She headed down the hall to Marilyn’s office. Naya felt bad that Marilyn had stayed late on a Friday night to talk to her. However, Naya hadn’t wanted to put off her return any longer. Not only had two months passed since she’d last volunteered at the shelter, it was Vaughn’s first night back at work. She didn’t want to sit in his apartment all night, alone and ruminating.
She knocked on the open office door, and Marilyn looked up with a big smile breaking out across her face, easing Naya’s anxiety.
“Naya, it’s good to see you. Come in.”
Taking a seat, Naya immediately said, “I’m sorry, Marilyn, for not getting back to you sooner. I know my personal life is not an excuse, but the last few months have been crazy.”
Marilyn waved her hand. “Not a problem. I heard you were sick. Are you feeling better now?”
“Well, I found out I wasn’t sick.” Naya couldn’t stop a grin from forming as she shared her news. Despite the unknown future with Vaughn, Naya was still eager to be a mother. “I’m actually pregnant with twins, and that’s why I was feeling unwell.”
“Oh, Naya, that’s wonderful. I didn’t know you were in a relationship.”
“Well, it’s a new relationship, but we’re both very excited about it.”
“I’m happy for you…but sad for us.”
Naya’s face immediately fell. “Why?” Did someone already take the job?
“Oh,” Marilyn said. “Well, I assumed you came to tell me you couldn’t take the job. I know your family has a lot of money, and now, you’re going to have a baby—or rather, babies. I assumed you probably wouldn’t want to work.”
Relief filled Naya. “No, I very much want the job.”
Marilyn beamed at her. “Really? That’s wonderful. I’m thrilled.”
“I just have a few questions, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure. What can I answer for you?”
“How many hours a week would it be? I really do want the job, but as you know, I can only work nights, and I do worry about working full-time when the babies come.”
“The job is salary, so you work as many hours a week as it takes to get your work done. Naturally, there are times when you might be needed after your workday is completed even if it’s just over the phone. But if it’s during the day, Sharon can come in.” Sharon was Marilyn’s assistant. “But honestly, everyone knows their jobs well enough that you don’t have much to worry about.”
“Speaking of Sharon, are you sure she will be okay with me taking your position? Doesn’t she want it? She should really be the person for the job.”
Marilyn smiled. “Nope, Sharon doesn’t want it. Honestly, much of this job is paperwork and business stuff. Sharon has less responsibility and gets to spend more time with the employees, which is how she prefers it. It works out well for both of you. You can do a lot of paperwork at night or even from your own home. As long as everything gets completed when it’s due, your job is done. Sharon is actually really hoping you take the job. She doesn’t want to get stuck working under someone new.”
“It almost sounds too good to be true.”
Marilyn laughed again. “Don’t worry. You’ll have your work cut out for you.”
They discussed a few more things, including when Naya would start training and when the new position would begin. They also discussed salary, and even though Naya knew the position didn’t pay tons of money, the job combined with her trust would keep her and the babies living comfortably, if needed.
After Naya and Marilyn finished up, they said good night, and Marilyn wished her good luck on her first night back. Marilyn left, and Naya made a quick round to check on all the animals. She took care of any clean-ups and bathroom breaks, and then she headed for Leo’s kennel.
The minute she opened the door, he attacked her.
“Hey, buddy. I missed you.”
Leo rubbed himself all over her, paying special attention to her belly.
“I’m going to be a mother. Can you believe it?”
Leo rubbed on her some more and then knocked her over. He rubbed her neck and chest, but then he stood over her and looked into her eyes.
She sucked in a breath. At that moment, he reminded her of Vaughn on the night when he’d shown her his cat.
She sat up immediately, almost hitting heads with Leo.
“Oh my God. Oh my God.”
It all made sense now—how he hadn’t seemed to be any kind of known cat breed, his hyperintelligence. He had to be a shifter. She tried to get more from his scent, but she didn’t have enough experience with shifters in their animal forms to know if she was right or not.
“Leo, are you what I think you are?”
Meow.
It wasn’t exactly a yes. She needed a test.
“Lick my hand.”
Leo licked her hand.
“Leo, walk to the corner of the room and come back.”
He did exactly what she’d said. It was good enough for her.
Naya stood and quickly went to the break room where she’d left her purse and cell phone. “I need to call Vaughn.”
Meow.
Naya paused. “Leo, do you know Vaughn?”
Meow.
If only he could talk…
She called Vaughn, but there was no answer. She left him a message, asking him to call her as soon as possible. Then, she sent him a quick text in case he didn’t have time to answer his phone, but maybe he could look at it when he had a free second.
Pacing back and forth, Naya was about to burst, but there wasn’t anything she could do until Vaughn called her back. To try to keep her mind off of it, she did everything she could to keep busy, but she was a little irritated that she couldn’t get a hold of him.
It ended up being the longest night of her life. She called Vaughn repeatedly, but he didn’t answer. After a while, it went straight to voice mail, so either his phone had died, or he’d shut it off. At that point, she was pissed. The minute she saw him, he was going to get an earful. What if I was calling because something bad happened to the babies? What’s going happen when I’m farther along and go into labor?
When the day crew showed up in the morning, she still hadn’t heard from Vaughn, and she was at a loss about what to do. She knew she could take Leo to Vaughn’s for the time being, but she had no idea where Vaughn was, and she didn’t want to be stuck at the apartment after the sun came up. Leo had been at the shelter for months now, and she could guess from his size that he wasn’t fully grown, which meant he was still a child. He probably had a mother and father somewhere who missed him.
Naya filled out the paperwork to adopt Leo, and she paid the fee. She grabbed her stuff and Leo and headed for her car. The sun would be up in just over an hour, so she needed to hurry. Thankfully, it was a Saturday morning, so she didn’t have to worry about rush hour traffic. It only took her forty-five minutes to get to her destination. She was grateful that she’d paid attention the first night when she had gone this way and that she was good with directions.
When she pulled into the long driveway, she noted all the trees on the land around the home provided privacy. Knowing what she knew now, she guessed they needed the room to roam around in their cat forms without anyone seeing them. Suddenly, she felt guilty for keeping Vaughn in the apartment in downtown Minneapolis. He probably missed living out here.
That was just what they needed—another problem to work out.
Shaking off those thoughts, she told herself, One situation at a time.
But as she pulled up to the house, Naya realized she’d been so set in her determination to get Leo away from the animal shelter that she hadn’t taken the time to think about what she would do once she got to Vaughn’s parents’ house. She barely knew them, and she had no idea what they would think of her showing up unannounced. Plus, the sun would be up soon. Would they be okay with her staying there all day?
After she put her car in park and shut off the engine, she hesitated a moment before stepping ou
t. “Crap.” There was no going back now. She was stuck there.
Leo scratched at the door, so she quickly held the door open for him. After taking a quick look around to see if anyone was outside, Naya headed to the front door. It was still very early, so she knocked rather than ringing the bell. She was hoping someone was up and would answer the door. If anyone else was sleeping, she didn’t want to wake them.
Vaughn’s father answered the door. He was the last person she wanted to see. She wasn’t sure how he felt about her yet, whereas she actually felt comfortable around his mother and sister. Of course, he would be the one to answer my knock.
Too late now.
“Naya?” he said with a note of surprise.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Llewelyn, for coming over this early, but I need your help with something.”
“VAUGHN. VAUGHN.” SOMEONE shook him awake.
Shit. He’d fallen asleep on the couch in the bunkhouse. He’d only meant to sit down for a minute. Opening his eyes, he saw it was Zane who had woken him up.
“How long have I been out? What time is it?” Vaughn asked. He felt around in his pockets. “Where’s my phone?”
Zane threw his phone in his lap. “You’ve been out for half the night. It’s just after seven already, and your female is here.”
“What?” Vaughn jumped up. What is Naya doing here?
“Yep. She’s inside with your parents.” Zane had a big smirk on his face, his dark brown eyes full of humor. “You’re in trouble, dude. Naya’s been calling your cell all night. She’s got some big news.”
Vaughn looked down at his phone. It was dead. “Fuck.”
He walked past Zane to go outside, noticing the sun would be up soon. He made his way through the back door into the large kitchen and informal dining room.
“Naya? Dad? Mom?”
What’s the big news? Had something happened to the babies? Is Naya okay?
“We’re in the living room,” his father called out.
Through the living room doorway, he noticed his mother sitting in a chair and his father standing beside her with his hand on her shoulder. They both looked very happy. This was good. They wouldn’t be smiling if something were wrong.
As he got closer, he saw Naya on the end of the couch. She and his parents were all facing someone or something on the other end of the couch.
“Naya, what’s going—” He rounded the corner and saw Max Thompson sitting there. Now, he understood what the big news was. “Max?”
“Hi ya, Vaughn,” Max said.
The teenager was already over six feet, but he was still gangly, all arms and legs. Vaughn recognized some of his old clothes hanging on Max’s too-thin frame.
“Wow. It’s good to see you safe, kid. Where have you been? Does your mom know that you’re okay?”
“His mother is on her way,” his dad said. “He’s been at an animal shelter in St. Paul this whole time. All the searching we did, we never looked at animal shelters or hospitals. We just checked the human ones. Apparently, Max here was running home from school in his cat form the day he disappeared. He got lost, and some woman found him before he could turn back into a human. She thought he would make a nice pet, and she put her deceased dog’s expensive silver collar on him, which prevented him from shifting. When he escaped from the lady, he unfortunately ran in the wrong direction and ended up outside the animal shelter where Naya volunteers. She’s been helping take care of him all this time, and when she went to the shelter today, she realized he might be a shifter. Then, when she couldn’t get a hold of you, she brought him here.”
They hadn’t checked the places with animals, never considering Max would be stuck in his cat form. The myth about werewolves and silver had come from shifters. Silver couldn’t burn or kill them, but it would prevent them from shifting into either form. Shifters couldn’t wear any silver necklaces, bracelets, or belts.
Vaughn was amazed Naya had found Max and felt brave enough to bring the cat to his parents’ house. Vaughn knew Naya was still intimidated by his dad.
“You should be proud of her, son,” his father added, his smile wide.
It looked like she no longer had to worry. His father was beaming with pleasure.
Vaughn was proud of her. He tried to catch her eye to let her know how he felt, but when their eyes met, she glared at him.
Ah. This was what Zane had meant by Vaughn being in trouble.
She looked back at his dad and smiled. “Thank you. I’m just glad I could help.” She looked at Max as she reached over to give his hand a squeeze. “I sure am going to miss Leo though. He was my favorite animal at the shelter.”
Max grinned. “She named me Leo since no one knew my name,” he told the room. Looking at Naya with teenage admiration, he said to her, “I’ll miss you, too.”
Vaughn narrowed his eyes. It was obvious the kid had a crush on her.
“But I’m sure we’ll see each other again now that you’re joining the Llewelyn family.”
Naya stiffened and paled slightly as her smile wavered. “Well, I don’t—”
“Naya, the sun is going to be up soon,” Vaughn interrupted, wanting to get Naya and Max away from each other.
Vaughn knew Max was only fifteen, but he didn’t like the way he and Naya were smiling at each other while still holding hands. They were too comfortable with one another. Max might be young, but he was already turning into a man and coming into his cat. Vaughn’s human half knew he wasn’t being rational, but his cat didn’t care, not with Max’s interest in her and her reaction to his statement.
What in the hell is wrong with joining my family?
Vaughn stepped closer to Naya, ready to take her upstairs, when he smelled Max all over her. He immediately went from irritated to pissed.
“I already told Naya she can sleep in your old bedroom for the day,” his mother said. “Would you like me to show her—”
“Thanks, Mom. I’ve got it from here.” Vaughn grabbed Naya’s hand, yanked her up until they were chest to chest, and gave her a look, telling her not to argue with him.
He spun and pulled her toward the stairs. She tried to tug her hand out of his, but he dragged her behind him.
She quickly turned around to the room. “Thank you for letting me stay here. Good luck with everything, Max.” She pivoted back to him and tried to slow his movements as she hissed, “Let go of me. I can walk by myself.”
He ignored her, and since he was stronger, he kept walking. He realized she was mad, but his anger trumped hers. Naya and Max’s friendliness toward each other—their familiarity, their touching, and the smell of Max all over her—had made the possessive predator in Vaughn stand up and roar.
Obviously, she needed reminding about whom she belonged to.
Halfway up the stairs, Naya stopped struggling for Vaughn to let go of her hand. She was still fuming and upset that he’d been unavailable all night, and she hadn’t forgiven him yet. It had been their first night away from each other, and already, he hadn’t answered his phone. The worst part was how he acted like he hadn’t done anything wrong. And now, he was angry with her? Maybe she should rethink wanting to be with this male. Being alone wasn’t looking so bad anymore.
She didn’t know what he could be upset about. She felt his irritation deep inside herself as it vibrated through her blood, and the fact that he actually thought he had a reason to be angry only fueled her rage more.
The top of the stairs led to a big hallway. At one end, Vaughn guided her through a door in front of him. It was a good-sized bedroom, which included a queen bed with a thick mattress. The room was decorated in greens and blues with trophies on the shelves and posters on the walls. She turned around and gasped.
“Your eyes,” she said.
They were no longer human. His sapphire irises encompassed his eyes, leaving no trace of white behind. “They’re…”
“My cat is close,” was his only explanation. Vaughn shut the door firmly behind them. “Take off your cloth
es.”
She sputtered. “What?” She put her hand on her hip and shook her head. “No.” If he thought she would simply obey him, he was in for a shock.
“Naya, don’t fuck with me right now. I’m serious. Take off your clothes.”
He looked big and scary, but she wasn’t afraid. He would never hurt her.
She squared her shoulders. “Why?”
“Because you smell like him. His scent is all over you, and I don’t like it.”
She scrunched her forehead and wrinkled her nose. “Who?”
“Max.”
“What?” She dropped her hand. “He’s just a kid. Yeah, he rubbed himself on me, but it was when I first got to the shelter tonight and let him out of the kennel. He was a cat at the time, and I didn’t even know what he was yet. I don’t think he meant anything by it.”
Vaughn stepped closer, and she took a step back in response.
“Oh, he knew what he was doing when he rubbed himself all over you. I know he smelled me on you, and I’ll be talking to him later. That little shit might be young, but he’s already shifted, which means he has hormones raging through his body.”
Vaughn had once explained that shifters started their transformation at around age fifteen. It wouldn’t end until they were in their early twenties and able to reproduce.
“I saw the way he smiled at you. He likes you. And my cat doesn’t care if he’s fifteen or fifty-one. He doesn’t like smelling another male on you.” Vaughn clenched his teeth and curled his hands into fists. “Now, take off your goddamn clothes.”
“Fine.”
She removed her sweater and threw it at him. He didn’t so much as flinch, and it fell to the floor. She gritted her teeth as she continued removing her cami, her jeans, and her socks, but she kept her underwear and bra on.
“I really think you’re overreacting,” she told him.
He motioned her to continue. “All of it.”
Forbidden Blood Page 26
