Chapter 5
Carter
I took deep breath after deep breath, but it did nothing to calm me. Fury tore through me like I had never felt.
Not only was a jaguar shifter family in town, but they were staying in the same hotel as Katya and Alley. There was no way the group didn’t know the girls were jaguars—or was only Katya the shifter?
This whole time, I had only ever sensed one shifter in the area. Katya had smelled of jaguar the whole time I’d spoken with her, but I couldn’t recall the sweet scent when talking with Alley. I hadn’t been paying close attention because I’d had no reason to think she wasn’t Katya.
I pulled out my phone and texted Toby, explaining the situation.
Carter: There’s no way I can leave her here alone with those jags.
Toby: Want me to send over Alex and Bobby?
I hesitated before responding. Would throwing two werewolves into the mix help or hurt the situation? It might piss off the other jaguar shifters, but at least they’d be there as backup if anything did go down.
Carter: Yeah. I’ll book us a room.
Toby: OK. They’ll be there soon.
I put my phone away and turned back to the front desk. Both Katya and Alley were watching me. Probably curious about the verbal altercation with the jaguar alpha I’d just had. I took a deep breath and hurried over.
“Everything okay?” The one on the left asked. I thought it was Katya. That’s where she had been standing before. It was hard to tell, though. Those two looked exactly alike.
I sniffed the air. The jaguar aroma came from her, but not Alley.
How could they be identical twins, but only one was a jaguar shifter?
A woman who looked like an older version of the twins merged from a back room behind the counter. “You girls can head up to your rooms now. Thanks for helping.”
I sniffed the air again. No jaguar scent from her, either. The twins’ dad had to be a jaguar shifter. That was the only explanation. It was rare that shifters and humans mated, but when they did, it was hit or miss if the kids ended up shifters or human.
If Katya and Alley’s dad was a shifter, maybe the visiting jaguars weren’t a threat, even though the alpha didn’t like me. Jaguar families rarely got along with other families.
Maybe I didn’t need to spend the night at the hotel, after all. If the visiting shifters were here for the dad, they wouldn’t harm Katya. Plus, her dad would watch over her.
The twins gathered their things and came over.
Their mom turned to me. “Will you be staying here, young man?”
She obviously didn’t realize I was a jaguar shifter like her husband.
Ding-dong.
A family of five strolled in. They smelled human.
“Maybe.”
“You don’t know?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Not yet.” I strolled over to a couch.
Katya and Alley followed me, each one sitting next to me.
“What was that all about?” Alley asked. I could only tell because she didn’t smell like a jaguar shifter. “Were you arguing with that big guy?”
“We had some words, that’s all.”
“About what?”
“Family matters.”
“You’re related to him?” Katya exclaimed.
I shook my head. “No. Family matters.” I didn’t want to speak of shifters with the human family so close.
Both twins stared at me like I’d grown a second head. How could they not know what I meant? I took a deep breath and considered my wording. “You know, like your father’s family.”
They both widened their eyes.
“What do you know about our dad?” Alley’s tone held accusation.
“His family.”
“You say that like it should mean something.” Katya’s brows came together.
I studied her. “It doesn’t?”
“How would it?” she snapped. “He died when we were three weeks old.”
It felt like I’d been punched in the gut. “He did?”
“Yeah.” Alley glared at me. “What do you know about him? We hardly know anything about him. How is it you do?”
My head swam, trying to make sense of the new information. “You don’t know anything about him?”
Katya bit her lower lip. “We have some pictures.”
“And the stories Mom has told us. He wasn’t close to his family.”
I stared at her. “He wasn’t?”
“No. Why do you care? Are you a relative?”
My heart sank. The jaguars who’d just checked in could possibly be their dad’s family, and if that was the case, they would want Katya.
They would believe they owned her. Not one of them would flinch at snatching her up and forcing her to marry someone of her dad’s status in the family. They’d kill her if she tried to escape.
And they were in this very building.
“Earth to Carter.” Alley waved her hand in front of my face.
I just stared at her. My mind was spinning too fast for me to speak. The weight of the situation was too much to take in.
“What’s going on?” Katya demanded. “You’re starting to scare me.”
She should have been scared, but I had no idea how much to tell her. I couldn’t just tell her she was a jaguar shifter. If she didn’t know that world existed, she’d think I was crazy and not want anything to do with me.
Then how would I protect her from a dangerous world she knew nothing about?
Ding-dong.
Alex and Bobby walked through the door. They glanced around and walked over when they saw me.
I finally managed to find my voice, and made introductions. I glared at Alex and Bobby, warning them not to say anything to the twins.
“Are you guys checking in here?” Alley eyed them both, obviously liking what she saw.
Katya continued staring at me with suspicion. She had no idea I was the one person she needed to trust. The jaguar shifters who’d just checked in would have no interest in her sister or mom—just her.
Bobby glanced over at me. “Are we checking in?”
I nodded, everything weighing heavily on me. “We’ll take one room. Can you get us registered?” I tossed him my wallet.
He threw it back at me. “I’ve got one of Toby’s cards.”
Katya’s brows came together. “You guys live with Professor Foley, too?”
Bobby nodded, then headed over to the front desk.
Katya stared at me like I was insane. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t think I like it.”
“Wait.” Alley turned to me. “You three live in town, but you’re staying here?”
Alex sat next to her. “Technically, I’m pretty sure we live just outside of town. But yeah, we want to stay here. It gets crowded over there. There’s a bunch of babies and toddlers, and sometimes it’s nice just to get away from it all, you know?”
“Babies and toddlers?” Alley rubbed her temples.
I leaned back and closed my eyes. The way things were going, the twins would kick us out before we had a chance to stick around and figure out what was going on with the jaguars.
Alex explained our living situation as best he could without mentioning anything about the supernatural world. If I hadn’t been so stressed, I’d have probably found the whole conversation humorous.
“We’re all set.”
I opened my eyes upon hearing Bobby’s voice.
Alley leaned toward him. “Well, if you want to go swimming, be sure to do that before midnight.”
“Really?” Bobby sat across from her and raked his fingers through his blond hair. “Why’s that?”
“Don’t try and scare them,” Katya said.
“Now I have to know.” Bobby leaned forward. “Why can’t we swim after midnight?”
Alley stared at him without saying anything for a moment. “There are accounts of a ghost. She never shows before midnight or after six in the morning.”
“I’m listening.” Bobby rested his chin on his palm. “Is she dangerous?”
“To men. A bunch of guys have claimed she tried to pull them under. We’ve had so many complaints that we lock the doors from eleven to seven.”
“Then why warn us?”
Katya and Alley exchanged a knowing glance.
Alley turned back to Bobby. “The door has a habit of unlocking itself. We’ve even tried locking it with a chain on the outside.”
“Yeah?”
“The chain disappeared.”
Bobby’s mouth dropped.
I held back an eye roll. A hotel employee could easily have done that. How hard would it be to unlock a door or hide a chain? Not very, was my guess.
“I’m not going near that pool any time of the day or night.” Bobby’s face paled.
It was hard not to laugh. I’d seen Bobby face all kinds of enemies with fierce determination, yet he was afraid of the ghost of some girl?
“How old is this building?” Alex asked.
“Nobody really knows.” Alley glanced around, keeping her voice hushed. “There are no records of it being built. It was before anyone other than the original owner lived out here. I’ve even heard rumors of a secret wing.”
I couldn’t keep my doubt quiet any longer. “A secret wing? How is that even possible? A hidden door or hallway, I could see. But what about outside? Just walk around the perimeter and see the whole building.”
Alley shook her head. “It’s impossible to get around to the very back. There are thick blackberry bushes, and they run up to the roof.”
“Is it just covering a hidden wing, or are the bushes so thick they fill in the gap between two wings?”
Bobby stared at Alley, his mouth gaping wide. “Why would someone hide an entire wing?”
“It’s said one of the owners centuries ago sealed it shut after catching her husband having an affair. Neither her husband or the woman were ever seen again. Did she murder them and hide their bodies or kill them by locking them inside the wing?”
Bobby swore. “How do you guys work here without freaking out? I don’t even want to stay here anymore.”
“Good going.” Katya glared at her sister.
The corners of Alley’s mouth twitched. “We don’t just work here. We live here.”
“And you’re still alive?”
“No, we’re ghosts.”
Bobby jumped from his seat.
“She’s kidding.” Katya burst out laughing.
“You don’t live here?” Bobby exclaimed.
Katya threw me an exasperated expression.
I turned to Bobby. “She’s kidding about them being ghosts. They aren’t dead. Maybe we should get settled into our room.”
Alley winked at him. “Unless you want to go swimming with us.”
Bobby stumbled backward into the chair and nearly fell over.
Alex laughed. “I’ve never seen you so freaked out.”
“This place is haunted!”
I rose and slapped Bobby on the back. “Come on. Let’s find our room.”
“It’s not near the hidden wing, is it?”
Alley’s mouth twisted into a grin. “Nobody knows where that wing is—it’s hidden.”
Bobby’s eyes widened. “For real?”
Alley turned to me. “Bring him to the party on Friday night. He’s fun.”
“I think we have to get through tonight first.” I pulled on Bobby and glanced over at Katya, who wouldn’t make eye contact with me.
It was going to be tough to protect a girl who was so obviously put off by me. But first, I needed to sniff out the jaguar family and see if I could find out why they were staying in town.