Sound's Familiar

by Dana Marie Bell

  Jonah grinned. God, she really was cute as a button, and about the same size. “I’m Jonah.” He held out his hand, gripping hers lightly. The threads of their magic twined around their clasped hands, making him gasp at the strength of their connection.

  “Wow.” Her golden eyes were wide.

  “Wow indeed.” Jonah took his hand back before he got lost in her anima. This woman could possibly be the one he’d been searching for all these years, someone who could give him not only a familiar bond but a loving relationship. Between the magical bonds and the strong attraction, he was starting to hope for something he’d begun to think was beyond his grasp. “Where have you been all my life?”

  She threw her head back and laughed. “The orphanage, then the House.”

  He scowled. “Orphanage?” Damn it. Please let it not be what I’m thinking. Too many parents of large predator shifters familiars abandoned their children, forcing them to live in state-run orphanages before being shipped off to a House for matching once they graduated high school. This wouldn’t be the first time he’d matched with an abandoned familiar. His animus was only attracted to the large predators, especially canines and vulpines.

  Of course, he could be wrong. Her parents could be dead.

  Shrugging, Carol took her seat at the table. “We were a typical case. My brother Sawyer and I were both dropped off when my parents learned we were large predators, not smaller, less-lethal tabbies like our dad.”

  Guess not. It happened a lot, familiars born different from their parents, either due to a genetic throwback or the magic they carried. He wasn’t sure why. Other sorcerers were researching the enigma, but so far, no answer had been found. His mother had once told him that it was the goddess of magic’s choice, and why should anyone question it? But Jonah considered it an interesting conundrum that two larger predators were born to a small house cat.

  “Dad was a tabby cat, and Mom barely had enough magic to qualify as a sorcerer,” Carol continued, her tone nonchalant. “They were afraid they wouldn’t be able to contain us if we ran wild. Since our little sister wasn’t dropped off, we assume she became a sorcerer, or a tabby like our dad.”

  Mother of magic, he hated stories like hers. They broke his heart. One child was accepted and loved while the other two were thrown away like garbage. It happened more often than he liked to think. Even other familiars tended to be wary of the larger predators, buying in to the myth that they were as savage as their beast.

  Jonah grimaced. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. What is your brother?” She hadn’t mentioned that yet, and he found himself curious.

  She grinned, and this time, it was an expression of pride. “He’s a lion.” She shrugged again. “I’m sorry too. What sucks the most is I have no idea where they are or even if they’re still alive. We never heard from any of them again.” She took a sip of the soda he’d poured them. “Mm. It’s good.”

  “Homemade is the best.” Jonah leaned back in his chair and studied her. “Do you want to find them?” On principle he was against it, but if it was what she wanted he’d hunt them down.

  She paused, carefully placing the glass down on the coaster he’d set out. “My parents? No. My sister, maybe. She’d be eighteen now, I think.”

  “We can try to find her if that’s what you want.” Jonah would, whether Carol wished it or not. If the sister was like the parents and wanted nothing to do with her, he’d tell Carol that she was dead rather than subject her to the animosity some people had toward predator familiars.

  “I’d like that, but I need to see what my brother wants to do.” Carol smiled sweetly, and Jonah found himself drowning in more than just the magic bouncing between them. Those expressive eyes of hers were going to be the death of him.

  If this bond didn’t work out, Jonah really would eat his wand.

  Chapter 3

  Carol had decided that for their bond to work, she needed to be as honest with Jonah as possible. No matter how uncomfortable certain aspects of her past made her, she’d come a long way from that frightened, abandoned child. People like Stacey and Brent, as well as her brother, had ensured that she’d grown up knowing she had friends and family who cared for her. The fact that Stacey wasn’t a large predator had gone a long way to dismissing some of the resentment she felt toward her parents.

  They were the ones with the problem, not her. And someday all of her would believe that, not just most of her. There were times when that child resurfaced, however, times when she wished she were stronger. She just had to pray that Jonah understood.

  He had a curious expression on his face when he began speaking again. “I’ve had familiars who were abandoned before, but I’ve never asked this. I hope you feel comfortable answering.”

  Uh-oh. Carol began to tense, wondering what sort of question Jonah had in mind. Would their contract depend on her answer? Her nerves began to fray. They’d talked a lot about her past, but not much about his. There wasn’t much she knew about the Sounds beyond what she’d seen on television or on the Internet.

  “What was it like growing up in the orphanage?” Jonah leaned on one hand, his elbow on the table. “Did you have a lot of friends?”

  That surprised her. She’d expected something else, more along the lines of how many orphans have you eaten? Carol picked up the lemonade and took another sip. It was tart and cold, absolutely delicious.

  “Not really. Sawyer and I kept to ourselves for the most part. It wasn’t until Stacey that the other kids started to talk to us, and we began making friends.” Carol would forever be grateful to her too.

  “Stacey?” His brows rose, his lips quirking into a gentle smile.

  “My BFF, my shopping buddy, and my reason for not eating Skipper today.” Carol wrinkled her nose. They really needed to get rid of what’s her name before someone—probably Brent—took a swipe at her. Trying to interfere in a match was way against the rules, but it happened sometimes. Since Skipper had shown up, it happened far more often than Carol liked. She’d given her the benefit of the doubt, but three months had passed since Skipper came to work for the House, and she’d tried that bullshit at every matching session. Carol was going to write a strongly worded letter to Patrick, so he had something on file. And she wouldn’t sign it Anonymous.

  “Skipper?” Jonah chuckled.

  “The matchmaker Patrick recently hired.” She frowned thoughtfully. “Have you met Patrick Burns?”

  Jonah nodded. “Yup. He’s an old friend.”

  “Ah.” Carol fidgeted with a silver ring she wore on her right hand. “I doubt she’ll work there for long. Patrick hates that kind of thing. When he finds out how she tried to influence our match, he’s gonna blow a gasket.” Carol wanted to be a fly on the wall for that one. Patrick was notoriously protective of his familiars. Perky Patty would soon find her ass handed to her in a very non-perky way.

  “I was planning on calling him this afternoon.” Jonah shuddered. “She tried to get me to pick a kitty shifter.”

  “Nothing wrong with the felines unless you’re allergic.”

  He chuckled, his hazel eyes fixed on her. “I’m more of a dog person.”

  Carol tilted her head, ignoring the way he gazed at her with slow-burning heat. If she focused on that, she’d never be able to speak. “My turn. What was it like growing up rich?”

  Jonah glanced around. “Do I seem rich to you?”

  “Your family is rich enough to land in the society pages, so yes.” Even Carol, who wasn’t that interested in the Paris Hiltons of the world, had heard of the Sound family. The Sound family’s contributions to familiar rights were legendary in Houses across the world.

  “To me, it was normal. When I was a kid, I didn’t understand why some of my friends couldn’t afford certain things and I could, so I begged my parents to take care of it.” Jonah smiled, his expression fond. “My father sat me, my sister, and my brother down one day and told us we were going to start learning about money. Until I was eighteen, I
had to account for every penny I spent. I had to earn it, too, doing chores around the house, and when I was sixteen getting a job outside the home. That money was to pay for necessities like gas for my car and clothing, not just partying with my friends.”

  “Sounds pretty normal so far.” Some of the House familiar’s families had their kids do the same thing. She was curious what it was like to grow up with parents who cared enough to enforce rules on how their children behaved.

  “It was. He wanted us to understand the value of what we had and the good we could do with it if we wanted to.” He wrinkled his nose. “He also told us that we’d be poor until we made our own money because we weren’t going to live our lives off of what he’d made. We were to go out and make our own livings because he planned on spending his earnings on my mother.”

  “He sounds like a good man.” Carol couldn’t imagine living like that. “We had chores, but we didn’t get paid for them. It was just part of living there, like part of our room and board. If we wanted anything beyond the necessities, we had to go outside the orphanage and work, but we could only do that once we were sixteen, and only if we kept our grades up.” She sighed. “But my brother and I and the other large predators were steered away from working for anyone but the orphanage.”

  “So, I guess you didn’t go on field trips or vacations?”

  “Pfft.” Carol laughed. Was he crazy? “Vacations don’t happen in orphanages. As for field trips, we were schooled at the orphanage, so no, we didn’t do those either.”

  Jonah scowled. “Why no public school?”

  She sighed. People just didn’t get it sometimes. “Predators, remember? A lot of people, apparently my parents included, think predator familiars are far more dangerous than we really are. They forget that we’re still people, even in our shifted form.” She shrugged. “Maybe they get that from actual shifters, but we’re familiars. We don’t go feral like some shifters can.”

  Man, if he scowled any harder his face might stick like that. “You mean the rest of them went to school, but you and your brother didn’t?”

  What was he expecting, an Annie–type happy ending? “Pretty much, yeah.”

  “What about college?”

  College was always an option for familiars, but if they matched with a sorcerer early, it could take them longer to graduate, depending on their match. While another college student would be ideal, it didn’t always work out that way, and many familiars had to put college off while they worked with their sorcerer on their careers. “Believe it or not, I’ve got my degree in law enforcement. I’ve finished the police academy, too, and was going to start work in about a week.” She grinned. “Seems like I’m being transferred already, huh?”

  Jonah leaned back in his chair, now completely relaxed. He was smiling sweetly, obviously pleased to hear about her career path. With his next words, she was proven right. “We really are a good match, aren’t we?” He winked at her, his expression delighted.

  “I think so.” Carol yawned. Sometimes their animal halves contributed little quirks to their human halves. For wolves, yawning was one of them. When a canine yawned, it could be from being tired or from nerves. Right now, Carol was beginning to get nervous. Why hadn’t he handed over the paperwork?

  If she had to go back, tail tucked between her legs, Chipper Skipper would have a field day.

  She’d never had such a strong connection to anyone before, not even to her brother. Not to mention, Jonah was very easy on the eyes. His hazel eyes had turned dark, almost deep brown when he’d listened to the story of her childhood. Now it was veering back toward a mix of green and brown. She sensed that if she just studied the color of them, she’d get a handle on all of his moods.

  “I’m sorry if I’ve been intrusive. Do you still want to sign the papers?” He seemed a little less pleased now. His shoulders had stiffened, and the easygoing smile was gone.

  Carol smiled. Oh, thank God. “Yes, I do. It’s natural to want information about your familiar’s past, or so I think. I want to understand you, too, so feel free to ask away. I’ll tell you if I don’t want to answer. Just do me the same courtesy, and we’ll be fine.”

  “Hmm. You should probably be aware that I can be a bit...” He stared at his hands, his brows furrowed. The brown in his eyes was starting to seep back, overwhelming the green. “Shit. I like keeping my familiar safe. It’s one of the reasons I’ve lost a number of them since I tend to be attracted to predator familiars like yourself.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Like bubble-wrap, locked-in-my-room safe?” That wouldn’t work, not with the goals she had. She needed to be his partner, not his pet.

  He snorted out a laugh. “Not quite that bad, but most of my familiars have been predators, and they don’t take well to having the squishy sorcerer being the one out in front in a battle.”

  Carol stared at him. “Well, duh. I have teeth and claws and fur that protects my skin. You don’t.”

  His eyebrow rose arrogantly. “But in a sorcerer battle, I have shielding and magic.”

  Good point. Carol was useless in a magical duel except to keep her sorcerer’s magic stable. “I can understand that. In physical battles, I’ll take point; in magical ones, you do.”

  “I have a brown belt in Krav Maga. I can defend myself.” Jonah’s chin tilted up, his gaze challenging her to say something. No doubt he was very proud of that fact.

  She grinned, wide and toothy and totally wolfish. “Good. I don’t have to worry about your squishy ass while I’m fighting off bad guys.”

  He shook his head, his smile begrudgingly amused. “Here, Bad Wolf. Sign the papers.” He pushed the paperwork across to her.

  Carol practically melted in her chair. Was this man made just for her? “You watch Dr. Who?” She bit her lip, just a little bit more interested in her sorcerer. “Name your favorite Doctor.”

  His brows rose. “David Tennant, who else?”

  “Damn. I’m a Matt Smith girl.” She stared at the paperwork and tsk’d. “Not sure I can sign these now.”

  He laughed and handed her the pen. She signed her side, gasping at the unfamiliar tingle from the tattoo on the inside of her left wrist. She glanced at it, smiling at the sight of the word contracted under her name and the name of her House. Above them all was Jonah’s name, signifying that he was now her contracted sorcerer. She slid the pen and papers over to him. “Is the spare room upstairs for me?” She’d caught whiffs of other types of familiars, some large predators, others not. It would surprise her if it wasn’t the room she was supposed to use.

  Jonah signed. “Of course. You can add any decorations you like. It’s pretty plain, so you can add your own touches to it. I want you to make it feel like home.”

  “Huh.” That wasn’t the answer she’d expected. “My brother’s sorcerer wouldn’t allow him to do that. He wasn’t supposed to change a thing, even a light bulb.”

  “Probably because he only planned on a temporary contract. I’m hoping for a long-term one.” His gaze was like a physical brand. Her anima reached out to his, finding its match in his animus. She nearly moaned at the sensation filtering down the link between them. His seductive grin sent a craving through her to find out exactly how that wicked mouth tasted. “A very long-term one.”

  Oh, dear God. If he kept gazing at her like that, she might just start humping his leg, and that would be plain old embarrassing. “Is this normal?”

  “Is what normal?” He clasped her hand, running his thumb along the back.

  “This.” She waved her hand between the two of them. “I mean, you’re hot, hotter than hot, lava-like, but I never wanted to jump your bones this badly when I spotted you on TV.”

  His pupils dilated as his hand tightened on hers. “You want to jump my bones?”

  She flicked him between the eyes with her finger. “Focus!”

  “Ow.” He chuckled softly, but he leaned back, releasing her hand. “No, it isn’t normal. I’ve felt attraction for my familiars before, bu
t nothing this strong.”

  “And this is the strongest bond you’ve ever experienced, right?” Damn. Double-damn. She didn’t want to want him simply because their anima and animus matched up so well. Being forced together by their magic could lead to some very uncomfortable morning-afters.

  “It is, but trust me when I tell you my attraction to you has very little to do with the bond that’s starting to form and everything to do with what I’m seeing and hearing.” Jonah took her hand again, his grip tightening when she tried to pull away. “What can I say? You’re just that adorable.”

  She snarled, allowing fang to show. “I’m not adorable. I’m a fierce predator.”

  “Yes, dear.” He patted her on the head, and she glared at him, eliciting another chuckle. “You’re also a fine specimen of womanhood. To put it in your own words”—his voice softened as he leaned in closer—“I want to jump your bones too.” He sat back in his seat, apparently pleased with himself.

  Carol couldn’t answer. She was too busy contemplating whether or not she’d just made a contract with a bigger predator than any she’d ever met before.

  From the way his lips curled up, as if he were amused at her inner struggle, she might be right.

  Chapter 4

  Dear gods, she was magnificent. One moment all feminine need, the next ready to fight him toe to toe as an equal. He’d never met a familiar like her before. Most of them had been arrogant about their abilities and ready to fight anything that dared come near them. Including him.

  He’d have to be careful with her. If things didn’t work out between them, his heart might not be able to take it. She’d already gained a foothold there, her delicate features and fierce pride striking a chord within him. He’d have to make sure she remained safe from the darker side of his work. If a blood sorcerer got ahold of her, he’d move heaven and hell to get her back.

  He was almost afraid of what he’d be willing to do if the bond strengthened. He really would wind up wrapping her in bubble wrap and locking her in a safe room where no one could touch a hair on her head.