“Can you really turn into a cat?” Christine asked Cassidy after dinner.
Jackie had made her famous lasagna, and Christine and Jackie’s oldest son had eaten it with them. The two middle kids, seventeen and eighteen, had been out with friends, and the oldest son left to go out once they were finished eating.
They’re growing up and moving on, Diego thought. Remembering Jobe, but still having a life. Jobe would like that.
Pictures of Jobe were prominent—on the fireplace mantel, on the piano, on the shelf that held his badge, his official photo, and a flag. But the room wasn’t a shrine to the dead. Jobe’s big smile filled every picture, as though he listened, benevolent, as they laughed and talked.
They’d retreated here after dinner for coffee. Christine folded herself up on the floor, watching Cassidy with interest.
“I do turn into a cat,” Cassidy answered Christine. She’d seated herself very close to Diego on the sofa, unself-consciously resting her arm on Diego’s thigh.
“I want to see.”
“Christine…” Jackie began.
Cassidy smiled. “That’s all right. I don’t mind.” She got up, her hand lingering on Diego’s knee until the last minute. “I’ll need somewhere to change.”
“You can use my room.” Christine jumped up, grabbed Cassidy’s hand, and started down the hall. Cassidy good-naturedly let Christine take her away.
Diego felt Jackie’s keen eyes on him as soon as Christine’s bedroom door closed. “So, what’s up with you two? Is it hot and heavy?”
Diego picked up his coffee and took a sip. “You could say that.”
Jackie laughed. “Look at you blushing. Diego Escobar and a Shifter. What does your mother say?”
“She says I need to settle down and start having kids.”
“I agree with her. It wouldn’t hurt you. Kids might keep you from tearing off to Mexico, going after gangs, and almost getting yourself killed.” Jackie’s laugh turned into a glare. “Captain Max told me all about what you did. I suppose you thought you’d come over here tonight and tell me you were some kind of hero.”
Diego carefully set down his coffee cup. “I thought you’d be glad. We got the last of the men who did Jobe. Two were dead already, and the final two are in the lockup. That’s what I went to Mexico for.”
“Glad?” Jackie’s voice rose as Jobe kept smiling behind her. “Did you think I’d be glad if you died running down there playing vigilante? You dying trying to get revenge would have been even worse for me than before. Did you think of that?” Jackie’s anger filled the room.
“I wasn’t about to die,” Diego said. “I went in with backup, which included two other cops—my brother and Lieutenant Reid—and we arrested them.”
“Don’t shit me, Diego Escobar. There was much more to it than that, and you know it. You don’t just stroll into Mexico and come out with everything neatly tied up. I saw on the news that some little town blew up down there. That was you, wasn’t it?”
“We didn’t blow up the whole town. Just a factory that was already in ruins.”
Jackie stared at him, her rage cut by surprise. “What am I going to do with you, Diego?”
“Be happy that I got them?”
“I am happy. I’m damn happy. But I wouldn’t have been happy if you’d gotten yourself killed. How would I explain that to my kids? I tell you, Diego, if you ever pull a stunt like that again, I’ll… I’ll tell your mama.”
Diego raised his hands in surrender. “I won’t. I don’t need to. It’s over.”
A door slammed in the back, and Christine came running down the hall. “Mom! You’ve got to see this.”
Cassidy’s soft, huffing growl sounded, and then Cassidy as her wildcat strolled slowly out of the back. Her leopard eyes were deep green, and her Collar shone in the lamplight.
Jackie rose to her feet. “Oh, my dear Lord.”
Diego remained seated. Cassidy walked to him, very slowly, keeping her claws from snagging the rug or her body from bumping anything.
She reached Diego on the couch and butted her head against his legs. Christine laughed as Diego stroked Cassidy’s incredibly soft fur. Cassidy grunted again and then started to purr. Diego never knew that leopards could purr, but Cassidy was doing it.
“She likes it when you scratch under her chin,” Diego said. “Come on. She won’t hurt you.”
Christine came closer. Cassidy remained still, her purrs filling the living room. Christine put a hesitant hand on Cassidy’s head. Cassidy didn’t move, just let the girl explore. Christine started to pet her.
“Oh, she’s soft,” Christine crooned. “I didn’t think she’d be so soft.” Her face glowed in delight.
Cassidy whuffed a little, turning her head to nuzzle Christine. Christine pulled back, but not as nervously as before.
Cassidy kept herself pressed to Diego’s knee, Christine tentatively petted, and Jackie watched like a mother bear ready to defend her offspring.
Cassidy was the calmest of all. She let Christine pet and stroke, the girl getting bolder. Finally Christine put her arms all the way around Cassidy and hugged her. Cassidy remained still, making no moves that would startle either Christine or her mother.
Cass is so good with kids. Diego thought of her with Torey, the tigerish Shifter cub who’d lost both parents. Cassidy had dashed back for the cubs and women trapped in the basement of the factory, refusing to go without them. He remembered her grabbing up the last cub and hauling him out of there, making sure none got left behind. She’d raised Jace too after Eric’s mate died in childbirth.
She takes care of everyone else’s kids. She’d be so happy with her own.
Diego couldn’t stop the vision coming to him of Cassidy holding a little boy that looked back at Diego with eyes so like his own.
“Can we keep her?” Christine asked, still hugging Cassidy.
Jackie said, “Christine!” and Diego laughed.
“What?” Christine asked, in all innocence. “Geez, Mom, I was only kidding.”
After they left Jackie and Christine, Diego drove Cassidy up to his favorite spot, a deserted side street a little way up Sunrise Mountain.
From here, the valley floor spread before them, hotel lights dancing way to the west, calm residential lights to the east, south, and north, a tower light from the air force base blinking not far away. The night was clear, and stars were dense overhead.
Cassidy stretched in the seat next to him. “Thank you for showing me this. It’s beautiful.”
She was beautiful, with the stars reflected in her eyes. “Jackie really liked you,” Diego said.
“Good. I liked her.”
“So, what’s on your mind?”
Cassidy turned her head on the headrest, looking at him. “Why should something be on my mind?”
“Because I know that when you get very quiet, you’re thinking deep thoughts,” Diego said. “What’s up? And don’t say nothing. I know that trick.”
Cassidy studied the city lights a moment before she spoke. “I heard Jackie yelling at you for going to Mexico. I was thinking that if you’d died, I would have had to face Jackie—and your mother—and tell them what had happened. And how I’d have to confess that I provided the transportation and encouraged you to go.”
Diego shook his head. “You couldn’t have stopped me, Cass. If you hadn’t introduced me to Marlo, I would have found some other way to get down there. I was going, with you or without you. Trust me on this.”
“I know but when I heard Jackie, I realized the other side of it, about how fixed I’d been about finding whoever had hurt Donovan. What if I’d decided to kill Reid when we caught him, right in front of you, in my living room? Would you have arrested me and taken me in, or let me go? I’d have forced you to make that choice. That wouldn’t have been fair to you.” She folded her arms and stared fiercely out into the desert. “So stupid, and yet I could only think of grinding my heel in Reid’s face.”
“We’re bo
th idiots,” Diego said. “I should have known that Enrique wouldn’t give me that information for free, and I should have checked it out better before I rushed in. Enrique ragged me on the phone for hanging out with Shifters, so it must have made him laugh to send me into a nest of them. And I ran right in, Cass. I almost got you killed. And my brother. Mamita’s not letting me hear the end of that.”
Cassidy blew out her breath. “What are we going to do with each other?”
Diego knew what he wanted to do. Had wanted since he’d seen her walk out of her house in that dress and those shoes. “What did you have in mind?” he asked.
Cassidy’s glance smoldered when she looked at him, but she didn’t say what he wanted her to say. “Help me help Stuart Reid get home?”
Her question took him by surprise. “You mean help him cross back to Faerie?” Diego drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Do you have some idea how we can? The physics of it?”
Cassidy shrugged. “I can talk to people, figure things out. Shifters are very resourceful.”
“Yeah, so I noticed.”
“But really, will you help?” Cassidy took his hand and raised it to her lips. “I don’t want Donovan to have died for nothing.”
“I get that.”
He liked how her breath felt on his fingers. Diego caressed her cheek, his arousal demanding attention.
“This mate-claim thing,” he said. “I’m not quite clear on all of it. Explain it to me.”
Cassidy released his hand. “It’s part of Shifter law, created when we were first free of the Fae, and territory and dominance disputes were common.” Cassidy stretched again as she talked, so distracting. She had the sexiest legs in creation. “The mate-claim ensured that a female wasn’t just grabbed by any and all males and used until she died. When a female is mate-claimed, that means all other males have to leave her alone. The female either accepts the mate-claim, which means she and the male are joined in the mating ceremonies under the sun and under the full moon. Or, the female can turn down the claim and be free for the next male who wants to claim her. But the mate-claim marks the female as off-limits. If another male wants her, he has to Challenge.”
“Tell me about that. The Challenge.”
“It’s a fight—in the old days, to the death. Now it’s just a fight until one male gives up, but they can be pretty dangerous. The winner gets the mate-claim. The female retains the right to reject the claim of the challenger.”
Diego rubbed his lip. “So when I said to Miguel, Consider this a challenge, he… considered it a Challenge.”
“Every Shifter within hearing did,” Cassidy said.
“But you can reject it, you said. I heard you scream to Miguel that you rejected his claim.”
“Yes, a female can reject the claim anytime she wants. She needs to do it in front of witnesses.”
“Then why haven’t you?”
Cassidy blinked. “What?”
“Apparently, I won the Challenge against Miguel for this mate-claim. You’ve had plenty of opportunities to reject me. Like when we were standing on the airstrip, and Eric was going on about me Challenging for you, which meant the mate-claim for you was passed to me. We were standing in front of Dylan and Shane and the Shifters we rescued—lots of witnesses. Why didn’t you reject the claim then?”
Cassidy reddened. “Maybe I didn’t want to.”
“No?” Diego let his voice go soft. “But I’m not Shifter.”
She moved toward him, her tight dress all kinds of good. “I haven’t turned it down, Diego Escobar, because the mating frenzy is driving me crazy, and the mate-claim gives me an excuse to jump your bones.”
“Yeah?” Diego smiled in the darkness and slid his arm around her. “Do you want to jump my bones now?”
She growled low in her throat. “You know,” she said, kissing his ear, “after I shifted back and got dressed—I didn’t bother putting on my underwear.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Diego went still, and she scented his pheromones sharp on the air.
“Mi ja, why do you tell me things like that?” he asked.
Cassidy loved his voice. She lifted herself over him. “To make you want me.”
“How could you think I don’t want you? But there’s not much room in this car. I say we go home. Fast.”
“Can’t.” Cassidy kissed his face, her unfettered breasts pressing his shoulder and chest. “I need you right now. I’m going insane.”
She reached around for her zipper and squirmed out of the top half of her dress. Diego’s eyes went dark, and he kissed her skin with warm lips.
Somehow he got them into the small backseat. Cassidy yanked open Diego’s pants while he laughed, then she scooted up her skirt to prove she really was commando.
“Damn, woman.” Diego wrapped his arms around her hips and brought her down to him. “Oh, yeah, there you go. I love how tight you always are.”
Cassidy wanted to shout out how good he felt sliding in. “I love how you fill me up,” she whispered.
She clenched her fists. She wanted to savor every moment, but her body kept thrusting against his, needing to soothe the burn.
He clenched his fists. “Slow down, sweetheart,” he said. “I want this to last.”
“I can’t.” Cassidy pushed herself down on him again. Diego ran his hands over her back, making calming sounds.
Not so much lovemaking, she thought, as frenzied, burning need. He was pressing up inside her, stretching her so wide. He claimed she was tight, but it was him, so big. He reached her secret places and filled them.
Diego murmured to her in his wine-dark voice, hands calming. Diego was her perfect counterpart—matching her wild Shifter frenzy with soothing warmth. A safe harbor for a woman who’d been tossing about in misery.
She loved him.
“Diego.”
Cassidy got her mouth on his neck and suckled, hard. Diego groaned. She nipped and licked, sucked and pulled. Diego thrust into her, his touch no longer soothing. He caught her fire, and they both burned.
“Damn you, Cass.”
More hot thrusts, and then his release. Cassidy rode him awhile longer, searching for the peak, finding it when he rubbed his thumb over her very wet opening. She screamed out loud, and then she was falling, falling, landing on Diego’s strength. He pulled her close and held her, keeping her safe.
Cassidy found Eric the next morning sitting at the kitchen table contemplating six Collars laid out across the dark wood.
Diego had dropped her off last night, saying he wanted to check up on Xavier, who’d gone back to Mamita’s. Cassidy kissed him good night, thinking it was just as well. Diego’s scent alone was enough to trigger her frenzy, and she feared burning him out. So much complication, falling in love with a human.
Cassidy helped herself to a heaping pile of eggs and bacon that Jace had left on the stove and sat down opposite Eric. “Hey,” she said. “You all right?”
Eric leaned his arms on the table, his gaze fixed on the Collars. “I hate this.”
One of the Shiftertown leader’s duties—assigned by the humans—was to find any un-Collared Shifters in his territory and bring them in. Once Eric had Collared them, they’d be turned over to the humans to be registered and assigned to whatever Shiftertown the human government thought they should go.
“Are you going to report them?” Cassidy asked.
She ate heartily, her brother’s distress touching her but unable to dent her mate-frenzied appetite.
“No.” Eric lifted his gaze, jade green and empty. “I’ll have Neal futz the database and make it look like they’ve always been here. I don’t want those women sent to the ends of the earth, maybe separated from their cubs. They’ve been through too much already.”
Neal Ingram, their Guardian, could access a computer network the Guardians had set up amongst themselves, unknown to humans. They had all kinds of information in their database, sharing across all Shiftertowns. Most Guardians had learned to
be expert hackers as well. If anyone could slide the females into the humans’ information undetected, it would be Neal.
Eric returned to staring glumly at the Collars.
Cassidy finished her eggs and scraped the plate. Jace had added green chile salsa to the scrambled eggs, the way she liked them.
Eric sighed and pushed the Collars away. “I can’t do this, Cass. They thought they’d be safe forever from taking Collars and moving into Shiftertowns. If Miguel had been a better leader, they wouldn’t have been wrong.”
“Then don’t make them wear them.”
Eric shook his head, skimming his hand through his short hair. “What happens if someone finds one of the females running around without a Collar? She’d be arrested, interrogated, and the Collar slapped on her anyway. And then they’d come here for the others.”
“Then put the Collar on them,” Cassidy said.
Eric gave her an aggrieved look. “You’re a lot of help, Cass.”
“I’m only trying to point out that you don’t have much choice. If the females don’t take the Collars, they’ll have to hide the rest of their lives—or pretend they’re human, and I don’t think they’ll be able to. Peigi’s taller than I am, and everything about her screams Shifter. She’d be arrested in a heartbeat. Or hunted down. Do you want that?”
Eric shook his head. “But how do I make them understand why they need to take the pain? Why they should be restricted and monitored?”
Cassidy laid her fork across her empty plate. “Eric, Shifters agreed to take the Collars because we knew that capitulating to the humans was our only chance at survival, remember? The Collars were the price we paid to band together and grow stronger, and besides, they keep us from killing each other. That’s all you need to tell them.”
“Obviously they didn’t buy that argument twenty years ago.”
“Maybe not, but look what happened to them. Eric, you know that if those women aren’t accepted into a clan or pride or pack soon, they might go feral. Two of them pretty much are already. You didn’t do this to them. Miguel did.”
Eric clenched his fists on the table, hardening the muscles on his arms. “It’s a hell of a thing, Cassidy, to be leader. I hope you never have to do it.”