by April Zyon
“Are you sure? I don’t want to put you out, Piran.” She saw the look on his face and smiled. “Thank you. For everything. Some of the kids have given me things over the years, and it means so much to me that to leave it would hurt.” And he realized that. Her jaguar was a seriously sexy and smart beast.
“All the more reason to take them with us. Once you call Joe it won’t be long before he sends the crew through to wipe all evidence of your existence off the planet. Which means we pack first, and then you call him. I’ll contact the sheriff and my alpha to give them the heads-up about things while we’re doing the packing.”
“Okay, sounds good. See, you have the best plans. You can change on the fly like it’s nothing. I envy you in that.” Being a teacher meant she had to be flexible, but for the most part she had to ensure that each day was structured, with small derailments moved right back into the structure that she had originally intended. She didn’t like to think of herself as rigid, but maybe she was.
“I’m a cat at heart. We’re very good at adjusting our plans on the move. You never know when you might run across an obstacle that wasn’t planned for originally. Also, while we’re on the topic of the cat, I like ear scratches, chin scratches, and the occasional belly rub. You know, for future reference.” He smirked as he slid out of the truck to jog around and open her door for her.
“I will keep that in mind, for future reference. And just so you know,” she slipped out of his truck and stood chest-to-belly with him, “I liked being able to touch you like that. Your fur is so soft and you were so warm.”
“Don’t be shocked if you wake up with a big cat snuggling up with you. Sometimes happens when I’m sleeping. Not entirely sure why but it hasn’t exactly been an issue until now. Maybe a dream triggers it.” Taking her hand in his, he led her toward her house.
“I wouldn’t mind that. As long as the cat doesn’t try to mount me, that is.” She wrinkled her face as she spoke. “There is just something icky feeling about that. But I do like that idea of you being so relaxed with me that you turn into your animal form in the middle of the night. I think you would be all sorts of warm.”
“Uh, no. There will be no mounting by the cat. Not how I like to go about things.” He stepped to the side to allow her to unlock the door, then followed her inside. “When I do shift in the night, I usually end up moving to the end of the bed. Mostly I think it’s to get the covers off but who knows. Your toes will definitely be toasty warm if that’s the case.”
“As long as I fall asleep in your arms.”
“You’ll always fall asleep in my arms.”
She sighed at his words and felt her heart swooning. “How can I feel this much this soon for you? I mean seriously the way that you feel and the way I feel around you… I think I’m going to like this whole mating thing. It is forever, isn’t it?” she asked.
“It’s forever. The mating is completely permanent and lasts until death. Unlike some traditional human marriages, when a shifter makes a commitment it’s long term. It’s why we search for our mate, the other half to make us feel whole. I’m not saying there haven’t been shifters who have married, had kids, and led happy lives, but it’s not a complete life when you yourself don’t feel completed.”
“I know since meeting you I feel far better, as if life has finally gotten to where it should be. We haven’t even slept together yet but it doesn’t matter. I know that when we do…” She paused and bit her lower lip. “I know that when we do have sex it’s going to be out of the freaking world.”
“No pressure,” he teased. Laughing, he hugged her close, then waved her forward. “Why don’t you go pack up your clothing and stick whatever you can in the bags. Do you have boxes around here already?” he asked.
“Yes. There are a couple of boxes in the closet in my office. Go ahead and grab them and put the things that are on my desk in them.” She kept her treasures on the top of the desk and touched them often. She was very odd like that. “I’ll pack my clothes while you do that?”
“Give a shout if you need me for anything. Anything at all.” With one last scorching look over his shoulder, he headed for her office, whistling a jaunty tune.
Quinn headed up the stairs so that she could pack her bags. As fast as she could she began to toss items into the suitcase. When she had her cases filled, she rolled them into the hallway so that she could take them down the stairs one at a time. Once she had the first case downstairs, she called out, “Hey, Piran, you done yet?”
“Yup. Packing up your fridge. What exactly is the fuzzy thing that jiggles that I found at the back of the fridge in the Tupperware container?” Coming around the corner, he held up the item in question. “It’s mildly hypnotic. I can’t stop wiggling it around.”
“Oh God, don’t open that.” She winced. “It’s some kind of Jell-O thing that one of the teachers made for me a few weeks ago because I wasn’t feeling well. It’s been in there all this time.”
Piran very carefully set it down on the kitchen table behind him. “Right. Science experiment will be going in the trash. Or you could always donate it to the school. Pretty sure the kids would get a kick out of it, both disgusted by it and yet also intrigued. It’s actually pretty uniform with the fuzz when you get a good look.”
“Oh can you imagine what it would look like three months from now?” She shuddered. “Throw it away,” she added when he cast a speculative glance at the container.
“Good point. In three months it’ll have grown legs and likely devoured the container to be free. Don’t think we need that trying to take over Shifter Falls. Trying to explain it would not go well I don’t think.” Piran carefully took the container to the trash can and set it inside. “I talked to the sheriff. He’s on board with the move out to my place. Since you’ll be surrounded by shifters, anyone attempting to sneak up on us will have a hell of a time. There’s a few out there that are a mite paranoid, you could say, and do rounds on their property to ensure no one has attempted to breach it. I left a message for the alpha to call me back.”
“Should you talk to your neighbors as well? I don’t want them to not know what’s going on either. I mean yeah I hate telling my business, but it’s smarter for the ones on your side to be knowledgeable instead of not, right?” She didn’t want anyone being caught with their pants down, so to speak.
“I’ll give them a call when we get back to the house. Only thing I’ll be telling them is my girl has a crazy relative who doesn’t understand she has no interest in ever speaking to him again. That he isn’t taking no for an answer and is psychotic enough to bring a small army with him or sneak through on his own. It should provide them with enough information to know what to look for without giving anything of your life away.”
“Thank you. That pretty much sums it up perfectly,” she admitted with a shrug. “As long as they are able to keep their families safe and don’t get hurt themselves.”
“We’re going to make sure everyone is safe. It’s why the sheriff has warned everyone to be on the lookout, to not confront, and to go about their daily lives as normally as possible. He wants everything to appear like it would to any outsider coming into town. The hope is that if your father shows up, or has a lackey come through testing the waters first, they won’t become wise to anything. But all the locals will know right off who’s an out-of-towner. With what the sheriff has dug up, including the photos, they’ll know which ones to report.”
“Good. I’m glad. It’s about time this man pays for the crimes he’s committed. He’s a monster, pure and simple. If I ever come face-to-face with him…” She hesitated but he deserved the truth. “If I ever come face-to-face with this man I will kill him myself. Period. End of discussion.”
Piran came toward her slowly and pulled her into his arms. “I personally don’t want you to have to do that. You shouldn’t live with taking another person’s life. And really he deserves to rot in prison for the rest of his natural life. Killing him is an easy out for him.”<
br />
“I know that he deserves prison, but honestly I hate that he’s living a good life, basically, while I have to go before the parole board to state my case as to why he should remain behind bars. It freaking sucks. I hate the fear that I’ve had to live in. The last thing I want to do is kill someone, but I still wouldn’t hesitate.”
“Yeah, but this little journey he’s taking, added to the length of time he’s remaining at large, are not going to be in his favor. It’s all going to be mandatory time added on and no judge is going to give his lawyer the time of day. If he can still afford one if his brothers are in on the whole thing. They could have cleaned him out.”
“This is true. That or they could have taken over the business as well. I don’t know. I just know that I needed to be as far from them as humanly possible, and thankfully I was taken from there quickly. I suspect it was mostly because of my testimony. I think that if I hadn’t testified, I would have been left with the uncles.”
Rubbing his hand up and down her back, he gave her a quick squeeze. “Let’s finish up, pack the truck, and then go shopping. You can call Joe right before we leave. By the time he comes to rip you a new one for doing this we’ll be long gone.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. She loved that he already knew so much about her life and about how Joe would react. It was sad but he really did have her handler pegged to a T. “Okay, you bring the stuff you have in your box. I’m going to take my bags and put them into the truck. Do we need to tape the boxes? I think I might have one roll of packing tape left over from Christmas.” She had used the brown and clear tape in her classroom to help the kids brown paper bag wrap gifts for soldiers overseas.
“No, we’ll put the boxes in the back seat. It may not look like much, but it can fit the boxes pretty well and still leave some room for the groceries. Go grab your bags. I’ll get the cover up—sometimes it sticks—and then we can rock and roll.” Scooping up his box, Piran headed for the door and outside.
She looked around the room. Once she was certain that she had all she needed she walked out of the kitchen, then followed him to the truck, her suitcases in her hands and rolling behind her.
He was swearing and muttering until suddenly the cover on his truck bed went up. The look of absolute shock was quickly hidden by the cover but brought about more cursing. “I swear to God, the guy who installed this rigged it to fuck with me. Remind me this weekend to fix it once and for all, would you please?”
“I’ll try to remember to remind you.” She was snickering. She couldn’t help it. His cursing and swearing made her just want to walk over to him and give him a big hug, so she did.
A few minutes later she was staring down at her bags in his truck. “This feels so permanent.” And … she liked that.
His smile grew slowly until she felt blinded by it. “Sweetheart, I was never planning on letting you get away. I would have done anything necessary to convince you to stay with me. Even begging if it had been required. I can’t imagine my future without you being next to me.”
“I like that, a lot.” She started to smile even more. “I think maybe we should see how we work together, how we fit into each other’s lives first. Right? I mean we haven’t even had sex yet, so don’t you think we should do that before we make any long-term plans?”
“Thus why I said you would be making the call. I’m giving you fair warning that I do not plan to fight fair. Ever.” He winked. “Come on, we need to finish getting things out here and do the final walk-through prior to you calling handler Joe. Hey, that sounds like a potential country song.”
She couldn’t help it. She began to giggle. “All we need to add is him losing his dog, his truck, and house or something.” She slid her hand into his. “I like you a lot, and I even like that you aren’t going to fight fair. I won’t either.”
“See now that’s what I want to hear, woman.” In a quick move he scooped her up in his arms and jogged up the walk to the house. Setting her back on her feet while she giggled, he lightly tapped her bottom. “I’ll get the box from your office if you want to start the walk-through to check everything is off that should be and that nothing has been left behind.”
“I need to make sure that all traces of the kids’ information is taken with us as well. I don’t want to do anything that would put them into any sort of danger.” She kept a list of her former students, where they lived and who their teachers were now, only to ensure that she could check up on them from time to time.
“Go, check everything and everywhere you could put something like that. They’ll empty the rest of the place right out before doing the cleanup and selling it. There won’t be anything left once they’re done, so be sure you have it all.” He made to head for her office but swung back around. “Do you have a vehicle here that is theirs or yours?”
“The Tahoe out there is mine. I figured I’d follow you back to the house.”
“Why don’t we take it to my workshop and leave it inside for now. We can park it in the shop, off to the side. It won’t be in the way. Then we’ll do the shopping and head for home. I don’t want you driving that road your first time in the dark. One day this week we’ll bring it home with us, and then you’ll have your own vehicle kicking around for anything you feel the need to do without me.”
“I know they said to go about my business, but are you sure that’s wise? If not, I’ll be more than happy to tag along with you wherever you go.” She enjoyed every single minute that she could have with him, no matter what they were doing.
“For the next week or two I won’t be letting you out of my sight. I might let you out of bed. And when we do go out you’ll be with me, glued to my side, where I can make sure you’re safe.”
“I think I can live with that, especially the whole part of you keeping me in your bed for all times.” She loved the idea, actually. “And by everything settled you mean that he will be in jail or dead, right?” She knew it was a shitty thing for her to think of, but she wanted him dead.
“Yes, I mean exactly that.” He stroked her cheek before stepping back and telling her to go check the house. He spun on a heel and headed for her office, giving her a great view of his backside. One she took an extra second, maybe two, to appreciate.
She had to fan herself for a second. Holy hell, the man was seriously detrimental to her equilibrium. He was enough to make her stop and take notice as he moved. Every inch of his body called to her. She moved then, walking away from where she was standing with her mouth hanging open.
When she had checked the house and was once more standing at his side, she nodded. She had spent several years in this house and it had felt comfortable, but it had never really been home. “All right, I think that I’m finally ready to go home, Piran. After we stop for groceries, that is.”
“Call Joe, ditch the phone, and grab your car keys.”
She nodded, took out the phone, and placed the call to Joe. “Hey, Joe, it’s me. I wanted to let you know that I’m going to go into hiding in a place that no one knows about. I will call you when I get there, but for now know that I’m completely safe and nothing will get to me. If you need to get a hold of me, tell the sheriff. Please don’t argue. This is the safest way.” She hung up before he could even say a word. Then she looked at Piran and smiled. “Okay, that’s done.” She turned off the phone and placed it on the coffee table. “You ready?”
“Yes, ma’am. I want to get you tucked away safe for the night so I can enjoy the time with you. Alone.”
“Come on, let’s get going before Joe shows up.”
He walked her out to the garage and got her settled into her vehicle. She put the door up so he could walk down the drive to the street and climb into his truck. Piran waited until she pulled out before he headed down the street in the direction of his shop. It would be a quick drive. Then they could get busy with more important things. Like starting a life together.
Chapter Ten
“So.” She fell down onto the couch at his side,
then shifted so that she could put her head in his lap. “You have me moved in with you. I’m happy with it. I just hope that you don’t regret it come a week or so from now,” she teased with a smile while reaching up and stroking her fingers over his cheek.
Piran pushed a hand into her hair and pulled a face. “Not happening. You have fallen into my neatly laid trap, and I don’t plan to ever let you go. I like having you here. This house has always felt too big until tonight. Now it feels perfect and just right.”
She nodded. “The house that I lived in before didn’t feel right. Right now, however, I feel like I’m home. I finally feel as if I’m where I have always needed to be.” She liked touching him. She was moving the backs of her fingers over his cheek lovingly as she sat there with him.
“That’s because you are home, where you have always belonged and finally found your way to. It may have taken a while, and it wasn’t a path you would have chosen, but it did bring you here.” Leaning over, he dropped a kiss to her nose, then leaned back. He let out a wide yawn and scrunched up his nose. “Sorry. It’s been a long day, and a move—light though it was—wasn’t on my original plan for the day.”
“Agreed. I think you and I should head to bed. We’ve eaten, gotten me moved in, and yeah. Sleep sounds super good right now. Besides, it means I get to crawl into bed with you nice and naked. How could that be wrong.” He was right, though. She was finally home, a place where she had always belonged.
Chuckling, he urged her to her feet. He followed her to the stairs, shutting off the last lights on the main level before they headed up to the second floor. In the bedroom he waved her to the bathroom. “You go ahead first. I want to try my alpha one more time and see if I can’t touch base with him before we go to sleep.”
She was curious as to why his alpha hadn’t gotten back to him. “Do you think that he’s not called you back because I’m a human and not a shifter?” She hoped that wasn’t the case.
