Chapter Twelve
The couch groaned as Rudy settled Timothy’s small crocodile form between Jack and Rose.
The hatchling curled up, scales gleaming softly in the lamplight, and immediately began snoring.
Jack pressed close on one side, his wolf ears twitching every few seconds.
Rose draped herself over Timothy’s back, half purring, half snoring.
“I can’t believe they just fell asleep,” Rudy whispered.
“The shift would’ve exhausted Tim, and now they don’t have to hide their secret anymore, the other two can sleep peacefully, too.” Sobek stood in the doorway, hands clasped behind his back as if he was waiting to be ordered off the property.
Rudy straightened and walked past him into the kitchen. His legs felt disconnected from his body and his hands shook as he filled the kettle and set it on the stove. Tea. He needed tea…or whiskey. Actually, both sounded good.
“Tell me everything,” he said without turning around.
Sobek’s footsteps were slow as he entered the kitchen. “Where would you like me to start?”
“Start with what my children are.” Rudy gripped the counter. “And don’t sugarcoat it. I need the truth.”
“Jack is a wolf shifter. Rose is a panther shifter. Timothy is a crocodile shifter.”
The kettle began to hiss. Rudy pulled two mugs from the cabinet, his favorite cheerful yellow one with daisies, and the plain black mug he’d bought online the week before, thinking Sobek might use it. Damn it. I need my hands to stop shaking or there’ll be tea everywhere.
“Shifters,” he repeated. “So that’s people who can turn into animals.”
“Yes, although it’s more that each one of your children has a human spirit and an animal spirit, and sometimes the animal side can come through in physical form.
It’s just something they can do, and as a rule they can shift between forms anytime, although the need to keep their secret stops them a lot of the time. ”
What? So, no howling on the full moon needed? “And this is...” Rudy grabbed the box of chamomile tea bags. “Normal? Common?”
“It’s more common than you’d think. The paranormal world exists alongside the human world.
As a human, you would never know about it unless you happened to see someone shift or use magic.
Every paranormal is taught from a young age that they cannot tell anyone what they are, unless that person already knows about the paranormal world…
and it’s not considered polite to ask species type among paranormals anyway. ”
The kettle whistled. Rudy poured water over the tea bags, watching the steam rise. “How many kinds of shifters are there?”
“Hundreds. Virtually any animal type could also be a shifter, from dogs, cats, and fish, through to lizards, wolves, bears, big cats, birds of prey, and even crocodiles.” Sobek paused.
“Although crocodile shifters are extremely rare. From what I could find out, Timothy’s family was the only clan left in North America, although there might be a few solitary types who stay well away from human eyes. ”
Were. Past tense. Rudy’s throat tightened. He carried both mugs to the kitchen table and sat, gesturing for Sobek to join him.
Sobek sat across from him, hands folded on the table. His dark eyes watched Rudy with so much focus that it should have been unsettling, but somehow it wasn’t.
“Explain more about the...” Rudy waved vaguely toward the living room. “The shifting thing. Why now? Why did Timothy need to shift into a complete animal, and the others didn’t?”
“Shifter children typically begin showing their animal traits around puberty. They learn control gradually, with guidance from their pack or family.” Sobek’s jaw tightened.
“When children manifest this early, it usually indicates that they’ve either been experimented on - there’s a rural pack that took in quite a few children like that a few years ago, for example.
In your children’s case, it is most likely trauma that’s caused it or the loss of their family, who would typically help them regulate their instincts. ”
Rudy’s heart clenched. “But they were with me, so they didn’t have anyone to teach them.”
“It’s not your fault. They lost their families too young, and they’ve been trying to suppress their nature to avoid frightening you.
” Sobek’s voice dropped. “Timothy’s fever wasn’t an illness.
It was his body attempting to shift while his conscious mind fought it.
It was the conflict that made him sick.”
The mug burned Rudy’s palms, but he couldn’t let go. “He was fighting it because of me.”
“He was fighting it because he loves you with his whole heart and didn’t want to lose you.”
“Gods.” Rudy pressed his forehead to the table. “All three of them. They’ve been hiding this from me for years.”
“They didn’t know what they were hiding - not exactly. I think Jack remembers wolves from before, but doesn’t understand what that means. I doubt Rose has any memory of her mother. Timothy...” Sobek exhaled slowly. “Timothy only knew his family had vanished and he was left alone.”
Rudy lifted his head. “How do you know all this?”
“I looked into their histories after I met them.” Sobek met his gaze steadily. “Jack likely came from the Cascade Mountain Pack. They were massacred by hunters two years ago. A few wolves escaped and moved to Canada, I believe, but most were killed, including his parents, most likely.”
The room tilted, and Rudy felt physically ill. His family had discarded him at eighteen, but he was already holding down a job by then. To be all alone…so young…Rudy gripped the table edge, needing something solid to hang onto.
“Rose’s mother died in a car accident near Baton Rouge three years ago. She was a black panther shifter traveling alone. Rose clearly survived, and I have no idea how she ended up at a gas station, but she found you.”
Rudy’s chest ached just thinking about what his little ones had gone through - and yet they’d lived it. “And Timothy?”
“Again, no one is a hundred percent sure, but it’s highly likely his family was killed by hunters in Florida thirteen months ago.
It’s hard to know, but they are so rare, and there’s never been any shifters screaming about a lost hatchling.
” Sobek’s hands clenched into fists. “Shifter hunters are known to target rare bloodlines, so it’s possible that’s what happened to Tim’s parents, but if any danger had been present, they would’ve hidden him.
I imagine that’s how he survived, although we have no idea how Tim ended up here.
But then the Fates have been known to interfere at times.
” Sobek shrugged. “He was clearly meant to come to you.”
“Jesus Christ.” Rudy pushed his mug away before he shattered it. “Those poor babies. No wonder...” He stopped, throat closing. “No wonder they cling to me so hard. No wonder Timothy has nightmares.”
“They found safety with you,” Sobek said quietly. “You gave them a home when they had nothing.”
Rudy scrubbed his hands over his face. His thoughts were spinning too fast to make sense. Shifters. Hunters. Dead parents. His children had survived things he couldn’t imagine, and he’d just thought they were unusually clingy kids with weird skin conditions.
“What else?” His voice came out hoarse. “What else haven’t you told me?”
“About the children, nothing. You know all I do.” Sobek straightened. “But I’m not human either.”
“Well, I guessed that.” Rudy gave him what he hoped was his best “duh” expression.
“You turn up at my house, but I didn’t hear the car, and I know I locked my doors.
And you didn’t have an issue at all when my kids started dressing for Halloween with no costumes, and then apparently you have friends who can find out information about those same kids, that’s not found on any database I tried to access.
“So what are you? Some form of ninja shifter? A vampire maybe? You wear a lot of black…or…or a magical being, or…” Rudy’s imagination deserted him. “I don’t know. It’s too late at night for me to guess. What are you if you’re not human?”
“Just because a person wears black, doesn’t mean they’re a vampire.” Sobek shook his head. “Although a vampire would probably be easier for you to accept. I’m an ancient god.”
Rudy blinked. “A what what?”
“An ancient god, from the Egyptian pantheon. I’m known as Sobek, the Crocodile God. I’m responsible for the Nile, and crocodiles, obviously, among other things.”
The kitchen fell silent except for the sound of little snores coming from the living room.
And then Rudy started laughing. It was like someone flicked a switch in his brain, and he just couldn’t help it.
It probably wasn’t the reaction Sobek was expecting, but hysterical giggles bubbled up from his chest until tears streamed down his face.
“A god. You’re telling me you’re an actual god. ”
“Yes.”
“You mean like Zeus and Thor and...” Rudy wiped his eyes. “And you’ve been fixing my doors, prepping catfish, and playing with my kids.”
“Yes.”
“Why?” The laughter died as Rudy leaned forward. He needed to know. “Why are you here, Sobek? Why did you come to Louisiana? Why do you keep coming back to my house? Is it because of the kids?”
Sobek’s jaw worked as if he were thinking about what to say. “I rented a house in Louisiana because of the private pool - my crocodile likes to swim. I stayed and kept coming back to your house because you’re my mate.”
Reaching under the table, Rudy pinched his leg. Ouch. Yep, that hurt, which meant he wasn’t dreaming. “I’m your what?” Rudy whispered. Surely he’d heard wrong.
Sighing, Sobek said, “About three, maybe five years ago, the Fates started tying the threads of ancient gods to mortals in a bid to increase the number of permanent threads in the tapestry of life. When I first saw you, I knew you were mine.”