Chapter 825 Chapter 825
Jake gripped the box of his truck and dropped his head forward. How the hell did she keep her cat under control for so long? He hadn’t been lying when he told her it took a lot of strength because, right now, he wasn’t feeling very strong. His cat moved so close he thought for sure he would have fur sticking out of his skin. “She’s fine now. Stop it.”
“Jake.”
He jerked his head up and saw Ed and Gage coming back from the shop. They stood there looking at him.
“Rory all right?”
He nodded, shook his head, and then shrugged. “Her cat wants out.”
Ed and Gage exchanged a look.
Jake lifted his hands and held them away from his body. “I don’t know how she does it. Just doesn’t shift.” He dropped his arms, his hands slapping against his body.
“It’s my understanding that she only has a few times.” Ed looked at Gage. “If her animal isn’t used to…”
“I could feel her cat.” He snorted. “Mine is still freaked out.” Jake huffed out a breath. He’d never interrupted Ed before. Ever. He was losing it.
Ed didn’t look mad, and for that, Jake was glad. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. Come inside, we’re going to…”
“Jake.” Kelsey bellowed from the porch.
Jake spun around and looked at her.
“Rory needs you. Now.” She propped the door open and went back inside.
He looked over to see Gage had a shocked look on his face. Jake took two steps, heard a crash inside, and then started running for the door. Before he could reach it, a good-sized female cat came tearing out of the house. She bound off the porch, slid sideways in the mud, and then took off toward the bush.
“Jake. She’s headed for the ravine.” Gage said.
Jake already had his jacket off. He dropped it and hopped as he tried to get a boot off. Twice in one day, he had to strip down and shift while his heart was beating in his throat. By the second boot, his cat was getting impatient. “Shit.” He tore his shirt off and shoved his jeans down over his hips as he stumbled in the direction she’d gone.
“We’re right behind you.” He heard Ed say.
For some reason, he had pictured her cat as a smaller, docile one, but that animal that tore past him was not small, and he was now thinking docile wasn’t going to be in her descriptive words either.
He slid around a bush and had to run on the spot for a few seconds to get his body to go in the right direction. Fast. She was fast too. He hadn’t caught a glimpse of her once. He could hear the sound of paws on the ground behind him and knew Gage and Ed would circle out in case she turned off anywhere. They’d spent enough years herding animals and each other to understand how they worked as a group.
Ed called out, using his alpha tone, and Jake’s animal hesitated for half a second. He answered but kept running. He heard Gage respond as well. After a few seconds, when he didn’t hear Rory, he understood that she didn’t even know how to react to an alpha’s demand. Why hadn’t her parents taught her? Not wanting to shift was one thing, but not following the hierarchy was another. Did she even have an alpha? He needed to talk to Coop.
When he caught a glimpse of her tail going through bushes, he poured on the speed. The ravine was getting closer and the river below was larger and would try killing them more aggressively if they ended up in it.
His cat darted to the left and Jake didn’t know what he was doing, but let him take the lead. If he had a plan to get to her before the earth dropped away, it was better than the ‘run until you reached her’ that he’d been doing.
As they cleared the thick growth, he caught a glimpse of her barreling through the leafless branches of the bushes. She was headed right for the edge and had no idea. He hoped she had no idea because the alternative was horrifying. His cat turned sharp, bringing them far too close to the edge for Jake’s comfort and then ran full speed along the edge. One misstep, and he’d be free-falling into the river.
Rory came out of the growth and started sliding as she attempted to stop. Jake’s cat dropped his head and collided against her shoulder, sending her flying back from the edge. All four legs were locked as they slid to a stop. He turned back to see she was lying there with her sides heaving.
He took control and rushed over. Had he hurt her? Reaching her, he nudged her with his nose and almost collapsed with relief when she lifted her head, looked at him, and then rolled to her stomach. Jake sat down and looked at her. He could see Rory in her eyes and she wasn’t at all happy that any of this had happened.
Cracking branches had him on his feet and facing the brush. Kelsey and Beth came out. They both dragged blankets. Leave it to them to think of something like that.
Ed’s roar echoed, and Beth looked over her shoulder. She dropped the blanket and rushed back in the other direction. He heard her answer her mate as she ran.
Kelsey dropped the blanket and looked at Rory. She turned her big head back and stared at Jake. He didn’t need a translator to understand that she was telling him to look after her. Of course, he would. He didn’t have a choice.
Turning, Kelsey called out so Ed would know she was complying, and then she took off running again. Jake knew Gage would be somewhere close, but he wasn’t about to stick his furry face into mate business, so he was probably on his way back now.
Jake went over and grabbed the blanket in his teeth and dragged it over to Rory. She looked at it, and if he could have smiled, he would have. The offensive look on her face, indicating that he wanted her to shift and use a now muddy blanket, was too funny.
Her coloring was a mix of the same orange he had, but there were darker auburns mixed in. Her cat was as pretty as she was, he decided. Going over, he rubbed the side of his face against hers, trying to let her know that it is all right. He doubted she was going to think it was. She’d shifted inside Beth’s house. It wasn’t the first time that had happened, of course; learning as teens had brought more than one incident of loss of control, but Rory wasn’t some teenage boy trying to learn the balance between flesh and animal; she wasn’t going to be happy about it. His cat reminded him now was not the time to be thinking about trying to hide crashes and shifting from Kelsey.
Rory got to her feet, and he could see her legs weren’t steady. She couldn’t have had enough time to eat, and he knew she was too low on energy right now, but she still stood there looking at him. He made a soft prusten sound, trying to let her know that she should shift, and they’d walk back.
She sat down, and when her head dropped forward, he knew she wasn’t going to be able to stay in cat form any longer. He picked up the blanket, dragged it close, and then backed away to give her space. He wasn’t shifting until he was sure she was back to two legs and no fur, just in case he had to chase again.
He heard the bones shifting and watched as she breathed through them. She was better at allowing the shift back to happen than most. Turning, he went over to the other blanket, dropped down beside it, and let the shift happen.
Grabbing the blanket, he wrapped it around his body and then turned to see her sitting there in the mud with the blanket around her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
She lifted her gaze to look at him. “No.” She didn’t sound upset, just put off.
He could handle that. “You didn’t tell me she was a speed demon.”
She stared at him and then shrugged. “She was determined to run.”
“Did it help?” He went over and held out his hand.
She took his hand, and he helped her up. “She’s quieter, but now I have to start all over again.”
“You know, letting her out from time to time might make it easier for you.”
She gave him an exasperated look, and he pressed his lips together. He knew enough to shut up when a woman had that look on her face.
She walked a few feet and then stopped and made a soft whining sound.
Was she hurt? He stopped and leaned down. “Did you hurt yourself?”
She shook her head. “No. First, I lost my cute boots in a mad river, and now—” She worked a hand out of the blanket and touched her ear. “I’ve lost my favorite diamond studs.”
Jake almost grinned but caught himself before he did. “They’ll be in the house somewhere.”
“The house.” Her eyes rounded. “Jake, I shifted inside Beth’s house.” She put her hand over her mouth.
Jake snorted. “Trust me, she won’t even pause over it.” He motioned, and she started walking. “Blair did it once just after he learned how to and jumped out a window he thought was open.”
She gave him a startled look.
“And that’s not even the worst incident.”
“Beth is a strong woman.”
He snorted. “And scary when you piss her off, trust me.” The mud was cold against his feet, but he didn’t care. She was all right. They just had to get back to the house. He opened his mouth to ask her if she needed him to carry her when the rain dropped on them without warning. It wasn’t a gentle spring rain either. It was cold and relentless.
“This day needs to end, " she said, and then she took his hand when he offered it, and they started walking faster.
“It hasn’t been dull.” He glanced to see her smile.
“You probably think I’m crazy.”
Jake shook his head. “No.”
She stopped walking and he watched the water run down her face. “I think I’ll go to Chicago.”
Jake felt like he had a weight lifted off his shoulders. “Okay.” He smiled. She was considering it.
“I want to find out about those drugs. I know that’s probably going against the mate thing, but I…”
“Hey.” He leaned down so he could see her face. “I don’t care if you shift once a year or not at all; that’s your choice, and it doesn’t change a thing for me.” He knew his cat was close to the surface, and he didn’t pick up any hesitation on his part. “Or my cat.” He smiled. “He’ll be a little sad, maybe; your animal is the prettiest cat we’ve ever seen.”
Her eyes lit up. “Really?”
Jake nodded. “She has the exact shade of your hair mixed in her coat—wait, have you never seen her?” She shook her head. “That’s one of the first things I did, run to the water and look at my animal.” He frowned. “We fell in. Ed had to haul us out...”
“Jake.”
He stopped talking.
“What are we doing?”
He looked around. “Standing here getting soaked. You’re going to have to sit in a hot bath for hours again to thaw out.”
She heaved a deep sigh. “Besides that. You want me to go with you to Chicago. You know I don’t want to be a shifter…”
He didn’t want her to say anymore. If it was bad, he might never get over it. He put his finger against her mouth. “We don’t have to decide everything right this minute.”
“You’re just going to wing it?”
He grinned briefly. “I’m very good at winging it.” She didn’t look amused. “Look, I don’t know beyond going to Chicago what the rest of my life looks like. Do you?” He looked around. “All I’ve known is here, I might hate it in Chicago. I might stay a week, a month, or a year; who knows what possibilities will up once the Alliance has cleared out all the bad dudes.” He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me if you shift once a week, a year or never again. I’ll be there for whatever you decide.” He swiped the rain off his face.
She studied him for a few moments. “Right now, I’m deciding I need to get out of the rain.”
“I’m all for that decision because my feet are freezing.”
She looked down. “I’ll never think of a mud mask the same again.”