Kennedy stared at her. She’d taken Evie for the down-to-earth practical sort. What the hell was she talking about?
“What barbs? I mean I haven’t seen Cash’s, but I can assure you, Cole has a perfectly normal dick—oh, it’s bigger than most and he knows how to use it, but it’s just a regular cock.”
“Because he can suppress the barbs.”
“Evie, I think Percy may have hit you harder than I thought.”
Evie laughed. “If he’d hit me any harder, I wouldn’t have been able to stop my she-cat from coming forward.”
“She-cat coming forward? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Like I said, I’m going to kill Cole when he comes… and he will come.”
“They don’t know where we are.”
“Why do you think I wanted to make sure that I was with you?”
“Please don’t tell me you have a cell with a GPS locator on it with you. If they find it...”
“No. No, cell phone, but the best GPS in the world pales in comparison to the tether established with the bonding link. Cash will be able to find us.”
“Bonding link?”
Evie leaned against the cinder-block wall and slid down. “You may want to sit down for this.”
“No, I’ll stand.”
From across the room, Kennedy knew. She knew that whatever was coming was behind the doubt she occasionally saw in Cole’s eyes. This was the one remaining secret he’d yet to reveal. She’d kept hoping that if she showed him she’d forgiven him for Naples, trusted and loved him, he’d tell her.
“Why hasn’t he told me?” asked Kennedy, suddenly afraid to know the answer.
“Why do most brave, honorable men not tell the woman they love beyond all measure something? Fear. Don’t get me wrong, they’ll rush a sniper’s nest, brave disobeying a direct order, charge into a burning building, but ask them to reveal their vulnerability, and it scares the shit out of them.”
“Evie, you’re really starting to frighten me.”
“Don’t be afraid and never, ever doubt that Cole loves you. According to Cash, he’s well aware he torpedoed your career...”
“I don’t care about that. I’ve told him as much. I mean it’s not like my life has been terrible and he did manage to accomplish what the Agency promised but didn’t deliver.”
“Yeah. Cash told me about that as well. Do you know Cole’s followed your career, kept a watchful eye over you?” Evie watched her closely.
“Yes, so what is he afraid of?”
“Losing you. Losing the blind, stupid hope that someday he’ll win you back. And now he has, and the thought of losing you again terrifies him worse than before.”
Kennedy started to pace restlessly. “Evie, there is nothing that Cole could do or has done that would make me love him any less.” She laughed. “Here’s the stupid part. I’ve been waiting to tell him that I really think I’m going to walk away from the firm and set up shop in Looking Glass Falls. It’s a much better place to raise kids.”
“So, you want kids?”
“Yes. It’s funny, because I never did until Cole and I were together.”
“Then you really need to know. Cole has always wanted kids, but I think he might have foregone them to avoid telling you and risk losing you.”
“For God’s sake, Evie. What is it? Does he have a terminal disease?”
“No. Men can be such babies, but I think he could tell you if it were that.”
Kennedy looked at her. “Is whatever it is pertinent to Clay’s case?”
“Only peripherally, if at all. But there is something different about the Waverly boys. Have you ever noticed the way they move?”
“Yes, they have a power and grace that’s hard to describe. Kind of like a ballet dancer but more…”
“Lethal. More like a large predatory beast as it stalks its prey, right?”
“Funny you should say that. I was just thinking the other day Cole moves either like a raptor or a large predatory cat. Is it why the whole buying a rare bull and including you as part of the deal wasn’t appalling to you?”
“I never thought about it that way, but yes. You see? I’m like the Waverlys and in our society, females are often used as pawns.”
“That’s medieval.”
Evie nodded. “It is and had I not been desperate and recognized Cash as my bonded spirit, I would have put up more of a fight.”
“That’s the second time you’ve used the term bonded spirit. And why were you so desperate? I mean I know River Run had money trouble...”
“Yes, and we were in danger of losing the ranch. I know ranchers and farmers who’ve been forced off their lands or just throw up their hands and quit. Ranching isn’t a life for the faint of heart. But some of us are born with it in our blood. River Run, like Koyama', is a heritage ranch, which means it has been where it is and run by the same family for more than a hundred years. It isn’t as old as Koyama', but my family homesteaded it in the mid-1800s, and it has been in our family ever since. I would have married the devil himself to save it. Luckily for me, my bonded spirit showed up.”
“Explain bonded spirit to me.”
“It’s like a soul mate or a fated mate. It’s the one person we were born to be with through each of our nine lives.”
“Nine lives?”
“Yes, kind of like reincarnation, only we’re not trying to ascend to a higher plane with each life and we don’t get an infinite number of them. Just nine, and we aren’t guaranteed to find our bonded spirit in each life. For instance, Cade and Trey are bonded spirits, but have only managed to find each other in two of the four lives they’ve lived. Serena and Clay are the same way, but I think they’ve found each other in both of their two previous lives.”
Fascinated, Kennedy said, “What about you and Cash?”
“Cash and I have each lived five lives and each time we’ve found each other. Maybe it’s because we’ve both been shifters in each life.”
“Shifters?”
“This is where it gets a bit freaky, and I think it’s just easier to show you.”
Evie stood and removed her clothes. Was Cole part of some kinky cult? The air around Evie seemed to shimmer and thousands of little lights twinkled like fireflies on a hot summer night. Kennedy could feel an electrical charge in the air and when the shimmer and the electricity dissipated, there was an enormous mountain lion staring back at her.
Kennedy sank down into a sitting position. It wasn’t that her knees had buckled, or she’d passed out, it was the enormity of what Evie was saying. Cole wasn’t human. The large cat had the softest eyes and walked over to Kennedy, purring at her and rubbing her head against Kennedy’s.
“It’s really you, isn’t it? It’s not some kind of dream or hallucination?” The beast nodded. “And Cole, all of the Waverlys, are like you?”
The cat retreated, the shimmer returned, and the next thing Kennedy knew, Evie was getting re-dressed.
“I’m sorry. I know how shocking and fantastical this must be, but I figured until you could see it and touch it, you wouldn’t understand.”
“Serena and Trey?”
“Both fully human; both turned and are now like me. Only because they were once human, they can’t shift into another form.”
“Can you shift into another being?”
“No, just human and mountain lion.”
“Kids?”
“Will be shifter born, which means all of our children will have the gift.”
“Okay, this is weird. I’m not all freaked out about this. Why am I not freaked out about this? Oh God, was that why Serena bolted the night Clay proposed? Is that when he told her?”
Evie nodded. “Yes, so you can see why Cole would be concerned. Serena is more of a free spirit. The boys all thought that would make her more accepting. Both Trey and I thought you, having the most logical brain in the family, would take it the easiest.”
“I take it Trey didn’t freak out either?”
“No, it caught her by surprise, but like you, she felt it filled in a lot of the blanks.”
“Lorna and Toby?”
“Shifters. Their whole family as well. Bruce Adams and his family too.”
“If we can’t shift, why be turned?”
“Because unless you are, you won’t be able to bear his children.” Evie sat down beside her and took Kennedy’s hands into her own. “I think that if you don’t want to be turned, Cole would be willing to adopt. I honestly don’t think it’s that critical to him. Having you is what’s important to him.”
“So where do the barbs on their cocks come in?”
Evie laughed. “I wondered when you’d circle back to that.”
“You have to admit, it’s kind of intriguing.”
“Very and just so you know? Amazing. How much do you know about feline physiology?”
“Not a lot. I’ve always been a dog person. Can I have a dog? Will they even like me anymore? Why don’t the horses freak?”
“Yes, you can have a dog. They get along fine with shifters. The horses need to be worked with, but those born on Koyama' are raised around shifters, so for the most part they’re fine.”
“Might Dandy have gotten spooked or maybe Hannah’s horse?”
“Dandy is born and raised on Koyama' and Hannah’s horse was used to her as well. No, Cyrus killed Hannah.”
“Sorry. I got distracted by my kids not growing up with a dog.”
Evie laughed. “Do you know why female cats yowl when they’re being bred?” Kennedy shook her head. “Because male cats, regardless of their size, have barbs or spikes that cover their cocks. When not suppressed, they sort of lay down on entry but when they pull back, they go against the grain and the barbs will literally plow tiny furrows in your inner walls, so when they cum, their seed is trapped and the chances of you getting knocked up are pretty certain. But your body still has to produce an egg, and it will only do that when you’re in heat, which only happens twice a year.”
“That sounds like it would hurt.”
“The first couple of times, it’s different and uncomfortable…”
“Kind of like anal sex.”
Evie laughed. “Exactly.”
“I can’t imagine what Cole was worried about. He could have just said, Hey, babe. I really screwed up in Naples, but oh by the way, I’m not totally human, but that’s okay because I have a really cool cock with spikes all over it.”
“Yeah, amazing he didn’t lead with that.”
Kennedy laughed and saw Evie relax. She squeezed Evie’s hand. “Thanks for telling me. Honestly, I thought it was going to be something really awful like you were a family of ruthless assassins, or terrorists who’d been hiding and were going to plunge the world into a terrible war. The whole not human thing? Perfectly okay. Wait, is it okay to say you aren’t human?”
“Well, we are. Technically a human hybrid, but we refer to those who can’t shift as purebloods.”
“Are there other kinds of shifters?” Evie nodded. “Does Doc know about shifters? Is Doc a shifter?”
“There are lots of different kinds of shifters, almost as many as there are animal species. Yes, Doc knows and no, he isn’t one, but the sheriff is.”
“He doesn’t move like one.”
“No, the way the boys move is because they’re all alphas: bigger, stronger, more powerful, and more graceful. The sheriff is a snake shifter.”
“Holy shit,” exclaimed Kennedy.
“What?”
“Lorna’s father was killed by a timber rattlesnake. They aren’t indigenous to Idaho and the bite was in the armpit, which was strange.”
“You may be on to something,” said Evie.
“What if… what if Cyrus wasn’t killed because of the deal?”
“Why else?”
“What if it was in revenge for Hannah’s death?”
“That only points the finger worse at the brothers,” Evie said.
“But we know it wasn’t one of them. I mean, I know Cade killed Lorna and Toby but that was in self-defense. Wait, what if they’re found?”
“They were in their altered form, so no way to tie them back to anything. Just two dead mountain lions, which isn’t uncommon in a ranching area.”
“Okay, so no need to tell Merrick that. Are there snake assassins?”
“Yes, actually there are. Snakes are untrustworthy, be they pureblood or hybrid. They’ll strike at anything that annoys or frightens them. Nasty buggers.”
“But effective,” said Joseph Merrick, Jr., as he stepped into the room.