rogue shifter 05 - caught between (10 page)

"If you make her yours, she will be off limits to the rest."

I described the situation to Liam and he agreed that it was important to protect her, so after a short explanation and a simple ritual led by Isaiah, Marie became my spirit familiar, a crazy-assed turn of events, in my already wacked-out world.

What else could...? Never mind.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I knocked on the office door, feeling as nervous as a bride on her wedding day.

It was around 8:00 P.M. and we'd driven north to Palo Alto from Carmel with Isaiah in the car. He'd managed to push every one of my buttons with his requests to change the radio station, skip a song on the playlist, turn up the air conditioning, stop for something to eat or go faster. I felt like we had a four year old in the back seat, not a demon who'd possibly lived for millennium. He'd made it into a game, as he'd nudge and prod and poke at me until, he hoped, I lost my patience and blew up at him. Garrett and I held on, but just.

Thankfully, we'd be returning the car after our meeting and then taking the ley lines the rest of the way home to Crescent City.

We'd left him in the car with a bag of Mickey D's, parked in an out of the way spot, listening to Cee Lo Green with strict instructions to remain there the entire time we were gone. We were keeping our fingers crossed that he'd behave.

"Come in." The man's voice was deep and rich and hearing it made my knees start to shake.

"Be brave, my angel. Your father will be shocked, but if he has any sense at all, he'll be glad that you came to him."

"Maybe we should've asked him if he has any heart problems. This could shock him into the hospital."

Garrett smiled as he opened the dark wooden door with the engraved nameplate: Dr. Simon Crenshaw, Ph.D., Department of Ancient Languages.

He was seated, working at his desk, finishing something on the computer. He had light brown hair, broad shoulders, and was dressed casually in a sports jacket, and a tan button down shirt open at the collar.

He turned, smiling, saying, "How can I..." One look at Garrett and his expression became alarmed. He stood, his left hand tracing a glyph, ready to defend himself with a spell.

Garrett held his hands up in a gesture of peace and spoke in a soothing tone. "Dr. Crenshaw, I'm Garrett Cuvier and this is my lifemate, Jacqueline Crawford Cuvier. We're not here to harm you in any way. We have some important information to share with you. Perhaps we should have told your secretary what we've come about when we first made this appointment, but I thought that meeting face to face would be more respectful. I apologize if we've upset you."

Simon looked from Garrett to me and then back to Garrett, giving me a chance to get a better look. Unlike mine, his eyes were a beautiful navy blue but his mouth and chin...well, if I'd had any doubts about him being my dad, they'd dissolved five seconds ago. He was good looking, in a distinguished kind of way. Like a thirty-five year old Sean Connery.

"You'll forgive me, but why should I trust you?"

"If we were here to kill you, we wouldn't have knocked." Garrett's face lit up with the smile he used to put people at ease. I tried to do the same.

Simon frowned. "How did a cheetah end up the lifemate of a vampire?" He was still standing, holding his spell ready, unwilling to relax around us.

I took a step forward. "That's all part of why we're here. May we sit down, please?"

For the first time he noticed my pregnant belly. "Yes, of course. It's been a while since I've had two powerful supernaturals in my office. Forgive my bad manners."

"It's quite understandable, Dr. Crenshaw." Garrett answered.

He took the seat behind his desk and we sat in the two leather chairs that faced it. "You said your names are Garrett and Jacqueline?"

"Jackie, please."

"Garrett and Jackie then. Are you interested in taking classes at the university? I've had a few vampires as students but never a cheetah." He looked at me curiously.

I fished a photo out of my bag and handed it to him. "We're here because of something more personal. That's my twin sister, Bridgett. We were born on May 5, 1993."

He glanced at it for a few seconds and then returned his gaze to me. "You don't look much alike, except for the eyes and maybe the mouth. But I don't understand..."

I took a deep breath and held on tightly to Garrett's hand. "I'm sorry to tell you like this, but I didn't know how else to do it, really. Telling you over the phone didn't seem right. We're the children of Adele Fitzgerald. And we believe that you're our father."

The hand resting on his desk, the one that had held his spell in readiness, was slowly clenching into a fist and I was afraid at first that he was angry. His brow wrinkled as he studied me with those navy eyes, this time taking in my appearance thoroughly: my hair, my eyes, my nose, my mouth and my build. He managed to keep his expression neutral, although his body had tensed.

He wasn't an easy man to read, but when he took in a cleansing breath to calm himself, it was evident I'd shaken him.

He spoke softly, the huskiness a sign of his deep emotion. "Adele died in December, 1996. Who raised you?"

I was surprised at how quickly he seemed to accept the truth of what I'd told him, but then he was a sorcerer, and might be able to read my aura. "We were split up after she died. Bridgett grew up with a pack of werewolves in Gasquet. Her adopted mom died when she was ten. Her dad just died a couple of months ago. Since then, she's been living with me in Crescent City, although neither of us knew the other existed until recently."

Nodding, he picked up the photo to look at her again. "And is she also a cheetah?"

"Yes."

He took a moment to digest this. "And you? How did you grow up?"

I looked down at my hands. This was tougher than I thought it would be. Garrett rubbed my back in support. "Foster homes—a bunch of them. Then one set of parents adopted me when I was fifteen. The Crawfords. I thought all along that I was human. Garrett and his friend Rob took me in a few months ago when I finally started showing signs that I was going to shift. They helped me through the transition. We fell in love while Garrett was training me."

His attention shifted to Garrett. "They
took
you at sixteen? I know that I have no right to criticize, but..."

"You're correct.  You have no rights where I'm concerned. I'm an adult." I'd spoken softly, but my words made him arch his eyebrows in surprise. "If it eases your mind, I can tell you that Garrett saved my life. He trained me to use my cheetah skills and has made me part of a team of shifters and vampires who work to protect humans and other supes. I'm happier with him than I ever thought was possible."

He looked amused. "Shifters and vampires working together to protect the innocent? Adele would have loved that." A small smile played across his face. "You're so much like her. Beautiful and smart, and I get the feeling you don't take shit from anyone."

Garrett laughed. "Exactly right."

He met my gaze in that direct way he had, as if his brain was constantly analyzing reams of data. "I didn't know about you or your sister."

"I believe you."

"I won't lie to you. If I'd suddenly been presented with two year old twins, I probably would have found shifter parents to adopt both of you. When I heard Adele had died...well, lets just say I was a mess. Not fit father material. Surviving children were never mentioned."

His eyes took in my belly. "And you're expecting?"

"A son. Charles. Charlie." I smiled and leaned closer to Garrett, bringing another questioning look from Simon. "It's a long story." Garrett and I had discussed sparing myself from going into too much detail regarding my ordeal, but I gave him a shortened version, leaving Isaiah and some of the gorier details out completely.

He was shaking his head when I finished. "Your strength is humbling. I'm so sorry." Garrett wrapped an arm over my shoulder and pulled me closer, making my father smile warmly. "And congratulations to you both."

"Thank you..." I wasn't sure what to call him.

"Simon is fine." I nodded, feeling relieved. I wasn't ready to call him Dad and Dr. Crenshaw didn't work for me either. "You must have questions too." He gestured toward me.

"About a thousand. How did you meet?"

He grinned. "She was the hottest girl in my high school. All the jocks wanted her, all the cool kids wanted her and all the nerds like me wanted her. But she rarely dated, and when she did, it was usually someone from another school. She wasn't a snob, in fact she was really funny and sociable. She went to parties with all of us, she had a lot of friends, and she was on the track team. But she held herself apart when it came to anything serious. Adele was afraid, afraid of herself."

He gave me another calculating look, suddenly coming to a decision. "Do you have..?" He pointed behind his left ear, referring to the birth mark that anyone with demon blood possessed.

"Yes. An ellipse. Bridgett too."

"The demonic heritage frightened her. She was half cheetah and half demon...an amazingly powerful supernatural. And it terrified her. She thought she'd turn dark and lose control."

He stood up and turned away, walking toward the window, looking out and continuing to speak without looking at us. "She rarely used magic at all. I started using magic at an early age, so when she found out I was a practicing sorcerer, she asked for my help. She wanted to find a spell to null those powers that she considered abhorrent. We searched together for an answer, but there was nothing, at least that we could find. We spent weeks and weeks together. Our friendship transitioned into something more serious.

"We graduated from high school in 1992 and spent the summer together. That fall, I came here to Stanford to study and she disappeared about two weeks later. None of her friends knew where she was. Neither did her family."

He turned back to look at me, his tall frame slightly hunched with emotion. "I adored her. I was a nerdy computer geek who wanted to write books about ancient languages of all things and amazingly, she loved me. This gorgeous, magically powerful, hysterically funny goddess loved me. And then she just disappeared off the face of the planet, and I never knew why."

I smiled ruefully and sighed. "I guess it was because of me and Bridgett."

"She could have come to me." He sat back in his chair, looking a little defeated. "I don't understand why she didn't."

"How did you find out she'd died?"

"Her stepmother called me and then sent me newspaper clippings reporting the incident along with a few other things of hers that Adele had wanted me to have. The newspaper said the cause of death was smoke inhalation. The house she was staying in burned down while she slept, somewhere in Tahoe City."

I shuddered, remembering what it was like to watch someone burn to death. "What happened to her father and stepmother?"

"They died in a plane crash four years ago. You must have been staying with them when Adele died. I suppose they were the ones who put you up for adoption."

I looked more closely at Simon, imagining him as a teenager, working with my mom to find a nonexistent cure for her demon DNA. I could see why she fell for him. Besides the fact that he was a very attractive man, there was a calmness about him that drew you in, that made you feel comfortable around him. My closest friend Ethan had that same turquoise aura, and it made me smile to remember how many times he'd calmed and comforted me. "Do you have a wife and kids?"

"No. There was no one else for me." His expression was pained. "Those months with Adele were my best. She encouraged me to major in my passion, and as you see, I did, despite my parents' disapproval. They're both dentists."

I felt for this man who'd lost his love, yet never understood the reason. I shuddered thinking about how devastated I'd be if Garrett ever disappeared from my life.

I sent to my mate,
"Do you think...?"

"Yes, of course. Invite him."

I giggled, which seemed to puzzle Simon. "Will you come to Crescent City for Christmas?" Simon looked shocked. "Look, I know that we've just met, but I can't stay long and I have so many questions and..." I looked into his navy eyes and it felt right, somehow. "My adopted parents will be there for dinner. And our crazy team of vampires and shifters. Plus some of Garrett's family. You can stay at our house for a few days, there's more than enough room. Bridgett will be there of course, and your grandson will be a few months old."

I touched my belly, then clutched at Garrett's hand and waited.

When Simon smiled again, I let out the breath I didn't know I'd been holding. "Thank you. I'd love to come. Did you say Crescent City?"

We nodded and his expression changed suddenly. "You mentioned that you've just come from Carmel?" We nodded again. "I remember now where I've heard your name before, Garrett. You broke away from your maker, Eleanor Howard. Then you ended her, correct?"

Garrett's face grew grim as he remembered. "Yes. She came to our home and threatened Jackie and had another close friend brutally killed. I was an unwilling witness to her horrors over many decades."

Simon nodded and said, "She was vile. You did a great service when you rid the world of that bitch." His eyes were dark with anger for a moment, as if he'd had some personal experience with Eleanor. After a moment he smiled at me. "I see you've chosen a mate who can protect you and your son."

Garrett barked out a loud laugh. "Simon, she's capable of taking care of herself. She took down Antoine, Eleanor's second. Turned him to ash, even after he'd injured her seriously. He was over 200 years old. There are others she's handled. I'll tell you the stories when you come up."

Simon was grinning like a school boy on the first day of summer vacation, perhaps with a touch of pride? "I look forward to hearing them." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "You have a shifter's aura."

"I was born cheetah like Jackie. As far as I know, I'm the only shifter to survive the change. Eleanor enjoyed her experiments."