Chapter 1
Without Daryn
At fifteen, she had stood on the mountain, Ariel’s mountain, surrounded by her family. Daryn wasn’t a white wolf, but many of them had known him all his life. She’d been orphaned at a young age and her aunt Beth, the one she’d been named for had raised her as part of her family.
Once she’d turned fifteen, she’d gotten a job and at sixteen she’d moved out. It hadn’t been because her aunt hadn’t loved and cared for her although the new husband wasn’t all that nice. No, it had been her own stubborn independent streak. Beth hadn’t realized Ariel had finished the brief eulogy and it was time to set Daryn free.
He was in a better place, Ariel had said. That must be true since there wasn’t a greater hell than the one death had freed him from. She should rejoice that he could now be a peace, but she was selfish. Why did everyone she loved leave her? Wasn’t she important enough to stay for?
Ariel came and wrapped her arms around her. Her tears mixed with Beth’s as they stood there hugging and crying. Life would never be the same without Daryn. She opened the jar and started to spread the ashes as a wind came suddenly picking them up and carrying them all over the mountain.
“It’s done.” Ariel declared.
Slowly, people began to head back down the mountain where the meal awaited. That was when she made a decision she’d been putting off. She would be a teacher. Maybe she could help guide young people so they wouldn’t fall into the same trap Daryn had. She was about to graduate in two months’ time. At seventeen, she was one of the younger ones.
Originally she’d planned to take a year off. Maybe travel or work to save up money. Now she would apply for scholarships and colleges. Beth attacked college with the same single mindedness she’d applied to everything else. By taking special courses over the summer and extra courses each semester, she finished in three years. It was quite the accomplishment with a full time job year round and working part-time for Ariel every summer.
“I’m not sure what to do now.” Beth admitted. At twenty, she was free of college and ready to move on with her life.
“You should jump on it.” Ariel encouraged.
There’d been some changes in Ariel’s life that had affected the whole family. She and Matt Sr. had split several years ago and she had begun writing novels. That added another famous person to the family. Roc’s career had taken off too. Roc had been a midlister for a couple years, but now she was a bestselling author that would soon be worth millions. Ariel hit success almost immediately and a few years ago had met a new man who wasn’t a man at all. The paranormal world had intruded on them.
Ariel was talking about an offer she’d gotten to teach summer school as a test drive for teaching at a local middle school. Beth had no particular age that she preferred to teach, she loved them all. As long as they were open to learning, it was all good. She’d manage to get through to them somehow.
Now two years after she’d accepted that offer, with summer looming on the horizon, she was ready and she needed to move on to something better. The job itself, she loved. The children were wonderful and she got far too attached to some of them. The issue was the school board with their stupid rules and the principal with his endless pursuit of her. The man was a pig that shouldn’t be allowed around kids.
Now what? Again, her favorite aunt Ariel stepped in with an intriguing option. Their lives had changed again as they all had discovered their blood was sought after. It had been kept from most of them for a while. Now everyone likely to be affected by it had now been told. She’d also found about the drug Daryl had been addicted to.
It wasn’t a human drug, or at least not completely. Her cousin had been one of the first the designer had tested the drug on. The drug had now ruined tens of thousands of lives. The originator had been taken down, but others continued to market and benefit from the drug. Wardens were fighting to gain control of the problem and slowly winning the battle.
That was one reason she wasn’t sure about this plan of Ariel’s. Did she want to enter the world that had helped deprive her of her cousin? In the end, her hatred of her current situation had convinced her to sit down with Ariel and discuss the possibilities. A group of cat shifters had moved into an area of Blue Eye Missouri. She gave Ariel a hard look. That was where she’d found her house and land two years ago. A house she was still remodeling, but it was looking really good.
It was a house meant to be a home for a family, a big one. Not a reclusive single female. She felt guilty for taking it away from such a family, but she connected with the house on a personal level. No one else would love it the way she did. Restoration had been slow, but she’d kept most of the historic elements in place. Someone might just make it habitable, she was making it like it had been when it was new only better. If she sounded crazy, well it ran in her family.
Had Ariel been planning for this all along? She decided to give it a shot and Ariel already had an appointment set up for her. Ariel gave her a slip of paper with all the needed information. Maybe this could work out for her. If not, she’d find something else.
Right now, she looked through her closet. She needed to look professional. The image she needed to present was capable, hardworking, and respectable. Beth had no desire to fall into the same trap she’d had at the last place with a man chasing her. Pulling her hair back into a tight bun, she would add thick glasses even though they gave her a headache. The skirt she selected went well past her knees. The shirt came up to her throat.
Looking around the closet floor, she found some Mary Janes (shoes) to wear. No one would call them sexy. Nothing she wore would say single woman looking to be harassed. No makeup, no perfume only the residue of her shampoo and deodorant. She couldn’t go in all sweaty and stinky, right? Looking in the mirror her look screamed middle aged school marm. Perfect. Adding a pencil behind her ear and a notebook in her hand just to be sure, she was ready.
Once she was finally on the road, she watched for the land the cat shifters had bought. She never tended to notice things like this until it affected her personally. Her personal code told her to stay out of other people’s business the way she hoped they would stay out of hers. It didn’t always work, but sometimes it seemed to. Family was usually the ones all up in her business. That she had to put up with because they did it out of love.
The turn came quicker than expected, but she managed to make it. Pulling in, she saw construction going on everywhere. One of the buildings was even being built by a crew run by Ariel’s business. She rarely did new construction. Beth parked in an area others parked at, but once she got out of her car, she saw no place set up for the interview she was set to attend.
There was a man standing under a tree observing the construction work. Maybe he’d know where she should go. A buzz ran through her as she gave him a closer look. Damn that man was hot. His look screamed shifter, they were all tall and built like a brick house. He turned to stare at her as she moved closer. His regard made her stomach do flip flops.
Now that she was close enough, she decided to ask. “Excuse me. Do you know where the interviews for the teaching position are being held?”
He grinned mischievously. “You look like some of the teachers I had growing up, but you don’t smell like them.”
“Excuse me? What does that mean?”
“Sorry. We aren’t set up for regular interviews so let’s take a walk. You tell me about yourself.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Titus Claw. I’m in charge of the school program. To be honest, I don’t know much about teaching, but I like to think I know enough to pick competent people to run the school so I only have to deal with administrative aspects. Tell me, why do you teach?”
“I teach because I love it. It’s a passion and it has to be for someone to be any good at it. If you don’t love children and want to give them the best education possible, they’ll be cheated out of their potential.”
“Why did you decide to be a teacher?”
Sorrow rolled over her as she thought of Daryn. “I had a cousin who made a lot of mistakes and ended up dying. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think if he had an adult he trusted, one he felt he could approach for advice, he would have avoided the pitfalls that led to his death. Even though I don’t always know what to do, if a student comes to me with a problem, I’ll move heaven and Earth to get them the help they need.”
It was hard to tell if Titus thought she was a busy body or was impressed with her sense of commitment. His face showed no emotion, probably an ability honed over several lifetimes. Shifters lived so much longer than humans. She’d learned it was hard to tell what their age was.
“Would you be able to work part time over the summer?”
“Do you have a summer program?”
“No, but the school is in the process of being built and Ariel suggested the teacher running the program be hired so they could see things organized the way they want them.” Titus explained.
“Someone will thank Ariel. That’s a good idea and yes, I’d be available. I put off getting a summer job until I know what job I’ll land, but I can work around something like that.”
“Okay, there’s no point in waiting. The job is yours if you want it. You got the basic information, right?”
“Yes, I got the run down on pay and benefits. How long before the building is ready for me to start figuring out what I need?”
“See that job site?” Titus asked. She saw a concrete pad with no walls.
“Yes?”
“That’s your school.”
“Oh, my. I’ll be starting a part time job any day. Just call me when you’re ready for me to start.”
“Thank you. My assistant will call as soon as walls are up inside.”
“Thank you. It was nice to meet you.” Beth said as she rushed away.
Once she was in her car, she collapsed in the seat. A mixture of relief and confusion hit her. She drove to Ariel’s to share the good news and to see if she could get a job for the summer. It was odd the way shifters now seemed to be drawn to the area Ariel lived. The drive was short and she hoped she made it for breakfast. Beth did, but the selection wasn’t good.
“You got the job.” Ariel guessed as she approached.
“I did and he’s taking your suggestion on letting the teacher be in on organizing the school from the very start. It still won’t keep me busy so if you have an opening, I’ll take my usual holiday job.”
“You can start tomorrow, but I need you to work on the school. I don’t want to fall behind and we have several remodeling projects going too. Business is crazy busy.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Almost too good. Now that Matt’s gone too and one of my teams is on loan to him, I’m wishing we hadn’t bought so many houses. I’ve hired extras, but they are untrained and inexperienced. You could be in charge of the school project if you want to be.”
“Okay, I can do that as long as you know I’ll need to be able to get in touch with you if I run into trouble.”
“Oh, thank you, Beth. You’re a life saver. Sara will bring you up to speed and help you with, well, everything.”
Sara was one of several assistants Ariel had now. She’d been there at least a year now and Beth was familiar with her. “Hi, Sara. I’m going to need you quite a bit on such a big project.”
“I’m always ready to help. If we do good, maybe we’ll get bonus.” Sara hoped. Ariel was well known for her bonuses. A project like this done in time or early and done well would probably make her give them one.
“We’ll work with that goal in mind. Let’s grab a drink and I’m going to fix me a plate of food and we’ll go plot and plan.”
“I’ll be at the kitchen table waiting for you.” Sara assured.
Beth was feeling pretty good about things right now. She was experienced at working these projects, even the odd new construction. A few times she had even been a second, usually to Ariel or Matt. She’d even covered Danny’s crew as boss a few times and last summer when he’d been gone. It was an absence that had become permanent, but at least he wasn’t far away. This move to project manager wasn’t such a big jump that it scared her. Sara would help her get her crew and her supplies then tomorrow, she would get on it.
She ate while they pulled together a team using a few newbies and some of her cousins that worked over the summers and knew what they were doing. It was a crew she could manage. Sara wrote up the list of supplies and most of them would be delivered tonight. They would be safe because they had onsite security.
A crew truck was assigned to her including needed tools. Some of her crew would meet her at the job site while she would pick up the others here. She took the truck home with her so she could drive it back in the morning. On the days she got off early, she would have access to lots of tools to help her with her personal remodeling plans. Ariel was good about loaning tools, as long as if you broke it, you replaced it. When she finally got home, she was tired, but satisfied with the plans she’d made.
In the morning, she wore her holey well-worn jean, a tank top, and a shirt over that. Her old sneakers were nearly worn out and her ball cap looked like it had seen better days. This was what she wore for this job except when the job was more dangerous, then she wore steel toed work shoes. Today she was in supervisor mode. She left to pick up her crew, going early to get fed. Most of her crew was there doing the same thing. Two people were meeting them at the site.
They were waiting when she arrived. One of the workers was a young she-wolf named Jackie. It was obvious she had a crush on Titus. That wouldn’t be a problem if she kept her mind on her work. By lunch time it was clear that wasn’t going to happen. It was also clear Titus not only didn’t recognize her as the teacher he’d interviewed, but he was showing unwanted interest in her.
That was okay because she was busy with her crew so she just ignored him. Shifters didn’t handle being ignored well. Titus stood under what must be his favorite tree staring at the work on the school or maybe just staring at her. The male was incredibly good looking since he was tall and well built. His hair was shoulder length and black as a raven’s wing.
His eyes were a dark chocolate brown, but shifter gold flashed at her every once in a while which showed he felt strong emotions. He had a five o’clock shadow and he always seemed to. The scruffy look made him appear even hotter if that was even possible. If she hadn’t said to hell with all males, she might even be interested.
The project was well in hand with the frame up for the walls and the roof by the end of the day. Most of her crew loaded up. Before they pulled out, Jackie’s phone rang. Beth didn’t want to be around for that. It would be Sara, reassigning her to another crew. Distracted workers were a safety hazard and they didn’t pull their weight. None of Ariel’s projects could afford it so Jackie would get one more chance on one of the other crews.
They were down the road before Jackie could find her to complain. Beth just knew she would be unhappy and she would blame her. Maybe the girl would learn her lesson and do better with another crew. At least Beth was rid of the problem. She had the less experienced crew and they weren’t used to working together. Problem crew members were just more trouble than she could handle right now.
After they arrived at Ariel’s, Beth stayed for an early supper then she headed home. With all the tools at her disposal to build a house, or most of them, she began work on the laundry room. She was adding an organizing system. Halfway through, she had to quit. It was late and she needed her rest. After cleaning up and getting ready for bed, she set her alarm for the necessary time.
The next week fell into a routine and somehow she was lucky enough not to see Jackie. The frame went up completely and she divided her team in half. One part started inside following the electricians or plumbers as they put the needed wires or pipes in place. Both those jobs were hired out. The outside team began putting up the outside walls then applying the metal siding and roof.
Two weeks and it should be done, mostly because of the outside contractors. Ariel had added a small landscaping service to her business and they would do the yard once the outside walls and siding were complete. Now that walls were going up, Beth stayed out of sight as much as possible. Titus sat at the picnic table under his favorite tree and did paperwork as he watched the work, but he could no longer see much.
The project had turned out perfect and as Ariel came to do the final run through, Beth felt pride in a job well done. Titus came too, so he could see that everything was done to his satisfaction. “The teacher couldn’t make it to the inspection. She said I didn’t give her enough notice and her second job interfered. I’m not pleased about that, Ariel.” Titus observed as he met them for the tour.
“How much notice did you give her?” Ariel asked.
“I called her last night.” He admitted, but seemed to think that was alright.
“Did she tell you she’d drop everything and come running when you called?” Ariel asked.
“Well, no, but what could she have to do that’s more important than this?” Titus questioned.
That statement told Beth a lot. “Previous commitments?” Ariel guessed.
“It won’t be a problem. I have a list of requirements she sent me that I used when we were building. She’s also welcome to contact me after she checks the place out if she has any concerns.” Beth declared.
“Fine. I see I’m outvoted.” Titus gave in reluctantly. “Let’s see this school now.”
Ariel had a decorator come in to finish things off and Beth had enjoyed working with her to pick engaging colors and ergonomic furniture. The designs and colors were a young person’s dreams. Many of the children would just come in to test, but some would come in for tutoring if they ran into difficulties.
“I love it.” Titus admitted and his eyes watered. Must be allergies since she’d been told male shifters never cried. They were in the reading room where the walls were covered with scenes from the savannah. Many predatory cats lurked in the tall grasses peeking out at the antelope and gazelle.
There was no preference given to any one cat, they were all equally represented. In the playroom set up for younger cubs, the equipment was colorful and the pictures on the walls more cartoonish. The reading room/library was a more serious room with earth tones and framed pictures from famous artists who had done paintings or sketches, even watercolors, of Africa. There were more available to interested buyers than one might expect. The book cases were dark wood and the desks and tables matched.
“I’m impressed, Ariel.” Titus admitted. “I can find no flaws.”
They ended the tour in the small kitchen large enough to cook a meal if needed, but mainly set up for snacks. Beth loved the place and she would enjoy teaching here. The program had yet to be devised, but there was time for that yet. First they needed to register students so they could assess what was needed.
They walked outside where the yard was landscaped with bushes and flowers. The back yard was fenced in with a playground in the center and picnic tables around the edge. It was a dream for students and teacher alike. Excitement ran through her. A school where the priority was teaching so students could learn. It would be amazing.
“Come on. I’ll take you to lunch.” Ariel offered.
“I’d love to go to lunch with you two ladies to celebrate the completion of our new school.” Titus broke in grabbing the opportunity.
“Of course you would.” Ariel said looking at Beth.
“Should we go to Springfield?” Titus asked. Beth looked at her work clothes. Was the male mad? “You look very stylish. All the youngsters dress like that.”
“He’s not far off, Boss.” Ariel said.
“You call her Boss too?” Titus asked.
“It’s her nickname. You can call her that too.”
“Is there a story behind it?” Titus asked as Beth turned red. “Ah, I see there is.”
“Boss is around Matt’s age. They were in nursery school together. She was instructing him on how to pick up his toys so they wouldn’t get in trouble. Matt ask her why he should listen to her. She promptly told him because girls were always the boss, her mother said so.”
Titus chuckled. “Hey, I was what? Three years old?”
“I bet you were cute.” Titus imagined.
“She was adorable.” Ariel admitted.
“So where for lunch?”
“Blue Eye diner. Sara will take good care of us. Call ahead?” Beth asked.
“I will.” Ariel agreed. “We’ll meet you there, Titus. Have you eaten there yet?”
“Not inside. My people get take out all the time. I’ve had some.” Titus admitted.
“Good. We’ll see you there.” Ariel said. Since Beth had ridden with her, she would ride along. “You’re not too upset about this are you?”
“I guess not. I just feel like Clark Kent and wonder why he can’t tell it’s me. It’s just clothes and glasses. I’m glad he can’t, but how superficial is that?” Beth asked.
“He desperately needs a teacher. Titus wants nothing to interfere with it. He’s already instructed his males to leave you alone. He doesn’t want to see something he’ll have to pursue.” Ariel explained.
“That sounds more understandable. I just worry about what he’ll do when he becomes aware of my double life.” Beth giggled even though it wasn’t funny.
“Truth?” Beth nodded. “He’ll be pissed.”
“That’s what I thought.” Beth acknowledged.
They drove to the diner grabbing a table, but it wasn’t crowded right then anyway. Titus came in and joined them as they sat and talked to Sara. “I’ll take your orders now since your all here.” Sara said.
All of them ended up ordering the special. It was the meatloaf plate. The food was good here with a mix of fast food like burgers and home cooking. Sara was a cousin who had made her diner into a fabulous success. Since they’d ordered the special, the food came fast.
Titus tried to grill her to get personal details, but Ariel helped her using humor to stop the kitty in his tracks. When they were done eating and ready to go, she had to admit she’d had a good time. The male was not only good looking, but intelligent. He also had the power of leadership. Once they all left, she and Ariel headed to her house.
“You noticed his strength and power. He’s number two to Sebastian in leadership of the cats on this continent. Titus is number one over the tiger shifters. The guy’s charming, isn’t he?” Ariel wondered.
“He’s a bit pushy.” Beth pointed out.
Ariel laughed. He’s a shifter and I think cats could teach wolves something in that regard.” Ariel observed.