Hour of the Lion

Chapter Twelve

The next day, Thorson heard footsteps approaching Calum’s guest room-well, his room for the moment. He looked up gratefully, needing a diversion from his worries. For once, reading wasn’t working.

“You are quite the stubborn bastard, you know,” Calum remarked as he pulled a chair closer to the bed. “Why not stay in hospital? You have enough control to not trawsfur when you’re hurting.”

Thorson marked his place in the book and set it down. “Only way a hospital keeps me is if I’m unconscious.”

“If I had known what it would take, I would have arranged it,” Calum said drily.

Thorson barked a laugh. “Wouldn’t put it past you.” A gust of wind hurled spatters of snow against the window, and he frowned as worry stewed in his head. The storm that had settled over the mountains yesterday showed no signs of easing. “You think they’re okay?”

Calum followed his gaze, mirrored his frown. “Alec is strong.” His words were clipped with concern.

“You’re worried about something though.”

“About your attackers. Bugger the bastards.” Calum rose and paced across the room. “I had the deputy take fingerprints before disposing of the bodies. The prints didn’t show up in the databases that Alec has, so I sent them to Tynan. His contacts can run the information through the various agencies.”

“Sounds slow.”

“Too slow.” Calum steepled his fingers. “Victoria suggested we use her for bait-see if we could draw them in and this time, keep one alive.” He frowned at Thorson. “You and Victoria are too efficient at killing.”

Thorson ignored the compliment. “You’re not going to use a female as bait.”

“No. I refused. So we’ll keep her safe, and I’ll wait for Tynan’s ID and follow it up the line.”

Thorson rubbed a finger across his book’s leather binding. “This is senseless. If they wanted to kill a witness, they’d have sent an assassin, not a team to capture her.”

“Aye. But they had Lachlan bite her. They probably expect her to turn into one of us.”

“Maybe we should hand her over and deflate that notion,” Thorson said, knowing they’d do nothing of the sort.

Calum’s lips curled into a thin smile. “Indeed. And by handing her over, we might decrease their numbers by a significant amount.”

“There’s an idea. She’s a deadly little female, isn’t she?”

“What was she doing in your store anyway?” Calum asked, gazing out the window at the falling snow. “I thought she was leaving.”

“Came to say goodbye.” A pang shot through Thorson’s heart as he remembered the glimmer of tears in her eyes. “Seemed to think she was letting Lachlan down. Apparently he’d told her…” He closed his eyes, searching for her words, “‘Tell Grandpa I gifted you…and you’re my gift’”

Calum spun around. “‘Tell Grandpa I gifted you’ He said that just before he died?”

“That’s what she-” Thorson halted as the words took on a different meaning. He pulled in a shocked breath. “Could the boy have performed the Death Gift?”

Silence. After a minute, Calum rubbed his face wearily. “She said he got confused at the end and was babbling. But the ritual to an outsider might seem-”

Thorson finished. “Like the lad was out of his head. Earth, Air, Fire, Water. You think she’s one of us?”

“If she is, she’s hiding it well. The little female appears to have more secrets than a pixie has winter stores. I believe it is time to unearth some of those acorns.”

Vic blinked awake and assessed the situation. No gunfire. No murmur of voices. Soft blankets under her, more piled on top, and only her nose exposed. All warm and snuggly. Her muscles ached slightly from the hike, but a good ache, as after a hard P.T.

And hey, she was still on this earth. There was no feeling like that in the world. Knowing she could have been snuffed out yesterday, but through skill and muscle and courage, she’d won. Yea though I walk through the Valley of Death, I shall fear no evil, for I am the baddest M-F in the valley. She grinned, stretched, the joy of being alive singing in her like a ripple of music, and she wanted to share the song.

It just happened she knew a really good way to celebrate life…

Alec lay beside her, stretched out on his back under his own bunch of covers. He’d obviously tended the fire during the night-a big log burned cheerfully on a pile of glowing coals, and the cabin felt warm enough to slide out from her blankets and under the ones next to her. Alec’s covers.

Deeply asleep, he didn’t move as she snuggled up beside him and laid her head on his shoulder. He’d discarded his jacket and wore only a flannel shirt. The buttons slipped easily out of the holes. Yeah, he really had a great chest. She ran her fingers over the hard planes, traced out the six-pack ridges of muscle on his abdomen, and followed the thin line of hair down his lower stomach. Halleluiah, he was fully erect and rock-hard.

“Good morning,” she breathed out and tipped her face up to nibble at his chin.

“Mmmmh.” He rolled over, flattening her under him. He smelled absolutely incredible, like the deep forest with a masculine musk all his own. She could probably tell him and Calum apart just by scent. Weird.

He nuzzled the hollow below her ear and purred his pleasure when she spread her legs to cradle him. “I can smell your arousal,” he murmured, his breath warm against her cheek. His hand pressed her pussy, and a searing jolt of heat made her hips lift. “I am going to…” He stopped, his muscles tightening under her fingers. “No. I’m not.”

“What?” She rubbed her breasts against his chest and heard his breathing stop.

“By Herne, I want you, Vixen,” he muttered. He kissed her, long and slow and deep. But then, with a low curse, he pushed himself away and stood up.

She stared up at him. What had just happened?

“Listen, Vix.” He put a hand on her shoulder.

“Nah.” Obviously he didn’t feel the same as she did. Fine. The ache of his rejection hurt though, and she turned her face away so he couldn’t see. “No worries. I just woke up feeling horny. No big deal.”

“Uh-huh.” He knelt on one knee beside her. “Considering how much I want to grab you, strip you, and bury myself inside you, you’re not the only one aroused.”

His words took her breath away. She sat up, clasped her hands together to keep from reaching for him. “But-”

He stroked a hand down her hair, and she looked at his intent green eyes, so clear it seemed as if light shone through them. “I’m a shifter, and you’re human. It’s extremely bad judgment to get involved. Hell, Daonain are almost never attracted to humans-the scent is wrong or something. Only yours isn’t, dammit.”

“But we…did it before. Remember? The Wild Hunt party?”

“Let’s just say that your appearance at the Gathering was more than my self-control could bear.”

Yeah, that made sense considering all the screwing going on that night. The sex-laden atmosphere had messed with her head too. “Go on.”

“So, although an occasional encounter is overlooked, shifters don’t get involved with humans. We-I am very close to caring for you more than I should,” he said with a wry smile. He leaned his forehead against hers. “And I want you so badly I’m shaking. Let’s not sit here and chance temptation.”

She was very willing to give in to temptation, but could see it would cost him. In a funny shifter way, Alec was a highly moral man…cat…whatever.

He rose to his feet. “I’ll get some breakfast prepared.”

God. He hadn’t buttoned his shirt, and his chest was thickly muscled. The man was lethally sexy. Her body quivered with need, and there was no cold shower in sight. “We got an outhouse somewhere, or do we use an available tree?”

“A tree.” He grinned, a flash of white that curled her toes.

She closed her eyes. She fought a losing battle here; everything he did turned her on more. Outside in the freezing snow was where she needed to be. “I’ll be back in a minute,” she muttered.

Several minutes later, after she’d struggled through the foot-deep snow, fumbled her coat and shirt out of the way to undo her jeans, froze her ass off, and buttoned everything up with numb fingers, sex was the very last thing on her mind. Just let her hang out close to the fire and she’d be a happy camper. She rushed back inside.

He handed her a mug of steaming coffee. “This’ll help.”

Her hands were shaking with just that brief outing. “It’s really cold out there.”

“Temperatures can drop to under zero up here at night. It’ll warm up a little during the day.”

“A little, huh.” She slugged back some coffee-crappy-tasting instant, but it burned all the way to her stomach and started filling her veins with caffeine. Only a fool would complain. A few more sips, and she felt almost normal. Settling on one of the stump chairs, she set her cup on the table. “Now tell me about shifter-human relationships.”

He held up a freeze-dried packet of scrambled eggs and grimaced. “Maybe I should trawsfur and go hunt us up some real breakfast.”

“No.” She snatched it out of his hand. “Talk.”

“Are you always this bossy?” he asked curiously.

She opened the packet with one wicked slash of her boot knife, and he winced.

“That’s a nasty temper you have there, female.” He mixed the eggs with water. “Basically, shifter-human matings are sterile. No children. And for various reasons, our numbers are declining. So shifters need to mate other shifters.”

“Ah. Like a Muslim marrying a Catholic, huh?” A jagged ache made her chest throb.

“Something like that, only the Muslims won’t die out. We might.” His gaze was level, yet held regret. “I’d planned to talk with you, but then you said you were leaving, and I didn’t think it mattered.” He sounded like they’d had something…real…going.

“Geez, Alec,” she made her voice cold. Hard. “I just wanted sex, not some damned relationship.”

“Yeah.” He put his hand over hers, his fingers hot against her icy skin. “I knew that.”

She felt her lips tremble and pressed them together. God, she had to get out of here, away from him and his fucking pity, before she burst into tears and embarrassed them both. “I need some air.”

Yanking her hand back, she stalked out the door and into the snow-filled wilderness, heading anywhere, just as long it was far from the cabin. From him. This was stupid, stupid, stupid. How had he come to mean so much to her? Hell, she’d planned to leave, hadn’t she?

She leaned against a giant pine and listened to the snow hissing down through the branches, the soft groaning of the trees swaying in the wind. Thin gray clouds trailed across the sky, blotting the sun’s warmth, and the air was so cold it hurt her lungs. Alec would probably come out to check on her if she stayed here much longer. He never seemed to leave her alone for-

She thumped her head against the trunk. Had she subconsciously hoped he’d chase after her when she left Cold Creek? God, she was such an idiot.

Well. She exhaled slowly and watched her breath hang in the air before the breeze took it away. At least that idea was killed dead. Absolutely no hope of a relationship. She shouldn’t have let Alec talk her into coming up here. And damned if he’d keep her from going back down. If Swane had people watching her house, well, wouldn’t it be too bad if she had to disable a few? Break her heart, it would.

Fine, then. Get breakfast and some coffee, bundle up, and move out. She had a plan. Shoving her icy fingers under her arms, she headed back to the cabin.

She stepped inside and stopped at the sight of Alec near the fireplace. Buck-naked. Washing himself off with a sponge. The light from outside glowed against his skin, highlighting the hard muscles, the tight curve of his ass, his long, lean thighs, and glinted off the golden-brown hair at his groin and chest. Her breath strangled in her throat, and every little hormone that had finally cooled down flared up again like she’d been napalmed. Growling, she backed out and slammed the door behind her so hard the cabin shook. An avalanche of snow from the roof hit her, and something thudded on her boot. She looked down.

It was a tiny doll, the size of her hand. On the roof? Probably some boy had teased his sister by throwing her dolls up there. She’d get Alec to return it to whomever.

She turned the toy over, smiling. Naked. Anatomically correct with small high breasts. Pointed ears? An elf doll?

It moaned.

“Fuck!” Vic dropped it, caught it in midair, and felt it move slightly within her grasp. It was one of those tree-thingies. She shoved the cabin door open. Naked or not, Alec needed to answer more questions. “Yo, cat-boy!”

The irritated look on his face was a pleasure to see. He’d donned his jeans and was pulling on a green flannel shirt that matched his eyes.

She held up the doll-that-wasn’t-dead. “What the hell is this thing?”

He walked over. “Oh, shit.” Cradling the doll-thing gently in his hands, he squatted next to the fireplace. “Toss more wood on, would you?”

With another log, the fire blazed higher. She dropped down into the pile of blankets beside him. “What is it?”

“She, not it.” Alec held it closer to the heat. “She’s a wood-sprite. A forest pixie.”

“Oh, well, I knew that,” Vicki said sarcastically. “What’s wrong with it-her?”

“They hibernate during cold spells. She probably came out for some sun and got caught by the storm. Didn’t make it back to her hole.”

“Will she be okay?” The little thing looked dead.

“Should. We’ll bring her out of hibernation and take her to her tree. She’ll need food. Here, hold her while I get something for her to eat.”

He handed Vic the tiny body before she had a chance to object. “But-what do I do? Jesus, Alec, I don’t know what to do!”

“Hold her close enough to the fire that your fingers feel toasty. Try not to drop her.” When he grinned, she wanted to slug him, but he stood out of reach.

Staying motionless, Vic felt the chill leaving the pixie, and it took an occasional breath. It really was alive. Fucking-A, I’m holding Tinkerbelle. When it quivered in her hand and opened pale green eyes, sheer wonder filled her. A pixie.

Alec returned with a four-foot pine branch and a handful of evergreen spriggets. “Not the finest cuisine, but it’ll do.”

The pixie blinked at him, and he smiled at her. “Hey, sprite.”

“Does it speak English?” Vic whispered.

“They don’t talk much more than a squirrel does, but they understand quite a bit.” He held up a tiny piece of fir and laughed when the pixie sat up and snatched it out of his grasp. Vic stayed steady as it perched on her palm, nibbling on the greenery. “It’s warm.”

“She-and that’s good.” Alec propped the large branch against the wall, securing the base with chunks of firewood. “There. She can hang out in here and finish warming up.”

Vic leaned over and extended her hand. The pixie dropped the greenery and leaped, disappearing in the foliage. “Cool.”

Alec piled the pine and fir sprigs next to the branch. “Good eating, pixie. Have at it.”

A tiny hand reached down and snatched up a piece.”

Vic stared at the branches. “It’s just like the pixie-thing living in the oak in my front yard. It keeps throwing things at me.”

Alec picked up his coffee. “Mmmmh, she’s been pretty bad-tempered ever since old Bert died, and the new owner turned the house into a rental. Pixies are offended by change.”

“Me too.” Like having little things appearing all over the place. This whole mountain was weird. She settled back into the blanket pile. “You know, I-” With his cup halfway to his mouth, Alec stared at her as if she’d turned into some freakish pixie-thing.

“What?” she snapped.

“It didn’t even register-you can see her.”

“Well, duh, she’s there, isn’t she?”

“No. Not to humans.” Alec scowled. “I keep forgetting you’re not Daonain. You have the Sight.”

“Do I look blind?” He was acting really bizarre. “What did you put in your coffee? Whiskey? I want some.”

He rose and filled her cup again. She sniffed it. No alcohol in hers. Didn’t that just figure.

Silently, he settled beside her, close enough for her to feel his warmth. Close enough that she wanted to crawl into his lap and share lots of warmth.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Not hardly. We need to talk about this, Vixen. How long have you been seeing pixies?” From the look in his eyes-so much darker a green than the pixie’s-he really was upset.

On her part, she felt pretty fine. What a major relief to know he saw mini-people thingies too. Maybe she wasn’t a candidate for a psych hospital after all.

“Vicki? Answer me.”

“Oh. Sorry. Pretty much since I got to Cold Creek. At first I only saw flickers, maybe a hand sticking out…” She trailed off as a pixie hand poked out of the branches and grabbed more food.

“After you arrived? Not before?”

“After. I saw dwarf-looking people in the tavern one night. What other strange critters do you have in this area?”

“In this area? What-” He broke off and tilted his head, listening. A second later, Vic heard the scrunching of snow under someone’s feet.

Alec was at the entrance before she even stood; the man could move when he wanted to. He cracked the door, then opened it wide. “I didn’t expect you today.”

“Something came up.” Calum clapped his brother on the shoulder and stomped snow off his bare feet. Without even a blush, he walked into the cabin, bare-ass naked. Okay, yeah, she’d seen him stripped before. In moonlight. Now, by the light of the lanterns and fire, she couldn’t drag her eyes away. Hell, no woman breathing would have been able to look away. He must have exerted himself running up the mountain for every muscle on his darkly tanned body was pumped and rippling. And his body was all muscle. She swallowed.

To her regret, he dressed quickly in a black sweater and jeans from the wooden bin. After pulling on a pair of thick woolen socks, he finally looked over at Vic and pinned her with those dark eyes.

She saw an accusation in them and stiffened. Whatever it was, she hadn’t done it. Well, maybe she had, but she was leaving. It didn’t matter. “What now?”

When his gaze finally released her, he noticed the branch and glanced quizzically at Alec.

“Vicki found a frozen pixie,” Alec said. “She saw it.”

“Interesting.” He put a tea bag in a mug and added boiling water from the pot.

Alec narrowed his eyes. “You don’t sound surprised.”

After seating himself at the table, Calum set his cup to one side. “I think you’ll understand in a minute. Victoria, join us, please.”

His low authoritative order made her feel like a two-year-old. Annoyed, she tossed another chunk of wood into the fireplace. They might be used to this weather, but Iraq’s climate was a lot warmer. She took a chair across the narrow table from Calum.

Alec sat beside her.

“When you said goodbye to Thorson, you told him Lachlan made you a gift,” Calum said.

She felt Alec freeze beside her and started to turn toward him.

Reaching across the table, Calum cupped her chin in his hand, his fingers warm, but firm. “No. Talk to me.” His deep voice held the authority of a master sergeant.

“Yes, sir. What do you want to know?”

“Just before Lachlan died, did he do or say anything strange? Give you a reason to feel he wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“Well…”

“Victoria, I realize you tried to save Thorson pain, but I need to know it all, ugly or not.”

She pulled back. “The kid was trying to think of something and couldn’t remember it. Then he said…um, something about fire and blood. He got blood on his hand…“ She stared down at the table. Remembering…

He touched her filthy face and smiled at the dirt on his bloody fingers. “Earth.”

“Honey, I want you to rest,” she urged. Please don’t do this to me-live! “Just concentrate on breathing and-”

“And finally my spirit-that’s the gift. I remembered it,” he told her, pride in his voice. “C’mere.” He lifted his arm, like for a hug and she leaned forward, winced as his hand came down on her bitten shoulder and dug in.

“…but he didn’t-didn’t live. He was-” She blinked furiously, her throat tight, her arms remembering the feel of the boy as he went limp. Why did bodies get heavier when the soul had flown? Flown, God, she was getting all sentimental. She pulled in a shuddering breath, gave up the pretence, and roughly rubbed the wetness from her cheeks.

The silence finally registered. Alec was never quiet. She looked up to see him staring at her as if she’d grown horns. Calum had an intent look on his face, a finger tapping his lips.

She slapped the table hard enough to make her fingers sting. “Tell me what’s going on. Now!”

Calum glanced at his brother, one eyebrow slanting up.

“He performed the Death Gift? For Vicki?” Alec’s voice was ragged.

She made a fist. If they didn’t explain, well, she was going to have to hurt them.

Calum took her hand and gently opened her fingers. His gaze held…pity? She stiffened.

“Victoria, just listen to me. First of all, Daonain are descended from the Fae.” He noticed her blank look. “The Sidhe? Fairies?”

“You come from something six inches high with wings? Pull my other leg.” She attempted a laugh and failed.

Alec snorted. “Not Disney fairies. More like…ah, the elves in Lord of the Ring. Tall, slender, magical. Lived in woods. Didn’t like iron.”

Metal-she could hear Lachlan’s weak voice, “My body pretty much shut down yesterday; I’ve been on borrowed time since. It’s a shifter thing; all that metal, you know.”

Calum continued, “Before they abandoned our world-oh, a couple of thousand years ago-the Fae occasionally had offspring with humans. Some of those Fae were shapeshifters, so their mixed-blood children inherited the ability along with the other fairy traits. When Daonain mate, new shifters are born.”

“Yeah. Alec explained that part.” That heavy feeling crawled into her chest again.

“Did he now?” Calum’s gaze went to Alec and returned to her. “There is one other way to create a new shifter. We call it the Death Gift ritual.”

Ritual? She had a bad feeling about that word. She tugged at her hand, but he didn’t release his grip.

“Like the Fae, shifters are partly magical,” Calum said. “The Death Gift is pure magic. All Daonain learn it and know it is ours to use if we so choose…at the time of our passing.”

She stiffened, shook her head. No.

“Yes. Lachlan wasn’t confused. He invoked the ancient ritual to make you a shifter.”

Relief rushed through her. “It didn’t work, then. I’m no werecritter.” She turned her hand over within his grasp. “See? No fur.”

“And none on me.”

Oh, shit. She stared at him, remembering how he’d blurred, then been a mountain lion, all power and grace.

“How long have you seen pixies?” Calum asked.

“Soon after she got to Cold Creek,” Alec said. “Dwarves, too.”

What did that have to do with being a furball? “I see what’s here, and this mountain has pixies and dwarves all over it.” She had the urge to hunker down as if a ‘ma deuce’ had just opened fire.

“So that’s what you meant.” Alec shook his head. “Vicki, there are sprites all over the world.”

Her jaw dropped. “No. I never saw them before…”

“One of those fairy traits,” Calum said, “is the Sight-the ability to see the OtherFolk.”

“Oh, hell.” This was so not good. She pulled her hand away from Calum’s grasp and hugged herself. The entire world seemed to have transformed, like flying from the arctic to the tropics, only much, much worse. Pull it together, Vic. “So, am I going to suddenly burst into claws and whiskers?” She tried for sarcasm, but damned if it didn’t come out a whine.

Alec stood and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back against his hard chest. And oh, she needed that-so much so that she tried to pull away. His embrace tightened, forcing her to accept his comfort.

“To trawsfur, you have to want to shift. It doesn’t happen by accident,” Alec said. “There’s a place in your mind-some think of it as a door. When you’re ready, you open that door and step through into the wildness.”

And if she locked the damn thing? What was this going to do to her life? “Thorson told me stuff about being a shifter. Every month you need to shift into a werecat for a few hours.”

Alec nodded.

Wouldn’t that go over well in Baghdad or even some Iraqi village? “Lachlan shifted when he didn’t want to.”

Calum frowned. “That happens mostly in the first year, before control is achieved. Or sometimes later, if the shifter is very frightened or threatened.”

“Uh-huh.” So a grenade goes off, and suddenly I’m a cat?

“You have a problem with metal too, right?”

“Being surrounded by metal for long periods can overwhelm our systems. Magic and iron-” Alec stopped at the look on her face.

No transcontinental flights? Hell, she’d just walk to Iraq, right? And once there, she could stay out of hummers and tanks? What about cars? Damn, was that why so many people in Cold Creek walked?

“It has to be a pretty long period of time, Vix, before it’s a concern,” Alec said. “Otherwise it’s just uncomfortable.”

“Listen, I’m assigned to-” She closed her mouth, shock freezing her like an icicle through the guts. She’d almost blurted out what she was. Standing, she pulled out of Alec’s embrace. “I don’t want this fucking gift.”

Calum rose too. “I’m sorry, Victoria. We’ve overwhelmed you with explanations. You need time to take all this in.”

“Forget taking it in-can I give it back?”

The lines deepened in his face. “If you never trawsfur, then the magic will eventually fade away, and you’ll be purely human again. Even the Sight will slowly leave you. However you might-”

Victoria ran out the door, slamming it behind her so hard the cabin shuddered, and snow slid off the roof. The branch in the corner rustled as the pixie buried herself deeper. Calum shook his head. The little female had a powerful arm. His chest tightened as he fought the urge to go after her. To offer comfort.

Face set in unhappy lines, Alec picked up his cup and moved to the blankets by the fire. “Well, I think that went well, don’t you?”

Calum grunted agreement. “We should be grateful we are far from her car.”

“Now, that is a blessing.” Alec took a sip of his coffee. “Did you have any idea about Lachlan’s Gift?”

“Not a one. Although she is abnormally fast and strong…and sensitive, I assumed it was due to her martial arts training.”

“Me, too. I’d never have thought Lachlan would be clear-headed enough to remember the Death Gift ritual. Not then.”

“They had a bond between them. That’s obvious.” A dying lad, a woman who couldn’t save him. The child must have been terrified and in such pain… Calum’s fingernails dented the table as he fought the fury boiling in his veins. He took a breath filled with fire and released it slowly. “He’d have worried about Thorson being alone.”

“Makes sense.” Alec glanced at the door and voiced Calum’s hopes. “She’s a shifter, brawd, or can be one. She’s strong, brave, spirited…” He smiled. “Fun to be with. Passionate. Blunt.”

“And very vulnerable right now. Scared.” But his lips turned up. “But we’ll do our best to keep her for the clan…and for us.”

What the hell am I going to do? Vic stomped through the snow away from the cabin. A shifter. She’d saved the kid’s butt, got him out of the cage, and he not only died on her, but turned her into some freakish cat-thing. Fuck, if he were here now, she’d kill him.

That thought and the stabbing memory of his pale lifeless face snapped her out of her tantrum. How could she think a thing like that? She would have defended him to her last breath. Slumping against a tree, she scowled at the darkening sky. Not a glimmer of sun escaped the thick clouds; it seemed as if her whole life had been washed of color, turned into shades of gray.

Just like her choices.

She wanted-needed-to return to duty. Being here, isolated from everything she’d known…it wasn’t right. The job over there wasn’t done. She needed to go back. But not if she’d turn into a cougar person.

She remembered when Calum had turned into a mountain lion, how his whole body had seemed to glory in the transformation. Maybe she should try… No. She had a feeling that trying on a cat shape would be like taking crystal meth-addictive with one taste. Once she’d done that, she could never return.

Had Calum told her the truth?

As if she’d summoned him, he appeared between the trees, making his way down to her with his silent, predatory grace. “Victoria.”

“Why do you always call me that?” she growled. “You’re the only one.”

He ran warm fingers down her cold cheek. “I find I like calling you something no one else does.”

His gaze was as warm as his hand, and Vic took a step back. “Calum, look, I’m not going to-”

“Alec and I have been discussing your problem.”

He said that as if her problem was something he could fix. Not. “I don’t-”

“I need to visit Elder Village,” he broke in. “It’s a mountain town with only shifters, mostly the older ones wishing to avoid humans.”

If he didn’t stop interrupting her, she’d gag him and leave him for Alec to release. Then again, she’d seen him take Baty down, and also the speed with which he’d slashed the bear’s muzzle open. She might not win a fight against him. “I’m listening.” Dammit.

“Before we…disposed…of them, we took fingerprints and photos of your assailants. A contact in the city is gathering information, but discovering who employed them might take some time. In the interim, Alec and I think you should go with me.”

“Excuse me? You want me visit a bunch of wereanimals.”

“Precisely.” He smiled as if she’d won the spelling bee. “The farther you are from these men, the better. In addition, you need space and time to think about what has happened to you. Finally, I’d like the Elders to meet you, even if you decide to refuse the gift.”

His phrasing hurt. As if she was rejecting something special that Lachlan had… Well, she was. And yeah, she did feel guilty.

Tough.

Then he just had to put one last argument out there. He cupped her cheek in his big hand and murmured, “And I would very much enjoy having your company.”

Oh, God.