by E A Price
Carrick raised an eyebrow, and she groaned. “Of course not; you’re not scared of anything.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
Lauren flicked a look of apology at him. She thought he meant his time in the cage. No, that frustrated and angered him. The only thing he was currently scared of was losing Lauren.
Juliet smiled in a way that was surely supposed to be reassuring. On a vampire, it was downright wicked. “Carrick.”
He nodded and forced himself to return the smile. “Juliet. This is my mate, Lauren.”
“Of course, we spoke on the phone.”
Juliet gave his mate an appraising look, and his tiger rumbled at his mate’s unease, but she had nothing to worry about. Juliet chuckled, dark eyes twinkling. “Congratulations, you’re a lucky man. Shall we order?” She slipped into the booth. “I’ll only have blood, of course, but you two order whatever you like – you must be hungry.”
Lauren stumbled slightly, and Carrick righted her, his hand lingering on her waist.
Juliet clasped her hands together. “So, tell me again about these new memories.”
Twenty-Four
“What else do you remember about the pretty blonde?”
Carrick stopped mooning after Lauren and snarled at Juliet. “I didn’t say she was pretty.”
Juliet looked at him smugly. “Lauren can’t hear you from the bathroom.”
“Wouldn’t matter if she could,” he muttered, and his beast grumbled at the vampire.
“You’re not as hard to read as you think you are. I can see you’re smitten with her, and obviously, you don’t want to upset her. Maybe she’s annoyed about your mystery blonde now, but she’ll get over it. She cares for you.”
Carrick let out a humph, but his beast practically bounced around at Juliet’s proclamation. He wasn’t blind; he knew Lauren was coming to care for him. It was just nice to know that someone else saw it, too.
“I’m not going to lie, Carrick, there isn’t much more to go on than there was thirteen years ago. I hate to say it, but don’t get your hopes up.”
“Don’t worry; I won’t.”
Juliet twinkled. “So getting you out here was Lauren’s doing?”
He growled in warning.
“It is a good sign that you’re starting to regain your memories.”
“Don’t know why it’s happening now.”
“Perhaps you’re just more relaxed now.” Juliet tapped a red tipped finger against her lip. “I wonder why.”
“Hmmm.”
Lauren, crooned his tiger, not that he was going to talk to Juliet about their relationship.
“Lauren seems to think we should check out the department stores she found, but you don’t think there’s any point.”
Juliet ran a finger around the rim of her glass. “I wouldn’t say that. I’m old enough to never dismiss anything outright…” Her face darkened momentarily. “Well, not quite anything. There’s always a chance, but like I say, I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Perhaps you could consider trying hypnotherapy again – Dr. Mark is retired now, you’d be seeing someone else. Also, I’m sure you’ll be pleased to hear that his testicular retrieval operation went very well.”
Smug bastard. Grrr.
“Do you want me to tag along with you to the department stores?”
“We’ll be fine.”
Her grin turned even smugger. “Well, I wouldn’t want to cramp your style. You are still in the honeymoon stage.”
He was about to growl when his tiger perked up, indicating Lauren was on her way back. She slid into the booth and gave the two of them a strained smile. At least she wasn’t hopping the first plane back home. Juliet was right; she’d get over it. He’d just prefer it to happen sooner rather than later. Although, if the worst he remembered about himself was an ex-girlfriend possibly called Emily, then he would consider himself very lucky.
*
Jealousy wasn’t something new for Lauren. She’d always been jealous of her slim, beautiful pride mates. Always wondered what it would be like to have parents who really cared for her. But there was just something about that damn vampire that made her tiger want to claw the perfect smile off her face.
Stupid really. Juliet wasn’t interested in Carrick. If she were, Lauren would have been able to scent it. But the woman was dainty, with flawless, creamy skin, red, sensual lips and silky, inky black hair. Her perfection was astonishing – Lauren had never seen anyone who walked around like they’d been airbrushed. Made her almost forget her worries about Carrick’s mystery blonde who may or may not be called Emily.
Was she overreacting about that? Carrick was older than her; she knew he’d been with women before her. But the thought that he was dreaming of another woman – while sleeping with her – was upsetting. Maybe all men did it. She was probably just too naïve about what real relationships entailed.
Were her panties in a twist over nothing?
No groused her tiger.
Should she just forget about it and concentrate on more important things?
The tiger sniffed. Not at all.
Should she realize that Carrick wanted her? That he pursued her, even when she didn’t want him to, and told her he would even fight off the rest of the pride to be with her?
Okay, maybe.
Maybe she was being a wee bit of a selfish brat about it. Lauren tamped down her irritation and slipped her hand into her mate’s. He stopped walking, forcing her to stop as well and stared at her. Then he slid an arm around her waist, pulled her against his body and claimed her mouth with an intensity that was perhaps a little bit too passionate for a shopping mall. She considered trying to stop him, but the way he clutched at her, the way his mouth took hers, told her he needed this, and she wasn’t going to deny him. Lauren clung to him as her inner beast howled in joy.
It was only when somebody gave them a catcall that they stopped.
He tore himself away from her mouth and snarled. If people weren’t giving them a wide berth before, they certainly were now. Lauren pressed her forehead against his chest, and tried to ignore the fact that her legs were totally jellified.
“I’m sorry about how I reacted,” she breathed. “I was being mean.”
Carrick actually chuckled, his huge body rocking against her. “You’re still sweet when you’re mean.”
“I doubt it…”
“Let’s go to our hotel room.”
His arousal, delicious and strong hit her, and she almost gasped at the swelling erection she felt against her stomach. “It took us an hour to drive here,” she protested weakly.
“Umm hmmm, let’s go back to our hotel room.”
Lauren leaned back to see the serious, brooding look on his face. Darn, he was sexy when he looked at her like that. Her insides did a flip, and she almost gave in to him, but…
“We’re here now. Let’s just check it out and then we’ll call it a day.”
Carrick rolled his eyes. “Fine, but let’s hurry.”
Unobtrusively he readjusted his pants, scowling when Lauren giggled, and then gripping her hand and damn near running towards Pandora’s.
They’d already checked out another store called Parker’s. It wasn’t exactly what she expected. There wasn’t that much info on the web about them, and it turned out they only sold party supplies. Needless to say, nothing was familiar to Carrick.
Pandora’s was second on their list, and given the lingerie displays in the window, it was a lot more promising. Carrick halted at the entrance and inhaled sharply. His hold tightened, and his muscles rippled.
“Is it familiar?”
“Maybe.”
Slowly he walked inside, moving between the displays of underwear. In fact, it was all underwear.
“Is this the place from your memory?”
“It could be. I guess they would have redecorated over the years.”
“May I help you?” a young, smiling sales clerk approached them, her expression only flickering slightly as sh
e noticed Carrick’s scars. She looked at Lauren. “Are you looking for something to spice up your sex life?”
Her tiger balked. Their sex life was amazing!
Lauren recovered first before Carrick acted on the murderous glint in his eye. “Actually, this might sound odd, but I was wondering if anyone who works here was around - say about thirteen to fourteen years ago? Or more?”
The young woman frowned. “I think maybe Fran was. Let me go check.”
She left in a cloud of perfume, and Carrick rumbled impatiently. “We should go.”
“Not yet, please. Let’s just wait and meet Fran, and then we can go and…”
“Gilligan!”
Lauren blinked and turned to find a stunning middle-aged woman bearing down on them.
“Good heavens, Gilligan! What on earth happened to you?” She looked at Carrick in shock.
“Gilligan?!”
Twenty-Five
Fran stirred her coffee, not quite able to hide her dismay at Carrick’s scars.
Fuck her, snarled his beast. Leave. Get out of there. Nothing about the situation appealed to his beast. Especially the name ‘Gilligan’.
“Amnesia?” Fran repeated, pursing her lips in disbelief.
“Yes,” said Lauren with just a hint of impatience. He squeezed her leg under the table, trying to reassure her.
“So you don’t remember me at all?”
Lauren’s eyes shimmered yellow, and he thought it best that he do the talking. His mate was even antsier than him.
“No. Clearly, you remember me… as someone called Gilligan.”
“Gilly for short.”
The bad news just gets worse. “How do you know me?”
“You used to date a girl who worked with me at Pandora’s. A lion shifter called Emily Jacobs…”
Lauren almost flinched at the name, and he rubbed his thumb over her thigh.
“I thought the two of you were going to get married; I was always catching you together in the changing rooms. The two of you were perfect together. You couldn’t be happier, and I’ve never seen anyone more in love.”
Fran smiled indulgently, and his tiger sneered. Carrick wrapped his arm around Lauren’s shoulder, afraid she might actually lunge at the woman.
“Then one day,” she sighed dramatically, “Emily was in tears, and she wouldn’t say a word about what happened. Not to me,” she added on a sniff. “A week later, she quit, and that was that. She sent me a few Christmas cards over the years, but I don’t know where she is now. I’m sorry to tell you, Gilly but she got married. It must break your heart to hear that.”
Lauren’s nostrils flared, and his own tiger howled at the slight to his mate.
“Do you remember my last name?” he grunted, wanting to get Lauren, his tiger and himself away from this damn woman.
Fran shrugged a pair of bony shoulders. “I’m not sure. Brooks, maybe. It never really came up.”
“Thanks.”
Carrick dropped a few bills on the table and stood up, pulling his simmering mate with him.
Fran stood up and gave him a pouty look of sympathy. She placed a hand on his arm. “You poor man, you used to be so handsome.”
Fran started shaking her head before a growl from Lauren had her jumping. “He still is,” Lauren snapped, dragging him away.
*
Carrick stared at the house.
Lauren tried to hide her yawn. After meeting the awful Fran, they returned to their hotel room, and Carrick wasn’t particularly happy. She spent the night consoling him, which meant she was now exhausted and actually a little sore – not that she was complaining. Rawr.
He tried to apologize to her for the things Fran said, but Lauren hushed him. She could care less what that vile woman said or thought. She was just pleased that they had actually made some progress. Maybe Carrick was finally getting a bit of luck. The department store had been a long shot, but it paid off.
Lauren called Juliet, told her about his name and Juliet had managed to come up with some suggestions. According to records, there was a male tiger shifter called Gilligan Booker who would be about Carrick’s age. There was no missing person report for him, but that didn’t mean anything. The house they were sitting outside belonged to Georgie Booker – mother of Gilligan.
“Happening so fast,” he muttered, and Lauren clutched his hand.
“Do you recognize anything about this place? According to Juliet, if you are Gilligan Booker, you grew up here.”
“Maybe. But it’s a pretty generic road.” He turned to her. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Carrick jumped out the car and jogged around to Lauren’s side to open her door. As they walked up to the house, he squeezed her hand like his life depended on it, and Lauren had her own mild panic attack.
What if it was his family? What if he wanted to move back to be with them? What if he met Emily again and decided she was the love of his life?
Her tiger whined, and Lauren tamped down her worries. No. This was about Carrick, not her. There was a huge hole in his life, and she wanted him to know who he was.
Carrick banged his fist on the door, ignoring the doorbell. There was no answer, and he did it again.
“Okay! I’m coming!” snarled a crotchety voice from inside the house.
The door flung open to reveal an older tigress with narrowed, irritated eyes and a scowl. Her face nearly dropped to the ground when she saw Carrick.
“Gilly!”
The older tigress promptly fainted.
Twenty-Six
“I can’t believe you’re back!” exclaimed Georgie, prodding and pulling at Carrick’s cheeks. “I never thought I’d see you again.”
Carrick fought the tiger’s urge to flee. This person was his mother, and he, therefore, couldn’t kill her, so he should flee. When she started pulling on his ears he reached up and stilled her hands.
After she fainted, and on Lauren’s insistence, he picked her up and brought her into the house. Carrick wanted to leave her, but Lauren said they couldn’t do that. Lauren was making some tea while Georgie mauled his face.
Lauren walked in carrying a tray and Georgie beamed at her.
“It’s about time you came home to see your mother,” she scolded.
“I told you, I have amnesia,” he grunted again. It didn’t seem to be sinking in.
He’d like to say that he had the wrong house, but the tigress had pictures of him all over her living room from when he was young. Lauren had already seen the one from when he was about five, and he was in a paddling pool holding his winky. Why anyone would frame that, he didn’t know. But Lauren found it hilarious. It wasn’t his fault – his sisters had dared him to…
Carrick froze, and even his tiger was staring at him in slack-jawed amazement. He remembered something. He remembered something…
He looked at the other photos. There was another from his oldest sister’s eighteenth birthday party. He was nine at the time and was scowling because his dad had just given him a hiding for trying to steal Mr. Johnson’s riding mower. In his defense, he wanted to go to the store… to get cigarettes. Damn, he was a terrible child.
His tiger rumbled as Lauren placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Are you okay, honey?”
Honey? He took a moment to enjoy that before nodding and pulling her down to sit next to him. “I’m starting to remember some shit.”
Carrick growled as his mother hit him with a rolled up magazine. “No swearing in this house, young man, but I won’t insist on you putting anything in the swear jar as I’m just glad you’re back.”
Lauren pressed her lips together to stop herself from laughing too hard, and Carrick rolled his eyes.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, Mrs. Booker…” started Lauren.
“Georgie, please,” she insisted.
“Georgie, but why didn’t you file a missing person report for Carrick – Gilligan?”
Her lips curled up in amusement as she said
the name. Yeah, sticking with Carrick might be a better idea. That was the name his mate moaned and screamed as he gave her orgasm after orgasm. He couldn’t imagine her doing that with the name Gilligan.
Georgie seemed to deflate with sadness. Carrick couldn’t say for certain, but he thought her to be in her late seventies, and she was still a robust and large tigress, but at that moment, she looked small and old.
“Gilly, you never got along with your father, and maybe he was a little hard on you, and maybe you were a little wild. But you ran away dozens of times when you were younger. So when you were nineteen, and you left a note that you were moving to Hawaii – we weren’t that surprised, and I did get a postcard from you. After a while, I did start to worry, but my mate… he told me to forget about you. That you’d rejected us, and he didn’t let me file a report.”
Georgie rose to her feet, shuffling and unsteady as she moved, and picked up a picture of a stern male, glowering at the camera. “Gilligan Sr. was a good man… deep down. He died a couple of years ago. He was twenty years older than me. But after he went, I didn’t think about looking for you… maybe I should have.”
She wiped a few stray tears away and turned a bright smile on Carrick. “But you’re back now. What have you been doing all these years?”
“Well…”
*
“Georgie’s asleep,” said Lauren as she entered the room, trying not to snicker at the posters of half-naked women on the walls.
Carrick’s tiger pushed at him, and he got up to take them down. He remembered putting them up to piss off his mother, to dissuade her from coming into his room to clean. Those and the various booby traps.
“I don’t know why we have to stay here,” he grumbled. They had a perfectly good hotel room – already paid for. So why were they trapped in his childhood room?
Lauren frowned at him “We couldn’t leave her alone, you saw how upset she was when she found out about… about everything you’ve been through.”
“She’ll get over it.”
“Plus, I don’t think she’s well. She told me she was injured during her shift and it never healed properly. She has limited mobility. She has a helper come by every day to assist her. She said her eldest daughter, Gertie, pays for it. Do you remember Georgie? Or your sisters?”
