by Candace Colt
The Ellingham’s were strict, but not unreasonable. There’d be no repercussions.
The bigger question, how did these women find out?
"Who told you?" He looked from face-to-face hoping to see guilt flicker across a dowager’s face. "Who saw me?"
His gaze circled the women until it locked on his mother, whose hands had pulled to her lap.
"I’m the only person who’d suffer consequences,” Ryan said. “There’s no guilt by association in this town. Get Elenora Ellingham on the phone. I’ll be delighted to tell her the whole story."
A collective gasp around the table was followed by mutterings. "No." "Don’t do that." "Not necessary."
Somehow Solange had convinced these biddies to rally behind her. But why? She knew better than touting an Ellingham rule that could be broken in cases of dire need.
"What about your relationship with that woman?" Solange asked.
Bingo. There’s her bottom line.
He splayed his fingers on the table and froze his stare on his mother. "Is this about Jess Callahan?"
In his peripheral vision, he could see the women exchange concerned looks. Then, one by one they made quiet apologies and left.
After the last car door slammed and engine started, Ryan broke the silence.
"You were there," he said.
Solange walked to a window and opened the lace sheer. For a moment, he felt sorry for her.
Remembering how she’d deceived them into this confrontation, pity dissolved to anger.
He slammed his fist on the table. "You were there in the garden when I shifted." He persisted. "Weren’t you?"
Ordinarily, he could sense shifters, in or out of human form. He’d been engrossed with Jess and let his guard down. "You were in falcon. Then you heard Echo’s voice, too."
"I don’t want you to get hurt."
"By what? By whom? How?"
"Jess isn’t like us."
For that, he would be eternally grateful.
*~*
Salty pepperoni and triple cheese on a thick yeasty pizza crust had curative properties.
Not to mention the relaxed family-around-the-table antidote to the longest day on earth.
After his third slice, Ryan stretched and extended his legs under the table and his arms over his head.
Jess scanned his long torso. What would it be like to wake up each morning cuddled against this man?
Ding. Ding. Ding. What was she thinking? A kiss, or two, or three, wasn’t the onramp to the full-out commitment highway. There were a few more complications.
"I’ll get the dishes," he said. "You rest."
"Don’t scrub too hard on those paper plates."
Ryan leaned close and nibbled her neck. "A light touch works every time."
Warm ripples moved from the crown of her head to her toes. Gypsum jacked up mercy, was she glowing like a lightning bug?
She settled into the two-seat sofa, one foot on either side of Crealde curled in the middle of the foot-stool.
Still spooked by being in an empty house, at least Jess knew Nana would be there in an emergency.
But what was she going to do with this place? Or what she would do with the tall, dark, and handsome falcon-shifter in the kitchen.
How could she be sure if what grew between them was love, or lust that would fizzle after a few nights of wanton, crazed sex?
Ryan slid into the seat next to her.
Umm. Time to test her hypothesis. Her body quivered as his arm brushed across her. So close and available.
Then he withdrew his arm, the TV remote in his hand.
"Care if I turn this on?" He asked.
Mood killer. "Of course I don’t." Much.
He flipped through channels until he found news coverage of the fire.
In a voice-over, the department commander explained that when they got the call about the Sanctuary, they were on the other side of the ridge. They thought they’d contained the blaze but wind must have carried hot embers to the dry timber.
"I’m sorry for not believing you," Ryan said.
As the interview ended, the station ran video of the animals in a temporary holding area. Katya had spirited off the magical babies before the cameras arrived.
All the charged water in the world wouldn’t disguise those to humans.
"What the hell?" Ryan shouted.
Jess jumped, her nerve endings still raw, as Crealde darted to another room.
He hit replay and froze an image, went to the TV and touched the screen on the roof above the animal holding pen. "I knew it. Dammit. She followed me. See? She’s right there?"
"Who?"
"My mother."
Jess moved for a closer look. It was a bird. But how could he tell if it was a falcon? Specifically, a shifted Solange Ford.
Ryan hit play. Within seconds the bird took flight.
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"We have to settle this, once and forever. And I need you with me. Up for a ride?"
After a day like this? She rubbed the bandage on her arm and stifled a yawn. Her throat still raw from the smoke, she answered, "Ready when you are."
Though she didn’t think this was an invitation to ride to Nocturne Falls ‘lover’s lane.’
Chapter Twenty-Four
With eccentricity the norm in Nocturne Falls, Jess thought she’d heard or seen almost everything.
But Ryan’s story about the Inquisition at his mother’s shifter council ranked at the top.
Solange had sunk to an all-time low. Yes, her son had broken a rule, but to save lives. Living in the Ellingham community meant following certain standards, but they weren’t oppressive.
They were meant for the community good and to protect the supers. Where else could a person like her grandmother live in peace and raise a reluctant clairvoyant grandchild?
If Jess hadn’t seen the fire, those animals would have died in agony. Bile rose in her throat. That second pizza slice may have been one too many.
She looked at her jade ring. It might be a long time before she took it off again. But a little heads-up about what was going to happen between Solange and Ryan would be helpful.
After parking, he came around to the passenger side. "This could get dicey. Think you can handle it?"
Dicey drama with Solange Ford? She placed her hand in his and squeezed. "Oh, hell yes."
"Mother, we need to see you," Ryan announced as he and Jess walked through the front door. After a few seconds of silence, he repeated, louder, "I know you’re home."
"No need to raise your voice." Dressed in a silk caftan and a bath towel wrapped around her head, Solange descended the stairs like an old film star walking toward a camera close-up.
His cold glare at his mother counterbalanced the laugh rolling up from Jess’s toes. Something was different about the woman.
Then she got it. Solange didn’t have on any makeup. Without it, she looked pale and out-and-out peaked. And ten years older.
Ryan’s long fingers enclosed Jess’s hand. Pity any prey caught by a shifted falcon’s talons.
"You were there," he said.
Solange completed her descent and waved her hand at them. "Perhaps."
"Knock it off. I saw you on the news footage," he said.
Solange bristled. Then the sharp-tongued queen of mean started a faux collapse. Ryan caught her in mid-slide. "Okay. Showtime’s over."
Solange opened one eye and cocked her head at him, brushed her son’s arms away and stood straight and tall.
"Anyone for tea?" She said in a cheerful voice as she walked toward the kitchen.
Ryan slipped his arm around Jess’s waist. "I think Merlot might be better."
"I have an Oregon 2005 I’ve been dying to open," Solange said.
Jess mouthed ‘is she for real?’
He nodded and winked.
They sat at a granite breakfast bar in the enormous kitc
hen. "Sit down, ladies. I’ll take care of this," he said.
His impeccable sommelier skills were impressive and the wine was delightful. After this short intermission, Jess was ready for the next act.
Solange swirled her wine glass. "Perhaps it’s time I explained."
Ryan stood across from both women, tapping his fingers on the counter.
"You and Connor mean the world to me. And I want nothing more than to see you happy and successful." Solange’s voice poised on the diving board but didn’t jump into the sincerity pool.
"We got that." Ryan drank his wine without moving his eyes from his mother. "What’s that got to do with spying on us, then following me to the Sanctuary?"
"I wasn’t spying. I was going to plead one last time for you not to get involved with her. With Jess."
Reality check. A deep quaking shook Jess’s bones. "That broken limb that fell between us was you, wasn’t it? I can’t believe you’d try to hurt us."
Solange’s eyes opened wide. "I’d never do that. Please believe me. It was a complete accident. I misjudged that tree. I might be getting too old for this flying thing. I did follow you to the Sanctuary. I was so afraid for you."
"Then you went home and called the crones. Nice move," he said. "And thanks for all the help."
Jess waited for a safe opening. "Solange, Ryan and I have a lot to think about. All we ask is that you respect our wishes and give us privacy and space."
Though Solange remained silent and possibly indifferent, Jess at least had her say.
Solange tented her fingers. After several moments, she spoke in a voice just above a whisper. "Your father wasn’t my first love."
Ryan’s wine glass hit the granite but somehow didn’t break.
What in the name of all this Earth did she just say? Jess made a slow head turn to the woman next to her.
Solange just hit a fly ball out of the park. Only this one kept sailing. It might hit the ground somewhere in Tennessee.
"When I was your age, I fell in love with someone who wasn’t like us," Solange said.
Make that landing place Ohio.
Jess took the wine bottle and filled her glass double the dab that Ryan had poured. The ‘not like us’ story was about to roll.
Solange waited for a rise from her son. Not getting one, she proceeded.
"He was a wolf shifter from another community. A wonderful looking man. Intelligent. Caring. Even if he was a bit on the wild side."
"I don’t need to hear this," he said.
"But you do. You must understand why I know how you feel. And how Connor felt with his past girlfriends. Remember, we falcons mate for life. You must make the right choice. Someone who understands us."
"We can marry outside our own. Especially today." He stared at Jess. "There are no boundaries around love."
Taking another drink, Jess was still dealing with how to love a shifter and didn’t want to read too much into what he said.
"His pack leaders forbade it, so we planned to elope. We were going to Atlanta and be married in secret. But they found out," Solange said.
"How could they stop you?" Ryan’s voice dropped a pitch.
"He and I planned to meet at a spot in the forest. I got there first. He was nowhere around.
But his mother was, and as a menacing and evil wolf. I can still feel her hot breath on my legs. See the spittle hanging from her jaws.
After circling me, she shifted into human. She told me that I had to be the one to break it off; say I didn’t love him. Otherwise, she’d have him killed."
"Holy, hell," he said.
Solange continued. "His was a mountain pack that was nearly feral. That’s what drew me to him. But, I also knew they wouldn’t bat an eye to kill their own to maintain what they considered pack purity.
I couldn’t live with myself if I was the reason he died. So, I did what she asked. I found him and told him I didn’t love him."
Jess laid her hand on Solange’s arm. "But you did love him, didn’t you?"
"To this day." Solange’s eyes searched Ryan’s face. "I also loved your father, deeply. He was my mate. He knew what he walked into from the beginning.
But we made an excellent life together. You and Connor were the joys in our lives, and still are in mine. Though Connor fuels my migraines."
The room fell into an unyielding quiet except for the refrigerator’s hum. Jess released Solange’s hand. Drawn into an intimate conversation between a mother and her grown son, she should excuse herself.
The wine had hit her. Her muscles screamed. She needed to get off this stiff barstool, but she dared not move.
Solange dropped her head into her hands. "I’ve become like that she-wolf, haven’t I?"
"Connor and I can’t stay under wing our whole lives," he said, the sharpness gone in his voice.
With her haughtiness dissipating, Solange faced Jess. "You’re not a shifter. How can you know what it’s like to be half human? And not knowing in which world we belong."
Not belonging was something Jess knew all too well. It’s why she loved Boston where you could disappear into the crowd. No one cared who, or what, you were.
No one cared about you at all.
"Have you ever watched my son shift?"
Solange’s question stabbed Jess’s soul. Watching him shift meant accepting his falcon side.
"I have not." Her answer came from a deep well.
The bigger question, could she?
*~*
The rain slowed to a drizzled on the drive to Carpe Diem. "I’ll walk you to the door," Ryan said.
"I’ll be okay. You need sleep. You have a lot to think about." For a fact, she certainly did. Solange Ford’s confession had left her brain scrambled.
"You want me to go?" he asked.
Tell him ‘no’. Draw him to her arms. Take him upstairs to her bed and make mad love all night.
Instead, she said, "I need time."
Without answering, he gave her a soft, warm kiss. And then another, this one more loving.
Their lips parted as he whispered, "Take all the time you need. Just remember this."
He pulled her close for a third kiss, much more demanding.
One she would always remember.
She knew he wanted more, as did she. But Solange’s words resonated as she eased away from him. ‘Have you ever seen my son shift?’
What would happen when she watched this handsome, hundred percent, human man, turn into a born-to-kill falcon?
Chapter Twenty-Five
Light beams played a hiding game between the tall pines and splashed over Jess, seated on a rock near the falls, wrapped in the tweed jacket Ryan had left behind at Harmswood gym.
Arms folded around her knees, she stared into a pool below. The break in the heat signaled early fall. There was solace in this peaceful place, swathed in the sound of the waterfall and rustling squirrels burying acorns.
Ryan and Jess had agreed to take time apart to consider their future, and to meet at this spot today.
Though she longed to see him, Jess’s mind had been in a continuous problem parade. She’d finally decided that the expedient thing would be to sell the Carpe Diem and take the new job a thousand miles away from Nocturne Falls.
A leaf turned in lazy circles in an eddy below. Without warning, the unsuspecting sprig spiraled into a vortex, spinning against a force that compelled it toward oblivion.
Fed by nostalgia, and perhaps a liberal dose of ‘I’ll show you’, she had jumped feet first into her own spinning water.
With only herself to blame, she managed to splash into Nocturne Falls with a vengeance.
Solange’s revelations forced both to face the truth. A shifter and a psychic couldn’t be any happier than a leaf spinning to its own demise.
Two squirrels scampered around a tree beside her, disappearing into the branches. Like with like.
A sudden warmth flooded over her, spr
eading from head to toes, covering her in bliss and erasing her fears.
Another rustle above, followed by the sound of wings. Anticipation and terror commingled with the tingling buzz throughout her body.
"Ryan, it’s okay. Come down beside me."
Something landed nearby, but she continued staring at the waterfall. Could she bear to see him as an animal?
Would she freak? And if the sight repulsed her, would that destroy him?
If he left in humiliation, the pain she caused him would stay buried inside her forever. It can’t end this way. They will part in dignity, not in disgust or shame.
Eyes closed, she turned, quarter inch by quarter inch only opening them when she was sure she faced him.
Her breath caught. His feathers, a blend of dark and light browns, overlapped in soft tones and hues, except for one stray wing feather that stuck out from the others. Just as unruly as his hair.
The dark piercing eyes that had bore into her soul as Ryan Ford stared at her as a stately falcon.
Ashamed that she’d been afraid to see him shifted, she wished she could find the right words. Or, any words. Her mouth opened but her throat was paralyzed.
The falcon dipped his head. He understood. The unspoken question hovered between them.
And then she had the answer. "I’m ready."
A glowing aura surrounded the falcon and she couldn’t pull her eyes away from the transformation into a full-grown man dressed in flannel and denim.
She licked her dry lips and swallowed the lump in her throat. "Well, you certainly know how to make a grand entrance."
"There’s my jacket. I wondered where I left it." Ryan managed a watchful smile. "At least you didn’t run."
No. She hadn’t. Nor considered it.
More than ever, she wanted his strong arms around her again. She did belong somewhere. Here. With him. She would never leave his side. Or Nocturne Falls, or give up Carpe Diem. She was home.
She bolted toward him, then stopped. What if he’d changed his mind?
Gypsum jacked up mercy. No way could that happen.
"We’d save time here if you’d kiss me," she said.
Pulling her into a tight hug, he nearly squeezed the last ounce of air from her lungs. "Hey." The word muffled into his chest. "I. Said. Kiss."
