“With?”
Now Daniel’s weathered eyes grew sad. “With Leticia.”
“My mother.” Clearly, there’d been a whole lot of help where Alistair and his mother were concerned.
“Indeed, and my beloved daughter.”
“What was wrong with her? Why did she need help?”
“To this day, I still don’t know exactly what went wrong. Leticia was experiencing half shifts, much the way you were when you came to me. It was horrific, and painful, and after a time, left her exhausted to the point of incapacitation. Your father’s genetic research was brilliant, even at such a young age. I spent a great deal of time investigating him until I brought him into what we called Project Paws.”
Shaw’s heart warmed remembering his father and his research, then grew cold when his father’s infidelity settled there. “So if he was married to Nissa, he was unfaithful to her with my mother.”
Daniel’s eyes grew sorrowful, but there was a defensive fire in them. He lifted a gnarled finger and waved it in Shaw’s direction. “Do not think ill of your father, Shaw. I won’t have it. Even I, as upsetting as the whole matter was, couldn’t fault him for loving my Leticia. She was bright as a summer’s day, and as beautiful as any starlet. They spent great amounts of time together while we tried to understand why Leticia was affected by this anomaly when I, her father, wasn’t. She was born werecougar, not manufactured and certainly not an accident. I still have no answer. I can only come to the conclusion that she had some rare defect. Your father was a geneticist—which was why I choose him to help me. One thing led to another with the two of them . . .” His voice lowered in that strange embarrassed way Shaw remembered from his cougar state.
“So you’re a shifter, too?”
“One of the few elders left, yes.”
“And I’m the product of an affair.”
Esmeralda held up a glass of ice water with a straw and encouraged him to sip before speaking. “A torrid one, I’m afraid. Despite Leticia’s shifting issues, your father and she fell deeply in love. He was going to leave Nissa when he found out about you. Your father was a good man, son. He took you as far away as he could from that horrible woman. He took a job well below his standards and genius, changed his name from Lithgow to Eaton—all to prevent that viper from finding you. He raised you well. But before that, on the night you were born, everything went horribly wrong.”
“Meaning?” Shaw’s voice came out sharper than he intended.
Daniel took a deep breath, placing his hand over his heart. “We secluded Leticia, watched her with eagle eyes while she carried you. Both your father and I. I’d never heard of a pregnancy in our community—not since Leticia was born. Werecougars were becoming sparse even back then. We were dying out because we couldn’t reproduce. Yet when your mother became pregnant, she sparked new hope for the community. At one time, there was a strict law, forbidding all relations of the romantic nature with humans. But over time, and due to our decrease in population, there were those who weren’t above committing despicable acts upon unsuspecting female humans in an effort to keep our breed alive. And there were those, like myself, who refused to participate and went into deep hiding.” Grief lined his wrinkled face, making Shaw reach out to cup his shoulder in a sudden rush of sympathy.
“Those innocent women suffered debasing, painful deaths, yet no one was ever successful in their attempts to reproduce until Leticia. She was one of the first to not only mate with a human, but survive the mate and give birth.”
And then he understood. “And if these elders could have gotten their hands on her, she would have become a vessel for reproduction in order to repopulate.”
“I couldn’t allow them to use her as their guinea pig—which is exactly what would have happened had they gotten their hands on her! They would have let any rutting male, human or otherwise have their way with my beautiful girl!”
Esmeralda gave him a chiding look, tucking the covers under his armpits. “Easy, Danny. Please. I’ll have to insist you pace yourself or Shaw and his friend will have to leave.”
Daniel shoved her hands away, placing them back in her lap and paused, almost as though he was reminding himself she was on his side. He patted her hand affectionately. “We hid Leticia. The long and the short of it is your father spent many, many nights away from home in concern for her. Nissa became suspicious. Ah . . . You know how it is when you finally put two and two together, don’t you, son?”
“I wish I could just get two and two to put anything together.”
“He has every right to be angry, Danny,” Esmeralda warned when Daniel scowled.
“Nissa found out about their affair. She followed your father and me the night she gave birth to you.” His face paled, his eyes darkening.
“So she killed my mother, Leticia.” He didn’t need to hear the words. He knew the answer.
“Nissa did, yes. Nissa was childless, and she liked it that way. She had professional plans of her own and they didn’t involve children. Nissa was ruthless and greedy. Being married to your father, by then, one of the best in his field as a geneticist, was to her advantage. Oddly, it never occurred to her that your father was going to leave her for Leticia. Nissa was too pompous for that. But she didn’t know about you. She only knew about the affair. At first . . .”
“And when she found out?”
Daniel shuddered, his IV line wobbling, the memory clearly disturbing. “She tried to talk your father into selling you . . .”
“And when that didn’t work?”
“She killed Lettie, but not before she did something so odious, even I, knowing she was a ruthless monster, didn’t think her capable of.”
“Which was?”
“She took Leticia’s lifeless hand and scratched herself.”
“I know how that goes,” Shaw commented, his tone dry and distant.
“Son?”
“I said I know how that goes. I didn’t do it on purpose, of course, but I apparently scratched Katie when she found me on the steps of her clinic.”
Daniel’s face grew ashen, his hands trembled. “She’s turned?”
“Oh, like nobody’s business. Big ol’ paws, teeth, the whole shebang.” Darnell cackled, then grew somber. “Sorry. Din’t mean to interrupt.” He clamped his hands back over his chest and stilled his lips.
“Has she had trouble with the shift—like you did?”
He smiled at the mention of Katie, pride filling his chest. “She’s better at it than I am.”
Daniel’s chest deflated. “Then there’s still time.”
“For?”
“To regulate her shift.”
“Then you know how to fix this?”
“Yes! As long as we can get to Nissa and recoup the antidote, which Esmeralda tells me is gone from my office. She must not decipher the components, or she’ll create something far worse! Tell me, son, were you wearing a collar when you met Katie?”
Shaw explained the circumstances surrounding how he’d gotten to Katie’s clinic and nodded. “I was, with the name Spanky on it.”
“I have a fondness for The Little Rascals.”
Esmeralda chuckled in affectionate indulgence. “You’re veering off topic, Danny.”
“Of course. The collar you wore was what kept you from shifting so that in the meantime, I could find just the right amount of the antidote to give you to prevent the kinds of shifts you’d begun to experience.” He shot Esmeralda another coy flirtatious glance that left her preening. “Esmeralda and her potions helped.”
“So it’s true what they say about you, Esmeralda, that you’re a witch?”
She winked. “It’s true. But I certainly don’t ride a broom and I definitely don’t have warts. Though I have been known to exact small amounts of revenge on the old biddies from the garden club. Hair grows back,” she muttered with a roll of her eyes, making Darnell chuckle.
“Why were you at the animal park just before they moved the animals, Esmeralda?” Shaw
asked.
“To recoup the antidote, of course! I’d hoped Nissa hadn’t found it, but I was sorely mistaken. Oh, the blood . . .” She shuddered, tears in her sharp eyes. Daniel smoothed a hand over her cheek she leaned into.
But Shaw was still suspicious. “When you brought Delray in to Katie, why didn’t you tell me, us, you knew my grandfather?”
Esmeralda shook her head. “If you only knew how many times I’ve kicked myself today for not knowing you were Spanky, young man. I’d never seen you in human form, dear. Knowing I was so close just makes me want to scream. I’m so sorry.”
“Which begs the question, have you shifted since you lost your memory, son?”
Shaw tensed, gripping the arms of the chair. “I don’t remember it, but I hear it was a pretty bad deal.”
Daniel nodded, his eyes alight with excitement. “Were you angry when it happened? Upset in any way?”
“I was infuriated by the way the people here in Piney Creek treated Katie and her aunt Teeny. So yes, I’d had enough.”
“As was the case when you shifted in England.You were mourning the loss of your father. Your fury over his brutal death left you bereft. However, there are only so many shifts like that your body can withstand before you suffer a fatal episode. Each shift becomes more violent.”
Fatal . . . He set that aside for the moment and continued to probe his grandfather. “And I was aware of this when I came to the States? I allowed you to put the collar on me?”
“Oh, indeed, son! You were a tortured soul when we finally met. And thank the gods you found me when you did. Had your father still been alive, and known about your trouble, he would have sent you to me posthaste. We were always very careful about communication. I never wanted Nissa to find you.”
“Is it because I’m the product of a human and a werecougar that this half shift is happening?”
“That I don’t know. There are so many factors I haven’t been able to draw any solid conclusions. Age, chemistry . . .”
Shaw’s mind went immediately to his unborn baby. “But it could be a possibility?”
“It could be a distinct possibility. I need time to research your DNA. Which was exactly what I was doing before that dreadful woman showed back up.”
“Nissa?”
He shivered. “She’s who did this to me. For the antidote, of course. Silly woman thought I’d be stupid enough to leave something like that on a computer.” Daniel barked a laugh and then his voice went low. He pointed to his now-healing head. “But I keep it all up here in the old noggin. I may be almost five hundred, but I’m not the doddering fool they think I am. I’ve never left a trace of the contents of the antidote anywhere. What Nissa does have is the batch I made. I imagine she’s experiencing shifts much like yours and she needs to control them.”
“They?”
“Nissa and her band of thugs. Government blokes who want to turn your abilities to their advantage.”
“A superrace? Soldiers?” How cliché.
“Something like that, I suppose. She’ll sell it to the highest bidder, if I know Nissa, and it won’t matter who that bidder is. Regardless, they want what I have. They think I have the key to creating more werecougars. They believe I gave something to Leticia to help her procreate, when, in fact, that’s nowhere near the truth of the matter. But Nissa needs my research to prevent eventual madness. She’s a manufactured werecougar much like your Katie. She wasn’t born. She was created—with the worst sort of malice. Nissa wanted power, and she garnered it. However, all power comes with a price. I hear through the grapevine, she’s experiencing half shifts. If I can keep her from getting her vile hands on my research, she’ll shift much in the horrid way you did, her organs won’t be able to stand the harsh change, and eventually she’ll die. A fitting end to a legacy of filth,” he spat.
But Shaw couldn’t hear anything other than the fact that Katie’s pregnancy was rare. “So no one in the werecougar community has been successful in breeding more werecougars?”
“No.”
“What do you suppose was the reason my mother became impregnated?”
“Dear God. If you only knew how much . . . Again, I have no answer for that. At first, we thought it was because your father was a human, but results from the brutalization of several young, human women via full werecougars show that not to be the case.”
“Which means Katie’s in danger.” He was already rising, but Daniel grabbed his hand and thwarted his effort to leave, his hand wrinkled.
“They wouldn’t want her, son. She’s no different than any other accident that’s occurred, though accidents are rare.”
“Would they want her if she was pregnant?”
“Dear God! Katie’s pregnant?”
“She is.” He still couldn’t stop the deep sense of pride that he was going to be a father from seeping into his words.
“Oh, Shaw! It’s imperative you find her! Nissa wanted nothing other than to stop her half shifts, but if she’s aware that not only can you reproduce but Katie’s with child, she and her team of researchers will brutalize her, and hunt you down!”
He was on his feet when the final warning from Daniel came—ominous and ugly. “Son! Wait.You must be very careful when confronting Nissa. Do not allow your rage to consume you. It’s what’s been triggering your shifts. She’ll taunt you, Shaw. With Alistair’s death—with the hateful things she wants to do to Katie and your child. Do not take the bait. At all costs. If you do, this could be your last shift before death!”
CHAPTER 19
So what was the hullabaloo about world domination anyway? It seemed like a lot of work, all that ruling a world. Katie was happy to just drift. Right here on the cold metal table. Even if restraints and bright, fluorescent lights were involved. Not to mention, they’d taken her clothes and put her in an itchy hospital gown.
But so far, there’d been no probe—so that was good, right?
“He’ll come for her, you do know that, Dr. Lithgow, don’t you?” a male voice said.
Nissa’s chuckle was thin to Katie’s ears. “I do know Shaw will come. Redemption is far sweeter when doled out in twos, don’t you think? First, we’ll find out exactly what Dr. Woods and that whore Leticia had in common, and then, we’ll replicate it, using Shaw as our stud, so to speak. Until we’re done with him, of course. Then he, too, can be disposed of.”
Now hang on. Shaw was her stud, thank you very much. No one was using his studness without her consent. And that was never going to happen. So no studs and mares today. Yet Katie said none of those things. Instead, she weakly wondered out loud. “Ingrid. Where . . .” Jesus, whatever they’d given her was certainly an efficient way to keep her mouth shut. Shaw would probably dole out some hefty cash for it, in fact.
There was a pinch to her arm in sharp reprimand. “Oh, Ingrid’s fine. In fact, we’ll bring her to you. It might bring you comfort. Something you’ll need when you begin the crying and begging.”
Katie’s stomach heaved while her senses reeled. She had to get to Ingrid. To Shaw. To warn them. Aware she was nearly immobilized, Katie struggled against the restraints with unsuccessful, weak twists of her arms. She felt the silver of the handcuffs, now on either hand instead of behind her.
Vaguely, she remembered her strength. As a cougar, shouldn’t she be able to bust out of them like Superman? Again, she writhed but to no avail.
“Don’t fight it, Katie,” Nissa chided. “I told you, we’ve stripped you of every last one of your new abilities with those handcuffs, and we’ll do the same to Shaw just as soon as he shows up. Shouldn’t be long now, dear. According to my sources, he’s been to see Daniel—who’s awake, by the way. I thought I’d finished him off. Who knew the old curmudgeon was so bloody tough?”
Daniel was okay? Oh, that was good news. The not-so-good news? Daniel would tell Shaw everything and he’d storm the castle. If luck were on her side, he’d storm it with Nina and Wanda.
A roll of metal wheels on the cement floo
r brought another bed crashing against hers, the movement making her stomach heave violently. A door closed and then there was more silence.
“Dr. Woods?”
Katie felt a tear drip from her eye. Oh, Ingrid. She’d never survive this if Katie didn’t find a way to help her. “Ingrid . . .” She drifted back off until she felt the sharp sting of another pinch on her hand.
“Dr. Woods! It’s Ingrid. I’m right next to you. Stay awake, damn you! You need to stay awake.”
Awake, awake, awake. “You okay?”
“Hell to the no, I’m not okay. I’m tied to a bed. You’re tied to a bed. They want to hack you up so they can figure out why you can make babies. That is not okay, but listen to me. We can get out of this, but you have to pay attention.”
Who was this woman? So strong and determined? Not at all the mild-mannered, meek mouse of a few weeks ago. Go, Ingrid. Yay her. “I’m trying, honey. I am . . . but I can’t . . .”
“I know you can’t, but you have to. You will. Look, my tongue ring—you remember it?”
How could she forget it? The very thought of piercing her tongue made Katie cringe. But Ingrid had been so proud when she’d come home from the mall with it, she didn’t have the heart to balk at her. “I remember.”
“If I can get the stupid back off of it, we can use the stud on the back of it to maybe unhook these restraints. I can lean pretty far forward. If I can spit the tongue ring into my hand, I can probably unlock these. Our hands are close enough together, and the handcuffs have just enough leeway around the bars.”
Katie felt a warm finger latch onto hers. “Feel that? That’s me. Ingrid. I’m going to try and do this, of all things, left-handed. So just hold tight, okay? Please, Dr. Woods. I need you to say a prayer. Throw it out there in the universe that I can get this one thing right. Just once.”
Her heart swelled. All Ingrid needed was approval. Just a little. Katie cursed the bastards who’d dumped her in home after home instead of just accepting her for who she was. “Oh, Ingrid . . . you’re a goo . . . girl. I’m prou . . . proud.You’ve come a long . . . place. A long place. No. Way. You’ve come a long way since I met you—”
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