And her jaguar was convinced that the bear shifters were trustworthy…especially Yummy Cowboy.
But Catrina had learned to always back up her instincts with hard facts.
Well, she told herself as she stepped into the tiled bathroom and began to strip off her mud-encrusted clothes, Captain Marin won't be expecting me to report in for a while yet, not while I'm out in the field doing reconnaissance. I’ve got some time to figure things out.
* * *
When Catrina wandered cautiously downstairs after her shower, clean and dressed in an oversized pair of sweats, it was to find a group gathered in the formal dining room for dinner while Rafe walked around the table with a huge pan, serving up the enchiladas.
Yummy Cowboy was already seated at the table, wearing a pair of gray sweats very similar to the ones Shannon had loaned Catrina.
When he caught sight of her, he reached over and pulled out the chair next to him, indicating she should sit there.
Catrina slid into the chair and noticed that someone had put a big glass tumbler filled with ice and Coca-Cola on the woven placemat. Moisture condensed in tiny droplets on the outside of the glass.
A moment later, Rafe came up to her and served her a generous portion from the pan he was holding.
Catrina was not a weepy person in general, but right now, sitting at Rafe's table and looking down at a pair of large enchiladas smothered in fragrant red sauce with a sprinkling of grated cheese and diced fresh cilantro, she felt like crying with homesickness.
If Perry had erased her memories to keep her from remembering what home was like, he had failed. She might not be able to remember her parents' faces or what they had talked about, but she remembered this.
"Hey, is everything okay?" whispered Brett.
He also had a plate of steaming enchiladas in front of him, but with a chilled bottle of beer instead of a Coke.
"My grandmother," Catrina said hoarsely, "used to make enchiladas for Sunday dinners. The memory just hit me when I smelled the sauce…"
She swallowed hard, fighting back another wave of tears. Damn it, Catrina! You're turning into a weepy mess!
Without a word, Yummy Cowboy put his big, warm hand on top of hers and squeezed it briefly. Oddly enough, it helped.
The urge to cry passed, and her stomach began reminding her urgently about the fact that she'd missed lunch. She dug into the enchiladas with her fork and lifted a bite to her mouth.
As the food hit her tongue with a wonderful complexity of flavors, Catrina gave a soft, involuntary moan of pleasure. Delicious!
Rafe, who was just serving his wife, chuckled when he heard her.
"Now that's the expression I like to see on my guests' faces!" he said approvingly."And I bet you don't even care that I used our ranch's very own heirloom, organic grass-fed beef."
His comment about the beef seemed to be some kind of insider joke among the other people seated at the table.
They all laughed uproariously…except for the two wolf shifters, Leif and Svein. They were sitting together at the far end of the big dining room table, taking huge bites and chewing them as if they expected someone to snatch away their plates at any moment.
Catrina didn't get the joke either, so she took advantage of the lull in the conversation to dig in to her dinner.
Brett leaned over when the laughter died away and whispered, "We had a group of bird-watchers staying here last summer, and at mealtimes, they asked about the provenance of every single item on their plates. Most of what we serve our guests is actually organic and produced here on the ranch, but the questions got to be a joke because the birdwatchers were so darned earnest about it."
Catrina chewed, swallowed, and tried to keep a straight face as she yielded to the temptation to ask, "But is your coffee gluten-free as well as organic?"
The tall, quiet, dark-haired man sitting across from her laughed, then choked on his mouthful of food. Rafe helpfully pounded him on the back until he stopped sputtering.
"I think Catrina is really going to fit in around here," Yummy Cowboy said cheerfully.
He seemed to be unaware that his hand was still covering Catrina's…until, suddenly self-conscious under Shannon's gleeful gaze, Catrina pulled away.
Brett shot her a sideways look, and she saw his cheeks darken slightly under his golden tan.
He cleared his throat. "Let me introduce everyone…there are a couple of people here you haven't met."
"Everyone, this is Catrina Hunter, a jaguar shifter who's just arrived in Elysia. Catrina, this is Drake Snorrison, who is our third partner on the ranch. He's our chief hunting and bird watching guide."
"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Hunter."The dark-haired man, who looked like he might be part Latino or Native American, gave her a friendly nod.
"Please call me Catrina," she said.
"Drake is also my great-grandson," Rafe said.
He put the pan with the remaining food down on a trivet in the center of the table and seated himself next to his wife.
Catrina fought to keep her surprise from showing. Once full-blooded shifters reached adulthood, they stopped aging and were effectively immortal…if no one killed them. She knew this, but it was still a shock to actually confront the truth.
Had her own grandparents remained that young-looking? Or had they aged their appearance to fit in with the human community around them? She wished she could remember what they looked like.
Then Yummy Cowboy delivered another surprise…one that made her blood run cold.
"And this," he said, with a casual wave of his hand at the silver-haired man sitting next to Drake, "is Shannon's grandfather, Dr. Liam Joyce."
A shock of adrenaline hit Catrina's system as she met Liam's gaze. He was lean and clean-shaven, his eyes the same shade of dark blue as Shannon's.
He also looked at least a decade younger than the photos she had seen in his WSS dossier.
But there was no mistaking it. Dr. Liam Joyce was actually Dr. Liam Donlon, the man she'd been sent to retrieve.
"Well now," he said, in a voice that held an Irish lilt. "You look like you've seen a ghost, Ms. Hunter."
She sensed Brett's sudden tension at her side.
Shit! How am I going to explain this?
"I—" she began, aware of Brett's steady gaze on her. She decided she had no choice but to bluff with a portion of the truth. "You look really familiar, Dr. Joyce. Did you ever work for Whitepine Security Services?"
She saw the sudden apprehension in his eyes.
"I believe you may be mistaking me for someone else," he said.
But she could smell his fear. And something else…something akin to the unique scent all shifters bore. But Dr. Donlon—er, Dr. Joyce—was just an ordinary human.
Or was he?
Did WSS lie to me about this, too?
She swallowed. "You're probably right," she said. "I have some memory issues from a bad injury a few years ago."
Dr. Joyce's relief was palpable as he returned his attention to his plate.
But Brett, if anything, seemed more tightly wound. Catrina braced herself for uncomfortable questions.
They didn't come. He only said, "Elysia offers sanctuary to ordinary humans, too. Not just shifters. And Hal is Dr. Joyce's sponsor."
She nodded, the unspoken warning clear enough to her.
And wondered if Shannon would have pleaded Catrina's case for sanctuary if she'd known that Catrina had been sent here to hunt her grandfather.
Catrina wouldn't be able to lie if any of the shifters asked her about that directly, but she decided that she didn't need to volunteer the information, either.
Especially since she'd already decided to abandon her mission.
"And I believe you’ve already met our ranch hands, Leif and Svein," Brett continued after a moment.
"Thanks for bringing me those clothes this afternoon," she said to them, glad for an excuse to change the subject away from Dr. Joyce.
Leif stopped chewing lo
ng enough to scowl, and Svein grunted without looking up from his plate.
"Hal wants her to serve as firearms instructor," Brett continued. "He didn't believe she was really a Beast Warrior, and he tested her this afternoon. She passed with flying colors—even managed to take me down a couple of times while we were sparring," he added.
Catrina blinked. In her experience, men—especially old shifters, who had grown up in a different time—resented being bested by women. But Yummy Cowboy actually sounded like he was pleased by her performance. It was…unexpected.
And it made her like him even more.
"Hal asked me to teach a basic gun safety course and pistol marksmanship to the young bear shifters," she said, feeling a little uncomfortable at his beaming attention.
"As well as to the wolf shifters," Brett said pointedly.
Svein stopped chewing long enough to growl, "We don't need a woman to teach us how to be warriors."
"You do if you're ever going to get any good at shooting anything," Brett pointed out.
"…other than your own feet," Rafe added with a grin.
Catrina saw Svein's face flush under his bristling beard. She had already sensed that there was bad blood between the bear shifters and wolf shifters, but she didn't know why.
Shannon moved swiftly to defuse the situation before it exploded into a brawl over the dinner table.
"Catrina, I still can't believe Hal made you do all of that right after Dave hit you with his car," she said indignantly.
Rafe looked surprised. "She was hit by a car? I think we need to hear this story."
Drake nodded silent agreement and continued to demolish his plate of food.
Determined not to let the delicious food in front of her grow cold, Catrina, too, dug in and let Brett relate the account of the afternoon's misadventure.
The frantic pursuit through the woods sounded much less serious when Yummy Cowboy described it from his point of view, and his wryly self-deprecating account of their sparring match had her laughing.
When he finished his story with his offer to become Catrina's sponsor, Shannon gave Rafe a meaningful look.
Rafe asked, "So you’ll be staying at Brett's house, Catrina?"
"Well, I'm not sure—" she began.
Wouldn't it make more sense for her to stay here with Shannon, who was well on her way to becoming a friend? Especially since the upstairs area was already fitted out as a bed-and-breakfast?
"Of course," Brett interjected. "It's my duty as her sponsor to see her housed and fed, at least until she starts earning enough to live on."
Catrina's jaguar liked that idea. A lot. She sent Catrina a mental image of cuddling up with Yummy Cowboy on a couch in front of a TV…
He just wants me there because it'll be easier for him to keep an eye on me, Catrina told herself sternly.
She saw Shannon gave her husband a small, satisfied smile at Brett's words. It raised an alarm in Catrina's mind.
"Speaking of guest rooms," Svein broke in. "Leif and I have been talking, Rafe. Now that your guests are gone for the winter, we want to move out of the bunkhouse and into a couple of the rooms here."
Rafe looked surprised but nodded. "Sure…if you're willing to pay rent," he answered.
"Rent?" Svein responded incredulously. "Why should we pay you rent? You told us that we would be fed and housed if we came to work for you!"
"And you are being housed," Drake said, quietly. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "In the bunkhouse. Which comes with satellite TV, among other things."
"We were Colonel Perry's most trusted warriors and his best scouts," Leif said. "Now you bear shifters are treating us like peasants and paying us a pittance. Hal won't let us access our bank accounts, so how are we supposed to pay you rent?"
"And why does that woman—" scowling, Svein pointed at Catrina with a thick, red sauce-stained finger "—get to stay in one of your guest rooms and not the bunkhouse? Are you going to make her pay rent?" he demanded. "Or does she get special treatment because you're hoping to fuck her?"
Chapter 5 – Kissed
Brett, who had mostly seemed like a laid-back, easygoing guy until now, startled Catrina when he slammed his fist down on the table, making the plates, glasses, and cutlery jump.
"Shut up, Svein!" he snarled. "You say anything like that again, and I'll rip both of your arms off."
The wolf shifter glared at him balefully.
Catrina stared at Brett too. She was used to fighting her own battles. And after years in the navy, followed by a decade of working at WSS, crude sexual innuendoes hardly registered anymore.
These days, she waited for someone stupid enough to actually lay a hand on her before she beat the shit out of them.
It was weird—but kind of nice—to have someone else come to her defense for a change.
"I'm her sponsor, and I can give her anything I want to," Brett continued. Then his voice dropped, becoming somehow more threatening. "And if you think I'm going to send any woman to live under the same roof as the men who tried to kidnap and intimidate my friend's wife—"
Catrina's glance flew to Shannon. The other woman returned her look with a tiny shake of her head that said later.
Rafe put his arm around Shannon's shoulders. "Brett's right—we know better than to trust either of you around a woman. Even a Beast Warrior like Ms. Hunter."
He cast her an apologetic glance from his sea-colored eyes.
"I hate it here," Leif said, vehemently, plucking congealed bits of cheese from his drooping mustache. "Back at WSS, we were respected. And Colonel Perry was a generous boss. We were full-time warriors, and we didn't have to farm or herd cattle."
Catrina felt unwilling sympathy for him. It was difficult for shifters—especially old shifters—to find a place to belong. And if Leif hadn't actually wanted to leave WSS…
She wondered if his memories, too, had been tampered with.
"How did you—the wolf shifters, I mean—end up here in Elysia, anyway?" she asked, as much to defuse the explosive tension around the table as to satisfy her curiosity.
"We were ordered to find and retrieve Colonel Perry's special hostage," Svein said, directing a quick, hostile glance at Shannon. "We almost succeeded, but the bears decided to sabotage our mission."
Rafe and Brett both snorted at this.
"You were sent here on a retrieval mission for Shannon?" Catrina asked, just to be certain she understood correctly.
Leif and Svein both nodded.
"She was leverage for Dr. Donlon's return to WSS and his continued loyalty thereafter," explained Leif, confirming Catrina's earlier guess about the silver-haired doctor's real identity.
The doctor's mouth tightened at Leif's words, and he shot the wolf shifter a frosty look. "It's Dr. Joyce, if you please."
"When Dr. Donlon deserted, he took all of his files. He stole years of research from Colonel Perry," sneered Svein. "Which makes him a criminal and a fugitive from his rightful lord."
Rightful lord? How old is this wolf, anyway? He talks like someone from the Middle Ages! Catrina thought.
"Research that was too important and too dangerous for a monster like Lugh Perry to possess," Dr. Joyce said with quiet conviction. "It had no legitimate military application, but the social and financial consequences…" He shook his head. "I couldn't leave it behind, not knowing how it might be used."
"And what kind of a firm treats its employees like slaves?" Shannon asked angrily. "I've heard the stories from Granda, and Rafe, too."
"And you think we're not being treated like slaves?" Leif asked. He drained his bottle of beer and thumped it down on the table.
"For one thing, we're paying you for your work," Brett said flatly.
"But we're not allowed to leave!" Leif glared around the table. "I don't know why, since it seems you bear shifters would be happy enough to be rid of us."
"We wouldn't feel that way if you made more of an effort to fit in," Brett said tightly. "And if we
didn't think that most of you would sell us out to WSS if you had the chance."
* * *
The rest of dinner passed in uncomfortable attempts at small talk, quelled by the sullen resentment radiating from the two wolf shifters at the table.
When second helpings had been served, and everyone's plates had been scraped clean, the three bear shifters went into the kitchen to prepare dessert.
Shannon had rolled her eyes. "Rafe wanted to make crème brulee, and he can't wait to use the new miniature torches I gave him for his birthday to caramelize the sugar topping." She flashed Catrina a mischievous smile. "Brett tried to use a plumbing torch to do it last time, and he ended up setting fire to the tablecloth."
She stood and pressed a hand to her rounded belly. "I'll be right back—just going to the loo."
Catrina looked at Dr. Joyce, debating whether she should warn him that WSS was still actively hunting for him.
Before she could speak, his phone rang.
He answered it, listened for a moment, and then said, "Very good. I'll be right there. Tell your wife to remember her breathing exercises…no, it'll be about twenty minutes. I'm over at the Grizzly Peak Ranch right now." A pause. "Yes, soon as I can, I promise," he said in a soothing voice.
He hit the Disconnect button on his phone and checked his watch.
Raising his voice slightly, he said, "Rafe, that was Jim Donohue. His wife's gone into labor—I need to leave. My apologies!"
"Sure thing, Liam," Rafe called from the kitchen. "Babies wait for no man—or crème brulee. I'll make it again the next time you're here."
Dr. Joyce pushed back from the table and got to his feet.
"So sorry to rush out before dessert," he said to three remaining dinner guests.
Leif and Svein ignored him.
"Ms. Hunter, a pleasure," he added with a courtly nod.
"Same here, Dr. Joyce," she said.
Then he left, his quick footsteps muffled by the carpet that stretched down the length of the entrance hall.
And she was alone in the dining room with the two wolves.
"Hey, can we speak with you in private?" whispered Leif.
She hesitated, remembering what Brett had said about not trusting the two wolf shifters with women.
Hunter: A Werebear + BBW Paranormal Romance (Beast Warriors Book 2) Page 7
