“Today. Yesterday.” She moved her leg and winced. “Do you know how to get in touch with the Shifter Tribunal?”
That was the last question he’d expected. “No, sorry.” Her trouble must be worse than he’d thought. “I could make some calls. A couple of my customers are big packs and prides—”
“No,” she said, cutting him off. “No shifters.”
That stung a little. A lot, actually.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a low, breathy tone. “That was incredibly rude.” She looked away, toward the moonlit field of half-grown corn to her right. “You’ve been nothing but kind to me, and I’m lashing out at you because of my shitty choices.” She sniffled and wiped at her face. “I’m the last person to hate someone for the color of their, uh, fur. Had enough of that growing up in Weirtree, where they still resent losing the Civil War and think magic is the devil’s work. It’s just that outside of you, my experiences with actual shifters haven’t been good.”
He desperately wanted to hear her story, comfort her, make things better for her, but they couldn’t stay parked on a deserted farm road in the Nebraska hinterland. “We should get moving, or your rescuer will be back out here with questions.” He started the engine. “I could take you to a motel.”
Her head snapped around to give him a wide-eyed look. He added hastily, “I can sleep here in the truck, but you need a real bed.”
The tension in her expression eased, and she put her hand over her rounded stomach. “And a real bathroom.” She snorted. “I think I’ve used every damn one of them between here and Pagosa Springs.”
“That’s in southern Colorado, isn’t it? Near the mountains?” He inched the truck forward until he was sure the wheels were on the road before accelerating. He didn’t know what else to do but just drive. All the way to Chicago, if that’s what it took.
She was silent for long moments. “If I tell you what’s going on…” She trailed off, then started again. “I just met you, but I already know you’ll want to help, and I want to let you, because you’re the first person who’s made me feel safe in the last six months. Longer than that, actually. Which is crazy, but it’s true.” She blew out a loud breath. “But it’s a fucking mess and could get you hurt or killed.”
He tightened his hands on the steering wheel to help control the part of him that wanted to make a threat display at whoever made her sound so disconsolate. “Tell you what. You tell me the situation, and I promise not to go off half-cocked or get us in worse trouble. Deal?”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her cast a couple of sidelong glances at him. “It’s weird that you know what I’m thinking.” She used her hands to lift her sore leg, wincing as she did. “Or maybe not weird. Are you using your magic on me? I felt it, in the alley, but I couldn’t tell what it was doing. I’ve only been around witches and fairies.”
“No,” he said. “Most of my magic is bound up in my shifting. Maybe you felt when I commanded the coyotes to shift to human?” He shrugged one shoulder. “That’s an alpha thing.” He felt guilty for not mentioning the gossamer-thin mate bond between them, which was already giving him hints, but he had the feeling she wasn’t ready for that part. He wasn’t sure he was, either. Not if the woman his bear wanted to claim couldn’t get over her hate for shifters.
“I didn’t know shifters had free magic. I thought it was all for shifting.” Her tone blended curiosity with caution.
“It’s uncommon. Mine isn’t much.” He pointed to a wide shoulder on the road, meant for slow farm vehicles to pull over to let traffic pass. “We could stop there for a bit.”
She nodded, so he slowed the truck to a stop and turned off the engine. If it got too cool for her, he could turn on a heater.
The moonlight lent her beautiful face exotic mystery. Her complex scent filled his senses and sent desire thrumming through his veins and blood toward his dick. He sternly told himself to stand down, or he’d be no better than the drunken coyotes.
“I work… used to work for a Houston accounting firm. One of my coworkers is… was part fairy and thinks all magical people should be friends. She introduced me to a rich real estate developer named Barry Wills. My mom told me about shifters, so I knew they existed, but he was the first one I actually met. He’s a spotted leopard. He liked me right away and let me know it. Romantic gifts, glitzy parties, gala openings. I fell for him hard. He found me so unbelievably sexy, even in a room full of much richer, prettier women.”
Trevor only barely managed to repress a growl from his bear, who didn’t like Jackie thinking of herself as anything less than stop-traffic gorgeous. He also didn’t like the thought that a sneaky leopard had been in her bed, but he couldn’t say he’d been celibate all his life, either.
“Barry said I was his mate, but whenever I wanted him to go with me to visit my mother in east Texas, or I asked about his family or pride, he’d tell me it was worse than a soap opera and change the subject or avoid me for a few days.” She shook her head. “My boss sent me and a couple of coworkers to a CPA conference in Las Vegas in February as a reward for our hard work. Barry came with me because he loves the nightlife.”
She rubbed the top of her thigh a couple of times. “Now we get to the part where I only know some of what happened. The first night, Barry’s condom broke, and I didn’t think anything of it because I was on the pill. I wasn’t going to raise a child alone like my widowed mother had to, and Barry was allergic to any talk about marriage. He said only humans cared about that. The second night, we had a fight, and Barry went partying without me. The third night, he prepared a romantic bubble bath for us in the spa tub with two-hundred-dollar-an-ounce perfume and vintage champagne and told me he was sorry. Afterward, I was sleepy, so he carried me to the bed.” The breath she blew out almost sounded like hissing. She looked away, then met his eyes again. “The next thing I remember, someone was slapping me awake. I was buck naked in an old, tiny windowless room that smelled like stale cigarette smoke.”
He couldn’t help the growl that rumbled in his chest. He clenched his hands together.
She gave him a sour look. “Save your growls, cowboy, ’cause it don’t get any better from here.” She crossed her arms over her breasts. “It was an illegal auction house in the basement of an older casino. Seems I have ‘shifter-mate potential,’ which makes shifters of any species drunk with lust and want to have babies with me. Thank heavens it repulses vampires. The auction house put me up for sale within hours because they knew something I didn’t: I was pregnant. The lion shifter who bought me for his pride should have noticed, too, but I still smelled like knock-out drugs and perfume. Roehm—who turned out to be the pride’s leader—spent all his time feeling up the younger girls he bought instead of inspecting the women.”
Trevor cursed. “Where exactly is this casino?”
Her expression turned wary. “What will you do if I tell you?”
Remembering his promise not to go off half-cocked, he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Sorry. I’ve heard rumors of an auction, but I didn’t believe it.” He let his determination show on his face. “I do now.”
“I was only there for a day, but I saw males and females of half a dozen species chained on the auction block. Right out of that Roots mini-series. Most of the ‘shifter-mate potential’ group were like me, kidnapped and clueless. Our bidders were shifter outfits. I could smell the odor of corruption, even through the gazillion suppression and concealment spells all over.” She shuddered. “Roehm bought six of us. The auction house shot us with tranq darts, and we woke up in a former motel complex outside Pagosa Springs. It’s in southern Colorado like you thought.”
“Lion pride?” he asked.
“Mixed, and males only. Roehm’s a mean-looking white guy and an African lion. Claims he’s five hundred years old, but he doesn’t know shit about history, so I think he’s much younger. The two lazy-ass litter mates who paid Roehm for me—Ricardo and his brother Ruben—are regular leopards. The
pride has three more leopards, a jaguar, a tiger, a cheetah, four lynxes, and eight mountain lions. Something wrong with every damn one of them.”
He tilted his head. “Wrong?”
“Crippled, feral, addicted, weak, fat, you name it. The lynxes are orphaned litter mates, barely out of the den, and don’t know any better. I can’t prove it, but I think Roehm murdered the old pride leader, then drove off or killed anyone he couldn’t dominate. He’s the one-eyed king in the land of the blind.”
“What did they do when they discovered you were pregnant?” He knew he wouldn’t like the answer but needed to hear it.
“Slapped me around like it was my fault. Yelled a lot. Tried to get their money back, but the contract said the ‘livestock’ was sold ‘as is.’” She snorted. “Who’d have thought illegal auction houses selling creatures of myth and magic would use mundane contracts?”
Trevor nodded. “Signed in blood, I’ll bet. Makes it easier to exact magical penalties.”
“That makes sense. The staff were all wizards and sorcerers. Anyway, Ricardo and Ruben couldn’t stand to be around me because I smelled like vomit from non-stop morning sickness, and because I carried another leopard’s child. Ricardo boasted about being civilized because they planned to sell the baby to the auction house. Before Roehm took over, the former leader made the pride abandon any non-pride cubs in the high mountains.”
Trevor passed beyond shock and into dangerously angry territory. Shifter offspring were not accidents or commodities. His bear roared in his head. Someday, he promised himself, there would be a reckoning. He took two deep, long breaths and blew them out slowly to rein in his temper. “Go on.”
“Since I had to live in their pigsty of a mobile home, I spent the first two weeks cleaning it, because the stench made my morning sickness even worse. My mother cleans people’s houses for a living, and I used to help her.” She jutted out her chin in an unspoken challenge, as if daring him to judge her.
He’d had a similar chip on his shoulder growing up. “My aunt takes in laundry and sells put-up vegetables from her garden that the county food inspectors didn’t know about.” He crooked a corner of his mouth. “When I was a wild and restless teenager, looking for trouble, she had me shift and use my big claws to rototill her garden and chase off the nocturnal pest animals at night.”
She looked startled, then returned his smile. “Smart woman.” She shook her head. “Roehm sends the pride out to sell illegal drugs and guns, and steal cars, but Ricardo is obese and lazy, and Ruben is skinny and lazy. I gave them the idea to sell my cleaning services to the other pride members.” She wrinkled her nose. “You’d think shifters couldn’t stand eye-watering smells from filth. And don’t get me started on their personal hygiene. Anywhere outside is their cat box.”
It took him a minute to realize why she’d volunteered to be the maid. “You became invisible. No one notices the help.”
She waved her hand. “I didn’t think of that at first. I just wanted information, like where the hell the compound was, and how soon could I escape.” She shivered. “Luckily, I’ve always been an over-planner, or I’d have been eaten by the near-feral tiger guard that Roehm keeps chained at night or burned to ash by the magical wards they paid a wizard to install on their perimeter, or beaten to death for trying to steal one of the pride’s cars.” She shuddered. “Or dead from a failed forced change like poor Dale.”
Trevor was so wrapped up in Jackie’s story that he almost missed the far-off glint of headlights at the intersection about a mile in front of them. He used his alpha magic to borrow night vision from his bear. He pointed out the windshield. “Pickup truck with two men in it. Two shotguns in the rack behind their heads.”
“Maybe we should find that motel you mentioned.” She made a wry face. “Or at least a public bathroom.”
He started the engine and turned on the headlights. “There’s a file box under your seat. The map of Nebraska is on top. Use the flashlight and see where you want to go. I mark motels with a letter ‘M’ if they’re decent.”
He pulled onto the road just as the pickup truck passed them, taking care to keep his face and hands in shadow. Jackie’s story had him wanting to avoid creating the memorable sight of a black man and woman in a big-rig truck in the middle of Nebraska farm country at night. “I’ll turn south at the intersection. We’re about eight miles from the interstate.”
“Do you mind if I use magic on your map to find someplace safe?”
He didn’t blame her for the caution in her voice. Magic could be a touchy subject, even among people who knew it was real. “Sure, if it’s not destructive. Good maps are hard to replace.”
The power overspill caressed him like an ocean wave, hardening him to an erection and making his body sing. He wished he had something to put over his lap. Not even diving naked into an icy pond would help at this point.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her spread out the map. She waved her hand, and points on the map appeared like tiny sparkles.
He slowed for the intersection, glancing at the map. “What’s that bright blue spot?”
She lifted the map and pointed the flashlight at it. “Ko- something or another, in Wyoming.” She frowned. “What was the name of the town your mechanic friend lives in?”
“Kotoyeesinay.” He should tell her about the call from his aunt.
“That’s the place.” She made a frustrated sound. “Damnit. As of this moment, that’s the only safe place to be in the four-state span of this map.” She dropped it to her lap. “But I’ll be backtracking instead of adding distance between me and the pride’s hunters and enforcers. Regardless, we can’t make it there tonight.”
The exhaustion in her voice concerned him. “How about the closest safe motel, for now? You can do the map spell again after you’ve had a few hours’ rest.”
He kept his eyes forward, toward the intersection, but everything else in him focused on her. She had to be close to her breaking point and could still kick his shifter ass out of her life. He didn’t know what he would do if she did.
“Okay. Turn right. The Lark Sleepytime Inn is about six miles south on the left.”
He let out the breath he’d been holding and turned right.
3
Jackie woke to sunrise and snoring. It took a few seconds for her brain to boot up and remember where she was and why she was so comfortable. She opened her eyes and looked to the floor where a larger-than-life, short-snouted, curiously long-haired bear slept stretched out in front of the motel room’s door, gently snoring. She smiled. He’d be one hell of a surprise for any intruders.
After renting the room for her, Trevor the man had carried her from the truck into the room. He’d made it seem easy, even though she was taller than average and nowhere close to skinny. She’d loved the feel of his strength, the sound of his steady heartbeat in her ear as she rested her head on his chest.
She’d invited him to sleep in the room with the idea of sharing the queen-sized bed, instead of making him sleep in his truck. She’d joked that his honor was safe with her, but it might not have been. Despite her injuries from the accident, despite being pregnant, and despite having just met him, her body burned for him. Her breasts ached for the touch of his calloused hands, the soft wetness of his mouth. She wanted him surrounding her, holding her, inside her. Her core pulsed at the thought.
Then her stupid bladder spasmed, and she’d had to limp to the bathroom to answer the call of nature. The mirror’s reflection of her scraped and filthy self told her she was in no shape to seduce anyone.
While she was in the shower, Trevor had brought in packaged sandwiches and chips from the cooler in his truck and written her a note suggesting she treat her knee with the ice he got from the machine outside the motel’s office. He couldn’t tell her about it because he’d shifted into his bear form and dozed near the front door.
Maybe it was for the best, since sex would only complicate their situation. From little looks and tou
ches, and the unmistakable bulge in his jeans, she knew he wanted her as much as she wanted him. But she was bloated and fat, so his attraction was probably the shifter-mate potential thing. She’d never been the type of woman who drew men like bears to honey. She’d drifted off to sleep after her feeble joke.
The bedside clock now said it was a few minutes before six. She sat up cautiously, but her soreness had vanished in the night. Her knee still twinged, but she knew it would be fine in a few more hours. One of the pluses of carrying a shifter’s baby was she apparently benefited from the speedy shifter healing. The improved sense of taste and smell had made her morning sickness worse, but the better hearing and reflexes had helped her survive in a compound full of frustrated, quick-with-a-fist shifters. Roehm had assumed that by forbidding Ricardo and Ruben to force-change her into a leopard while she was pregnant, she’d be weak and powerless.
Enough of the past, she told herself. The day beckoned… and so did the bathroom.
By the time she returned from brushing her teeth and twisting and smoothing her hair into something resembling civilized, Trevor had shifted back to human.
The vee of his T-shirt drew her eyes to his deliciously broad and muscular chest. “Does your magic let you keep your clothes?” Would he taste as good as he smelled? Would his nipples be wide and sensitive to the touch of her tongue? She gave herself an internal shake. Timing, girl, timing.
“Yes. My aunt taught me. Magic runs in our family. I trained myself to shift really fast, so I could go more places I wasn’t supposed to and not get caught.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Wasn’t a big, woolly bear kind of noticeable?”
He smiled ruefully. “And now you see the flaw in my teenage logic.”
She rolled up the sleeves of her faded denim shirt. It wouldn’t fit over her belly much longer. “I was always the straight-laced, straight-A student, but it didn’t help. All most people saw was the mixed-race daughter of a witchy white woman who scandalously married a black man, who got himself killed fixing an electrical tower.” She sighed. “Now I wish I’d done some of the wild things in all those rumors.”
Shifter Mate Magic Page 3
