Bob really tried to keep his curiosity to himself the next day when he interacted with one of the Lords’ top lieutenants, but he couldn’t help himself. He was working with the grizzly bear shifter, Rocco Garibaldi. Everyone called him Rocky, he’d said, as Bob started to work on filling in some of the tiny details left out of written reports. All of the recent encounters with Venifucus agents in Las Vegas had been reported up the chain of command to the Lords.

Basically, Bob was here to fill in the blanks that were inevitable in a written account. He was allowing himself to be questioned in minute detail about recent events, starting with his mother’s murder and leading up to the time he’d been dispatched to meet with the Lords.

Bob knew what he’d been in for. His brothers had warned him. He had expected to be grilled, and knew it was for the good of everyone. The Lords and their people needed every little detail—no matter how inconsequential it might seem—to be fully understood and recorded by one of their people. Rocky and several other trusted lieutenants, along with the Lords themselves, were analyzing every shred of data from around the world, piecing together every small clue. They were trying to figure out where the Venifucus might strike next. They were also trying to stop any attacks before more shifters were hurt or killed.

It was a worthy goal and one Bob could really get behind. That’s why he’d agreed to be the one sent here when Grif had asked. His oldest brother and the Alpha of their Clan had given him the choice. Grif had asked Bob to go. He hadn’t ordered him to do it, which he easily could have.

But all three of his older brothers were newly mated and he hadn’t wanted any of them to have to travel, worrying about the safety of their women—all of whom had faced danger of one kind or another in recent months. Those newlyweds deserved a little peace, if at all possible.

Their youngest brother, Matt, could have gone, but he was in the midst of some tricky details on a project he had been supervising since its inception in California. At this particular time, it would have been especially tough to take Matt away from it. The company that was the lifeblood of their Clan needed Matt where he was for now. Others could have been sent, but Bob knew it was important to show proper respect to the Lords. Sending an actual Redstone—one of the brothers and not merely a cousin or something—was a show of good faith.

So Bob had agreed. He’d liked the idea of travel. Cats, in general, liked to roam and he was no exception. He had outfitted his favorite SUV with all sorts of gadgetry and driven the distance from Nevada to Montana, enjoying seeing the sights along the way.

Now that he was there, in Montana, he was glad he’d been the one available for Grif to appoint. The Lords’ domain was like nothing Bob had ever seen. They had an entire mountain to themselves and their people roamed at will through the forest. It was a place like no other, where shifters could just be. No worries about being seen by humans. No hassles of everyday life—at least not that he’d seen.

For Bob, the place was like a holiday camp. He was pretty sure it wasn’t that way for the folks who lived here full-time, but the snug little cabin and idyllic woodland setting sure made Bob feel like he was on vacation. Until the questioning started in earnest.

The first day, Bob worked exclusively with Rocky. They went through half of the older reports the Clan had sent from Las Vegas in the morning, then paused for lunch. Oddly, Rocky escorted Bob to the wolf Pack house, a short distance around the mountain from his home office, to have lunch in the communal dining hall. The gathering was made up mostly of wolves, as Bob had expected, but there were a few other kinds of shifters as well. Rocky introduced him to a couple of the men, but Bob and the bear shifter ate their meal at a small table in the back of the room, away from everyone else.

He realized then that the otherwise friendly grizzly was being cautious, and Bob didn’t blame him. Bob was an unknown—and a strong Alpha in his own right. Sure, he would probably have trouble besting a grizzly of Rocky’s size in a fight, but Bob was experienced enough to be able to do some damage if he had bad intent.

Nobody here really knew him. They didn’t know he was as affable as he seemed. It took a lot to anger Bob, and he didn’t fly off the handle easily. Still, he understood the bear’s caution. Rocky struck him as a very protective sort, which confused Bob for a moment. Why had the bear taken him into the heart of the wolf Pack—the Pack house where the weak and vulnerable were taken in and given places to live while they got back on their feet?

Why had the bear exposed the wolves to a potential threat? He could’ve sent Bob to his cabin to make his own meal. But then Bob would’ve been out of sight. So that meant the bear wanted to keep an eye on him. Why then had they come here to the Pack house, when they could’ve eaten lunch at Rocky’s place? Bob realized Rocky would only have done that if he had something even more precious to guard at home.

A child, most likely. They had been working in Rocky’s office, which was set apart from the rest of the house, but the place was plenty big, with a fenced-off backyard. A young child, then. Still able to be contained by a simple fence. The bear cub probably hadn’t learned to climb yet and wasn’t strong enough to push the fence over. If Bob guessed right and it was Rocky’s child though, it wouldn’t be long before it was a force to be reckoned with, even as a cub. The man was huge, and very, very powerful. His kid would probably be just as formidable.

Bob did his best to talk of lighthearted things when they weren’t working on the reports. Rocky wasn’t much of a conversationalist, but that was okay with Bob. He could talk enough for both of them and felt comfortable telling the bear shifter things about the Redstone family and Clan that would help set Rocky more at ease. Grif had cleared Bob to be as open as he wanted with the Lords’ people. It was important to Grif as the Redstone Clan Alpha, to show unmitigated support for the Goddess-blessed Lords.

The Clan had taken a stand, along with the local Vampire Master in Las Vegas, to declare themselves firmly on the side of Light in what they feared was an upcoming show-down with the evil Venifucus. It was important to show the seriousness of their vow to the Lords and let them know that the Redstone Clan and its allies could be counted on if the worst should come to pass.

Bob knew gaining the full trust of these people wouldn’t happen overnight. He’d have to build trust slowly. That’s why he was here for the duration. Grif had told him to stay as long as it took.

When Rocky asked why Grif had chosen to send Bob on this mission during their lunch conversation, it was easy to answer. He used the opportunity to tell the bear shifter a bit about his family.

“My three older brothers are newly mated. Not just Grif, but Steve and Mag too. And the priestess of our Clan mated with your friend Slade,” Bob said between bites of rare roast beef. “There’s a glut of marital bliss in our area right now,” Bob joked. “I’m single and was able to rearrange my work schedule, so it made sense for me to come. The other guys are very protective of their ladies. None of them had what you’d call an easy path to finding their mates.”

“Magnus is the one who mated the vampire, right?” Rocky seemed to be making conversation but Bob was experienced enough to realize the bear knew the answer to his question already. Mag’s unconventional mating was the subject of much conjecture, Bob was sure.

He nodded anyway. “Miranda is pretty amazing. I wasn’t sure about the whole arrangement at first, but when you see them together…well, you realize it’s the real thing. Goddess-blessed.” Bob paused, thinking about the truth of his words. “It’s sort of cool to realize my brother might outlive all of us by centuries. Probably will suck for him though, when the rest of us start aging and his immortal mate keeps him young indefinitely. It was hard for us all when our mother died. I can’t imagine it will be easy for Mag to watch his brothers follow her.” Bob realized he’d gone a little too far with the introspection.

These were thoughts that had been bothering him since Mag had mated with Miranda, but he hadn’t voiced them to anyone. He probably shouldn’t have said anything now either, but there was something about the quiet bear that invited confidences. Not that Bob had anything to hide. He was pretty much an open book with the Lords and their most trusted lieutenants, but the grizzly probably didn’t want to hear every little thought in Bob’s head.

“Sorry, man.” Bob wiped his mouth with his napkin and threw it on the tray that held his now-empty plate. “Didn’t mean to get so serious.”

Rocky merely nodded as he finished his sandwich. The grizzly was good at saying a lot with just a look or a gesture. Definitely a man of few words.

They bussed their trays and headed outside to walk back toward the bear’s den.

“I’ve been meaning to ask…” Bob started, uncertain for once about his words. “Yesterday when I got here, I took a little walk around the cabin in my fur.” Rocky nodded, unsurprised. Bob knew he’d probably been watched since the moment he set foot on the Lords’ land, but he didn’t mind. “I crossed paths with a female bobcat and we prowled around for a bit together. She seemed really shy and wouldn’t shift. I sensed…” Bob let the silence drag while he thought about his next words. Rocky didn’t interrupt. “She seemed kind of fragile in some way. Like she’d been hurt recently or something.”

Rocky nodded, but didn’t say anything. Bob was getting annoyed with the lack of words coming out of the grizzly shifter’s mouth. He wanted to know more about the bobcat woman, but he didn’t know what questions to ask. He started with the most basic one.

“Is she okay?” Bob felt a weird kind of desperation to know more about her, to make sure she was all right.

Rocky seemed to consider a moment, then shrugged as they walked under the trees, dappled sunlight lighting their path back toward the bear’s house in the distance. “Depends on what you mean by okay, I guess.”

When he didn’t say anything more, Bob had to suppress a growl. “Physically, she seemed fit, but a little fragile, like I said. But what about her mind, her emotions? She was fine when we were letting our cats roam, but she shied away when I shifted and didn’t want to take her skin. What’s up with that?”

Rocky stopped in the middle of the path and faced him, his expression grim. “Your instincts are right. She’s been having a hard time being human. Not a physical problem shifting. She does that just fine. It’s more that she doesn’t like being in her skin that much, and has come here to help overcome that. She was almost lost to her animal side when she got here, but she’s making progress. She’s staying two-legged more and more, though she still does like to prowl in her fur a lot. Give her space, Bob. She’s had a rough time of it.”

Bob regarded the other man for a moment, considering his words. It was a warning, but it seemed to come from the right place. Rocky was sympathetic and concerned for the female, which felt right to Bob. Still, he didn’t like being warned off. It rankled. But this was the Lords’ mountain and Rocky was one of their top people. Bob was only a visitor. He had to at least make the effort at being compliant.

“Understood,” Bob answered finally. They began walking again and for once, Bob didn’t have anything to say.

They reentered the office and set back to work. Rocky pushed and pushed for more information, and by the end of the day, Bob was beat. They hadn’t gotten through all the reports. Not by a long shot. They were maybe halfway through dissecting the information that had been sent to the Lords over the past year or so, but tomorrow was another day. They’d start bright and early and do more then.

He ate dinner alone in his small cabin. It wasn’t much. A grilled steak and a can of hastily opened baked beans. He wanted more—he was an Alpha male, after all, with big appetites in all things—but he didn’t want to spend a lot of time cooking. After replenishing his energy somewhat, he decided to take a relaxing prowl down to that watering hole. He could swim a bit in his fur, and maybe catch another fat fish or three to supplement his paltry meal.

He might even run into a certain little bobcat again, though he wasn’t holding out much hope in that direction. Rocky had seemed very protective of her and the thought of the bear’s reaction to Bob’s questions still made him frown. Rocky had hinted at some dark trauma that had sent the little female into the protection of her bobcat form. Bob didn’t like the idea that she had been hurt in any way. He wanted to know more, but he also recognized that it was her right to tell him…or not.

Bob bristled as he stripped before leaving the cabin. He didn’t like the idea that she might never tell him about the problems in her past. He also didn’t like the knowledge that he might never see her again if she chose to avoid him. This wasn’t his territory. He couldn’t force the issue. It would be up to her—and all the wolves and Others around here who had agreed to protect her when she’d been accepted among them—if she ever crossed his path again.

Bob growled as he shifted shape into that of his cougar. He padded down the two small steps from the low porch and went to sniff around his perimeter. He was always on alert for scents of prey and other predators, but tonight he was looking specifically for a sweet honey scent he’d caught only once before. Last night. The scent of the pretty bobcat who had fit so neatly at his side.

There.

Faintly, there it was. The caramel-honey scent that told him she had come this way recently. Bob’s pace increased, though he was careful to not make a sound. He didn’t want to scare off his prey.

He followed her scrumptious scent over the path they had taken the night before. He thought about that and almost purred at the implications. Retracing their steps from the night before meant maybe she was looking for him. Maybe she was hoping to run into him. Maybe she’d been as attracted to him as he’d been to her.

Bob’s blood ran just a little bit faster as excitement built within him. He’d thought about her all night and most of the day—when Rocky hadn’t been verbally pummeling him with his questions. Bob had known this would be a tough assignment when he’d left Las Vegas. Nobody here really knew him. The Lords had dealt with his brother Grif, of course, but Bob was new to them. Building trust was the hardest part. These initial few days had always been destined to be rough on whoever got sent here. Only Grif, as Clan Alpha, could have avoided some of it, but Grif was needed at home.

It had made sense to send Bob and he hadn’t been naive to the challenge ahead of him. He’d been willing to take one for the team and do his part to earn the trust of the Lords and their people. But now that he was here, something had changed. He was starting to believe that he’d been sent here. Not just by his brother, but possibly by the Mother Goddess Herself.

Since meeting the female bobcat, something had come over him. Some kind of knowing. Along with an attraction that wouldn’t be denied. He didn’t know much about her at all, but something inside him was saying he’d found his destiny.

Sometimes it happened like that for shifters. Very often, they knew their mate at first sight or scent, in the case of cougars. Bob admitted he had been confused by the fact that the woman he’d met hadn’t been a cougar shifter. The whole bobcat thing had thrown him a bit. But interspecies mating wasn’t unheard of. Sure, it didn’t happen a lot, but sometimes…well…the call of the wild just had to be answered whether it was with a human, a vampire—as in the case of his brother Mag’s new mate—a mage, or even another shifter species.

At least they were both felines. She might be a little smaller and a lot fluffier around the ears, but they had similar predatory natures. They were both cats at heart. He was just a lot bigger and physically stronger than her.

But she had been hurt somehow in the recent past, Bob reminded himself. He would have to temper his strength with gentleness. He would do his best to subdue his demanding Alpha nature with easy words. And he would do it happily, for the chance of having a mate that would bless his life with her presence.

Eagerness in every silent step of his paws, Bob moved through the undergrowth without making a sound. When he pushed through the final barrier of trees and brush, and had the pond in sight, a woman was waiting there for him. Not a cat. The female had chosen her human form and she looked for all the world as if she’d been expecting him.

She wore a floaty dress of what looked like soft cotton. The fabric had been dyed in brown and gold colors that complemented her lovely topaz eyes. He noticed a knapsack of some kind beside her. Had she prowled down in her fur, carrying the pack in her teeth? Had she come prepared with clothing so she wouldn’t have to face him in her birthday suit? Seemed odd for a shifter.

Bob slowed, unsure of his footing. Not physically, but mentally. Had she chosen to face him now because she wanted to tell him to leave her alone? Or had she overcome her fears and decided to meet him in her human form—something she’d balked at the night before? This could go either way. Bob approached cautiously.

 

Serena was sitting on a flat rock that bordered the pond, trailing her hand in the water when she first scented the cougar’s approach. Her sense of smell was only slightly less acute in her human form than in her fur, and she’d been expecting—no, make that a strange mixture of hoping and dreading—that the cougar would again prowl the path they’d taken last night.

His scent was like what she imagined a desert wind must smell like. Slightly dusty, but not in a bad way, with subtle hints of cactus and mesquite. Intoxicating. Unfamiliar, yet absolutely delicious in the most invigorating way possible.

She had enjoyed roaming with him through the dark woods. It had made her feel free in a way she hadn’t felt in years. The only problem came when he’d wanted her to shift into her human form. She’d spent all day thinking about how she had chickened out when push came to shove. She might as well have been born a werechicken rather than a werecat—if there were such things.

The thought made her smile, even as anger at her own failing made her want to do something about it. This time in the Lords’ territory was supposed to be about healing. About overcoming the fears that had defined her for so long. About taking small steps each day to rejoin the world of the living and reclaiming her future.

It had taken all her courage, but she had come here tonight, hoping to take another small step on that path. A small step that might actually turn into a giant leap forward…if her senses weren’t playing her false.

If she could trust her instincts—though past performance indicated she might be wise to be cautious—this strange cougar could become very important to her. She wasn’t completely sure, but she knew after last night, she needed to find out more about him. She had to give him a chance.

It had been so long since any male had caught her attention. None of the cats back home had appealed to her. In fact, even though the bobcats she had lived among were much smaller than the cougar, each and every one of them brought out her defensive instincts. She was afraid of them. She would rather fight and claw the male bobcats than talk to them. Not after the complicity. Not after the way they’d ignored how she was being treated by those who were supposed to care for her.

Serena shook her head, banishing the bad memories. Tonight was for making new memories. Perhaps taking another step forward in her recovery. Maybe making a new friend. Or maybe more. Only the Goddess knew for sure.

She turned her head, unsurprised to see the cougar’s glowing, topaz eyes prowling steadily toward her.

“I was hoping you’d come. I’m sorry about last night. I wasn’t ready to…” her voice trailed off.

It was hard for her to speak her mind, but she had promised herself she was going to give it her damndest. She was already so much stronger than she had been when she’d come to the Lords’ territory. She still had a way to go, but she was improving faster now that she had overcome the initial issues that had sent her running here for sanctuary.

The cougar halted a few feet from her and sat on his haunches in an unexpected show of patience. Maybe he understood, on some level, how hard this was for her? It seemed unbelievable, but perhaps he sensed what she needed most right now was time and space to regain her footing. The way he held his body seemed to say he understood and was willing to wait until she found the right words.

When had a male cat ever been willing to wait for her? Not in recent memory. This cougar was one in a million as far as she was concerned. Everyone she had met here since her escape, had been gracious and kind, but there weren’t a lot of cats on this part of the mountain, and she had been careful to keep clear of any that happened to cross her path…until this cougar last night.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated, trying to start over. “My name is Serena Wicklow. I should have told you that last night, but I…” She looked at the water and then back again at the cougar. “I’ve had a hard time dealing with anyone in my human form for the past few months. I just wanted to thank you for the fish, and say I enjoyed prowling with you last night too. I made these to thank you.”

She picked up the cardboard box she had put beside her on the rock. It was still in the knapsack she’d brought with her, in an effort to keep bugs away from it. She opened the pack and then lifted the lid on the box so he could see the pastries she had spent part of her afternoon baking for him. It had done her good to work alongside the other women in the Pack house’s kitchen. It had also felt right to save a few of the choicest pastries to give to the cougar who had been so nice to her.

He made a soft sound, almost like a purr and stepped closer. The werecougar shimmered before her eyes and took his human form. She watched as he became the man she’d seen the night before, his gaze on the pastries, his lips curled into a grin.

“I’d say you shouldn’t have, but it’d be a lie,” he joked, even as he reached for a pastry. In a flash of sharp, pearly white teeth, half the pastry was gone. He groaned as he chewed, clearly enjoying himself.

She reached into the sack again while he polished off the rest of the treat. She had brought more than just the pastry box. She’d thought a lot about how tonight might go and had tried to prepare for all contingencies.

“I hope you don’t mind, or think I’m crazy, but I brought these for you.” She held out a pair of baggy swim shorts to him, unable to meet his gaze or even look at him. “I’m sorry,” she said again, though she knew it was a sign of weakness. “It would just make me a little more comfortable so we could talk. I haven’t always lived among shifters.”

When he didn’t answer or move for a few moments, she dared a quick look up at his face. His head was cocked to one side as his eyes narrowed in concern. He didn’t look angry, which allowed her heart to start beating again, but he definitely looked confused and somewhat uneasy about her request.

Nevertheless, he reached out and took the swim trunks from her trembling hand. Moving efficiently, he slipped them on while she averted her gaze.

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” he said softly as he stilled, his crotch covered by the fabric. “I’m decent now. Well…” he chuckled, his tone inviting her to laugh as well. “About as close as I’ll ever get, anyway.”

She smiled and looked up at him again, more at ease now that he had complied with her rather odd wishes. She knew nudity shouldn’t be a big deal among shifters but she’d been raised differently. The fact that the cougar Alpha was willing to humor her meant a lot. A whole lot.

“Thank you for the pastries,” he continued, snagging another from the box as he moved slowly closer. “How’d you know I had a sweet tooth?”

“Most men do,” she answered quickly, feeling almost comfortable in his presence. She hadn’t felt the least bit comfortable around a male shifter in a long time.

“Ah, yes. Sadly, most of us are simple creatures,” he agreed in a wistful tone that made her smile deepen. She had never known an Alpha to take himself so un-seriously.

He polished off the second pastry with one more bite. While he chewed, she felt his gaze upon her, but she couldn’t meet his eyes again. Her shyness was something she was working on, though she’d never been a truly dominant female.

Every shifter Pack, Clan and Tribe had its dominants and its submissives. They needed both to survive. Dominants were protective of the weaker members of the group. In fact, without weaker Clan mates to protect, the dominants usually ended up tearing each other apart. Protecting the weaker members of the Clan was something they could unite behind and it made for a stronger Clan all around.

“You said last night…” she began, wanting to find something to talk about that might help set her on more steady footing. “You said you’d never met a bobcat shifter before. There’s a relatively large community of us in the Cascade Mountains.”

“My Clan is headquartered in Las Vegas,” he replied, sitting down near her, though not on the same rock. She was glad. She wanted to talk to him, but close proximity in human form would probably still be difficult for her—at least for a while. All of the beatings had been administered while she was in human form, which was why she’d spent so long as a bobcat after escaping. She had yet to overcome the fear of being overpowered and abused while on two legs, but she was getting better day by day.

“You’re Alpha, right?”

“One of them,” he confirmed. “Actually, I’m the fourth of five brothers. We’re all Alphas. The eldest is our Clan Alpha, my brother Grif.”

She was perplexed by the concept. “How can there be five Alphas in one Clan?”

Bob actually smiled, confusing her further. “Oh, there’s a lot more than just the five of us. We’re all cougars, but there are Alphas for every group of shifters under our banner. The Redstone Clan is probably the largest in North America. It takes all five of us just to keep the business running and the Clan matters sorted out. The four younger brothers act as Grif’s deputies in different aspects of running both the Clan and the business.”

“You’re one of those Redstones?” Serena’s eyes widened. She’d just realized the kind cougar she was unaccountably attracted to was in essence, shifter royalty. Or the next thing to it.

She was totally out of her depth. Panicked, she stood. Fight or flight had set in, and she’d never been one to fight back much. She wanted to run away, but the man who’d been so relaxed a moment ago was now standing in front of her, his hands on her shoulders.

“It’s okay, Serena. I’ve got you. You’re all right.”

How did he know to say those things? How had he guessed she needed comfort and reassurance?

She looked up at him, knowing he’d see the confused fear in her gaze. “Why are you being so nice to me? I’m nothing. Not worthy of an Alpha’s notice. Especially not an Alpha of your standing. This is a mistake. I have to go.” The whispered words were torn from her heart as she tried again to flee, but he held her still with just a simple pressure on her shoulders. Not hurting. Not really holding. Just asking wordlessly for her to stay. Overriding the fear to some extent. At least enough to allow her to stay for a few more minutes.

“You are the most worthy female I have ever met. The most worthy of my respect and regard. The most worthy of my concern and protection. The Mother of All wasn’t making a mistake when She allowed our paths to cross, kitten. I believe that with all my heart. I hope someday soon, you will too.”