“Yes, you have. You have me.”
Nate sighed. “I’m afraid you’re going to be a problem.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Sean Delaney stood in the doorway of his lab at WNMU and looked at the catastrophe he’d just created. It was starting to look as messy as the house. It was a good thing he had assistants coming in tomorrow to deal with it. He just didn’t have the time. But today was Sunday, and he could hardly expect his team to work. There were only so many hours in the day, and he was practically sleeping at the lab as it was. He glanced over at the cot in the far corner. Okay, maybe he was even doing a little of that.
Sean pulled the door shut and punched in the code to lock the lab. It really was a good thing that his daughter Maya was away. She’d been forced to deal with his long hours when she was a kid, but even she would have a hard time dealing with this kind of schedule. He was spending maybe five or six hours a day, max, at home, and that time was mostly spent sleeping. No, she would definitely be upset with him. It was better that she was gone for the semester.
Sean walked out to the car and hit the automatic lock on his keychain. As he pulled away from the curb, his mind was on which fast food place he should hit up for dinner on the way home. That was another bad habit that had to go as soon as Maya got home. He’d been eating too much fast food. His daughter worked so hard at making sure he ate right. She’d kill him if she knew he’d graduated from microwave dinners to Taco Bell. The only pre-made meals she ever bought were organic, and she usually sent him to work with homemade leftovers for lunch.
He could still feel the queasiness in his stomach as he thought about how he had reacted to her news about being a shifter. It was just his luck that she had left for Mexico so soon afterward. He knew she believed him when he said it didn’t change how much he loved her. But still…It would have been nice if he could have shown her that he accepted her no matter what. He didn’t have the same kinds of issues with it that some people had. He was a scientist after all. He prided himself on being a very reasonable man.
That is, until it came to her mate. He had managed to deduce pretty quickly that Maya and Matt were mated. Not that he was ever the kind of father to hover over his daughter and get involved in her personal life. Besides, Maya had always had a good head on her shoulders. But this whole mating thing really threw him for a loop. Not all, but many shifters mated young. Granted, mating was the kind of partnership that other people usually dreamed about, the kind he wished he’d had with Maya’s mother. It just seemed such a shame to have it happen to Maya at such a young age. She was only sixteen! That just about broke his heart.
His objections had absolutely nothing to do with Matt. He really liked the kid, always had. But as the parent of a mated shifter, there were some things you could be sure were happening. One of those things was that they were having sex. It was part of the instinct and pretty much unavoidable. As far as science could tell, it was virtually impossible for a female shifter to become pregnant before the age of twenty. But still, the thought of Maya at such a young age…His stomach turned again. Maybe he was just getting old, but it was definitely going to take time for him to get over that one. Especially since he was ninety-nine percent sure she hadn’t had sex before she phased for the first time. At least, that’s what he thought.
Sean pulled into the nearest Taco Bell and ordered a Cantina Bowl. It was on the “good for you menu,” as he called it. It was a testament to what an amazing daughter he had that she could influence him from so far away. And what had he done? Forgotten to call her on Christmas! Who does that? Sometimes Rosa got on his last nerve, but other times he felt incredibly grateful to her. He was pretty damn sure Rosa had called Maya on Christmas.
There were times when it seemed like Rosa was filling in for his ex-wife, Naomi. It was like she was Maya’s grandmother, but also the mother Maya never had. He knew that Maya had some abandonment issues, but from what he’d noticed and read about, they were very mild. She’d always had some difficulty with self-esteem and tended to feel like she wasn’t good enough. But Rosa had really helped Maya through that. He hoped he had helped her, too.
Sean picked up his salad at the window, paid, and pulled through to the exit. Damn! He’d forgotten to order a drink. Oh, well, he’d just have to make do with whatever he found in the fridge. He glanced at the clock on the dash. It was already after ten. Telling himself that he really needed to stop staying up so late, he swung the car back into the neighborhood. But there was so much work to be done, and, for once, he felt like he was on the verge of a real breakthrough. Even if he went home earlier, the adrenaline wouldn’t let him sleep, anyway. But, he promised himself, he was going to change his schedule once Maya got home, no matter what. Man, he missed her.
He turned into the drive, parked the car, and picked up his salad. That’s when he noticed that the porch light was out. That’s odd, he thought. Probably just the bulb. He walked up onto the porch and fiddled with his keys in the dark. He unlocked the door and closed it behind him. He was halfway across the entryway when he tripped over something in the dark.
“Ow!” He fumbled for the light switch. What the hell? What was the counter stool from the kitchen doing in the front hall? He rounded the corner into the living room and stopped dead in his tracks. Everything was in a shambles! Furniture was turned over, drawers emptied, pictures torn down from the wall, everything broken. He walked into the kitchen. It looked like a tornado had hit it. Dishes, cutlery, and food had been thrown everywhere.
And then it hit him. “My office!”
He ran through the wrecked dining room, down the hall, and into his study. His files were totally gutted. Who’d want his damn income tax records? What else had been destroyed? He waded through the papers and disks and the rest of the mess to his desk, picked up the phone, and dialed the local police.
Since it wasn’t really an emergency, Sean figured it would take them plenty of time to get there. He walked back into the kitchen, flipped the table back over, picked up a chair, and found and ate his salad. An hour later, there was a knock at the door.
Unbelievable. It was a good thing whoever had vandalized his house wasn’t there.
Two uniformed officers stood on the porch. “Good evening. Are you Sean Delaney?”
“That’s me. Come on in.”
The officers came in and introduced themselves as Officers Watts and Sanchez.
“Do you mind if we have a look around?” Watts asked.
“Be my guest.” Sean waited as patiently as he could as they looked through the house.
“Mr. Delaney,” Sanchez asked, “was there anything of importance taken tonight?”
Sean shook his head. “No, not really. Why do you ask?”
“I’m just wondering why that very nice TV and stereo are still here. They weren’t stolen. Do you have any cash or jewelry missing?”
“You know, we don’t really have much here at home. My daughter has a pair of diamond studs. They’re not worth much.”
Watts nodded. “They’re still in the drawer in her bedroom.”
“The only things I can think of that they took are the papers in my office. My filing cabinets are empty, though a lot of the stuff is on the floor.”
“Anything important?” Watts asked.
“No, not really. It was all personal. Tax returns, that kind of thing.”
“It looks to me like they were hoping to find something specific,” Watts said.
“What do you do for a living, Mr. Delaney?” Sanchez asked.
“I’m a geneticist. I work at WNMU. Why?”
“I’m just trying to make some connections here. What projects are you working on? Anything, uh, of importance?”
“I guess it’s of importance to other nerdy science guys like me,” Sean replied, trying to decide if he felt offended at the question. “I can’t imagine that anyone else would take interest, though. I’m not ou
t to cure cancer or land on Mars.”
“So there’s nobody you can think of that would have done this?” Watts asked.
“Actually, there really isn’t.”
“Okay,” Sanchez said, “in situations like this, Mr. Delaney, we would normally fill out a report, and that would be all. But the circumstances here suggest there may be something else going on, so we’re going to pass the report on to a detective. It’s just to be on the safe side.”
“Okay, thanks a lot for coming by.”
“No problem.” Watts handed him a business card. “I’m sure you’ll be contacted by the detective. In the meantime, we can be reached at this number. If you think of anything else, don’t hesitate.”
After the officers left, Sean took a beer out of the fridge and went into the living room. After shoving the remains of some books and magazines off the couch, he sat down and put his feet up on the side of the coffee table without bothering to flip it over. He took a swig of beer. Thank God Maya wasn’t home for this, he thought. What a nightmare. He had absolutely no idea when he was going to have time to clean up the mess. The idea of having professionals come in crossed his mind, but he wasn’t thrilled at the thought of having more strangers in the house. He sighed and rubbed his temples. What a mess.
As he was drinking his beer and staring at the wall, he got a text from his research partner. His house and the lab had also been broken into, and, again, the vandals had taken only the papers they could find. Which, thank God, were not many. Most of their write-ups were in a small safe that was being kept elsewhere. There was no question now. The three break-ins were absolutely linked. Someone was after their work. But who were they? Why did they want it?
He pushed himself up and went back into his office, where he saw a few papers on the floor. That seemed odd. Maybe he had surprised them? He picked them up and turned them over. Crappy old bank statements. Who would want these? Why do I still have them? He dropped them. This whole thing just didn’t make any sense. He looked through the built-in bookshelves and began picking up the books and replacing them in order. He was about to leave the room when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. He turned around and stared at the carved wooden antique picture frame his sister had given him. His blood ran cold. The frame was empty. His favorite photo of Maya was gone.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Damian watched Richard pacing back and forth across the living room. He wasn’t even sure how Richard was managing to walk with so much new equipment sitting all over the place. He looked over at his twin.
He’s never going to allow this, Lyss.
He will. That’s why I’m here. To back up your sorry ass.
Cute.
Richard suddenly stopped pacing and looked at Damian and Nate. “So what we’re saying here is you two want to date? Am I getting this right? When the hell did this happen? Never mind, it doesn’t matter.”
“We wouldn’t date until I could find you a replacement tutor,” Nate said. “We’re going to be appropriate about it.”
“And how is this ‘appropriate’ again, Nate? Could you remind me? Whether or not you’re their tutor isn’t the only issue. You’re eighteen. He’s sixteen.”
As Richard stated that last part, he pointed at each one of them in turn for extra emphasis. Or possibly because he was really mad. Or both. Damian wasn’t sure.
“Cesar’s nineteen and I’m sixteen,” Lyssa said.
Richard shook his head. “That’s different.”
“How?”
Now Richard was pacing and rubbing his forehead at the same time. “You’re newly mated. I couldn’t separate you two for more than a couple of days without either one or both of you needing a straitjacket.”
As Richard shook his head, Nate stood up. “Could I talk to you alone for a moment?” he asked.
“Yeah, fine.”
Oh, God, Lyss. This is so not good.
Hang on.
The two men walked down the hall and into Richard’s room. They closed the door behind them.
Come on, Damian.
Where are we going? Wait, Lyss, we are not going to eavesdrop on their conversation!
The hell we’re not.
Damian reluctantly followed his twin down the hall. This was so immature. He couldn’t believe he was doing it. But there he was, standing outside Richard’s door. How did he let her talk him into this stuff?
They leaned against the wall and listened to the heated discussion going on inside the room.
“I’ll tell you what the issue is,” Richard was saying. “You broke a trust, Nate. I trusted you with those kids.”
“I didn’t break that trust,” Nate argued back. “Absolutely nothing has happened. We came to you first, Richard.”
“Well thank you for that, Nate! I appreciate it. Now just let me ask you this.” Richard’s voice was level now. “Do you have feelings for him? Because if by ‘dating’ you mean you just want to keep it casual, we’re going to have a real problem.”
“I probably shouldn’t have used that word,” Nate said. “I just didn’t want you to think that things were going to get serious too quickly. I want to protect him as much as you do, Richard. If not more.”
“What’s your history like?”
“You’re joking!”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?”
Oh, my God, Lyss.
Stay strong, little bro.
Nate sighed. “I’ve had one serious relationship. It ended when I left the UK last year.”
“And you and this other guy, you’re done?”
“The split is permanent, yes.”
“Anything else?”
“Bloody hell! I’m HIV negative. Did you go through all this with Cesar?”
“Cesar is a shifter and I’ve known him his whole life. Big difference.”
“I’m going to have Damian get permission from his parents…”
Damian closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall. What, like he needed a permission slip? This was so unbelievably embarrassing.
“Did you just say what I thought you said?” Richard was asking. “You’re really serious about this?”
“I’m falling for him, Richard. I’m sure of it. And I’m very aware that this needs to be done right. I don’t want to risk losing him. We’ll talk to his parents and if they think it’s a bad idea, then I’ll wait for him. If that’s what Damian wants.”
Damian opened his eyes just in time to see Lyssa’s eyes pop out of her head, and her face light up like Day of the Dead candles. All of a sudden, he realized that he was grinning from ear to ear.
“Fine,” they heard Richard say after a long moment. “If his parents are okay with it, then I won’t say another word.”
Silence.
Run, Lyss!
Holy shit! Duck into my room!
As the two men came out of Richard’s room, Richard walked right past Lyssa’s door, but Nate saw that the door was open.
“I was just gonna…” Lyssa pointed at the door.
“You might possibly hate me for the rest of your existence,” Nate said. “Or possibly until the end of time.”
“What happened?” Damian asked. Awkward much?
“I said we would speak to your parents and get their permission. I’m so sorry, Damian. I said it because I could see it was the only way. And then I realized I don’t even know if you’re out to them yet.”
“Oh, no, they know. They’re totally okay with it. They knew, anyway.”
Nate looked incredibly relieved. “I’m so sorry. I never should have said that.”
“It’s okay.” Damian took a deep breath. “Well, I guess all I have to do now is call them.”
“Well, I’ll give you some privacy.”
“Thanks.”
***
“So for right now,” Richard said, “I’m going to leave our two resident computer geniuses to handle setting up the technology. No one else goes near the living area except Damian and Nate.
If you want a place to hang, you’ll have to do it at the cabins.”
Lyssa sat at Cesar’s feet and listened. It was so weird. They had never had this kind of meeting before with everyone all together. Things were really changing. She glanced over at Damian and saw that he and Nate were holding hands. A warm feeling settled over her, and she felt herself smile. She leaned her head back on Cesar’s knees, and he rubbed her shoulders and smiled as if to say he had noticed it, too. They weren’t the only ones. Matt gave Lyssa a wink.
“Obviously,” Richard went on, “we’re dealing with the real possibility of future attacks. You’re going to need to be extra vigilant, both on guard duty, as well as coming and going between the main house and the cabins. Those are the only reasons to be outside. Also, I want everyone off their cell phones. That includes texting.”
There was a huge groan from the shifters.
“I know, I know, it’s annoying. But there will be two encrypted phones in each cabin and two here for your use. Now let’s get to the subject I know you’ve all been waiting for.” He cleared his throat. “The demons. The purpose of the current chaos in our living area is to be able to monitor all the major news outlets worldwide. Right now, we know we’re a target. As far as we know, it’s just us. If that remains the case, then it’ll be obvious that Toltec is behind it. All we can do is wait and see. In the meantime, we do have intelligence as to Victrixa’s location. She’s no longer at Avery Wells’ estate near Merida. He watched as they exchanged glances, then went on.
“Oh, and one last thing. Should there be another attack here and you are outside, get low and get out of there. Damian and Lyssa are trained to deal with the demons. No one else should engage them. Is that clear?”
Everyone nodded.
Lyssa watched as Nate turned to Damian with his eyebrows raised.
Shit!
Did we forget to mention that little fact to our boyfriend, little bro?
His wall went up instantly and Lyssa giggled to herself as the meeting broke up and everyone started to head to the kitchen for dinner.
Jaguar Moon (Jaguar Sun Series Book 2) Page 11
