Night Runner, page 6
He was my home.
“How do you like your eggs?”
I startled awake. “What? In the middle of the night? It’s still dark out.”
“Yeah. How do you like your eggs?” His voice was low and growly, and the perfect amount of gravelly sexy as he stood at the edge of the bed.
Rolling to my back, I punched the pillow and shoved it under my head, studying the marks on his chest and blushing a little because I put them there. “Scrambled and cooked until they’re as dry as the desert.”
Anthony started to walk away, stopped, returned to the bedside, and frowned. “Are you joking?”
I shrugged. “It’s the only way I ever had them in foster homes and the only way I could ever make them over a campfire. Egg options are a luxury.”
He blinked.
“What?” I dragged the covers and pillows closer, unable to tell what he was thinking. Whatever it was wasn’t bad, but his scrutiny made me self-conscious.
“I forget how different our lives have been.”
“Yeah, you had food and a pride who cared for you. Not everybody has that.” In fact, most I knew didn’t, but it wasn’t something I wanted to relive right now. “So, what are my egg options?”
“Eggs in a basket?”
I scowled. “What’s that mean?”
He described cutting a hole in a piece of bread and cooking an egg in the center of it to make an egg/toast combo. “Does that sound good?”
“Sure. I’m willing to try it.”
His mouth twisted. “And when we’re done with that, I have something else to try.” He shoved his hand under the cover I was wrapped in and grabbed my thigh.
I squealed then. “Shit. Your hands are cold. What did you do?”
“Washed them.” He laughed, the sound echoing as he left the bedroom.
When I slipped my feet over the edge of the mattress, I considered my clothes, trying to decide whether to put something on before I wandered into the kitchen. I decided against clothing and Anthony rewarded me with a cat whistle when I arrived in the kitchen.
“Meow,” I said with a wink, kicking my hips to the side. “Food ready?”
“Yeah.” He handed me a plate. When I took it, he asked, “Did you have any more questions about fated mates?”
I cut a piece of the pan-fried toast and took a bite while I thought. “Yeah, I have one.”
“What’s that?”
“Are we mated? I mean, fated mates and all that. Do we just have to make love or is there something else to that?”
He reached for me and pulled on my earlobe. “You have three tiny claw marks on your skin. So do I. It marks us as fated, but the real marks come after the fated mating.”
“It’s more than sex?” I studied him. “Is better than regular sex?”
He laughed. “In order to be bound as fated mates, you must take my bite. Voluntarily. I must ask, you must agree, and then we fuck like mad cats after.”
“Take your bite?” I laughed at his words, but I hoped the concern I felt didn’t bleed through. I had to take Anthony’s bite. Like what Darius had done? He’d never be anything like Darius, but it still made me nervous. I didn’t want to ask the question, but that didn’t appeal to me. It would be too much like that night, and I didn’t want to have that with Anthony. Voluntarily. But would it hurt?
He laid his hand on my forearm. “Don’t worry. It’s not like the bayou.”
“How did you know I was thinking…”
He shrugged. “A guess, but mostly because sometimes I know what you’re thinking, because you’re already in my head.”
“Will it ever work that way for me?”
“Eventually, when you have more experience as a shifter, I assume it will. It’s one of the great benefits of being fated, and since that’s a cat shifter detail, it’ll come through when you’re better at co-existing with your feline side. Then we’ll be able to speak to one another without speaking.”
We finished eating in silence. My thoughts churned. Anthony didn’t press as I processed what it would mean to be Anthony’s for the rest of my life. Would I take Anthony’s bite when he asked?
CHAPTER SEVEN
maury
A few hours later, I woke, tangled up with Anthony, both of us wrapped in the iridescent sheets as a beautiful sunrise lit up the window to the east. It belied the danger circling us both, but it was a nice prelude in the face of a batshit crazy rogue out in the bayou, hellbent on getting to me.
I rolled over and covered a yawn, but I tried not to wake up Anthony.
Instead, he sat up straight. “Fuck.”
I nearly jumped off the bed. “What is it?”
He spun around. “Oh, shit. Sorry. No, nothing like that.” He caught my arm. “We’re late, and we’re going to show up to the meeting late.”
My eyes widened. “And together.”
He caught my hand in his and laced his fingers through mine. “Together, if it’s okay with you.”
Then I squinted as what he meant hit me. We’d be entering together. Together like Kobie and Laura when we were attacked by Darius. Although Kobie and Laura hadn’t admitted they were “together,” I knew they were. Was I okay with the whole pride knowing we were together? Because we were definitely together as far as I was concerned. I wasn’t going to be running around seeing other cats while I had Anthony waiting for me at home with the whole fated mates card.
“Or not,” Anthony said. “We can go in separate.”
“Oh, no, that’s not what I was thinking of.” I paused. “I mean… we’re together, right?”
“We’re most definitely together.” He scowled then he pulled me against his chest to nuzzle against my cheek and neck. “So, if it wasn’t that, then what was it?”
My stomach growled, so I took the excuse. “I’m famished.”
His deep, rumbly laugh made my toes curl. “Famished, ay? I bet I can help with that.”
I pushed against his chest and scooted to the edge of the bed. “We don’t have time for that. You said we’re already late.” A languid stretch worked up me from my feet to my neck, and I spied the analog clock on the wall. “If I can still read time, we’re only late to breakfast so far.”
He untwisted the sheet from around his legs. “You sure you’re okay with the pride knowing about us?”
Anthony had said a lot about that stuff about fated mates, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. But I’d never seen my big burly cat cry, and he had tears in his eyes because fated mates might be real again. If it mattered that much to him, how could I keep that from the pride? But it was a little like getting married for humans, wasn’t it?
“Guess I need to get okay with it pretty fast,” I said. “Gossip will travel quickly, if I have a guess.”
“I won’t argue with you there, but we can probably hold off on the fated mates announcement.”
“Announcement?” I echoed. “Like an official announcement?”
“Yeah.” He studied my expression. “They’ll want to know. They’ll want to celebrate.”
“I thought you were talking about walking in together and what message that will send.”
“Well, our relationship is the kind of news we don’t want to keep to ourselves. The pride will be ecstatic fated mates are back in play. It’s pretty incredible. We all believed fated mates had gone extinct forever, and fated mates have some pretty amazing benefits. Not only for us as fated mates, but for the whole pride. It makes the whole family stronger.”
“Okay.” I drew out the word. “So maybe I’m not ready for any official announcement about the post-biting part of our life yet.” Uncertainty loomed. I had no idea what it meant for me and what they would expect out of me. And until I learned, I wasn’t sure I could take Anthony’s bite.
“But it’s okay if we go in together?” he asked, helping me from the bed.
“Yeah, that’s okay with me.”
Twenty minutes later, Anthony pressed the B on the elevator I didn’t know his building had.
“What’s B?”
“Basement level.”
“I didn’t know you had a basement here.”
“Both buildings have a basement. In the apartment building, I turned the basement into storage units for those who needed more space than they have in their apartments… and a safe room. Since I own both buildings, I connected both basements. So, the gym and the safe room is quite large, and in a lock-down situation, we can all be in there. There’s plenty of cots and all of that.”
“I’ve trained there before. I didn’t realize it was a safe room, too.” I crossed my arms and leaned back against the rear of the elevator as my stomach jumped and we started down. The doors slid open, and a roar filled the lowest level. Not like an angry cat, but more like lots of friendly conversation.
“How many are down here?”
Anthony’s mouth twisted into a grin. “You’ll see.”
We entered from the rear, and hundreds of shifters milled around the large space. Hundreds of bunks were stacked and pushed up against one wall, folded chairs leaned against another. Anthony hadn’t been kidding when he’d said they were set up to house everyone. Maybe not the whole pride, but all the folks in the apartment building and then hundreds more.
Many of the cats now held donuts and cups of coffee as hundreds of scents slammed into me. Hundreds of cats, perfumes, deodorants, chocolate donuts, regular donuts, strawberries, teas, coffees, and the list went on. I stopped on the threshold and blinked. As I was trying to process all the new levels of sensory information, a hush settled over the crowd, and then all eyes were on us.
Anthony touched my elbow and jerked his head toward the donut table. “Come on.”
In the silence, I scurried after Anthony, keeping my head down and eyes on the ground. A flush worked through me. Slipping in unnoticed wasn’t an option, and I should have known I couldn’t sneak into the room in Anthony’s company. Not thirty minutes late anyway.
Shannon Winter, my boss at the daycare, glanced at Anthony and waved at me. “You coming to work today?”
“I’ll be there.”
Shannon nodded. “Good.”
Anthony winked at me and then made his way toward the lectern at the front of the room by way of the donut table and the coffee urns.
Several shifters stopped him as he went. Kobie was one of them, and many I didn’t recognize. Furtive glances kept coming my way, and I tried to smile at each of the shifters who peered curiously at me.
A throat cleared next to me. “Maury?”
I turned toward the baritone without recognizing the voice. “Oh, Ty. Hello.” I plastered a wan smile on my face.
A woman stood behind him with a collection of younger people behind her. They all stared at me expectantly, and the woman’s bright green eyes shone.
Ty seemed nervous as he rubbed his hands on the thighs of his cargo pants, and I didn’t know what to say next since I didn’t know what any of them wanted.
But the woman saved us both. When Ty gestured toward her, she rushed forward with her hand outstretched.
“Maury?” She took my hand and pressed it between her two. Something was different about her, and I could tell she wasn’t the same as everyone else here, but I couldn’t quite tell how. “Oh, Maury, I’m so happy to meet you.” She blinked and a tear escaped the corner of her eye. “I’m Rose Winter.”
“Hello,” I murmured as she released my hand, uncertain how I was supposed to ask. Sure, I might have had fifty-million foster siblings in my lifetime, but this was entirely new territory.
Ty stepped closer. “Rose isn’t a shifter, but she wanted to come so she could meet you.”
My eyebrows met over the bridge of my nose. “She isn’t one?”
“I didn’t take the bite. Didn’t want to.”
“I’d forgotten they allow that.” But that was what was different about her, wasn’t it? Slowly, it rooted in my mind.
A young man stepped forward. “I’m Stephan. Ty’s my uncle,” he frowned and looked to the side, “so that makes me your cousin.”
“He’s my brother’s son,” Ty commented.
Across the room, Anthony crossed into my view, and he met my gaze with a smile.
“This is Jaimee Phelps,” Rose said. “She’s our cousin.”
Our cousin. The words slammed into my chest and nearly knocked me to the ground. It took my breath away.
But I pushed the rush of feelings aside and pointed to Stephan. “Your sister?”
His mouth twisted into a grin that made him look like Ty. “No, she’s my cousin, too.”
“Daughter of my sister,” Ty said. “And you’ve met my wife.”
“I have?” I asked, puzzled.
At that moment, Shannon approached. “Hey, Maury. Ready for a solo workday today?” She stepped closer to Ty and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
Shit. My new boss was my estranged father’s wife. Shannon was my stepmother! Damn it. Damn it. How weird. No wonder she employed me. Did that mean I had to quit?
Shannon grinned at me. “You’re putting two and two together, I see.”
I opened my mouth and closed it and opened it again, floundering for what to say next.
She waved my panic away. “Before you ask, no, I didn’t hire you because you’re Ty’s kiddo. Even if I had known, that’s not how things work here, and the pay was the pay no matter who I picked to give the job to. You’re here because I like you, Maury. The rest doesn’t matter.” She leaned close and laid her hand on my forearm. “We’ll figure out everything else in time, and we have plenty of time.”
Her words knocked the wind out of me, deflated every over-worried bit of anxious babble I had.
From the lectern at the front, Anthony cleared his throat. “Let’s get started.”
Ty hurried toward the front of the room and took a spot near the lectern. Everyone hustled toward the rows of seating closer toward the front. Anthony waved me to the front row, and as I reached it, two attendees grinned at me and moved to the next available seats.
As everyone took their seats, Laura and Kobie hurried in. Once again, they were relatively together. Though I got the impression they were trying to look like they weren’t. I covered a grin. Something was up there, and I intended to find out what it was.
Anthony’s voice boomed over the room. “I’m sure you’ve all heard about the rogue out in the bayou attacking individuals.” He scanned the crowd as a murmuring agreement filter through the collected shifters. “He leaves some for dead and the ones who shift are usually shifted against their will. You’ve all heard this.”
More nods.
“But the latest development isn’t something that can wait. Most of you know Ty Winter.” He gestured to Ty. “He’s our pride tracker, and he’s helped many of us find folks we need to find. He’s been tracking a rogue in the bayou near the city. It seems the rogue made his way back to our headquarters, made it past all our defenses, and broke into my apartment.”
The attendees shared a gasp.
Anthony continued retelling about Darius’s attack, how strong Darius had been, and the amount of energy it had taken to fend him off. Finally, he said, “As you know, as a pride, we have an option we can take, and I needed to know how many of you would be open to the transference ritual.”
The collected shifters nodded to one another as though they all knew what he was talking about. Though I didn’t understand a thing.
Anthony scanned the room. “By a show of hands, who would be willing to participate in the ritual?”
The entire room raised their hands as one.
“What about the talisman? Don’t we need that?” someone yelled.
Anthony shook his head as hands began lowering. “We can conduct the ritual whether we have the talisman or not, so long as you all are volunteering, and distance makes no difference for this ritual. The talisman is necessary to conduct the ritual without voluntary shifters.”
Nods rolled through the crowd. “We support you, alpha!” another yelled.
“Very well. We won’t conduct the ritual unless it’s necessary. I won’t leave you without your powers to protect yourselves. Any questions?”
None were forthcoming.
“Thank you for your time and thank you for attending our meeting. We’ll keep you appraised of the situation with the rogue. We’ll utilize the text system if we need to put the ritual.”
A smattering of applause moved through the crowd, and Anthony stepped away from the lectern. He crossed the room. When he reached me, he caught me in a half-hug. “You met some of your family,” he said. “How did it go?”
“It went okay,” I said. “Did you know Ty’s kids didn’t become shifters?”
“So far. They might change their minds later. It’s up to them and who they want to be.”
“I’d forgotten becoming a shifter was offered as a choice when the young people came of age.”
“Freely. Being a shifter or not is a highly individual choice, and the pride supports whatever the person chooses,” Anthony reaffirmed, and then his expression hardened. “The rogue is against everything our pride holds dear.”
I wrapped my arms around myself as a chill settled in my bones. The rogue was everything Anthony wouldn’t let his pride become. There was so much at stake.
“So, you said you have options for next time you have a run in with Darius. An option that’ll keep you safe. Hell, if you did the ritual, maybe we could go out into the bayou after Darius.”
Anthony’s gaze narrowed. “It’s not about me, and I won’t take the option unless it’s necessary.”
“Why not?”
“Because I won’t do that to them, Maury.” Then he stalked away.
CHAPTER EIGHT
maury
Following Anthony was an option, yet one I didn’t take. Instead, I hurried to the table with the coffee and the donuts on it, lingering over the myriad options.
