weather in the other room. "Okay, you know why I'm here. To learn more about you because the Robinsons never said anything about you to anyone in Yuma Town that we know of."
Bridget was studying her as if waiting to see if she revealed any secrets because of her facial expression or body posture. Nina knew all about that with her FBI training.
"I'm former FBI."
Bridget's eyes widened.
"I was undercover. That's why my aunt and uncle couldn't tell anyone about me."
"And your sister?"
"She had a falling out with them over a guy she was dating. They didn't approve of him, and the guy was bad news, but even after they broke up, she was angry with them over it. So I'm sure that has something to do with it. She has a history of dating the wrong guys, to tell you the truth. Our aunt and uncle were always telling her she ought to know better. So she never sees them."
Bridget sipped her tea and frowned at her. "Dan didn't tell me what your being here was all about."
Really? Or was it just an attempt to hear Nina repeat her story and make sure it was the same as she said before. Criminals would often mix up their stories from one accounting of it to the next.
Nina knew the game. "My sister is missing from Austin and she's here. Or at least, I presume she is. I saw her in a vision—"
Bridget's eyes rounded again.
Bridget didn't have much of a poker face and Nina now suspected Dan hadn't told her the whole story. She was sure the shocked expression meant Bridget didn't believe in psychic phenomenon.
The thing of it was that Nina knew something about Bridget that Nina probably wouldn't know unless Stryker had told her about it and why would he have? Maybe that would convince Bridget that Nina truly had a gift, once Bridget confirmed that no one else had told her about it.
"Okay so I can see future visions. And no one's told me about this, but I've seen you having a beautiful little girl and then a boy, twins. The girl is pushier and wants out first. You have them as a cougar, because it’s easier on you, and you name the little girl Phoebe, which I think is adorable and Theodore for your baby boy, Theo for short, which is a beautiful name."
Bridget's eyes filled with tears and her jaw was hanging down.
For a moment, Nina didn't understand her reaction. Unless…ohmigod, Bridget didn't know it yet? Well, she did now. That was the problem with Nina's psychic gift. Sometimes it could be really helpful. Sometimes it could be trouble.
"I’m sorry if you didn't already know. I just thought you would. Do you have any other questions for me?" Nina realized it had gotten really quiet in the living room, and she suspected everyone had heard her telling Bridget about the babies. Nina wasn't mistaken about it either. She wasn't sure when it would happen though. That was the trouble with her gift.
She heard footfalls and glanced at the entryway to the kitchen to see one of the dark-haired men looking at her.
"Uhm, are you ready to go, Travis?" Bridget asked, and he hurried to help her up from her seat.
Nina figured everyone was mad at her now for spilling the beans. But how was she to have known no one else knew about the babies?
Bridget said to Nina, "Thanks for the tea."
Nina wanted to ask Bridget if she passed inspection, but she suspected Bridget would go to the doctor and learn first if what she said was true.
After Bridget and Travis left, Stryker came into the kitchen with the tray of empty mugs and the cookies had all vanished. She should have held more back for herself for later.
"Did you all hear what I said?" she asked, getting up from her seat, hoping that maybe she'd be lucky and not everyone had heard what she'd told Bridget. But since Travis hurried to the kitchen to take Bridget home, Nina suspected they had.
"Yeah."
She shrugged and put the mugs in the dishwasher. "I thought she already knew."
"It's for sure?"
She rolled her eyes. "Of course it's for sure. But I'm not certain when exactly. If she runs in to see the doctor, she might not be able to t
ell if Bridget is pregnant right away. It may be a couple of months or more. I couldn't tell. She was on a bed at the clinic, snuggling with two adorable cougar cubs."
"Could it have been over a year, like you said about your sister?"
"Yeah, possibly. Sure. I can't predict things accurately, pinpointing a date on a calendar or an exact hour or minute of the day. It's not an exact science, you know."
"Yeah, I know." Stryker rubbed her back as if he was trying to show he sympathized with her.
"So I guess no one believes me still." She put the rest of the cookies away that she'd set on the kitchen table for her and Bridget and then headed for the hall. "I'm going to dry your dogs some more. They're still damp and it's too cold on the floor where they're sleeping, not to dry them thoroughly."
"If they weren't hounding you for food, they could have been sleeping by the fireplace."
"They must still think I'm more likely to give them some snacks than you are. They are totally mistaken. Those are my favorite cookies." She headed back to the bathroom.
He smiled. “Mine too now. I’d never had them before. Mrs. Fitz, our resident bakery owner, probably makes the homemade kind. Usually I’m a cherry cheesecake and chocolate cake man, myself.”
Nina grabbed her hair dryer, and though she’d just as soon dry the dogs in the guest room away from all the law enforcement officers in the living room, she knew she needed to satisfy their need to be sure that she had been telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
"Oh, and I nearly forgot, I have a flat tire. Can anyone fix it?" She had to admit it sounded suspiciously like she'd had a flat, hid out here, and planned to make her escape once her tire was fixed.
Dan was waiting on a call from Bridget to see if she had confirmation from Dr. Kate that she was pregnant and if Bridget had learned anything about Nina while reading her mind while the guys were sitting around talking about Hal’s new foals. Nina was sitting on the floor, drying Sydney. Zander’s head was resting on Nina’s leg. Stryker was putting all the washed clothes in the dryer.
Then Dan’s phone buzzed and everyone glanced over at him as Stryker rejoined the party and took a seat on a chair to hear the news.
“Yeah,” Dan said to Bridget, not about to reveal the whole conversation to the group sitting there while Nina was listening in, unless it helped in learning more about her.
“Okay, yes, I’m pregnant. I’m two months along and according to Kate, the babies are due around the sixth of July. I’m having twins, but it’s too early to tell their sexes.”
Dan glanced at Nina. He knew she was listening in on his half of the conversation, but she was busy combing through Sydney’s hair with her fingers while blow-drying her fur as if she didn’t care what was being said. As far as he knew, Travis and Bridget hadn’t been trying to get pregnant. They’d been so wrapped up in taking down rogue cougar shifters, they hadn’t had time to do anything else.
“It happened when the electricity went out,” Nina offered.
She couldn't have known how far along Bridget was to estimate when the electricity had gone out even.
Dan stared at her, believing in Bridget's ability to read people because she’d done it with him a time or two and it had been unsettling enough. But this was entirely different. Still, he thought Nina said she had future vision. Though she could see into the past too? He was already thinking about hiring her for some police work if they needed her special abilities, and Leyton appeared as though he might be interested in bringing her aboard the CSF for the same reason. They shared their resources, so it shouldn’t be a problem, though there was some rivalry for bodies to help with policing actions sometimes. Not that the lady was interested in settling in Yuma Town or working for either of their police forces. And that was all contingent on whether she was being truthful about any of this.
“Electricity,” he said to Nina, with the phone still pressed to his ear.
“Ohmigod, yes!” Bridget said. “We had that awful electric storm that knocked out our transformers and it took three days for the repairman to get the electricity back up and running in Yuma Town.”
Dan swore he could envision Bridget blushing when she said it. He smiled. Yeah, he remembered it. It was a total pain keeping generators running at the clinic and grocery store, and all the traffic signals had been out in town, causing a few minor car mishaps. Now he wondered who else might turn up pregnant around the same time. All of a sudden, he thought of his own mate. He’d spent quite a bit of time loving Addie when there wasn't much else to do too. He needed to tell Addie what had happened to Bridget as soon as he got home. Though he couldn't wrap his mind around the notion she might have some unexpected news also.
“Nina says she was an undercover agent for the FBI,” Bridget said.
“Really.” Being undercover was always convenient so it would be harder to confirm who they were.
“Yeah, it made me wonder if she might have known Addie. Though as big as the Agency is, maybe not.”
Hell, Dan hadn't even made the connection with his wife. “I’ll ask her.” He thought the chance that they had known each other through the FBI was slim, but he was hopeful they might have connected at some time or another because they were both cougars. “Anything else?”
“I couldn’t read her. It could be because she’s psychic. Though I can’t read everyone. I can’t read Travis, or Stryker, but then Stryker’s seen ghosts during a séance, so he appears to have some psychic connection. Otherwise, she seemed like she was being honest, on the surface. If she truly was some kind of undercover agent, they’re really good at hiding who they are.”
“Okay. Are…you all right about the other news?” Dan had been worried, not only that Bridget had learned the news from a perfect stranger in a really odd way, but then so many others had learned of it at the same time when it was a matter for her and Travis to learn privately, then share as they wanted to. And Bridget seemed distressed when Travis took her home.
“Ohmigod, yes. It was just such a shock is all. I mean, I was so hoping it was true, excited, anxious, worrying it wasn’t. It’s okay that everyone knows. We just weren’t planning to have children this soon, so it was totally unexpected. I can’t believe she knew that it all came about due to our losing the electricity. You might think of hiring her on the force, if she’s interested in living here. She and Stryker seem to be intrigued with each other. That is if Leyton doesn’t offer to hire her first.”
There had been some rivalry between his office and Leyton’s. He ended up hiring Jack, when Dan had considered it.
“Uhm, that’s all I have and Travis wants to celebrate.”
“Okay, sure, thanks. And congratulations. I’ll talk to you soon.” Dan ended the call and sat back in his chair. “So Bridget says she’s pregnant with twins.”
Everybody but Nina smiled. She just started to dry Zander, though Sydney was half sleeping on her lap. Nina looked like she was a real dog lover, which meant she couldn’t be all bad.
“Bridget said you had been an undercover agent with the FBI.”
“Hell, yeah,” Stryker said. “Maybe she knows Addie.”
“Addison Davidson?” Nina said, glancing at Stryker and then Dan.
“Yeah, my wife,” Dan said.
“Alicia Shields. She was our boss. I heard through the grapevine, she was taken out.”
“Uh, yeah. She was bad news. A bunch of us took her down,” Dan said.
“I never did trust her. Or Clinton Briggs, the guy we all worked for. I was glad to see he was found just as guilty as her.”
“With regard to Bridget, how did you know about the electricity going out?” Dan asked, not wanting to really mention it in front of all the guys gathered here, but if anyone calculated the days, they’d come to the same conclusion. “I thought you had future vision only. Can you see past occurrences too?”
“No, just future.”
“But the electric went out a couple of months ago.”
&nb
sp; “I’ve been having visions of Yuma Town for about a year and a half. In a vision, I saw the town in darkness for three days. I don’t know why I’ve been seeing visions of your town. Sometimes I never figure out what they’re trying to tell me. But somehow, my sister has come here or is about to and she’s in trouble.”
“You told Stryker she was being charged with stealing drugs at the pharmacy when another cougar is the culprit,” Dan said. “Give me the details on where she worked and who the pharmacist is.”
6
Stryker noticed Chase was actually taking down notes. He could see Dan was texting his mate about Nina in the meantime. Since the owner of the bakery, Florence Fitzgerald, was retired CIA and had known Addie and her boss and others at the FBI headquarters, Stryker texted Mrs. Fitz to see if she knew Nina. Hal, Jack, and Leyton were watching Nina’s facial expressions and body language for any indications that she was lying as she answered Dan's questions.
Mrs. Fitz texted Stryker back. Of course I know Nina Lamar. She and Addie were best friends at the Academy, once they discovered each other, and being that they had the same secret.
Being cougars? He wanted to clarify Nina didn’t have some other secret in common with Addie.
Right. Why?
Stryker hoped Nina was telling the truth. She’s staying at the Robinson’s place.
The Robinsons are on a cruise. Oh, you want to know if they okayed Nina staying there because they never told anyone about her. Hazard of the business. She was an undercover agent with the FBI. They’re her aunt and uncle. So if you’re thinking of arresting her, don’t. I'm sure Nina lost track of Addie also for the same reason.
Stryker sighed with relief. Thanks.
Mrs. Fitz texted back. Tell her to drop by the bakery sometime.
Stryker smiled. She loves Pfeffernusse cookies.
Mrs. Fitz replied. I always have them on hand.
Stryker remembered to ask about Nina's sister. What do you know about her sister?
