“I was not.”
“Even though you still lived in Houston back then, we barely saw you until she turned twelve.”
“She was safe then. It wasn’t likely she’d barf on me or something.”
He snorted. “Because kids do that every day. I’ve been around them since my bros started popping them out, and not once, not a single time, have any of them barfed on me.”
“That’s because you’re lucky.”
“Luck has nothing to do with it.”
She cocked a brow. “I’d prefer not to test fate.”
“You’ll have to eventually. We can put off cubs for a while but we both know your She Bear will urge you on.”
“Let me deal with her. I’d prefer to handle the Claiming first. Let’s not walk before we can run.”
He conceded that with a nod. “I figured that this might be what we need.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think you’ll only relax once you get to know me better. We can do that as we work to secure Savannah’s place in the Clan.”
She bit her lip. “I think that’s a smart choice.”
“Good.” He smiled. “I’ll let Toni know we’re on board.”
“What kind of Shifter is she?”
“Wolf.”
Cinda’s eyes widened. “Doesn’t the local Pack want her?”
“There’s not much of a Wolf presence in this area.” He shrugged. “Plus, her father is unaffiliated. They’re under no obligation to take her in.”
“Nothing save a moral one, dammit,” she scowled. “That’s so wrong. It could fuck her up being around a Clan and not a Pack. You know we do shit differently.”
“Better the devil you know, Cinda. What’s better for her? To be in a Clan that gives a damn, or a Pack that’s disinterested in her and has no connection to her whatsoever? Don’t forget, her dad knew Spyder, so at least he’s a familiar face. And whatever happens, better that she be out of human welfare. You know they can’t cater to a pup’s needs.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Let’s focus on what we can change. If she doesn’t settle in well, we can approach the Pack. The Council already decided that. But she’s been through enough, and Ava’s been messing around with her life trying to get her out so she’s bound to have whiplash from all the changes.” He sighed. “It can’t be helped, but we’ll all have to pull together to get her back on track.”
She stared at him, then slowly shook her head. “I can’t believe how wrong I was about you.”
His brows rose. “Really? In what way?”
She shrugged. “Most ways. I can’t believe how much you care. I saw it with the shelter, and see it every day when we go there, but you just keep hammering it home.”
“I’m glad you don’t have a problem with me working at the shelter. I know we’re supposed to be taking the time to get to know one another…”
She held up a hand to cut him off. “Don’t be crazy. It’s your passion and I understand that. Totally. I want to help. You know that.”
“I do.”
“Have you ever thought about helping Shifter runaways?”
“If they come in, sure. Not much I can do to encourage them to step in though.”
“No. I guess not.” She pursed her lips. “I wonder how many kids are like Savannah, though. Hidden in human welfare when they’re Shifters.” She shuddered. “I hate the very idea of it, especially with the boys. The first Shift is always shaky, but when they’re in that kind of environment? Plus, having to hide it from the others? That’s a bomb just waiting to go off.”
“Don’t forget the girls. You know what those places are like. Abuse is rife.”
“Not always,” she argued. “There are some good people in the system too.”
He pursed his lips. “You forget, I deal with the by-products of that system,” he argued. “Most of the kids are at the shelter because they ran away from foster homes or orphanages.”
“I know, but we can’t tar everyone with the same brush.”
“Can’t we?”
She snorted. “No.”
He rolled his eyes. “Regardless of whether there are good guys there or not, if a female shifts because they’re being abused… they could kill.” His joviality disappeared as his thoughts overwhelmed him. “We need to do something about this, Cinda. Dear Goddess, I don’t know why I never thought of it before.”
“Why would you? It’s not like Savannah’s situation is common.”
“How do we know? Not all Shifters are bagged and tagged.” By that, he was referring to the database the humans had on Shifters. Each new birth was listed and given a separate social security number to the ones humans received at birth.
“Do you like the idea of it, though? I know I don’t.” She pursed her lips. “Maybe we should look into it. See if there’s something we could do.”
He grimaced. “If we’re being totally honest here, Cinda, I wouldn’t have a damn clue about how to start something like that. I mean, I’ve spent most of the years the shelter’s been open hiding what I am. I know for a fact the human government would have issues with a Shifter running that kind of establishment for human kids.”
She snorted. “Like that should matter.”
He shrugged. “You know what they’re like. Prejudiced against us.”
“Only because they fear us. We scare them.”
“You can’t blame them. What we’re capable of is more than they can handle.” He pulled a face. “We just have to deal with the repercussions of that.”
She nodded, but still, turned inward as she processed what he’d just said—he had no idea how to start up something like a database of missing or lost Shifter kids.
Did she know someone who could help?
She frowned. “I don’t know any hackers.”
“Sure you do. Like I told you, Ava’s one.”
“Yeah, but she has enough on her plate without us adding to it.”
Jarvis hunched a shoulder. “I think she likes it. It keeps her out of trouble.”
“Spoken like a true male,” Cinda retorted, rolling her eyes at him. “She’s newly mated, Jarvis. I’m sure the last thing she wants to be doing is working. Especially after their rough start.”
“You can always ask. She might get offended if you don’t involve her. She’s surprisingly possessive over the club’s activities.”
“It’s been her whole life for so long. It makes sense.” She pursed her lips. “I will ask her, but only because she’s so good. But I’ll make sure she knows she doesn’t have to help.”
“Not like you can do much more. But why do you need her gifts?”
“If she could hack into the ‘bag and tag’ database, where most Shifter kids are listed, then we could cross reference those details with the police database on missing kids.”
“That would require her hacking into each state’s police department.” His eyes widened. “Dear Goddess, she’d probably kiss you for the challenge.”
“She might even have to hack into the federal database too if she wants to get the full scoop.”
“You’d be talking dirty to her.”
Cinda wrinkled her nose but couldn’t stop from grinning at him. “That’s gross.”
He just winked, then growing somber, murmured, “Only trouble is, kids like Savannah aren’t bagged and tagged. Jeez, not even her father is.”
“I know. But that’s another side to the battle.” She shivered a little. “This sounds stupid but whenever I’m about to hit a big story, like one that’s going to change shit, I get this really spooky feeling.”
“You’re getting it now?” he asked, watching as she rubbed her arms with trembling hands.
“Yeah. I am.”
“Did you get them before you wrote the articles that won a Pulitzer?”
She nodded.
He whistled out a breath. “Goddesses.”
“I know. I feel like we’re onto something big here, Jarvis. I d
on’t know why, I just do. And it’s not even like I’d write a story about this, but that feeling’s there.”
He frowned at her, but stepped away from the door and headed toward her, not stopping until he was directly in front of her and could wrap his arms about her. She fell into his embrace with a deep shudder that had him scowling with concern.
“Are you okay, baby?”
“No. Not really. I don’t like this.”
“No. Me neither. But we’ll work through it together. I’m damn certain Ava will want to help, and the rest of the Clan will, too. It’s bad enough having lost kids roaming around the streets that are humans, but ones that are Shifters too? It puts our entire society in danger, but more than that, shows we’re as fucking bad as humans where it comes to kids.” He sighed. “I always felt kind of smug, you know? Felt like there’s no way in hell a cub would ever walk through my door because family is too important to our kind. But look at Savannah? She’s one of us, and because her dad avoided the database like most of us have, she’s lost.”
She nuzzled into him. “We can do this. We can help.”
He pressed his lips to her temple. “We sure can, sweetness.”
She rubbed her forehead against his chest. “I want you, Jarvis. I know you don’t think I’m ready, but I need you more than I want you, and that’s saying something.”
He sighed. “You’re not ready. And we have to go over to the estate. We need to make one of the spare houses look like our home for when welfare comes to visit.”
“What time are they due to come around?”
“Early this evening. Around 6.”
“So late?”
He nodded. “Toni arranged it. She needed to make time, considering we didn’t know if you might not agree to it.”
“I know I’m a bitch and I’m an isolationist, but I’m not that big a bitch,” she huffed, her face still pressed against his shirt, hiding her hurt from him.
He pressed the crown of her head again. “I know. But she doesn’t know you. All she knows is what Mundo let slip.”
“I guess that makes sense. I doubt he’s ever painted me in a positive picture. The jerk.”
Jarvis snorted.
“It’s only 11,” she whispered softly, then peeked up at him, her eyes pleading with him for something her body desperately needed. “I can make a house a home in less than an hour. But I need you, Jarvis. I know you say I’m nervous, and I am. But not the way you think. I’m nervous because this is my first time. It has nothing to do with anything else.
“What happened that first night, my flinching, was subconscious. That’s because the last guy to touch me that way was Kinder. I don’t want it to be that way. My She Bear needs to eradicate his scent and replace it with yours.” She closed her eyes a second as she sucked in a deep breath. “Please, Jarvis. I need you to make me yours.”
He stared down at her and she wanted to drown in those ocean blue eyes of his. He studied her like she was a textbook he needed to memorize the day before an exam. And she let him. Let him look deep into her eyes, let him find whatever it was he was seeking.
She blew out a breath when he nodded, slowly.
“But we take it gently,” he cautioned. “If you want to back out, at any moment, you let me know, okay? I don’t want you or the Sow becoming frightened of me.” He cleared his throat. “Cinda, it would kill me if that happened, okay? You have to protect both our feelings here. Don’t push for what you’re not ready to accept.”
Because she felt his sincerity, Cinda wanted to melt at that.
The idea of her hating him, of her being scared, frightened or revolted by him, was as large a hang up for him as eradicating Kinder’s scent from her memory banks was to her.
She could understand his needs, understand his desperation, and nodded. “Of course. But it won’t be a problem. My She Bear is getting so antsy at having you close and not being yours wholly. She’ll feel so much better once you’ve made her yours.”
She’d have been totally insensitive if she’d failed to notice his reaction to her words. She smiled a little, but not smugly. She hadn’t said what she’d said to get a rise from him—although one part of his body was certainly making its presence felt against her lower belly—she’d said it because it was the truth.
She needed him. And Cinda had made it a point to never need anyone. Ever. This was a turning point in her life, but it didn’t frighten her.
How could it?
This was her male. He’d been born to be hers, and she’d avoided the rightful Claim he had over her because of stupid beliefs she’d had. She’d been young, scared.
But no more.
Now she was a mature female. She was ready to be his, ready to be Claimed.
Ready to become a woman in every sense of the word.
Maybe he sensed that because he bent down, grabbed her calves, then hoisted her up in the air. She let out a squeak that had him laughing, as he directed her calves around his hips.
With their sexes connecting and jostling against one another as he strode away, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight. His scent overwhelmed her at that moment. And she felt sure it was because Jarvis’s Bear was fully aware of what was about to happen and had risen to the surface.
She loved that. Her own Sow came out to play and Jarvis staggered in the hallway, a few steps away from her bedroom, and just took a second to breathe deeply.
“You smell like sin and fucking heaven combined,” he grated out.
“I smell like yours,” she whispered shyly. “Because that’s what I am.”
He shuddered and she realized then that he was hanging on to his control by the skin of his teeth.
She loved that though. It didn’t frighten her. Maybe it should have done. The last time she’d come face to face with another man’s lust, it had been a sadistic, twisted kind of lust. The man had wanted her body and her blood. He’d wanted her dead as much as he’d wanted to fuck her. He’d wanted her to struggle, for her to scream as he took her.
But this? This was the opposite.
Even as those memories surfaced in response to the first sexual touch she’d had since her abduction, they were batted away by her Sow. Because the She Bear was refusing to let the female be confused.
This was her male. This was the male the Goddesses had granted her at birth. He was perfect for her. He would become everything she needed.
But more than that.
He was pure.
Oh, not of body and not of mind, but he was pure for her. He wiped away the filth that that bastard had left behind and replaced it with him. The Sow reveled in Jarvis’s scent, his essence, taking great big gulps of air loaded with the smell of him to cleanse her senses, and to stamp him onto every part of her.
The woman could do nothing less than smile at her She Bear’s reaction, smile and embrace it. Then, she let the beast and her mate take over.
They both knew what needed to be done. Cinda allowed herself to flutter away, to abandon herself to what was about to happen.
She was about to become Jarvis’s in every way known to Shifters.
And fuck, she couldn’t wait.
Chapter 8
The scent of her, dear Goddess. It was like nothing he’d ever smelt before, and yet, it was one he’d known for so long.
Even with the birth control, he’d always noticed how delicious she scented. Of course, because of the hormones he’d never wanted to act on the scent, but now he knew he could drown in it and die a happy man.
“Are we just going to stand here in the hallway?”
He wanted to smile at the giggle in her voice. Cinda was not the kind of woman who giggled, and hearing that lit him up from the inside out.
There was nothing more that he wanted than for her to be happy. Not just with him, but with life in general.
She’d been so scared for so many years that he’d want to take over, that he’d try to ruin her life by not allowing her to accomplish her goals, tha
t she’d felt that way made him want to ensure he never held her back. That he helped her with all of her goals, enabled her to reach all of the targets she’d set herself.
His mate was an ambitious woman and rather than resent that or find reason to feel fear, he wanted to help her succeed.
The wash of feelings overwhelmed him, and he sucked in a shaky breath, not to suck in every ounce of her he could, but simply to stabilize himself.
She seemed to sense that because she nuzzled into him, her forehead brushing against his throat where his own scent would be strongest.
He didn’t reply to her question, didn’t even bother laughing, just strode into her room.
This place hadn’t been used much in the past two decades. The TVs were still plasma—high technology at the time, but way out of date at the moment. The furniture was that bizarre minimalist style that looked kind of elegant to the eye but also looked like it could belong on a mission to Mars.
At that moment though, he didn’t care. All that mattered was the bedroom had a bed in it. One that was relatively comfortable and large enough to fit him.
He had to wonder if she’d bought the damn thing with that in mind because it was definitely a ‘special’ bed. Customized for his length. And she was an itty bitty thing. No way did she need one as long as this.
They’d been sharing the bed for the past ten days, but had done little more than cuddle in it.
Jarvis would never have imagined himself being a cuddler, but hell, a mate had a way of changing a man.
The curtains were still drawn and light was dim in here even though it was just before midday. He didn’t bother switching on the overhead lamp; just took a seat at the edge of the bed and let her find her stability afterward.
Cinda pressed her knees into the mattress, then used the base to power up a little so she could sit with more comfort on his lap.
She moved away from him and stared him square in the eye as she cupped his chin. Bringing her mouth closer to his, he let her make the first move and sighed with delight when she let their lips drift together.
With a moan, she settled harder against his lap, wriggling as sensations began to bombard her.
It was hard to believe she was a virgin. In her own way, she was a sensual creature, but he knew he had to be careful. Knew he had to let her find her own path where this was concerned.
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