Wild Cat

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Iona stared at him, her blue eyes huge. “You want me to what?”

Eric knew that this would be easier if Iona weren’t so sexy. He watched her confusion and outrage and at the same time couldn’t keep himself from studying her body. A tight business skirt hugged her legs, and her blouse was open just enough show a hint of cleavage. Thick black hair framed her face, wisps of it not staying put.

I want you to come home with me, be my mate in all ways. The thoughts wouldn’t leave Eric alone.

“They need reassurance,” he said. “These females have been living in captivity, held by a feral Ursine, in pretty horrible conditions, Cassidy told me. I’m trying to bring them out of it, and I need to reassure them, especially about the cubs.”

“You’re going to put Collars on kids too?”

The horror in her eyes made Eric feel so damn guilty. “Cubs don’t get Collars until they’re seven, and I’ll lie like hell and say they’re all under seven if anyone asks. They’ve been underfed, so they look young anyway.”

Iona waved her hands in front of her face, which moved her breasts in an enticing way. Were they fettered under that shirt? Or tucked into a lacy bra that his hands would enjoy opening?

“What did you mean, you need me to become their alpha?”

“Top female of my pride. Humans, in some of their cultures, call it head wife or first wife, but as I told you, mates aren’t quite the same as wives.”

“Wait, wait. Are you saying that these five women are your mates?”

Iona’s dismay had him talking fast. “No, I’m saying I mate-claimed them. That means that no other Shifter males can claim them without going through me. I don’t want the females worrying about fending off mate-claims on top of everything else they’ve gone through, until they’ve found a place in Shiftertown and are ready to live their own lives. It also means that I take responsibility for their cubs, so they’re not hurt or taken away from their mothers.”

Iona blew out her breath. “I guess that’s good. So, what does all this have to do with me?”

“I’ll mate-claim you and make you my alpha. They need someone to follow, someone to reassure them until things get settled. Cassidy defeated their alpha, but once I made the mate-claim, she as my sister can no longer have precedence over any of my mates. You as head mate would supersede all. The woman who’d been the Ursine’s head mate has given up, and the other females are confused and uncertain. You can help me calm them down, show them that they’re all right. Then I’ll release them from the mate-claim and give you the choice to reject it as well.”

Iona stared at him with a mixture of disbelief, rage, and fear. “Give me the choice? After you out me and Collar me? Oh, then I get the choice to tell you to kiss my ass?”

“You get the choice to let me make the mating permanent. Or not.”

Iona put her hands around her bare neck. It made Eric’s heart sing to see her un-Collared, but he feared that humans would discover her, lock her away, slap the Collar on without preparing her. That fear made him want to put her under his arm, whisk her to Shiftertown, and never let her go.

“Eric, from what I understand, putting a Collar on a Shifter causes a hell of a lot of pain. Is that what you want? For me to be rolling around on the ground, screaming, while a Collar I can never take off again infuses itself to my flesh?”

“No, that is not what I want.”

“Then why are you asking me to do it?”

Eric went to her and cupped her face, unable to keep his hands off her any longer. “To keep you safe. If they find out you’ve been passing as human-Iona, love, I don’t know what they’ll do to you.”

Iona stared up at him, her eyes enormous. “Then leave me alone. Stop stalking me, and no one will ever know.”

“Yes, they will.” His fears poured out. “Sweetheart, they’ll find you. Some Shifter will scent you and let on what you are, whether he means to or not. Or a human will see you, watch you, figure it out. You’re holding your wildness in, but you can’t forever. If you suppress the wildcat too long, it will take over.” From the fear flooding her face, Eric knew she was already fighting that. “Let me protect you, Iona. Please.”

She shook her head, the ends of her hair brushing his fingers. “I can’t just give up my life. I have a mother, a sister, a career, a home. I can’t walk away from it. It’s mine. I want it.”

“I know.” Eric kissed her wet face. “I will try to make everything the best I can for you.”

“By putting the Collar on me? To make me go through that pain and make me a slave? You can’t. I can’t.”

She broke his heart. “I don’t want to, sweetling. The laws are stupid, but someday they won’t be. We’ll get free of the Collars and do what we want.” Eric looked into her eyes, her beautiful eyes that saw past his hard-ass shell to the true man inside. Kirsten had looked at him like that too. “And when that day comes, I want you by my side.”

Iona tried to shake him off. “What are you talking about? Shifters are captives. How is that better than letting my wildcat take over?”

Eric didn’t answer, because he didn’t have an answer. Shifters were working, in secret, to become stronger, unstoppable. The ones leading the movement wanted Shifters to live in peace, to be well, to raise cubs without fear. Until then, they had to do what they had to do.

But when Eric imagined himself latching the Collar around Iona’s beautiful neck, he balked. The pain would bite deep, as it had done to him, to Cassidy, and to Jace on that awful day. Iona’s eyes would flood with tears, and she’d not be able to stop her cries of agony.

Eric couldn’t do that to her. Not now. Not ever.

He gathered her close, pressing his cheek to her hair. “I’ll find another way, Iona.” The scent of her, the nearness of her, drove him wild. “You don’t have to be afraid,” he whispered. “I promise.”

Cassidy had something on her mind. Diego knew it by the way she didn’t mention it as they rode through the streets on the way to Jobe’s.

Beautiful dusk was spreading over the valley. The mountains hid their secrets, becoming a distant wall of blue gray. Against that backdrop sparkled red, blue, green, and gold lights of the heart of Las Vegas, beckoning the unwary.

Diego paralleled the lights of the Strip when he came out of Shiftertown and headed west to where Jobe’s widow lived with her teenage sons and daughters. Cassidy looked around with interest as they pulled up in front of the deceptively compact house with its neat cactus garden edged with spring wildflowers.

The front door slammed open as Diego and Cassidy emerged from the car. Jobe’s youngest daughter, Christine, thirteen years old, ran out. “Uncle Diego!”

She launched herself at Diego, and he swept her into a hug. He kissed her cheek and set her down again, and Christine turned interested brown eyes to Cassidy. “Who’s she? Your girlfriend?”

“Yes,” Diego said. Cassidy looked gorgeous tonight in a black sheath dress and shiny black high heels. “This is Cassidy.”

Christine tore away and ran back into the house. “Mom! Diego has a girlfriend!”

Jackie Sanderson appeared at the door, the black woman as elegant as ever in pants, silk blouse, and softly clinking gold necklaces. Jobe had always liked to ask: How did a classy lady like her end up with a lowlife like me? Diego felt a deep gouge of pain, as he always did when he saw Jackie.

“Christine, stop shouting like that,” Jackie said. “You’ll have everyone in the neighborhood out wondering what you’re yelling about. Diego, get in here. Now I know why you’ve been hiding yourself away.”

Jackie opened her arms, rings glittering in the dying light, a smile of genuine welcome on her face. Diego embraced her, trying not to remember the day he’d come to console her after Jobe died, and how Jackie and her kids had ended up consoling him.

Jackie let him go and looked Cassidy up and down, taking in Cassidy’s height and her Collar. “All right, Diego, introduce me. Come on.”

“This is Cassidy Warden. Cassidy, this is the nicest woman in Las Vegas, Jackie Sanderson.”

“Warden?” Jackie said before Cassidy could speak. “Isn’t a man named Warden leader of the Shifters?” She leaned to Cassidy. “Honey, I know he’s your brother, but if he looks anything like he does in his pictures, he is damn hot.”

Cassidy grinned. “I’ll let him know you think so.”

She moved, Shifter-fashion, to embrace Jackie. When Jackie’s strong arms closed around Cassidy, Cassidy’s expression changed.

“I’m so very sorry,” Cassidy said, tightening the embrace. “Your loss, it hurts you.”

Jackie looked over Cassidy’s shoulder at Diego, her eyes soft. “Yeah, it’s bad, having Jobe gone.”

“I lost my mate too,” Cassidy said, gently pulling away. “And the world changed.”

Jackie nodded, clasping Cassidy’s hands. “The world changed.” She put her arm around Cassidy’s waist. “Come on inside, honey. Let’s have some wine.”

“Can you really turn into a cat?” Christine asked Cassidy after dinner.

Jackie had made her famous lasagna, and Christine and Jackie’s oldest son had eaten it with them. The two middle kids, seventeen and eighteen, had been out with friends, and the oldest son left to go out once they were finished eating.

They’re growing up and moving on, Diego thought. Remembering Jobe, but still having a life. Jobe would like that.

Pictures of Jobe were prominent-on the fireplace mantel, on the piano, on the shelf that held his badge, his official photo, and a flag. But the room wasn’t a shrine to the dead. Jobe’s big smile filled every picture, as though he listened, benevolent, as they laughed and talked.

They’d retreated here after dinner for coffee. Christine folded herself up on the floor, watching Cassidy with interest.

“I do turn into a cat,” Cassidy answered Christine. She’d seated herself very close to Diego on the sofa, unself-consciously resting her arm on Diego’s thigh.

“I want to see.”

“Christine…” Jackie began.

Cassidy smiled. “That’s all right. I don’t mind.” She got up, her hand lingering on Diego’s knee until the last minute. “I’ll need somewhere to change.”

“You can use my room.” Christine jumped up, grabbed Cassidy’s hand, and started down the hall. Cassidy good-naturedly let Christine take her away.

Diego felt Jackie’s keen eyes on him as soon as Christine’s bedroom door closed. “So, what’s up with you two? Is it hot and heavy?”

Diego picked up his coffee and took a sip. “You could say that.”

Jackie laughed. “Look at you blushing. Diego Escobar and a Shifter. What does your mother say?”

“She says I need to settle down and start having kids.”

“I agree with her. It wouldn’t hurt you. Kids might keep you from tearing off to Mexico, going after gangs, and almost getting yourself killed.” Jackie’s laugh turned into a glare. “Captain Max told me all about what you did. I suppose you thought you’d come over here tonight and tell me you were some kind of hero.”

Diego carefully set down his coffee cup. “I thought you’d be glad. We got the last of the men who did Jobe. Two were dead already, and the final two are in the lockup. That’s what I went to Mexico for.”

“Glad?” Jackie’s voice rose as Jobe kept smiling behind her. “Did you think I’d be glad if you died running down there playing vigilante? You dying trying to get revenge would have been even worse for me than before. Did you think of that?” Jackie’s anger filled the room.

“I wasn’t about to die,” Diego said. “I went in with backup, which included two other cops-my brother and Lieutenant Reid-and we arrested them.”

“Don’t shit me, Diego Escobar. There was much more to it than that, and you know it. You don’t just stroll into Mexico and come out with everything neatly tied up. I saw on the news that some little town blew up down there. That was you, wasn’t it?”

“We didn’t blow up the whole town. Just a factory that was already in ruins.”

Jackie stared at him, her rage cut by surprise. “What am I going to do with you, Diego?”

“Be happy that I got them?”

“I am happy. I’m damn happy. But I wouldn’t have been happy if you’d gotten yourself killed. How would I explain that to my kids? I tell you, Diego, if you ever pull a stunt like that again, I’ll… I’ll tell your mama.”

Diego raised his hands in surrender. “I won’t. I don’t need to. It’s over.”

A door slammed in the back, and Christine came running down the hall. “Mom! You’ve got to see this.”

Cassidy’s soft, huffing growl sounded, and then Cassidy as her wildcat strolled slowly out of the back. Her leopard eyes were deep green, and her Collar shone in the lamplight.

Jackie rose to her feet. “Oh, my dear Lord.”

Diego remained seated. Cassidy walked to him, very slowly, keeping her claws from snagging the rug or her body from bumping anything.

She reached Diego on the couch and butted her head against his legs. Christine laughed as Diego stroked Cassidy’s incredibly soft fur. Cassidy grunted again and then started to purr. Diego never knew that leopards could purr, but Cassidy was doing it.

“She likes it when you scratch under her chin,” Diego said. “Come on. She won’t hurt you.”

Christine came closer. Cassidy remained still, her purrs filling the living room. Christine put a hesitant hand on Cassidy’s head. Cassidy didn’t move, just let the girl explore. Christine started to pet her.

“Oh, she’s soft,” Christine crooned. “I didn’t think she’d be so soft.” Her face glowed in delight.

Cassidy whuffed a little, turning her head to nuzzle Christine. Christine pulled back, but not as nervously as before.

Cassidy kept herself pressed to Diego’s knee, Christine tentatively petted, and Jackie watched like a mother bear ready to defend her offspring.

Cassidy was the calmest of all. She let Christine pet and stroke, the girl getting bolder. Finally Christine put her arms all the way around Cassidy and hugged her. Cassidy remained still, making no moves that would startle either Christine or her mother.

Cass is so good with kids. Diego thought of her with Torey, the tigerish Shifter cub who’d lost both parents. Cassidy had dashed back for the cubs and women trapped in the basement of the factory, refusing to go without them. He remembered her grabbing up the last cub and hauling him out of there, making sure none got left behind. She’d raised Jace too after Eric’s mate died in childbirth.

She takes care of everyone else’s kids. She’d be so happy with her own.

Diego couldn’t stop the vision coming to him of Cassidy holding a little boy that looked back at Diego with eyes so like his own.

“Can we keep her?” Christine asked, still hugging Cassidy.

Jackie said, “Christine!” and Diego laughed.

“What?” Christine asked, in all innocence. “Geez, Mom, I was only kidding.”

After they left Jackie and Christine, Diego drove Cassidy up to his favorite spot, a deserted side street a little way up Sunrise Mountain.

From here, the valley floor spread before them, hotel lights dancing way to the west, calm residential lights to the east, south, and north, a tower light from the air force base blinking not far away. The night was clear, and stars were dense overhead.

Cassidy stretched in the seat next to him. “Thank you for showing me this. It’s beautiful.”

She was beautiful, with the stars reflected in her eyes. “Jackie really liked you,” Diego said.

“Good. I liked her.”

“So, what’s on your mind?”

Cassidy turned her head on the headrest, looking at him. “Why should something be on my mind?”

“Because I know that when you get very quiet, you’re thinking deep thoughts,” Diego said. “What’s up? And don’t say nothing. I know that trick.”

Cassidy studied the city lights a moment before she spoke. “I heard Jackie yelling at you for going to Mexico. I was thinking that if you’d died, I would have had to face Jackie-and your mother-and tell them what had happened. And how I’d have to confess that I provided the transportation and encouraged you to go.”

Diego shook his head. “You couldn’t have stopped me, Cass. If you hadn’t introduced me to Marlo, I would have found some other way to get down there. I was going, with you or without you. Trust me on this.”

“I know but when I heard Jackie, I realized the other side of it, about how fixed I’d been about finding whoever had hurt Donovan. What if I’d decided to kill Reid when we caught him, right in front of you, in my living room? Would you have arrested me and taken me in, or let me go? I’d have forced you to make that choice. That wouldn’t have been fair to you.” She folded her arms and stared fiercely out into the desert. “So stupid, and yet I could only think of grinding my heel in Reid’s face.”

“We’re both idiots,” Diego said. “I should have known that Enrique wouldn’t give me that information for free, and I should have checked it out better before I rushed in. Enrique ragged me on the phone for hanging out with Shifters, so it must have made him laugh to send me into a nest of them. And I ran right in, Cass. I almost got you killed. And my brother. Mamita’s not letting me hear the end of that.”

Cassidy blew out her breath. “What are we going to do with each other?”

Diego knew what he wanted to do. Had wanted since he’d seen her walk out of her house in that dress and those shoes. “What did you have in mind?” he asked.

Cassidy’s glance smoldered when she looked at him, but she didn’t say what he wanted her to say. “Help me help Stuart Reid get home?”

Her question took him by surprise. “You mean help him cross back to Faerie?” Diego drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Do you have some idea how we can? The physics of it?”

Cassidy shrugged. “I can talk to people, figure things out. Shifters are very resourceful.”

“Yeah, so I noticed.”

“But really, will you help?” Cassidy took his hand and raised it to her lips. “I don’t want Donovan to have died for nothing.”

“I get that.”

He liked how her breath felt on his fingers. Diego caressed her cheek, his arousal demanding attention.

“This mate-claim thing,” he said. “I’m not quite clear on all of it. Explain it to me.”

Cassidy released his hand. “It’s part of Shifter law, created when we were first free of the Fae, and territory and dominance disputes were common.” Cassidy stretched again as she talked, so distracting. She had the sexiest legs in creation. “The mate-claim ensured that a female wasn’t just grabbed by any and all males and used until she died. When a female is mate-claimed, that means all other males have to leave her alone. The female either accepts the mate-claim, which means she and the male are joined in the mating ceremonies under the sun and under the full moon. Or, the female can turn down the claim and be free for the next male who wants to claim her. But the mate-claim marks the female as off-limits. If another male wants her, he has to Challenge.”

“Tell me about that. The Challenge.”

“It’s a fight-in the old days, to the death. Now it’s just a fight until one male gives up, but they can be pretty dangerous. The winner gets the mate-claim. The female retains the right to reject the claim of the challenger.”

Diego rubbed his lip. “So when I said to Miguel, Consider this a challenge, he… considered it a Challenge.”

“Every Shifter within hearing did,” Cassidy said.

“But you can reject it, you said. I heard you scream to Miguel that you rejected his claim.”

“Yes, a female can reject the claim anytime she wants. She needs to do it in front of witnesses.”

“Then why haven’t you?”

Cassidy blinked. “What?”

“Apparently, I won the Challenge against Miguel for this mate-claim. You’ve had plenty of opportunities to reject me. Like when we were standing on the airstrip, and Eric was going on about me Challenging for you, which meant the mate-claim for you was passed to me. We were standing in front of Dylan and Shane and the Shifters we rescued-lots of witnesses. Why didn’t you reject the claim then?”

Cassidy reddened. “Maybe I didn’t want to.”

“No?” Diego let his voice go soft. “But I’m not Shifter.”

She moved toward him, her tight dress all kinds of good. “I haven’t turned it down, Diego Escobar, because the mating frenzy is driving me crazy, and the mate-claim gives me an excuse to jump your bones.”

“Yeah?” Diego smiled in the darkness and slid his arm around her. “Do you want to jump my bones now?”

She growled low in her throat. “You know,” she said, kissing his ear, “after I shifted back and got dressed-I didn’t bother putting on my underwear.”