“Dougal, do you at least have an idea which direction they went?” he asked.
Dougal finally stopped howling—thank the Goddess. Graham’s ears were going numb. Dougal didn’t shift to human, but Graham could understand what he wanted to say.
The answer was no. Dougal had been fixed on Lindsay, walking around in a bikini with no top. When Lindsay had disappeared inside her house, Dougal had looked around, and the cubs had been gone.
Yes, he’d gone to Brenda’s to see if they’d run back there, and he’d checked all over Graham’s house, and he’d called Nell. Dougal knew he was a shithead. That he screwed up. That he should be punished. But why had Graham run off and left Dougal alone? He hadn’t known what to do.
“Dougal, you’re grown,” Graham snapped. “You don’t need me around all the time.”
Dougal’s muzzle was down, almost on the ground, his ears back, tail tucked underneath him. Graham balled his fists in frustration. Dougal needed reassurance, not more yelling. But damn it, the cubs, Graham’s responsibility, were gone, and there was an evil Fae on the loose.
Graham laid his hand on Dougal’s head. “The mating instinct is harsh. Trust me, I know this. It’s going to mess you up all the time. But that doesn’t matter right now. I need you. You have the cubs’ scent. Help me find them.”
Dougal lifted his head, looking slightly better, but he still cringed as he slunk out of the house and started sniffing around.
“Poor kid,” Nell said.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with him.” Graham went out the door after Dougal, Nell behind him.
Outside, they met Cormac, a huge, blue-eyed bear Shifter. He’d recently mated with Nell, and the two had stuck together since then like contact cement.
“If they’re in Shiftertown, we haven’t found them,” Cormac said.
Graham swallowed the raging curses that wanted to come out and said, “Thanks for looking.”
“We’ll look again,” Cormac said. Nell nodded, and moved off with him.
Shiftertown was abuzz. During the day, Felines usually napped, and bears did too—bears always found some excuse to sleep. But now Shifters were out, many in Shifter form, noses to the ground, helping search for the two little ones.
Graham shucked his own clothes, changed into his large black wolf, put his muzzle down, and sniffed.
What he mostly smelled was a maze of Shifter scents, going every which way. This was the problem with Shiftertowns—too many scents from different clans, packs, and species tangled together. Wolf packs needed to have their scents around them and no one else’s. Other scents meant danger. But here, with everything mixed up, Shifters couldn’t tell danger until it was too late. Which was probably what had happened with Kyle and Matt.
They searched. Dougal stayed close to Graham, both of them keeping to wolf form while they hunted, Dougal still needing reassurance.
A hatchback car came into Shiftertown, pulling up in front of Graham’s house. The door opened, and Misty’s scent came to him, even across the field where he searched. Misty didn’t drive a hatchback, and the scent of it was wrong for her, but that fact was peripheral.
As soon as Misty’s shapely foot touched pavement, Graham focused on her and nothing else.
It had happened. Last night had triggered it, or maybe the dreams or the spells had.
As Graham watched Misty, taking in her long legs under a loose, calf-length skirt, her shapely breasts hidden by a white tank top with a little pink bow at the neckline, he knew his mating frenzy hadn’t come out of nowhere. It had started the first night he’d met her.
Graham had always told himself that he could give her up, walk away from her at any time. He needed a Shifter mate, Misty was human—and so it could never be.
Graham had reasoned that if he didn’t have sex with her, didn’t spend any nights with her, and kept her at a distance, he’d be fine. Then, when the time came for him to pick out a Lupine mate, he’d be able to tell Misty, Thanks, it’s been fun. Or better still, say nothing at all. She’d get it.
Now, more than ever, Graham needed to cut her out of his life. She was free of the spell, free of the Fae, free of Graham’s problems. Misty could go, and Graham would focus on his dilemmas and move on.
But Graham knew, watching as Misty walked around to the back of the car, her skirt swishing around her tanned legs, that he’d never, ever be able to send her away. She was rapidly filling every empty space inside Graham’s heart, and cutting her out of it would kill him.
Graham sat down on his haunches, wanting to point his nose to the sky and howl as miserably as Dougal had. He was so, so screwed.
• • •
Shiftertown was busier than Misty had ever seen it, except on ritual days. But all rituals, even mourning ceremonies, carried the element of a party. Right now, the Shifters were on alert, roving everywhere, tension high.
She had a feeling she knew why. Misty unlocked and opened the hatchback, reached in, and lifted two wolf cubs out by the scruffs of their necks.
They didn’t want to come. The cubs curled in on themselves, trying to cling to Misty.
The Shifters closest to her saw. They stopped, eyes and ears fixed on Misty, the ones in human form freezing to look.
The awareness that Misty had the cubs spread like a ripple, rolling outward from her and around the giant black wolf who’d stopped and stared at her before she’d opened the hatch.
The Shifters weren’t rejoicing. Not laughing in relief that Misty had brought the cubs back home. They were angry. She heard growls, rumbles, the soft snarls of animals debating whether or not to attack.
If this had been Misty’s first ever encounter with Shifters, she’d be diving back into the car and racing the hell out of there. These Shifters were enraged Misty had the cubs, and they didn’t look as though they cared about explanations.
Misty tried anyway. “I found them. I didn’t take them. I’m bringing them back.”
She tried to gently set down the cubs so she could back away, showing she meant no harm. But as soon as she turned loose their scruffs, Matt and Kyle scrambled back into her arms, their little bodies shaking. They were terrified.
The black wolf had started forward as soon as Misty lifted the cubs from the back. Now he moved rapidly between her and the Shifters who were advancing on her.
The Shifters in front of the pack, mostly wolves, drew back a little, but their growling didn’t cease. Graham turned to face them, baring his teeth, his snarl menacing. The Lupines moved backward, heads lowering, but still they growled, unhappy.
One Lupine didn’t obey. He stood up, anger in his eyes, his ears flat on his head, wolf snarls matching Graham’s. With a harsh sound that was almost a roar, Graham went for the wolf, his charge swift, his jaws opened for the kill.
Graham landed on the wolf and had his body flipped over in the space of a second, Graham’s mouth going toward the wolf’s throat. At the last moment, Graham snapped his teeth an inch from the wolf’s fur, then eased his jaws around the wolf’s throat. Graham held the wolf there for about thirty seconds, then released it and touched its nose with his.
Graham stepped back, then began to shift. His legs and arms became human as he rose on his hindquarters. In a short time, Graham stood over the wolf, who also had morphed to human—a dark-haired man—both of them stark naked.
The man remained on the ground, curled in on himself, his defiance gone. Graham stepped to him and laid his hand on the man’s head. Graham said nothing, only kept his hand there, until the man finally looked up at him. The man’s eyes, wolf gray, held contrition.
“Sorry, Graham,” he said.
Graham leaned down, putting both hands on the man’s head now and ruffling his hair. “We’ll both get over it. Misty!” Graham straightened up and turned away from the Lupine, finished with him.
Misty co
uldn’t speak. She’d been staring at Graham’s muscled back, which tapered to a firm mound of buttocks. Now he faced her, which meant she saw his equally firm torso, his strong arms, and the cock that hung, thick and long, between his legs.
Graham was a large man, his body sculpted for running, hunting, fighting. No polished edges on him. He was raw, rippling with strength, beautiful.
“Misty, what the hell is this?” he demanded.
Graham’s voice was gravelly from all the snarling, the hint of the wolf still in it. And he sounded dry. Thirsty.
“I found the cubs,” Misty said, making herself raise her gaze from his hips. “Obviously.”
Graham’s eyes narrowed. “Is that what you were trying to tell me on the phone?”
“No. I didn’t find them until I went out to my parking lot. I was trying to tell you something else on the phone, but you hung up on me.”
“Because I was looking for these damned cubs!”
Graham reached for them. Kyle and Matt shrank back, whining, clinging to Misty. One of them had climbed onto her head, his claws raking through her hair.
“Who are terrified of you,” Misty said. “Look at them. What did you do to them? Ow, Matt—or Kyle—stop that. Which is which?”
“Kyle,” Graham said, pointing to the cub on her head. “Matt.” His finger moved to the other one.
“Why are they so scared of you?” Misty asked. Not that she hadn’t seen Graham a few moments ago terrorize another large wolf into cringing submission.
“I don’t know. Where did you find them? That’s not your car.”
“Nothing gets past you, does it?” Misty tried to cuddle Matt and pet Kyle so they’d quit with the clawing. “Matt and Kyle were in the back of that car. One of the DX Security men found them in there when he was at the end of his shift. No idea how they got there—his car didn’t leave the lot all day.”
Graham looked over the dark red hatchback with its curvy lines and dented fender, his brows drawing together. “That belongs to a guy from DX Security?”
“It’s his mom’s. He was borrowing it for the day. I told him I’d bring the cubs back to you. Well, actually, I just grabbed his keys while he and the others were debating how to return the cubs, and I brought them back. I figured you’d be worried.”
Misty decided worried wasn’t a strong enough word. Most of the Shifters were relaxing now, especially the wildcats, who were changing back to human form, strolling home, or loping off in their animal forms. Kyle and Matt were all right, and Graham apparently wasn’t going to kill anyone over it, at least not now. The Lupines who’d confronted Misty were still there, but not looking directly at her or Graham.
“Did they think I’d kidnapped them?” Misty asked Graham. “Or that I would hurt them? I never would.” She raised her voice to carry to the others. “I’d never hurt them. Or any kids. Or cubs.”
“They know that in here.” Graham tapped the side of his forehead. “At least, they should. But instinct is a bitch. They see someone with cubs who’ve been missing, and they want to kill first, ask questions later. But they won’t do it again.”
“I called when I was on my way,” Misty said. The cubs were calming now, tails moving a little as she petted heads. “But you wouldn’t answer your phone.”
“I was a wolf, trying to hunt a scent. Had to leave my phone at home.” He turned to someone behind Misty, across the street. “Nell! Come and take these brats. I need someone to look after them for me.”
“Forget it, Graham!” the large, dark-haired woman yelled back. “I don’t have time, and I don’t have room. You have that huge house with only you and your nephew. You take them.”
Graham put his hands on his hips. “Wait, I can’t raise twin cubs and run Shiftertown!”
Nell turned her back, put her arm around the huge man, Cormac, and walked away with him. “Suck it up, Graham,” Nell said. Cormac looked back at him and grinned.
“Shit.” Graham folded his large arms and glared at the two cubs, whose tails had started moving faster.
Behind Graham, his Lupines watched, faces softening in relief, but they were still wary. Misty realized that while Graham could stamp around and let himself be made fun of, he’d showed that, when need be, his word was law. His Shifters disobeyed at their peril.
“Don’t think you two can get out of this by being cute,” Graham said to the cubs. “Bring them, Misty. We need to talk.” He growled as he turned away. “Hell, now you’ve got me saying it.”
• • •
Graham threw open the door of his house, went inside, and signaled Misty to follow. No one was in the kitchen, but the place was the disaster area he’d left. Misty stopped, looking around in dismay.
“The servants all quit,” Graham said, deadpan.
Misty stood motionless while Matt and Kyle crawled down her and dropped to the floor. No longer afraid, they started running in circles between Misty and Graham, chasing each other, fear forgotten.
What Graham liked about all this was that Misty wasn’t shying away from his nakedness. She wasn’t exactly staring at his goods, but she didn’t avert her eyes, flush, turn away, or yell at him to please get dressed.
Graham was the one who left, to step into the living room and grab some sweatpants he’d left in there. He didn’t mind Misty seeing everything, but if his thoughts kept rampaging, he’d never hide his growing hard-on.
When he came back into the kitchen, Misty was at the sink, sorting dishes, scraping them, running the water.
“You don’t need to do that,” Graham said quickly. “I’ll get Shifters in my pack to do it; or have Dougal get his butt home and help. Here, I’ll call right now.”
Misty kept on rinsing and scraping dishes. She never, ever simply obeyed Graham, as everyone else did, which both intrigued him and drove him crazy.
“My mom and dad divorced when I was ten and Paul was five,” she said, for no reason Graham could discern. “We lived with my dad a lot because my mother remarried right away, and her new, successful husband didn’t want the bother of kids around. He was nice to us, but it was pretty clear he wasn’t interested in my mom’s kids from her previous marriage. I had to learn very fast how to take care of men. My dad was always buried in his next business idea, and Paul was too little.” Misty had the dishes sorted out, scrubbing them in one side of the sink, rinsing them in the other. “I learned early that men aren’t good at taking care of themselves.”
“Shifter males are different,” Graham said, leaning against the counter. “We have to take care of ourselves, our families, and everyone in the pack. We’re good at it.”
Misty glanced around the wrecked kitchen, gave him a wry smile, and returned to the dishes. “No, you’re not.”
Graham loved how her nose wrinkled when she smiled like that, loved how one strand of her hair had come out of the ponytail and fallen to her bare neck.
“Are you going to tell me why you tried to call me before?” he asked. “And how the cubs got into the back of that car?” His gaze swiveled to Matt and Kyle, who were trying to lick dried ketchup off the floor. “Leave it!”
Matt and Kyle jumped, looked guilty for about one second, then started running around the kitchen again.
“We don’t know how they got into the back of the car,” Misty said over rattling dishes. “They were just there. The car was in the parking lot all day; the guy who owns it didn’t take it anywhere, not even on his lunch break. He ate at the convenience store.”
Graham stepped in front of Kyle and Matt’s next wild circle of the room. “Stop!”
The cubs came to a startled halt but looked up at him without fear. They knew the difference between Graham as alpha, disciplining the pack, and Graham the irritated babysitter.
He fixed them both with a scowl. “How did you get into that car?”
A series of yowls and yip
s followed as both cubs tried to excitedly explain. Misty turned around from the sink, concerned.
Graham held up his hands. “Quit that. You sound like a bunch of coyotes. Speak human, so Misty can understand.”
The wolves morphed almost instantly into boys. They were good at shifting. Not all Shifters were—some struggled with the change—but these two had a natural ability.
“We don’t know,” Matt said. “We were playing hide-and-seek with Dougal.”
“We were hiding,” Kyle clarified. “And Dougal was looking at a female.” His confused look told Graham Kyle didn’t understand why.
“Then Dougal was mad, and yelling,” Matt said. “And we fell asleep.”
“Woke up in the car,” Kyle finished.
“Where were you hiding?” Graham asked.
The cubs looked at each other, their big eyes filling with fear again. Fear made them fall silent.
“Just tell me,” Graham said.
Kyle curled into a ball and hid his face against his knees.
“You’re scaring them,” Misty said. She wiped her hands on a clean towel she’d found and came to the cubs. Crouching down, she reached out for Matt’s hand. “It’s okay, Kyle. We just want to make sure you weren’t hurt. And that no one else gets hurt. You’re not in trouble.”
“I’m Matt.”
Misty blinked at him, taking in his hazel eyes. “Sorry. Matt. You can tell me.”
Matt considered for a time. Then he squeezed Misty’s hand and leaned forward confidentially. “A house,” he said. “A house that isn’t done. In the basement.”
Kyle raised his head and smacked his brother on the arm. “We promised!”
“Ow! We said we wouldn’t tell any Shifter. Aunt Misty ain’t Shifter.”
“Who did you promise?” Graham said above them.
“Don’t know,” Matt said. “But Shifter spaces are secret, aren’t they? We’re not supposed to tell.”
“You’ll tell me.” Graham’s growling grew stronger. He knew Misty was right—if he terrified the little guys, they’d never say a word. But the wolf in him was worried. “Now.”