Catalina leaned back in the leather chair, watching the fire, and sipping the wine CeCe handed her. Dr. Cecelia Barnes might be one of the world’s most in-demand pediatric surgeons, but sitting cross-legged on the floor, the dark-haired beauty looked more like a teenager than a successful physician.
“Thanks for checking on me. I’m grateful some well-meaning control freak—no need to be specific and name names—didn’t try to fly my happy ass to freaking Mayo Clinic for a four-day exam. I swear there must be a class at Prairie Winds to train Doms in the fine art of paranoia.” CeCe nodded and took another swig of wine, frowning at her glass as if it was draining itself.
“I’m not a primary care provider, and you’re a bit over the age of my usual patients.” Tipping her glass up to glaring at the bottom, she muttered a curse. “Damn, this glass must be leaking.”
“Hey, that wasn’t a ’dis about my age, was it? Because if it was, I’d have to turn you into a toad or something.” Catalina giggled when she realized how slurred her words sounded. Glancing at the wine bottle sitting on the small table beside her. “Hey, who drank all our wine?”
“What? Well, damn, when did that happen? I can’t believe we didn’t notice someone helping themselves to our stolen goods. Frack, that’s one of Cam’s favorites, too. He isn’t going to be happy when he sees the whole bottle is gone.” CeCe scooted over to pick up the bottle, holding it over her head to look in the bottom as if the deep red liquid was somehow being concealed by the label. “Damn, would you look at that? Not even a drop left. Amazing.”
“It was good… too bad we were robbed. That really sucks. You can’t trust anybody these days.” Catalina tried to focus on the bottle but was having trouble figuring out which of the three she saw was the real one. “Hey, hold that still so I can read the label.”
“Still? It’s sitting on the table. I’m not moving it. Maybe we’re having an earthquake because the whole room seems to be moving.” CeCe reached out, planting her palms flat on the floor, grinning, “There, that’s better. I fixed it. You’re welcome.” A fit of giggles moved over her in a crashing wave, nearly making her fall over. “Tell me how you learned to turn into a wolf. Did you get a handbook? Did you have to get a license, like you do, to drive? There must be some protocol or procedure.”
“Say what? You’re not a proctologist.” Catalina looked at her friend and shuddered. “No offense, but I’m not into that sort of thing.”
“I don’t care anything about your ass, Catalina. Protocol… you know, rules about how something is supposed to be done.”
“Damn, CeCe, you are such a geek. No, wait, that’s my brother-in-law… umm, shit. What’s his name? The one married to B.”
“Luke? Isn’t he related to somebody we know?”
“Yeah, but I’m not going to think about that… it’s dangerous. He dials in too easily. He’s an employee. No, he’s an emperor. No. For duck’s sake, what’s the word?”
“Empath.” Cooper’s deep voice came from somewhere over the shoulder. When Catalina turned to look, she fell out of her chair. Her unladylike tumble made them burst into another fit of giggles.
“Did you hear what you said? For duck’s sake? Oh, that’s great… I should remember that. Maybe I’ll write it down. If we didn’t see who stole the wine, there’s a good chance I might not remember that little ditty tomorrow.” CeCe looked over at Cat and frowned. “You fell out of the chair. That’s a shame ’cause it took you several tries to climb all the way up there. Are you okay? I’m a doctor, you know. If you have something broken, I could fix it. Maybe not tonight, but eventually.”
Cooper stared at the two women on the floor in front of the fire, shaking his head. “This has to be some sort of record. How did they manage to get so sloshed in such a short time?”
“Well, they did drink an entire bottle of wine.” Carl Phillips stood between Cooper and Cam, a huge smile on his face.
“A very expensive bottle of wine, I might add. Hell, you have to give them credit for pulling one of my prized bottles out of the cellar.” Cam shook his head in mock disgust, but there wasn’t any hint of anger in his voice. “Come on, let’s get them to bed. Carl, you take care of our woman, and I’ll show our guests to their temporary home. Interviewing Catalina tonight would be an exercise in futility.”
“Did he say he exercises for fertility? I’d be interested in hearing how that works. I saw something on the internet once about women who stand on their heads after sex, hoping gravity will help all the little swimmers find their mark.” Cat frowned at the crowd standing around her before turning to CeCe. “Hey, how many men do you have, anyway? There’s a whole group of them up there, and only three are mine.”
CeCe’s eyes narrowed as she tried to focus. It was all Cooper could do to keep a straight face when the pretty brunette tried to make her eyes lock onto the three of them.
“I’ve got two… but honest to God, I don’t know which two are real. It would be a lot easier to figure out if they would all just stand the hell still. Frack, they are weaving around like a bunch of frat boys on a fender.”
“Fender? That can’t be right. I don’t think that’s the right word. Isn’t a fender some sort of car part?”
“Oh, yeah. Well, it’s something like that. When I was in college, frat boys were always coming up with some reason to get wasted… you know, like it’s Thursday, we should celebrate.”
Cooper saw Carl roll his eyes as he stepped forward to scoop Cecelia into his arms. “Come on, Sweetness. Let’s get you up to bed before you say something that’s going to get you into even more trouble.” CeCe was giggling as Carl carried her out of the room and up the winding staircase.
“Your turn, Princess. There is no reason to ask you anything tonight.” Picking her up, he noted she was still underweight. Frowning, he wondered how the hell he’d failed to notice how slight she felt cradled in his arms. Making a mental note to make sure she ate regularly, he followed Cam into the attached guest quarters. Cam’s deep chuckle drew Cooper’s attention.
“I’d like to be frustrated with the two of them, but the truth is, they’ve both had a rough time of it lately, and I’m glad they let off some of the steam where we could keep an eye on them.”
Cooper agreed and grinned as he headed down the short hall to the bedroom. Covering her with a quilt, Cooper walked back into the living room and laughed.
“If she wasn’t a shifter, I’d be worried about how she’s going to feel in the morning, but I’ve seen how quickly her body metabolizes alcohol. She’ll be fine in a couple of hours. In the meantime, I’m sticking close to make sure she doesn’t manage to get her sweet ass into more trouble.”
“Trouble does seem to have a way of finding her lately. I’m beginning to think her growing magic is pulling trouble from the shadows.” Cam’s words were likely more accurate than any of them knew. Audric and Gigi had alluded to as much during the earlier strategy session in Cam’s office. “We need her functional for several reasons.” Chuckling, Cam started for the door, then paused. Turning to look at Cooper, Cam’s expression lost all traces of humor.
“Whoever tried to take you out wasn’t a pro, but even fools get lucky, eventually. I’m putting my money on a magical, trying to throw us off. Be careful. Underestimating an adversary because he failed to kill you the first time would be a whole new level of arrogance. If mating with Catalina is bringing you newfound magical abilities, we need to utilize those skills while keeping the information under our hats. This is going to be a high stakes game, Cooper. Don’t show your hand too early.”
“Hey, it’s darker than the inside of a cat in here. Who turned out the damned lights? Didn’t Cam pay the power bill? Those bastards at the power company get off on throwing switches. I hate it when that happens. Power-hungry power company… yeah, there’s some irony for ya.” Catalina’s grumbling voice filled the small apartment. The grin spreading over Cam’s face made him look much younger than Cooper knew him to be. In the back of his mind, Cooper sent up a silent prayer, the man would smile more now that he was backing even farther away from his former employer. Honestly, there was a part of him that wondered if either of them would ever be truly free of their former lives. The distinctive sound of a click sounded from the bedroom, followed by a flood of light into the hall.
“Oh. Well, there’s a coincidence for you. Speaking of throwing switches, it looks like I just needed to find the right one. No worries about the honorable men and women at the power company or Cam’s financial state.” Cam’s snort of laughter as he turned and walked out was mild compared to Cooper’s bark of laughter.
Damn, Catalina was as entertaining now as she was the first time they’d worked together. He’d been impressed as hell by her analysis of seemingly unrelated facts and her innate ability to discern the needs of people—her beauty and wit had been bonuses. His only issue with the skilled agent was her driving.
“What’s wrong with my driving? I’m an excellent driver. I’ve never had an accident, and I haven’t had a speeding ticket in years. You want to get all grinchy about somebody’s driving, go after Paris. She’s always had a serious need for speed.”
A need Cooper knew Paris’s husband, a sheriff near their home outside Boston, was working diligently to curb. Her shouted response came from the master bath. Turning that way, Cooper couldn’t help but wonder what she’d gotten into. Hell, who knows what disaster awaits. Walking down the short hall, Cooper found his very inebriated mate walking out of the bathroom, gloriously naked and dripping wet.
“Catalina, you forgot to dry off after your shower.” She blinked several times, tipping her head to the side as if she were trying to decipher what language he was speaking. “Princess, did you use a towel after your shower?”
“Shit, I knew I forgot something.” Pivoting on her heel, she made her way back to the bathroom in a few long strides. Returning to the bedroom a few seconds later, a towel wrapped around her head like a turban, her gloriously naked body was still on full display and still dripping wet. When he laughed, she stomped her foot. “What now?” She flinched when the hand she’d waved dramatically in the air hit the edge of the dresser. “Damn it, that hurt.” Glaring at him, he pointed her finger in his direction. “This is your fault.”
“My fault? How did you arrive at that misguided conclusion, Princess?”
“I wouldn’t be in this pickle if you hadn’t made me fall in love with you. Nobody cared about my little piece of the magic pie until you came along. I lost all control after I met you. And then I mated with you, and now you are going to be a target, too.” When he stared at her in surprise, she didn’t just roll her eyes—the damned woman rolled her whole head.
“Oh, puuuhhhleese. You think just because I drank a little… okay, more than a little… probably more like a lot of wine, doesn’t mean I don’t know up from sideways. Alcohol doesn’t keep me from being perceptive, although it does seem to affect my ability to remember little things.”
“Like drying off after a shower?”
“You’re not going to let that go, are you?” He flashed her a grin, he knew was every bit as sinister-looking as he intended it to be. “No, I can see you are going to run this into the ground. I’ll bet you were a real pain in the ass as a brother.” He raised a brow in question. Lakyn had been so much younger, the two of them hadn’t experienced many of the usual sibling challenges and rivalries most brothers and sisters faced. “Don’t give me that phony confused look. I’ll bet you can still name every bad grade Lakyn got in school… what subject it was… who her teacher was, and what your parents said when you told them to check her bookbag.” She was right, but not for the reason she assumed. Cooper had a photographic memory, rarely forgot any detail, and certainly not anything related to his baby sister.
“My sister is whip-smart. Any poor grade she received was because she wasn’t applying herself.” The damned woman standing in front of him had the audacity to burst out laughing.
“I knew it. Lakyn should be nominated for sainthood. At least my brothers spread their ‘monitoring for your own good’ bullshit around.” Did she seriously just use air-quotes? “And they didn’t have the excuse of taking on the role of parents, except for Paris, so the rest of us didn’t hesitate to tell them to piss-off.”
“Lakyn only made that mistake once. Hanging upside down by one ankle over the banister convinced her being disrespectful wasn’t in her best interest.” He wasn’t going to mention his mouthy sister had been sixteen at the time. The only other time he’d been tempted to paddle the little imp’s ass had been when she’d walked in on a scene in his living room. He’d suspected she knew about his lifestyle, but having it confirmed was damned uncomfortable.
Watching as Catalina processed what he’d said as well as the thoughts he hadn’t shared aloud, Cooper hoped like hell she wouldn’t start asking questions. The last thing he wanted to waste time doing when she was standing naked in front of him was to engage in a heart-to-heart discussion about former lovers. He didn’t want to do it now… hell, he would probably never want to talk about all the mistakes he’d made over the years.
“Not going there, Ace. I’m not one of those women who wants to know all the women you fucked. Not my circus, not my… well, I guess you are my monkey now, but you weren’t then so…” He could see goosebumps moving over her skin and shook his head when her nipples drew up into the tightest points he’d ever seen.
“Are you cold, Princess? If you had used the towel to dry off before wrapping your hair, you wouldn’t be turning into a popsicle. Come on, let’s get you a shirt.”
“Thought you were all about having your subs sleep naked?” So, it seemed she had been interested enough in his history to do at least a cursory investigation. He didn’t want to think about what she’d likely discovered.
“Until we figure out who is trying to take you away from me, I want you to be ready to run at a moment’s notice. I know shifting will shred whatever you are wearing, but what if you aren’t able to shift for some reason?” Feeling vulnerable would be too distracting, and he didn’t even want to contemplate what would happen if her captor ran face-first into an emotional trigger. Handing her one of his shirts, Cooper helped her slip into a finely spun cotton dress shirt and smiled down at her.
“You look adorable, Princess. The last woman I saw wearing anything of mine was Lakyn. I don’t even want to think about how many of my shirts the brat got away with.” His kid sister always told him they made her feel like he was close even when he’d been gone on missions. Hell, there’d been times he wasn’t sure he’d get back to her, and those moments were all it took for him to overlook her raids on his closet.
Taking her hand, Cooper led Catalina to the small living room, settling her on the loveseat with a throw over her lap before moving to the kitchen. Five minutes later, he returned, carrying a tray of finger foods and bottled water.
“Either you planned ahead, or you’re much faster in the kitchen than I am—of course, that wouldn’t actually be difficult.” Cooper laughed out loud at her admission.
“I planned ahead. It may surprise you, but I can cook. I learned because I got tired of takeout and frozen dinners. I hoped it would inspire Lakyn to follow suit, but that didn’t go as well as I would have liked. I’m grateful her men like to cook, so my niece and nephew aren’t eating food their mama shakes out of a bag and pops into a toaster oven. When she is writing, the last thing on her mind is cooking… hell, her husbands are lucky if they can get her to stop to eat.”
“My mom made sure all my brothers could cook, and dad taught the girls how to change tires and the oil in our cars. When my dad found out I wanted to make jewelry and needed to learn how to weld, he took the evening class with me.” Cooper glanced down to see Cat rolling the fabric of the shirt’s tail between her fingers. He knew the small tell was the only habit she’d never been able to break. Now that she’d been forced into retirement from covert work, he hoped she wouldn’t feel the need to hide so much of herself.
“Did I ever tell you I met your parents?” Cat jolted in surprise at the simple question, her wide eyes and gaping mouth all the answer he needed. Plunging ahead without waiting for her response, Cooper continued, “They saw through me within the first two minutes, knew our meeting hadn’t been accidental, and recognized it for the security check it was. The first time I met Lilly West, she reminded me of your mom—not in looks, but her take no prisoners, mama bear attitude. Your dad was more introspective. He sat back—watching and listening. His questions were much more personal.”
“Personal? How?”
Cooper had known when he admitted meeting her parents this was the direction the conversation would head. Now that they were mated, he felt more confident revealing how much had taken place without her knowing.
“While your mom was focused on how the agency planned to utilize your magical ability, your dad was more concerned with my romantic interest in you. He wanted my assurance your heart was safe with me.”
“Oh, geez, how embarrassing. It’s like the ‘what are your intentions’ speeches from the old days. There wasn’t any talk of doweries, was there? That would be too much… you probably asked him for a cow and a couple of ducks, didn’t you?” Cooper knew her attempt to make light of the situation hid deep-seated insecurity. Cat’s lack of self-esteem baffled anyone who knew her. She was stunningly beautiful, brilliant, witty, loyal, and talented, yet there was a small part of her that didn’t feel like she was worthy of the gifts the Universe had bestowed upon her.
“I didn’t ask him for anything other than his trust. I assured him I would protect you with my life, and your heart would always be safe in my keeping. At the time, I didn’t know all the details of mating, but as it turns out, my assurances lined up perfectly.” He took her hand in his, giving her fingers a quick squeeze before pulling them to his lips. “Your mom was a force of nature. Even with my lack of understanding at that point, I could feel the energy pulsing around her. I might not have understood the significance, but there was no mistaking the power.”
“She was very powerful, more than any of us knew.” He could hear respect and sadness in her voice.
“Why do I hear the word but you failed to tack onto the end of that statement?” Cooper’s question elicited a small smile from the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life loving.
“My dad wasn’t the strongest magical, but his ability to connect with people, to understand what they needed, what it took to make them feel whole… made him more special than magic ever could.”
Seeing the unshed tears in Catalina’s eyes as she spoke about her dad made Cooper realize it didn’t matter that she’d been considered an adult when her parents were killed. There would always be a little girl inside her who’d lost her daddy. He knew from experience the pain never far below the surface. Smoothing his fingers along the underside of her chin brought his lovely mate back to the moment.
“Your dad called me a few days before their accident.” Cooper watched as Catalina’s eyes widened. He knew the Adler siblings had heard similar stories at the time of the car wreck, and those painful memories had resurfaced after recent events involving an important magical totem. The information they’d uncovered verified what everyone had always suspected—Carrington and Brighton Adler were murdered.
“He said he was just checking to make certain I was still watching over you.” Taking a deep breath, Cooper knew this wasn’t the time to dance around the phone call he’d found more than a little strange. “To be honest with you, I found the whole conversation… odd. The phone call itself wasn’t particularly surprising because, at the time, you were deep undercover chasing down a data source in Indonesia.” He watched a pink blush move over her cheeks, and a flash of possessiveness, unlike anything he’d ever experienced, moved through him. A growl vibrating to the surface from deep in his chest surprised them both. “We’re going to table the discussion about your blush for another time.”
“It isn’t what you are thinking. I found a camera in my room. I didn’t find the damned thing soon enough, and I’ve spent a lot of time and money trying to clear the internet of the pictures.”
“What kind of pictures, Princess?” She’d been naked in the club more than once, and he knew, in general, shifters were pretty laisser-faire about nudity, so it seemed unlikely it was something that simple.
“The cameras were inside and outside the resort’s small cabana where I stayed. I stripped inside, put on a specially made backpack before I stepped outside to shift. I’d propped the door open, so I could get inside quickly if needed. It was a short run into the woods behind the resort. My enhanced senses made it fairly simple to find what I’d been asked to retrieve. I shifted back to human form, stashed everything in my bag, then shifted again to run back to the hut. Most of the shots we’ve tracked down were tagged as special effects, but there seems to be just enough doubt for the damned pictures to reappear every now and again.”
“Why didn’t I know about this?” Was this the reason her father called him? Had Carrington Adler known their kind had been compromised? If Catalina was deemed responsible for exposing shifters to public censure, she could potentially be a target of angry peers, scientists who would study them into extinction, and traffickers looking to turn a hefty profit. Hell, the danger would come at her from every direction. Staring at him as though he’d grown a second head, Catalina finally sighed.
“I couldn’t exactly recruit help from the agency, Ace. All I could do was contact Austin and let him take it over. He’s the pack Alpha, and even though we don’t follow the pack hierarchy closely, there are some rules I—now we—have to follow. Making a choice between protecting my family and asking for help was a no-brainer, Cooper.”
“Clearly, I have a lot to learn.” For the first time in longer than he could remember, Cooper felt like a first-class ass. “I’m sorry, Princess. I’ve never been possessive of anyone other than Lakyn, never felt the overwhelming urge to protect anyone but my sister and her children. Even that loyalty and unconditional commitment pale in comparison to what I feel for you. The connection between us is growing so quickly I’m having a hard time processing the intensity of the emotions.” Although he wasn’t being dramatic, at times, it felt like he was drowning as the feelings crashed over him in overwhelming waves.
“The intensity of your feelings will eventually back off a bit, but they will always be stronger than those of non-shifters. The feeling your entire world has been tilted on its axis is a part of the mating process. My brothers can tell you more about it, but I don’t think there is a magic potion to speed the process up.” He felt his eyes widen, and for the first few seconds, he thought she was being flip with him. Tapping into her emotions, he discovered nothing but sincerity. Hell, he was starting to wonder if he would ever get used to the ways of the magic world.
“I didn’t say I wanted to speed it up, which I interpret as getting over it. After waiting for you for longer than I want to admit, the last thing I want to do is rocket through our mating.”