Chapter 2 #2
Tracy wanted to sink into the floor when her father showed up.
Bad enough that her daughter’s first shift happened in public, and in the presence of her totally unknowing father.
Tracy was certain the gossip was all around the Pack by now, and her dad’s arrival seemed to confirm it.
No doubt some well-meaning busybody had phoned him first thing.
“Is this the father?” her father demanded. Tracy noticed the way Hank instinctually moved to protect their daughter.
“Dad…”
“Don’t you stonewall me for another minute, missy!” her father thundered, waking Em, who started to shake in Hank’s arms.
“I’ll thank you to lower your voice, Alpha. Your granddaughter is growing alarmed at your tone.” Hank’s words were full of command, and Tracy had to wonder for the millionth time what Hank’s position in his Clan was.
Was he an Alpha? He certainly felt powerful. But was he strong enough to stand up to the rigors of a very tight-knit werewolf Pack?
“It’s true, then. Emma is a cat.” The wolf Alpha imbued that last word with something akin to disgust, and Hank seemed to bristle.
“She’s a jaguar, sir. Of a long and noble lineage. She’s only…what? Two years old? And already shifting. If that doesn’t speak of her power, just wait. You’ll soon learn.”
Tracy got chills down her spine when Hank spoke all formal like that. And his words hinted at things she’d been wondering about for the past two years. She really knew way too little about him.
“This was her first shift, actually,” Tracy put in, looking at Hank.
“Your very first?” Hank lifted their daughter in his hands and looked into her eyes. He was smiling. “I’m so glad I was here to see it. You’re a strong girl, aren’t you?”
The kitten reached out with one little paw and touched his cheek, almost petting him.
Hank allowed it and snuggled Emma close.
Tracy felt a little pang in the region of her heart.
She was glad he’d been there, too. For a number of reasons.
Not least of which was the fact that she wasn’t really sure what to do with a baby jaguar shifter.
All her experience was with her own kind, and they didn’t generally start shifting until puberty.
Totally different problems with adolescent shifters than with toddlers.
Tracy would have to learn all about how to care for Em if she was going to be shifting so young.
Em turned to her and seemed to want to leap from Hank’s arms into hers, but Hank caught her before she could try. He pinched the skin at her nape, and Emma quieted, going almost limp. Then, he lifted her and brought her over to Tracy, transferring their baby to her arms.
“Just like cats, when they are in this form, you can move them by the scruff of the neck without harm,” Hank told her, concentrating on their child as he placed her securely into Tracy’s arms. “It’s helpful when both parent and child are in their fur.
Instinct keeps them quiet while the parent transports them. It’s a survival mechanism, I think.”
Transfer complete, Hank stepped back a little, while Tracy marveled at the new form her daughter had taken.
Never in Tracy’s wildest dreams had she expected her baby to start shifting so young.
Tracy had worried over what form Emma would take, considering her father was a jaguar, but Tracy had figured she had years yet.
Apparently not.
Before anybody could say anything else, a shower of magical energy burst from the kitten in Tracy’s arms, and between one moment and the next, she went from holding a cat to holding her daughter in human form. She was naked, cute as a button, and rubbing her eyes with one fist.
“Tired, Mama,” she said, and Tracy went into action.
She kept a little bed in her office for the days when her baby came to work with her—which was most of the time.
She had a toddler-safe office, complete with play area and rest area for her baby.
She set Emma down, put a quick diaper on her little butt, just in case, and pulled the covers over her.
There would be time later to get her dressed.
Em was probably tuckered out from her first shift and would sleep for a while.
Then, she’d probably wake up hungry, to replace the energy she’d used in the effort of shifting.
Tracy would be sure to have a meal ready and waiting when that happened, but for now, her baby needed sleep.
“Shall we go someplace else to talk?” Tracy asked, as politely as she could manage considering how much she dreaded the next few minutes. She picked up the baby monitor on her way out and preceded the men out the door.
They followed, and she led them to another office, just next door. It was the assistant manager’s office. Her brother Ken’s, actually. But Ken wasn’t in today. He usually worked the night shift, leaving Tracy to deal with the daytime hours.
She took the strategic chair, behind Ken’s desk. There were two visitor chairs, and the men took those. She was glad to have the wide desk between them, if only as a symbolic barrier. She expected her father to have a few things to say, and she didn’t have to wait long to hear them.
“When, exactly, were you going to admit her father wasn’t a wolf? You’ve been playing word games with me at every turn, keeping me guessing. I’ve been eyeing every non-Pack shifter I see—wolf or not—with suspicion for the past two years!” Her father’s voice rose, making Tracy feel guilty.
“I’m sorry, Dad. I knew if I told you for sure that her father wasn’t a wolf, you’d track down every non-wolf shifter who’d come through the airport or town in the right timeframe, and it wouldn’t be long before you found Hank.”
“Do you hate me that much?” Hank asked, his expression hard, but his tone bleak. Damn. This wasn’t going well.
“No! Don’t ever think that, Hank,” she said quickly, trying to fix what she’d done and knowing it was going to take time.
She had to at least make a start right here and now.
“I love our daughter, and I enjoyed my time with you, but I don’t know enough about your life to know what you’d have done if you’d known about her from the beginning.
I didn’t want to give her up.” She wanted him to understand, but she sensed it wasn’t going to be easy.
“I would never have tried to take her from you. Never!” Hank replied, shocked. “A baby needs its mother.” He settled those sky-blue eyes on her. “And its father.”
She didn’t have an answer to that.
“He’s right, you know,” her father said into the silence. “What you’ve done here wasn’t right, Tracy. Not for any of you. Emma needs—especially now—her father.”
Tracy shook her head. “I was hoping she’d be a wolf. I didn’t expect her to start shifting so young,” she had to admit. “I thought I had more time.”
“She is a bit young for shifting, even among my people,” Hank told her. “The fact that she’s started already means she’s going to be a very powerful jaguar, as long as she learns what she needs to know to earn her rank in the Clan.”
“And only he can teach her that, Tracy,” her father reminded her. “Now that you know for sure she’s a cat, you’re going to have to make some changes. For Emma’s sake.”
“I…” Tracy was only just realizing the implications of what had happened. “I’m beginning to see that. I just… I need some time to think about all of this.”
“I can give you some of that.” Hank’s expression was grim.
“I’m only here today on a stopover. I’d intended to look you up and see how you were doing.
Maybe have lunch together, if you were free.
But I’m on an important mission for my Alpha.
I have to fly on and fulfill my duty to my Clan.
” He looked at his watch. “Within the hour, actually. I propose we spend the next little while talking about things, so you have some facts to mull over while I’m away.
I’ll be back in a few days, maybe a little longer, depending how my mission goes, and we can talk more then.
I’m going to try and arrange some time off, and I’m going to spend it here.
” There was no room for argument in his tone.
When Hank made up his mind, apparently, that was it.
Good to know.
Tracy didn’t see any alternative but to agree to his plan. It made sense. Even if it scared the bejeezus out of her.
“All right.”