End of Night, page 4
“That’s really sweet,” Daisy said.
“Yes and no,” Hedra said. “It’s not so sweet when you invite your human boyfriend to meet them, and he has to stare down an entire room of hostile cheetah shifters.”
Ryan laughed. “Oh God, that sounds like a nightmare.”
“One guy nearly wet his pants,” Hedra said. “Another cried a little when one of my brothers growled and showed a bit of fang. He wasn’t serious, but it scared Martin enough that he broke up with me two days later.”
“Shit,” Shay said.
Hedra shrugged. “I would have broken up with him anyway. I need a partner who can hold his own against my siblings. Besides, my siblings treating me like I wasn’t a human growing up has worked in my favour. Especially with Boone’s grandmother.”
“She’s a pistol,” Ryan said. “I’m so glad it’s working out, though. Grayson said Boone was panicking before Chase suggested he meet with you.”
“Chase is your cousin, right?” Shay said.
“That’s right,” Hedra said.
“He’s cute,” Shay said. “I saw him at the office once when I went with Ryan to drop off lunch for Grayson.”
“I can introduce you,” Hedra said. “He’s single and will be more than happy to be the first shifter you bang.”
Shay laughed so hard that the couple next to them glanced over. “Oh God, you’re great, Hedra.”
She grinned at Shay. “Thanks.”
“So, will you return to working at a hospital once you’re finished working for Boone, or will you continue to do private nursing?” Daisy asked.
A vision of Dianne’s body in the hospital bed flashed through Hedra’s head, and she swallowed hard. “Private nursing again. Assuming I can find another private nursing job.”
“You didn’t like working at a hospital?” Shay asked.
“Um, it just wasn’t for me,” Hedra said.
“What department did you work in?” Ryan asked.
“Emergency for a few years, but then I tried different departments. I worked in neurology for a while and then pediatrics and cardiology,” Hedra said. Her back started sweating, and she tried to think of a natural way to change the subject.
“That was in Rosehaven, right?” Ryan said. “Grayson and I had coffee with Chase last week, and he mentioned your family is in Rosehaven.”
“That’s right,” Hedra said. “I worked at Saint Mary’s Hospital after I graduated nursing school.”
“When did you move here?” Shay asked.
“Only about a month and a half ago,” Hedra said. “I lived in Emerton for a few months and worked at a doctor’s office, but I decided to move here when they had to lay me off. My parents and siblings wanted me to return to Rosehaven, but I didn’t want that. I compromised by moving here. My parents were happier that it was much closer to Rosehaven, and I at least had some family around with Chase and his parents. I had my stuff in storage while living in a motel and looking for a job. Then Chase introduced me to Boone and his grandmother. I’ve had to keep my stuff in storage, but it’s worth it for what I’m saving by not paying rent.”
“Sure, and all you have to do is avoid an old, angry tiger shifter’s claws,” Shay said.
“Honestly, the poodle poop is worse,” Hedra said.
Shay stared blankly at her, and Hedra said, “Her dog Alfie keeps stealing my Crocs and pooping in them.”
Daisy, Ryan, and Shay all laughed, and Hedra grinned at them before drinking some beer. It’d been a long time since she’d gone out on a girls’ night. Hell, it’d been a long time since she’d had friends, and the warmth and happiness washing over her felt foreign.
Just make sure you don’t kill them like you did the last one.
The smile dropped from her face like a brick, and her stomach twisted. She hadn’t killed Dianne. She wasn’t the one drunk behind the wheel of the car that T-boned Dianne’s car in a snowy intersection.
No, but you were the one who couldn’t save her while she lay dying on the hospital bed.
The dinner she ate was now a hot stone in her stomach, and she could hardly swallow past the lump in her throat.
“Hedra?” Shay touched her arm, concern in her voice. “You okay, honey?”
Hedra forced herself to smile. “Just fine, thanks. So, do you ever think you’ll go back into acting?”
Shay studied her a few seconds longer, and Hedra could have kissed her with relief when she said, “God, no. I was a terrible actress.”
“You weren’t!” Ryan said.
As she and Shay began to argue goodnaturedly about Shay’s acting abilities, Hedra sat back in her chair and took another drink of beer. This was fine. She was fine. It didn’t matter what Mateo said or thought or told people in Rosehaven. She hadn’t killed her best friend.
Hedra crept down the hallway to her room. It was later than she meant to stay out, and the house was dark and quiet. She’d discovered Boone was a night owl like her, but he’d gone to bed earlier than normal.
She slipped inside her bedroom and used the bathroom she shared with Althea before checking on the tiger shifter. Althea was sleeping soundly, and Hedra stuck her tongue out at Alfie when the poodle growled softly at her from his spot on the bed beside Althea.
She returned to her room and changed into her cotton shirt and shorts pajama set before washing her face and brushing her teeth. She studied herself in the bathroom mirror. Tonight had been fun, and she’d been embarrassingly happy when Shay invited her for coffee on Thursday night. She liked Ryan and Daisy a lot, but she felt an almost instant connection with Shay.
She reminds you of Dianne.
Hedra swallowed hard and rinsed her toothbrush before putting it in the holder. Yeah, maybe a little. Not in looks, but definitely in personality.
Do you feel good about trying to replace Dianne?
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and concentrated on not spiraling. Her therapist had given her different tools to combat this very scenario, and she used all of them until her rapid heartbeat calmed and she no longer felt nauseous.
She opened her eyes. “Her death is not your fault,” she told her reflection. “You are not responsible for Mateo’s grief.”
She took a few more deep breaths before shutting off the bathroom light and heading toward her bed. She pulled back the covers and was about to climb in when she heard the scratching at her door. She cocked her head and studied the door, frowning when she heard the scratching again.
She crossed the room and opened the door, staring in surprise at the tiger standing in the hallway. “Boone? What’s wrong?”
The tiger purred before pushing past her. He sniffed her bed before dipping his head into the laundry hamper and sniffing.
“If you steal a pair of my underwear, I’m calling the labour board,” Hedra said.
The tiger chuffed loudly before returning to her. She grunted in surprise when he rubbed up against her, his big body knocking her into the door and closing it with a loud bang.
She winced and rubbed at her hipbone as the tiger rubbed against her again. “Hey, watch it, you big lug.”
She waited for Althea to call for her, but apparently, she’d slept through the door slamming shut. She tried to straighten, grunting again when Boone chuffed and burrowed his big head into her stomach.
“Oof,” she said. She scratched hesitantly around his ears, and the tiger purred happily.
Feeling disconcerted, Hedra stroked Boone’s head, delighted by how soft the fur was. “Okay, this has been fun, but it’s late, and I was just going to bed, so…”
Boone chuffed again and loped across the room to leap onto her bed. He stretched out on it, his tail flicking back and forth and his big body barely able to fit on the double bed.
“Boone, no,” she said. “You can’t sleep in my bed.”
He chuffed, and she joined him, shoving on one meaty hip. “Get up, big guy.”
He growled and nudged her arm with his head.
“Are you serious right now?” she said. “Boone, get out of my bed.”
This time, the tiger’s chuff sounded dejected, and she sighed before gripping the tiger’s head in her hands and staring directly into his jade eyes. “Boone, can you hear me in there? Your tiger is being weird. Can you shift to your human form, please?”
The tiger blinked at her before yawning. She stared at his teeth before sighing again. “Fine. You can lie in bed with me for fifteen minutes. Then you have to return to your bed. Got it?”
He chuffed in what she hoped was agreement, and she opened her bedroom door enough for the tiger to slip out before climbing into bed and pulling up the covers. She flinched when Boone rubbed his head against her face and neck before licking her forehead with his rough tongue.
“Hey, keep the tongue to yourself, big guy,” she said.
He growled and rubbed his head across her mouth. She sputtered out a mouthful of tiger fur. “And stop marking me. Your grandmother will have a fit when she smells me tomorrow.”
Boone chuffed and marked her again. She poked him in his shoulder. “Boone, enough.”
She’d never seen a tiger pout before. She rolled her eyes as he stared at her. “Don’t look at me like that.”
He let his head drop onto her chest, and after a few seconds, she rubbed and stroked his head, scratching behind his ears and along his throat. He purred deafeningly, and she smiled a little. His purring was the perfect white noise, and the heat from his big body was nice. She rubbed his forehead and reached to shut off the lamp on the nightstand.
“Fifteen minutes,” she said into the dark room. “Then back to your own bed. Got it?”
His purring cut out for a few seconds before starting again, and she stroked his head as she closed her eyes.
CHAPTER 5
“Good luck today,” Hedra said to Boone.
He grinned at her as he filled his to-go mug with coffee. “Thanks, but I won’t need it. I could do this assignment in my sleep.”
“You seem particularly happy this morning, Boone.” Nan sat at the table, Alfie on her lap and scrambled eggs on the plate in front of her. She stared at Hedra, who willed herself not to blush.
Last night, she’d fallen asleep before Boone’s fifteen minutes were up. She’d woken alone in her bed this morning. Knowing she would smell like Boone, she’d braced herself when she walked into Althea’s bedroom. To her utter shock, Althea hadn’t said a word to her about Boone’s marking.
Relieved but also confused - maybe Boone hadn’t marked her like she thought - she’d helped Althea shower and dress before helping her walk to the kitchen. She’d left Althea sipping her coffee and slipped back to her room. Wondering if she’d dreamed the whole thing last night, she checked the bed. Orange hairs on the quilt confirmed that Boone had been in her room last night.
She’d returned to the kitchen to make Althea’s breakfast. Boone had joined them, and the awkwardness she expected hadn’t materialized. He’d been in a good mood while he cooked his breakfast, teasing Nan gently and even tossing Alfie a piece of bacon. He hadn’t said a word about sleeping in her bed last night, and while she hadn’t expected him to, at least not in front of his grandmother, his casual ease around her had thrown her for a loop.
“Boone,” Nan said, “why are you in such a good mood this morning?”
Boone slipped into his jacket before adding milk and sugar to his coffee. “I slept great last night for the first time in a while.”
He leaned down and kissed Nan’s forehead. “Love you, Nan. I’ll see you tonight. Be good for Hedra, please.”
“I’m not a toddler,” Nan said grumpily.
He grinned. “I know. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said.
“Bye, Hedra,” Boone said.
“Bye, Boone.” Hedra waited until the front door closed before she said, “Do you want another piece of toast, Althea?”
Althea stared silently at her, and Hedra met her gaze steadily for about thirty seconds before looking away, touching the small blue opal on her septum ring self-consciously. “We didn’t have sex.”
“He marked you,” Althea said.
“It was his tiger,” Hedra said. “He scratched at my door last night. When I let him in, he marked me a few times before lying on my bed. I told him to leave, but he didn’t listen, and it’s not like I could drag a full-grown tiger out of my room.”
A small grin crossed Althea’s face as Hedra said, “I asked him to shift to his human form, but he ignored me.”
“His human side was sleeping and doesn’t remember it,” Althea said.
“How do you know?”
“Boone was terrible for sleepwalking in his tiger form when he was a cub,” Althea said. “He mostly outgrew it by his teens, but it happens again anytime he’s stressed or upset. His tiger takes over and roams the house.”
“He must be more stressed about the new assignment than he’s admitting to,” Hedra said.
“Maybe,” Althea said.
“You don’t think that’s it?” Hedra asked.
Althea sipped at her coffee. “The anniversary of Derek’s death is coming up.”
“Oh,” Hedra said.
“You know who Derek is?”
Hedra nodded and sank into the chair next to Althea. “Yes. He served with Boone and the others in the military, and he was Boone’s best friend.”
“That he was,” Althea said. “Awful way he died. Shot by a sniper right in front of my boy and the others. All of them struggled with his death, but Boone and Wes took the brunt of it. I imagine Wes’s little human mate is helping him now, but Boone doesn’t have anyone to go to with his hurt.”
Hedra’s chest tightened, and she was weirdly emotional and close to tears. “Has he tried therapy for it?”
“Yes, and it’s done him a world of good. But to lose someone like that, it changes a person. He’s not the Boone he used to be, and I don’t expect he’ll ever be again. But that’s life. It isn’t always easy, is it, human?”
“No,” Hedra whispered. “It isn’t.”
Althea studied her. “You know better than most what Boone’s been through, don’t you?”
She nodded. “My best friend, she… she died in front of me as well.”
Althea sighed. “I’m sorry to hear that, Hedra. Don’t take offense if he’s snappy in the next little while. He won’t mean anything by it.”
“I won’t,” Hedra said.
Althea patted her hand. “Don’t tell anyone I said this because I’ll deny it if you do, but you aren’t half bad for a human.”
Hedra smiled. “Thanks, Althea.”
“Uh-huh. Now, help me to my chair in the living room. My game shows are on.”
“You’re doing a remarkable job of not looking bored out of your skull.” Camilla joined him, her slender body dressed in a skin-tight silver dress and her hair pulled into a complicated looking twist at the back of her skull.
Boone smiled but didn’t take his gaze off Abena, who was about fifteen feet away. Twenty or so people surrounded the elegant lynx shifter, but she looked completely at ease, and none pressed too close.
“I’m not bored,” Boone said.
“Right,” Camilla said with a laugh. She sipped at her champagne, studying the large room. “A private pre-screening of Camilla’s latest movie with a bunch of snobby celebrities and one hundred of her biggest fans is absolutely your scene.”
“I enjoyed the movie,” he said.
“Of course you did,” Camilla said teasingly. “The movie is amazing. But the Boone I remember, hated wearing a tux.”
He glanced at her before returning his gaze to Abena. “I will admit the tux isn’t my favourite part.”
She laughed. “I knew it.”
They people watched in silence for a few minutes before Camilla said, “You’ve impressed Abena, and she’s hard to impress.”
“I’m just doing my job,” Boone said.
“When did you get so modest?” she teased again. “What happened to the Boone I knew and loved?”
His tiger growled grumpily. He’d gotten annoyed the minute Camilla joined them. While his tiger hadn’t disliked Camilla when Boone dated her, he hadn’t been nearly as fond of her as Boone. That in itself wasn’t super unusual. Sometimes, a shifter’s human side was more attracted to a potential mate than their cat side, and vice versa. But, normally, the side less attracted would fall just as hard as they got to know the person. It was a self-preservation thing. Especially if their cat side believed a person was their mate. If the human side didn’t share their feelings, insanity set in.
He shuddered inwardly. It had almost happened to Cooper with Daisy. Cooper’s human side was just as in love with Daisy as his cat, but he’d fought against his lion’s feelings, thanks to Daisy’s fear of shifters. Happily, it had worked out for Coop, but watching his boss and friend descend toward madness terrified both Boone and his tiger.
Not that it had come close to that with Camilla. Neither he nor his tiger had ever seen her as his mate when they dated, but his tiger had never felt as strong of an attraction to Camilla as Boone’s human side. Not even after months of dating.
“Boone?” Camilla said.
“I guess people change, even me,” he said.
She studied him thoughtfully. “Yes, you have. You’re like a completely different person, Boone.”
He cleared his throat, his tiger sending out warning growls when he smelled the faint scent of Camilla’s lust. “I’ve only accompanied Ms. Nkosi to a few events. It’s hardly enough to impress her.”
Camilla shrugged. “How you kept your cool, protected her, and charmed both the paparazzi and the overzealous fans who approached her in the grocery store last week is exactly what she’s looking for in a security person.”
Abena sipped at her champagne as her co-star, a white man who had aged out of his action flick career a few years ago, joined her and put his arm around her. Boone started forward, and Camilla grasped his arm. “It’s fine. She likes William, and it won’t upset her that he’s touching her.”
