Aaron and Ralph had arrived on time. Ralph greeted us warmly, but Aaron picked Jackie up and spun her around, planting a sloppy kiss on her cheek.
“You scared the shit out of us! Don’t go running off again without permission.” She giggled and punched him on the arm, but he stopped smiling and snatched her hand into his, looking her in the eye. “Are you all right?”
She nodded and smiled, but her eyes weren’t on board. “Yes, I’m fine now. Thanks for helping with the search.”
Aaron glanced my way when she wasn’t looking, having sensed the same thing I had. Her reassuring words and her plastic smiles weren’t hiding her pain from the rest of us. I sighed silently, resolved to get through this meeting. Afterward I’d try to convince my lovely angel we should make some calls to find her a therapist. I was way too close to help her objectively.
I invited them to sit down and eat something, and of course, they did. Sasha and Heinrich only wanted to talk about the house and all the great ideas they had, like a weapons room and a communications room with the highest level tech equipment available, and of course, a pool and a hot tub. It went on and on. When Heinrich mentioned a landing pad on the roof for a helicopter, I just about choked.
“Gentlemen, we are keeping a very low profile in Crescent City. Helicopters coming and going at all hours do not fit into that scheme.”
“Fine. How about a tennis court on the roof?”
“What’s wrong with one in the backyard?”
“We’re going to have a football field back there.”
“Football?”
“He means soccer,” said Will.
“Oh, and where are you going to get players?” I had to admire their creativity.
“Four vampires are enough: You can be on William’s team.” Rick grinned at me wryly. They figured I’d never win with Will on my team.
“Not inviting the shifters to play?” Ethan was looking curiously over Heinrich’s shoulder at the plans.
“I don’t think you or Sinc or Kyle could keep up with us,” Heinrich laughed.
“If we’re talking vamp speed, probably not, but Kyle’s a great player, and I’m a pretty fair goalie. Sinc is fast and competitive and then of course, we have Jackie.” He grinned.
“You’re on, cougar.” Heinrich turned to Sasha and a look that said ‘suckers’ passed between them.
“I’ll watch.” Sinc was standing next to Ethan, listening to the conversation. “Rob’s much better than me, and when he’s not around, maybe Bridgett can play, if she’s in town.” Heinrich snorted. “She’s a cheetah, so give her a chance.”
“When the field is ready, we’ll have ourselves a little game.” Sasha’s eyes glinted with excitement as he stared at Ethan, probably fantasizing about giving him a few bruises or broken bones.
“Sounds perfect.” Ethan met Sasha’s gaze without flinching, apparently anxious to deliver a few injuries himself.
“So what are the chances we can get you to wear one of those short cheerleader outfits?” Heinrich was eyeing Sinc appreciatively.
She narrowed her eyes and snapped, “About as good as you getting a tan.” She turned around and walked out onto the patio. As she left, Heinrich shouted, “There are spray-on tans!” Ethan was clenching his fists again.
I noticed Jackie follow her outside, just before Aaron grabbed me in a headlock. “Thanks for the food, Cuz.” He let me go before I had to hurt him. “So what do you think of the plans?”
“Looks great.” We went over all the safety features with Ralph and discussed some upgrades I wanted to make on the main house. “How’re Catherine and the pup?” Aaron and Catherine had adopted a baby boy a week ago. Werewolf females couldn’t carry a child to term because of the forced transition to wolf every month.
“Right now, she’s exhausted and cranky and Sammy is healthy and happy. When are you two going to start a family? It would be great for our kids to grow up together like we did.”
“You know I can’t have a kid, Aaron. Plus, Jackie’s only seventeen and has made it very clear that she doesn’t want to be a mom.”
“She’ll change her mind. If you don’t want to adopt, all you need to do is get another male cheetah to donate some sperm and you’d have your own little Cuvier cheetah. Nothing to it. Isn’t one of your distant cousins a cheetah?”
“I haven’t spoken to my sister’s family in one hundred years. They’ve written me off.”
“They don’t know you. Show up with Jackie in tow and they’ll fall in love with her and learn to tolerate you.” I barked out a laugh. “When they see what you’ve done with your life, they’ll forget all the other shit that went down. That was all about Eleanor, anyway.” I looked at him doubtfully. “Cathy and I’ll come too, with the baby. I’ll set it all up. A family reunion. Come on.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Think about what?” Jackie asked.
“Maybe you should keep away from the kitchen now that you have Liam and Bridgett to do the cooking.” She giggled and whacked him again. Seeing them laugh reminded me of times I’d had with Aaron growing up. He was always a wild spirit, sometimes getting into terrible trouble. I was the cool-headed, boring cousin, but also the one he called when he needed to be bailed out, or rescued from whatever situation he ‘couldn’t help’ getting involved in. When the tables were turned, and I was forced into Eleanor’s nest, he became my most faithful ally, the only member of my remaining family to support me.
“I want him to pay a visit to his sister’s family. He hasn’t seen any of them for over a century, and that’s not an exaggeration. They’re mostly out in Louisiana.”
She squeezed my arm affectionately and I kissed her cheek. “We’ll talk about it later, I promise. Right now I have more work to do.” I rounded up the shifters, having already sent out a mental message to my nest to gather back at the table. I asked Sinc what she could tell us about her old pack, and although it was hard for her, she gave us quite a lot of useful information.
Quentin was the alpha pack leader and Katrina was his mate, the alpha female. They ruled with a firm hand and the pack prospered financially under their leadership. Everyone knew their place and what was expected of them. Adopted children were raised to become members of the pack. If they chose not to be bitten at eighteen, they left and kept their mouths shut about the pack, never to contact anyone there again. The pack provided them with start up money and a decent place to live, but that was it.
Because Sinc was a shapeshifter, they’d entrusted her to Rob, never making contact again. The others adoptees who’d left were humans, going back into a human world, which was unaware of the existence of supernaturals. The pack wanted it kept that way, so they kept a close eye on anyone who left.
Aaron found it odd that according to Sinc, only about seventy percent of the pack’s adopted children chose to join as adults. He’d never had an eighteen-year-old refuse to be bitten.
Sinc’s father, Jake, was the pack leader’s second in command. He was the enforcer, the toughest badass wolf of the bunch, completely loyal to his alpha. As tough as he was, he’d treated Sinc and her mom with great gentleness and affection. When she’d shifted unexpectedly, he’d petitioned his alpha to allow her to stay in the pack. He felt she could still be useful, since shifters are much better at stealth and reconnaissance, and Sinc in particular excelled in those areas. Also, she was extremely tech savvy and bright, which could be used to their advantage as well. Quentin had said no and that was the end of the discussion. There was no debating an issue in the Los Altos pack. She was gone and on the island with Rob and Kyle the next day. Jake sent her money every month and paid for her house and her car, but was never allowed to contact her.
As Sinc told us these things, her face had remained calm and her voice steady, yet we could see what it cost her. She’d been fifteen years old, happy and excited to turn wolf at eighteen with the rest of her friends. As a shapeshifter, she’d been immediately cut off from her friends and the rest of the community, abandoned emotionally, if not financially. After her training on the island, Rob had kept her at his house, along with Kyle, until he felt they were ready to leave. She’d moved into the house provided by her parents, went to college, ending up with a masters in forensic science. She spent her time working along with Kyle on cases that Garrett brought to them until Jackie showed up and he’d decided to form the team.
The three teens who’d currently gone missing were human kids being raised by weres, all of them supposedly looking forward to the day they’d be old enough to undergo the painful process of becoming a werewolf and a fully-fledged member of the Los Altos pack. They were twelve, thirteen and fifteen years old and were all boys.
Sinc gave us a full description of the pack lands and the surrounding towns. I was reminded once again of how extraordinary her mind was, as she remembered minute details most of us would have forgotten long ago. When we finished discussing the case and I dismissed the others, I took Kyle and Sinc into my office for a long overdue talk, asking Rob to join us as well.
I indicated they should sit in the two chairs facing my desk while I lowered my body into the desk chair. Rob was perfectly content leaning against the windowsill. I waited for them to start. I find that waiting quietly throws people off guard, making them blurt out things they might not have said otherwise.
Kyle shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Garrett, you know we can handle ourselves on an assignment.” I waited, my full attention on him, and smiled inwardly as he turned to Sinc. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m really pissed off about Ethan, but I had no right to say what I said. I knew it would piss you off and I really wanted to—well, I guess I did want to punch you for hurting him. But I know it’s none of my business, so I apologize.”
Sinc looked at Kyle, who was surprised to see a tear running down her cheek. “You know me as well as anyone does. You know I would have hurt him a lot worse later on. It’s okay if you want to punch me. I deserve it. I’m glad Ethan has you and Jackie to help him out right now.” She wiped away another tear.
“Sinc,” I spoke softly to let her know I wasn’t angry. “You have all of us behind you; no matter what crazy shit you pull. Even if I get angry enough to throw you off the team, it would be a temporary leave, just until you got your act back together. You have an incredible mind, Sinc. Let me in for a minute, so I can speak to you privately. She looked at me with narrowed eyes, then shrugged. “I know you didn’t sleep with Sasha. You only made it seem like you did.” Her head jerked up and she looked at me with wide eyes. “No, Sasha didn’t say anything, and I won’t say anything to anyone. But listen to me. Don’t let what your parents did when you were a kid mess up your life now. And for the record, I’m only saying this because the work you did when you and Ethan were together, was the best you’ve ever done. My motives are strictly professional.” She laughed as I broke the connection.
Rob spoke up. “Both of you need to work out some way of communicating your anger, other than going for each other’s throats. Sparring could work. Hunting together works well, too. You can wrestle and bite and claw at each other and heal up easily afterward.” They both grinned. Although Kyle’s leopard was larger, Sinc’s snow leopard could sneak up on him easily and have the advantage of surprise.
My tone was cold when I picked up the conversation, “But if you ever disrupt another meeting or an assignment with your ridiculous, childish behavior, I will put you on probation without pay and send you to Maya for couple’s therapy.” They groaned. Kyle started to complain, so I afforded him my most serious glare and he mumbled something about hunting together being a good idea. “Go. I’ll be in touch regarding the Los Altos pack.” They practically ran each other down getting out of the room.
I turned to Rob. “Tell me how our lion, Flynn, is doing.”
He sat in the chair Kyle had vacated. “Flynn’s only hope now, may be Jackie.”