Chapter 9

She turned around and faced him. Dark liner curved along her eyes, making them appear cat-like. Red lipstick made her plump lips look even fuller. Her hands planted on her curvy hips and with a faint accent, she said, “So, you are the big cat? You will not try to jump me again, will you?”

Chance stood motionless, trying to process what was happening. This woman didn’t belong in this place. Was Lifen trying to mess with him? Was this some kind of test?

The young woman’s hazel eyes didn’t move from his face while she waited for his answer. Nobody breathed, except for Ana, who pulled her hair to the back of her head as her face contorted into a confused scowl.

“Is he not right in the head?” the woman said and turned to Lifen. “You said he is okay now.”

Chance cleared his throat and croaked. “No.”

The young woman’s eyes widened and she crossed her arms. Her eyebrow arched and she muttered, “Si.”

In haste, Chance clarified. “No, I mean, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m sorry I ever tried before—it wasn’t me. It wasn’t my fault. I never would have wanted to hurt you if I wasn’t sick at the time. It will never happen again. Ever.”

She paused for a moment before walking forward with her hand stretched out. Wearing a stern expression, she said, “I’m Gabriella and no man will ever hurt me again. You keep your promise and we are okay.”

“Chance,” he responded and swore he would never cross her, believing that her wrath would truly be something to behold.

While Gabriella stood beside him, Lifen joined her side and said, “I hope you are satisfied with my end of the bargain.”

Gabriella answered, “For now. I can see you did not tell him I was coming and he does not have a loco look in his eyes. He keeps his promise and none of the others cause trouble, then I will stay.”

Lifen stared Chance down and he nodded in agreement, but felt too confused about the serendipitous turn of events. How was this woman found and brought here?

“I know you have questions, Chance,” Lifen said. “I think it’s best I show Gabriella around and that Batukhan answers your questions.”

Gabriella turned with a flourish, her hair nearly whipping Chance across the face. Jordan and Derek, who’d been watching from the far end of the living room, followed after Lifen and Gabriella as they walked down the hall toward the kitchen.

Batukhan appeared by Chance’s side and he said, “Let’s go to the meditation room so we may have some privacy. Mac, would you like to join us?”

Ana appeared torn between following Lifen and going with Chance. Yesterday he may have wanted her to give him privacy as he dealt with his demons, but he was almost numb from the series of events. In the last few hours he’d come to grips with going home to face his mother and now he’d been delivered the girl he’d nearly killed.

He looked at Ana and she slipped her fingers through his. There was no way of hiding anything from her. He knew that now. “Come with me?”

“Of course,” she answered.

They went to the meditation room and Batukhan slid the doors shut. Chance immediately asked, “So, what’s going on? Why’s she here—I don’t get it.”

“Come sit down. I won’t talk to you while you’re standing.” Batukhan walked around him and settled on a cushion, his legs crossed effortlessly while his back remained straight. His wide shoulders blocked the sunlight that poured in from the windows, creating a shadow across the wood floor.

Mac patted his shoulder and pointed to one of many cushions laid out on the floor in a semicircle. Chance let go of Ana’s hand and listened to Batukhan. He sat on a pillow; then Mac and Ana flanked him on either side. All eyes remained on Batukhan when he began to speak. “Do you remember the first time we met?” he asked Chance.

Flashes of memories came to mind: Gabriella hanging laundry out to dry beside her home and his hunger when he felt her energy, being thrown to the ground with a sheet flung over him and waking in the decrepit abandoned shack where he’d met Batukhan for the first time. Chance nodded.

Batukhan rested his thick fingers on his knees. “I knew, just as you did, that girl had power. I do not know of healing, but when Lifen and I spoke after my arrival here and she forgave me, we discussed our past and our future. She no longer felt the need to guide youngling shifters to find their place in the world as I do. She decided her interest was to create balance through training healers. I informed her of young Gabriella’s location so she might seek some new students. We did not want to say anything to you because neither of us were certain Lifen would find her or if the girl would want to come home with her. Clearly she found her, but that is only half the story.”

Ana, who’d been sitting quietly, interrupted him. “When Chance had the sickness I dreamt of him—he was a cougar, about to pounce on that girl, Gabriella. I hadn’t thought of it again until I saw her just now. She obviously knows Chance was that cougar, but I don’t understand why you didn’t prepare Chance at all. That just doesn’t seem fair.”

Batukhan looked at Mac before he answered, “It wasn’t right for Lifen not to warn Gabriella that she’d be taking her to a place where Chance was. Gabriella wasn’t aware of shifters, so it took some explaining. Once she understood the situation, Gabriella insisted that you,” Batukhan addressed Chance, “not know of her arrival so she could judge your character based on your reaction. She has been told that you had a sickness that made you crave power and that you weren’t acting in your right mind. It was her own test.”

“And I have been trying to prepare you,” Mac added. “My mother always told me that a man of inaction grows roots and will forget what he is. I know it has been hard facing the things you were made to do, but you have to forgive yourself and take equal action to make things right. You cannot forget who and what you are. Who do you know yourself to be?”

The question left Chance speechless. He wasn’t sure anymore. So much had happened. The voices rattling around inside his head had turned him around, like a game of pin the tail on the donkey. He’d been blindfolded and spun in circles. It made it hard to trust or hear his true, inner voice again.

“Well, you don’t have to answer that question now, but”—Mac stood up and smiled—“I hope you know yourself to be someone who likes beef stew, because it’s what’s for dinner tonight.”

Voices echoed in the hallway and Batukhan said to Chance, “Are you ready to go join everyone, or do you want to stay in here a bit longer?”

Chance sighed and shook his head. So much that had happened didn’t make sense, but somehow it all seemed right. Maybe, despite all of the hardships, he’d been given what he needed to get through everything. Maybe Mac was right and he needed to remember who he was and not hide from anything any longer.

“I’m good.”

They all stood up. Batukhan and Mac made their way to the door and slid it open. Ana hung back to give him a hug.

Chance mumbled, “I’m ready to be me again.”

Green eyes sparkling in the sunlight, her lips parted and her cheeks lifted. He felt her joy and couldn’t stop himself from smiling. She was all the motivation he needed.

At dinner that night, the table was full. Not a single seat remained empty. Lifen and Batukhan sat at either end, while Chance, Ana and Mac sat along one side and Gabriella was surrounded by Jordan and Derek.

“This is good, but not enough spice,” Gabriella said after taking her first bite of stew.

For the first time, Mac frowned and said nothing.

Derek swallowed a large mouthful and offered, “We’ve got some hot sauce—I can grab you some.”

He jumped up and left the room. Gabriella watched him go as if it was the first time she’d noticed him.

“Now that you’re back, Lifen, Chance and I were planning on going home for Christmas,” Ana said. She grinned apologetically to Gabriella. “Please don’t take it personally. I look forward to getting to know you, but my mom would kill me if I didn’t go home to be with my family.”

Gabriella took another large bite of stew. “I understand. If my madre was still alive I would never have left her at the holidays. She would have been so happy to see this snow. It is the first time I have seen it.”

Derek got back with the hot sauce and lowered it to the table while he asked, “Seriously?”

She accepted the bottle and shrugged with a sad expression. “It is very different from home here.”

Everyone quieted down, so Lifen took the pause in conversation to her advantage and looked at Chance and Ana questioningly. “How long will you be gone?”

Ana responded, “Maybe a week or so. Our parents still don’t know we’re engaged. If you never hear from us again, it’s because my mom’s killed me.”

A strained expressed crossed Lifen’s face and Ana added in haste, “I’m just kidding. I know you worry, but it’ll be okay.”

Lifen glanced at Batukhan and said, “I guess I will take this time to get started with Gabriella. There is much she doesn’t know. It may be good to give her some one-on-one training while you are gone.”

“I think Chance will be happy to skip our sessions together,” Mac said. “I won’t hold it against him.”

That was a hard call. The time spent with Mac made him relive painful memories, but going home would make him face his reality moving forward. Either way, it would be hard, but he’d pick any future that Ana was in. He took a quick bite of dinner and mumbled, “Who are you going to torture while I’m gone?”

Mac laughed and shook his head. Lifen raised her eyebrow and ignored them.

“I’m not sure if you need me anymore. I don’t often stay this long in a proper house and I miss the forest. I think Batukhan and Lifen can handle you now and if they can’t, I think Ana should be able to. You didn’t seem all that interested in the Three Sister’s Soup anyhow, even if it is your loss.” For the first time, Chance saw Mac stare out the windows with a melancholy expression. He almost appeared like a caged animal, longing for its freedom.

When Mac mentioned leaving, a new feeling surfaced. Chance didn’t want to see him go. In the past Chance may have lived a solitary lifestyle, relying on himself and a select few, but now he was surrounded by people who he could be himself around. People who understood him and weren’t afraid of what he was. Even at his worst.

He pushed around a cube of meat in his bowl with a spoon. “You don’t have to leave. I won’t be gone that long and I’m sure I’ll need some therapy when I get back.”

Mac turned to face him. His dark eyes were still while he stared at Chance. “Yes, I think you are in need of my recipe as much as you deny it. Therapy you may need, but I don’t know if I want to hear all about your childhood. Maybe I will explore around here while you’re gone and come back to hear about your family drama, if your mother-in-law doesn’t kill you like Ana says.”

Chance felt the corner of his lips turn up and he answered, “Thanks.”