by Lauren Esker
She must be upset to be talking that openly about shifting on an unsecured line. "Sorry," he said when he could get a word in. "I didn't mean to worry anyone. I got, uh, hurt. I'm feeling a lot better now."
"Oh," Cho said. Her voice dialed down a notch. "Damn. Sorry. You know, we've been combing the ashes of the fire for your remains."
"God. I'm sorry, Jen. I didn't know."
"Not your fault." She let out a sigh with a hitch in the middle of it. "This is a mess, Noah. You're okay, really?"
"Reasonably. Give me another day or two. Do you have a minute? There are some things I need to tell you."
"I'll make time." In the background he heard traffic; she was near a highway. "I've got some intel for you too, but you go first."
Briefly, all too aware of Peri listening, he told her about Dr. Bassi's betrayal and the scar-faced man who had tried to shoot him.
"So I guess we can put Bassi on the list of people who didn't die in the fire either. Was scar-face dude one of us? I mean, did you get the feeling from him?"
"Yes," Noah said. "Except different. He's one of—those people you told me about, isn't he?"
Peri might not be a shifter, but he sensed that if she'd had cat ears, they would have pricked with interest.
"Possibly," Cho said. "Probably? I need to talk to some people about it. In the meantime, we know enemy agents are operating in the area, and we are proceeding under the assumption that there is an active plot against us, probably involving some kind of shifter-only pathogen, even if we've only seen parts of their plan yet."
Noah took a deep breath. Head in the game, Easton. "Tell me what you need me to do."
"For now, I need you to stay right where you are. If you're with any others of our kind, they need to stay there too. As of now, you're in quarantine."
"Quarantine?" he repeated in disbelief, getting an even more intrigued look from Peri.
"Stiers' orders. Don't push the panic button, Easton. We don't know if you were exposed to anything at the morgue. We don't even know if there is a pathogen yet. We're just trying to keep things from spreading until we do know."
"Fair enough," he admitted. "Trish—if I was exposed, she was too. She was with me at the morgue. I just talked to her on the phone."
"Yeah, she's answering phones from a private room at the clinic. She's our number one guinea pig right now, at least until the lab gets their hands on you."
"I thought Veliz was our guinea pig." It was a terrible joke, but the only thing he could come up with.
Cho snorted. "No, she's a chinchilla. Get your rodents straight. For the record, Trish is fine so far, disease-wise at least. You got any sniffles or anything?"
"I'm fine except for getting shot."
"Sounds fine to me," she said dryly. "So where in the seventh circle of heck are you?"
"I'm in the Cascades with some of Peri Moreland's friends. She's fine too, by the way," he couldn't help adding. "And they're all normals, so no worries there." Peri was vigorously pantomiming questions. Noah shook his head at her. "Is there anything else I can do to help? I hate being sidelined like this."
"For starters, tell me how we can find you. Lafitte is going to want to give you a work-up. She's gone full vampire on everyone she can get a blood-draw needle into."
"I'm going to turn you over to Peri. She's the one who drove us here. She can give you directions."
He handed over the receiver, despite her vigorous "no, no" pantomime. "What?" he whispered, covering the receiver.
"I can't tell the feds how to get to the farm!" she whispered back. "They'll kill us! Maybe literally!"
"Tell them how to get to the town, then."
Peri obstinately shook her head.
Noah sighed. "Okay, apparently I'm not allowed to tell you my location. Peri, can you even tell me what county we're in?"
"Okanogan," she said with visible reluctance.
"Oh, yeah, that narrows it down," Cho said when he passed this along. Okanogan, in the North Cascades, was geographically the largest county in Washington. "What do you mean, you're not allowed to tell me?"
"I'm staying with people who don't like the government much." This got an approving nod from Peri.
"Oh, my God," Cho said. "You're not staying with friends of Peri's, you're staying with the actual Morelands, aren't you? They have some kind of Waco-style compound up in the mountains, don't they?"
"I really don't think we're supposed to know that, but yes."
"I would ask if they have a phone, but I bet you're not allowed to tell me that, either."
"Pretty much, and there's no cell service where we are."
"So no phone number, no way to get in touch, and any black helicopters will get run off at gunpoint. Got it."
"We don't even have black helicopters," Noah couldn't resist pointing out. "We have one brightly painted ex-Coast Guard helicopter."
"Which is definitely not flying up there anytime soon. Check in tomorrow, then, will you?"
"Got it. Listen, I'm gonna run out of quarters in a minute." He wished he could keep her on the line a little longer, but it was foolish, just the child in him groping at the familiar. "Take care of yourself."
"You too, Easton."
He hung up and leaned his forehead against the side of the phone's weatherproof enclosure.
"Well?" Peri asked. "Well? What was that all about? What did you mean, quarantine?"
"Apparently I'm under orders to stay out here for awhile. So it looks like we get to enjoy the compound's hospitality for a little longer." He motioned to the car; Peri got in. "You remember those international criminals I told you about?"
"The ones that keep coming after me? No, I forgot all about them."
Noah smiled, or tried to; it felt more like a twisting of his lips. "It's not really you they're after. It's us, shifters I mean. It looks like you and I both stumbled into a cover-up, and for a change, not one that we're running."
"Cover-up of what?" Peri asked warily.
"There's a group of people out there who hate shifters enough that they may have custom-engineered a shifter disease. It could be what killed those bodies at the morgue, the ones you saw."
Peri jerked away. "What?"
"It's a whole lot of maybes," Noah hastened to reassure her—and himself. "For one thing, if there is a disease, you wouldn't be in any danger. Humans aren't. At least I don't think so."
"That's super comforting, thanks." Peri crossed her arms and slouched in the passenger seat. "So quarantine means you, and you're being quarantined with us? Thank you very much."
"I'm only quarantined from other shifters. Sort of. Look, we just don't know. Right now all I'm doing is spinning my wheels and waiting for new orders."
"I gotta hand it to you, Noah. If I was going to step into the middle of conspiracy central, I really am getting the full experience."
She was quiet as he pulled out of the parking lot and turned back onto the highway.
"You okay?" Noah asked her.
"Yeah, I guess so. Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
"I really do feel okay. Even if the bodies were contagious, which we still don't know about, I never touched them. I never even saw them."
"But you were at the morgue."
"For about five minutes. I think the SCB is erring on the side of caution, and I don't blame them, but I doubt if there's anything to be worried about."
Or so he was working to convince himself. It beat turning into a gibbering wreck, which wouldn't help anyone.
"If you say so. Oh, go that way." She pointed to a turn-off he hadn't taken before.
"This isn't the road back to the compound."
"I know that, Mr. Yale Scholar. I want to show you something."
They crawled up a steeply climbing, rutted track that gave the Camaro's suspension a workout. Noah tried not to wince too openly at every bump, especially when he heard bushes scrape against the side of the car.
"Sorry," Peri said. "It's been ages since I
came up here, and it wasn't this overgrown. Also, it looks different from a truck."
"It's okay. I'll live." Scratches could be repaired, he told himself. Dents could be banged out. As much cosmetic work as the car was going to need after this, it wasn't like a few extra scrapes would make a difference.
But when he pulled out at the top of the ridge, he understood why she'd wanted to bring him here. From up here, he could see the whole valley, hazy and golden in the afternoon sun. The road was a pale ribbon looping over the hills. He traced it with his eyes until he found the intersecting road and the little cluster of buildings that marked the town.
"You can't see the farm from here," Peri said. "It's out of sight behind that hill." She pointed. "But I always liked this place. I used to ride my bike up here as a kid when I needed to get away from everything. I thought you might need a distraction. I sure do."
It was windy on the ridge. The car rocked and creaked as gusts buffeted its frame. Noah leaned back in his seat and watched an eagle soaring around a distant mountain peak, appearing and disappearing against the vivid blue sky.
A soft touch on his arm made him turn. Peri's hand had crept out to glide down his forearm. He turned his hand over and let her fingers nest into his, as if they were made to go there.
"I'm so sorry," she said softly. "About all of this. I guess that's probably a stupid thing to say, it doesn't matter if I'm sorry, but I'm still sorry that my people are doing this to your people."
He managed a smile. "It's not all humans. Most humans I know are good people. Brave and kind." His thumb rubbed across the back of her hand. "And pretty."
Peri glanced down, flushing. "Oh, stop. I know what I look like."
"You don't think you're pretty?" He was genuinely surprised. She had a lovely face, almost elfin with her narrow jaw and vivid blue-gray eyes.
"C'mon, Noah, I've got a face made for radio. Or for blogging."
Noah hooked a finger under her chin and tipped up her chin so that she had to lift her stormcloud gaze to his face. "You're the prettiest girl in this car."
This made her snort a startled laugh. "You're terrible."
His teasing grin faded. "But seriously, you're beautiful, Peri. You really are."
And part of what made her beautiful, he now realized, was the idiosyncratic look she cultivated. She had the fine bone structure to pull off a hairstyle like the one she habitually wore, with the back of her head shaved and the rest of her hair teased up in a mermaid-colored pompom. With her hair pulled into a high ponytail, as it currently was, her head looked narrow and sleek. She wasn't wearing any makeup today, the first time he'd seen her without her habitual shades of vivid blue, green, or pink lipstick that matched whatever color her hair happened to be. Her lips, as always, looked impossibly kissable.
So he kissed them. It was getting comfortable by now as he learned the shape of her mouth and the things he could do with lips and tongue to draw little moans from her.
Peri leaned over the gearshift, kissing back vigorously. She was an active kisser, nibbling his lips and darting her tongue around the corner of his mouth. When they broke apart, she was bright-eyed and excited-looking. The tip of her tongue darted out and licked at the corner of her mouth. It was impossibly sexy.
"So, I'm not quite sure how to lead into this," she said. "There's actually another reason why I brought you up here. It wasn't just to admire the view."
"Oh wow," Noah said weakly. That kiss had tented out the front of his jeans. "I ... think I might have condoms in the back—"
"What?" She looked startled. "I—no—well, yes, if you want to, but—Noah, I want to see you turn into a tiger."
With his mind still on a particular track, all he could think to say was a disbelieving, "During sex?"
Peri cuffed his arm.
"Hey!"
"Pay attention here. I want to see you—what do you call it? Shift? Is that okay? I mean, do you have taboos against it or anything? Does it hurt you?"
"No, it doesn't hurt, and no, it's not taboo. Not for someone who knows about us, anyway."
Now that she'd asked him, he was very conscious of his tiger rising inside him, eagerly responding both to Peri's presence and to the lure of the forest. He rarely felt it this strongly, but he also wasn't in the woods very often. Noah was a city kid, but the tiger part of him knew what it wanted.
"So?" Peri asked eagerly.
"I have to undress. The clothes don't go with me."
"Oh no," she said, eyes bright. "What a hardship. How will I cope."
Chapter Ten
To Peri's relief, Noah didn't seem to be offended or upset at her request. In fact, he looked eager as he got out of the car.
You just turned down sex to watch a dude turn into a big cat.
But sex was definitely not off the table for later. And how many opportunities would she get to see a guy turn into a tiger?
Well ... lots ... hopefully. She hoped very much that Noah was going to be a part of her life in the future. She felt as if she was poised on the edge of an incredible adventure, a secret world opening up in front of her.
For now, though, she didn't want to think about the future or the past. She was wholly here in the moment, watching Noah strip off his leather jacket with its tiger-striped shoulders.
And then she had to laugh at the sight of the Roswell T-shirt he was wearing underneath. "Really?"
Noah looked baffled before glancing down at the shirt. The confused look faded into annoyed resignation. "It's not mine. Where are my clothes, by the way?"
"Soaking in cold water at Ramona's with a bunch of salt. You bled all over them." She waved her hand in a "hurry up" motion. "Come on, buddy, those clothes aren't taking themselves off."
Noah grinned in a charmingly shy way. "Wow, you're really into this." He glanced around. "Actually, I probably shouldn't shift out in the open anyway. Someone could be watching with binoculars, or an airplane might fly over."
To Peri it seemed like they were utterly alone, but she followed Noah to the edge of the trees. "Is that what it's like for you all the time, having to think about things like that?"
"We don't shift very often. Usually we just live like anybody else does." He peeled out of the T-shirt, giving Peri a dazzling view of a well-built chest with a light dusting of black curls. Toned muscles rippled beneath his dark skin as he bent to take off his shoes.
She hadn't been able to appreciate it the night before. She'd been too busy trying not to die and hoping he didn't die. Now she was able to stand back and enjoy it, especially with the afternoon sun lending rich golden tones to his medium-brown skin. But then she frowned as something new occurred to her.
She had helped Ramona clean him up the previous night, washing off the blood and disinfecting his cuts and burns and bullet wounds. Now the burns were almost invisible, showing only as slightly paler and pinker skin when the sun hit him at the right angle. Three pink, puckered scars were visible, one on his upper arm, one on his hip, and one low on his abdomen. When he bent over to take off his shoes, she saw an exit wound on his lower back.
Last night, all those injuries had been fresh and new, although—come to think of it—they hadn't been bleeding when she and Ramona had bandaged him, even if the sheer amount of blood suggested it shouldn't have been able to stop on its own. And now his wounds looked like they'd happened weeks ago.
"Noah," she said, and he looked up from stuffing his socks into his shoes. "You did get shot last night, right?"
"Yeah, that dude with the hunting rifle—" He stopped. Looked down at his bare torso. Looked back at her. "Right. There's another thing about being a shifter I haven't mentioned yet."
"You heal fast." She couldn't stop staring. Last night. The wounds were almost gone.
If I'd been a shifter, would they have been able to reattach my leg?
She forced the thought away. It didn't matter; it was a decade and a half ago, much too long to indulge in what-ifs and might-have-beens. Anyway, Noah was
taking his pants off now, which made it hard to concentrate on other things.
She'd forgotten they hadn't given him underwear, which meant he was bare-ass naked under the sweat pants. Her brain was just about prepared for Noah in tightie whities, but not at all prepared for the sudden appearance of naked man bum. Very excellent naked man bum, in her unbiased opinion.
"Okay, here goes," he said, and started to bend over. Holy hell, went the baser part of her brain, and then—
There was no fanfare, no special effects, no sudden pop! of displaced air. It was almost like Noah melted, a quick flowing ripple that settled in a fraction of a second. He started leaning over as a man, but it was a pair of tiger paws that plunked to the rocky mountain soil.
He shuddered all over, a long shiver that lifted the fur from one end of his stripy body to the other, and raised his massive head to look at her.
"Wow," Peri whispered.
She'd seen tigers in zoos and nature documentaries, but standing so close to one made her skin tingle in a way that was not quite fear, not quite excitement. Maybe a little of both. Noah had been a very handsome man, so of course he was a glorious tiger, healthy and gleaming, in the prime of his life.
He was also huge. She'd never realized how big tigers were. Or was Noah an exceptionally big tiger? Either way, his muscular shoulder came up to the middle of her chest. The shoulder was the highest point on him; rather than holding his head up like a dog or a cat, he had it lowered, and his long back sloped down to a gently curving tail with a twitching tip.
He took a slow, rolling step forward, muscles rippling beneath his glossy pelt. Peri had to fight to stand her ground and not step backward. His eyes held her. They were dark gold, instead of Noah's usual deep brown, but they were also recognizably Noah's eyes. Those eyes promised that he would never hurt her: the claws would stay sheathed, the fangs hidden.
