Chapter 6 #2
“Sweetie, Mr. Hank is going to have dinner with us tonight. Isn’t that nice?” Tracy asked, wondering if Hank would be upset by the form of address she’d chosen.
“Them too?” Emma asked, looking down the counter to the two big shifters who were almost finished with their root beer floats. “Big kitties.”
“You can scent the jaguar?” Hank asked Emma directly.
She nodded, sucking on her lower lip. “Not woof,” she said, shaking her head in an exaggerated motion. “Like me.” She pointed to herself, then moved her hand around to point at Hank. “And you.”
“You’re right,” Hank said, beaming. “You’re a smart little girl. I’m like you. A jaguar. And so are Mr. Pax and Mr. Ari. All three of us turn into big cats.”
“I see?” Emma got excited by the prospect and was bouncing a little on her seat.
“Not here, sweetie,” Tracy put in quickly. “But maybe this afternoon, Mr. Hank can show you what you might look like when you’re grown up.” She raised her worried gaze to Hank. “Can you do that? I mean, she’ll be safe, right?”
Hank looked completely insulted, and Tracy felt bad, but this was her little girl’s safety they were talking about. She didn’t trust anyone to shift around Emma. Not when she was still so little. Some young wolves didn’t have the best control over their beast forms.
“I would never…” Hank said, seeming unable to finish the sentence. He tried again. “I’m a protector, not—”
“I’m sorry,” Tracy said quickly, cutting him off. “I’m just…” She shook her head and gave him a faint smile. “I’m very protective of my baby. I don’t let anyone shift around her.”
“Even Unca Kevie,” Emma put in, nodding sagely.
Tracy knew she was probably going a bit overboard with the no-shifting rule around her daughter. She’d practically ripped Kevin’s head off the one time he’d come to the door in his fur. He hadn’t ever done that again, even though he was one of Emma’s favorite people.
“I’m glad you’re protective, but Tracy, that same instinct is in me. I would never hurt her. Not in a million years.” Hank’s voice had dipped low, and his eyes made her want to believe all the promises she’d ever dreamed of seeing in them.
But that was fantasy. This was the real world. And, in the real world, she was a single mom with a newly-informed daddy that Tracy didn’t know very well. Was he out to take her baby from her? Or was he the way he presented himself on the surface? Was he truly one of the good guys?
Tracy certainly hoped so.
Hank left Pax and Ari to their own devices after checking them all into the shifter-owned hotel near the airport.
They assured him they could look after themselves for dinner and keep out of trouble.
Hank doubted it, but he just shook his head.
They were big boys. They could take care of themselves.
He just hoped whatever happened didn’t make the Alpha wolf revoke their welcome.
Hank wanted to stay for whatever time he could now that Tracy seemed amenable to at least talking about their situation.
He’d been so afraid that she wouldn’t want to see him at all.
He still had to talk to her, but he was hopeful that she’d see reason and be willing to let him be part of his daughter’s life.
He had other ideas too. He kept thinking about how sweet it would be to have Tracy in his life permanently… as his mate.
His inner cat felt at peace with that idea. No, not just at peace. Eager.
It might not have liked being around the other wolves—with a few notable exceptions—but it had come to look forward to being in Tracy’s presence, which was a new and very positive development.
It liked Kevin too, surprisingly. His inner cat seemed to look at Kevin as a pup to be indulged and protected.
It had decided to take Kevin’s welfare to heart, which was surprising.
It wasn’t often jaguars developed such strong protective feelings cross-species.
Could Hank’s developing feelings for Tracy be spilling over onto her family?
He hadn’t felt protective of her dad. Of course, her father was an Alpha in his own right, with his own, very large, very successful, Pack.
He didn’t need Hank’s protection. Kevin, though.
He was Tracy’s brother. Also son of that powerful Alpha wolf. But he was just a kid.
A kid Hank had always liked when he’d come through this part of the world. He’d seen Kevin grow up from a scrawny pre-teen to the tall, skinny young man he was today. Hank had always liked the kid, but now, even his inner jaguar was feeling protective toward the boy. Strange.
Hank had picked up a big box of cookies, as Tracy had suggested, and presented himself at her door promptly at three-thirty.
She lived in a pretty suburban home that backed onto a woodland area shared by the Pack.
She had given him the address before they parted.
Only Pack lived in this subdivision. It was a gated community, in fact, with guards at each entrance that took their jobs very seriously.
Nobody who wasn’t supposed to be here would be allowed in, and visitors were tightly controlled.
Tracy’s dad had set it up that way so his Pack could roam free within the boundaries of their own home territories.
Each family had a house and as much land as they could manage that backed onto a wild area filled with trees and game trails for the wolves to prowl.
It was a really nice set up, and as safe as could be arranged on the mainland.
Only Jaguar Island was more secure for shifter homesteads.
When the door to the house opened, Tracy’s luscious scent hit Hank first. Damn. She smelled really good. He smiled at her as she opened the door wide.
“Hi, Hank,” she said, her voice a seductive purr, though he supposed she hadn’t meant it that way.
“Hi,” he replied, feeling a little off kilter. He hadn’t been so inept around a woman since he was Kevin’s age. He proffered the box of cookies, and her eyes widened, even as her lips curved upward.
“That’s a lot of cookies,” she commented, taking the box and moving so he could go in through the doorway. “Thanks.”
He entered, and she closed the door behind him, locking it, he noted. There was probably no need to lock doors in a gated shifter neighborhood, but he approved of her caution.
“Come on through. Emma’s in the garden.” Tracy dropped the box of cookies on the kitchen counter on her way through to the back of the house. She led him to a sunroom that opened onto a garden filled with flowers and herbs.
Frolicking among the flowers, chasing a butterfly on clumsy paws was his daughter, in baby jaguar form. Hank’s heart melted. She was so precious. So cute. So utterly adorable.
“She’s been doing that pretty much every day since that first shift,” Tracy said, coming up beside him.
“That’s normal, I think. Cats are very curious, especially when they’re small and learning all about the world. This garden is perfect. Enough scents and textures to keep her entertained for hours on end, in an enclosed space,” Hank commented.
“Yeah, I started it when she was a baby, and it’s gotten larger since then.
Wolf pups—even though they don’t start shifting until they’re teenagers—are happiest in nature, and one of the other women with kids in the Pack suggested starting the garden.
She said we’d both enjoy it, and she was right. ”
Emma heard them talking and bounded over. Hank bent down, and she batted at his hand with her little paws while he chuckled.
“Hi, Emma. Do you want to see what you’re going to look like when you’re grown?” he asked gently. “I promise the big cat won’t hurt you. He loves you.” The little cat nodded her head eagerly, backing away as if to give Hank room to shift, but he turned to Tracy first. “Is it okay?”
“Sure,” she said.