Chapter 11 #2
And like all good little jaguars, Emma recognized the Alpha and wanted to be near him.
Damn. That just about choked Hank up, realizing his daughter—his daughter—was about to meet their Clan leader.
Hank had never really thought this day would come, and yet, somehow, the Mother of All had been smiling down on him.
She was probably chuckling right now, as a matter of fact. If the Goddess had put Hank and Tracy together in the first place, which he now believed had been the case, then She was no doubt frustrated at how stupid he’d been not to recognize his mate for so very long.
Hank vowed to make up for the lost time. He’d figure a way.
Tracy hesitated, and Hank put his hand on her arm. “She’ll be fine. Her jaguar recognizes its Alpha, that’s all. Mark would sooner bite off his own hand than hurt a baby.”
Hank murmured the comforting words near Tracy’s ear as they continued toward the house, Emma racing ahead on her chubby little legs.
She was wearing the cutest sundress today, with a colorful cartoon lion’s head on the front.
She made it to the stairs that led up to where Mark and Shelly were sitting, and that slowed her down, but Emma was determined.
On hands and knees, she made her way up the three wide steps and then made a beeline for Mark.
By the time Emma reached the Alpha jaguar, Hank and Tracy were mounting the steps. Mark caught Emma and lifted her to sit on his lap.
“And who’s this?” he asked the child, who giggled, content in the Alpha’s protective presence.
“Mark.” Hank cleared his suddenly tight throat and tried again. “Alpha. This is Emma. My daughter.” Hank felt pride swell in his chest as he presented his offspring to the Alpha, but he had another duty—equally special—to perform. “And this is her mother, Tracy Villalobos.”
Mark stood, carrying Emma easily, to face Hank and Tracy. His eyes went golden as his inner jaguar shone through.
“I’m very pleased to meet you, Alpha,” Tracy said, not lowering her head or showing any sign of submissiveness. Hank had to smile. That was his pretty mate. Fierce and protective of her baby. Tracy wouldn’t let a mere billionaire Alpha predator intimidate her.
“Likewise, Miss Villalobos. I’ve been speaking with your father. Good man. Good Alpha to his people,” Mark commented before turning his attention back to Emma, who was walking her little fingers up his shirt. Little fingers with little claws.
Mark took one of Emma’s hands in his much bigger one and tapped on the claws. “No scratching, kitten, okay?” Emma looked up into the Alpha’s eyes and nodded solemnly.
“No hurt,” she said, agreeing to the Alpha’s admonition.
“She can do partial shifts already?” Mark commented, looking at Hank with a knowing grin. “You’d better watch out. She is one strong little jaguar.”
Emma gave her new Alpha a cute growl that sounded adorable. Mark chuckled and passed the child to her mother’s arms.
“Miss Villalobos—Tracy—this is my mate, Shelly,” Mark introduced the woman who had stood and come to his side. Shelly waved to Emma, who was opening and closing one little fist in her version of hello.
“Hi,” Shelly said, smiling kindly. “Welcome to the island. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay.”
Tracy knew right off that Shelly wasn’t a shifter.
She had the scent of magic about her, but no animal spirit that Tracy could discern.
Curious. One of the most powerful Alphas in the world was mated to a human?
Tracy wondered if Shelly was a mage. That might explain it.
Otherwise, the pairing seemed like a bit of a mismatch.
An Alpha with the reputation, fame and fortune of Mark Pepard should, by all rights, have an equally powerful mate.
There had to be more to Shelly than was readily visible.
Either that—or Pepard was into total domination.
In which case, Tracy would want nothing to do with him.
She’d give it time for the truth to reveal itself, but she’d keep her eyes open.
“Would you like some lemonade?” Shelly went on, inviting Tracy to sit with a gesture. Tracy agreed and sat on the other side of the small table from the Alpha pair, with Emma still on her lap. Hank and Mark sat, too.
Shelly did the honors, pouring out lemonade for the adults and procuring a sippy cup with apple juice for Emma, showing she’d prepared for their arrival. The extra thought touched Tracy, who thanked their hostess with a friendly smile.
“We have quite a few cubs that like to visit,” Shelly told Tracy. “I like to be prepared for little guests, as well as their guardians.”
“That’s very thoughtful and much appreciated,” Tracy replied as Emma drank down the juice which was in a plastic cup decorated with her favorite cartoon princesses. “Have you lived here long?”
“Not too long,” Shelly answered. “I feel like we’re still in our honeymoon phase,” she said with a smile for her mate as she took his hand.
“Shelly’s definitely putting her mark on the island, though,” Mark told her with a hint of pride. “My mate is a brilliant architect, and she’s been designing community buildings and homes for the entire island.”
“That sounds both impressive and ambitious,” Tracy answered with a grin.
She couldn’t say why, exactly, but she had an instant liking for Shelly.
Mark seemed all right too, though she was still a bit in awe of him, privately.
It wasn’t every day she met a billionaire Alpha with the clout to buy and sell her family’s airport—which was a big operation, itself—twenty times over.
“He won’t let me change the mansion too much, though,” Shelly said as she nudged her mate with a friendly elbow. “I could do wonders with this place. It has good bones, but the look is really dated.”
Tracy tilted her head to one side as if considering. “It’s not bad if you like the early massive white box style.”
“Oh, don’t forget the columns! Early massive Greek revival white box,” Shelly put in, laughing freely. One thing was certain—this Alpha female was happy with her position here, and her mate. That much was obvious, though Tracy would still watch for any signs of discontent.
The Alpha pair set the tone for the entire Pack—or Clan, in this case.
If they were happy, generally their people were, too.
And, if they had a good partnership in their mating, their Clan members often followed their example.
The Alpha pair were the template for the rest of the group, or so her father had said many, many times.
Which was part of why he’d been so dog-gone mad at Tracy for having a baby without a father.
What kind of example had she been holding up for the rest of the Pack?
Not that there was anything wrong with having a baby.
Her father doted on Emma. But the precedent of not mating and having what he considered a stable family life for her daughter was what got to him.
Tracy had tried to show him that she could be both mother and father to Emma and had done really well until her daughter had gone all kitty cat on her.
Tracy didn’t know how to deal with a growing cat shifter.
She was out of her depth there, and she knew it.
In order for Emma to have the best start possible with her life as a shifter and her spirit animal’s comfort, she needed the presence of other jaguars.
That was one of the main reasons Tracy was here.
Emma needed to be around jaguars, and these were her extended family. Her Clan.
If Tracy could assure that Emma would have a place among these people, this Clan, then she would have done a really good thing to ensure her daughter’s future success as a person and as a jaguar.
Tracy knew that, and though her inner wolf was a bit itchy around all these cats, the Alpha bitch inside her knew they had to do this for their baby.
Protecting her child was something both halves of her nature understood and would go to any lengths to accomplish.
Tracy let go such serious thoughts and turned mentally back to their silly conversation. “I like this porch, though. I can just imagine sitting out here at night, watching the harbor below.”
“Yeah, it’s really pretty,” Shelly agreed. “There’s not a lot of boat traffic, except for our own, of course, but we can see tankers, container vessels, and the odd cruise ship in the distance. There’s a major shipping route not too far away, so there’s usually something lit up out there at night.”
“Sounds magical,” Tracy admitted. “Where I’m from in Northern Texas, we’re landlocked. Closest we come to a big body of water is Big Wolf Lake.”
“Is the town named for the lake or the lake for the town?” Hank asked, his blue eyes glinting at her in merriment.
“Now, you know my father well enough by now to understand that everything in the area is named for the Pack. Big Wolf, Texas, supports Big Wolf Airport, encompasses Big Wolf Lake, the Big Wolf Golf Course, Big Wolf Hunt Club—which is not really what it sounds like because there are no humans allowed—and a number of other businesses and locations all named after the Pack. We kid Dad that he had no imagination when he named everything, but he just smiles and looks over his empire with a sort of satisfied grin.”
Mark folded his hands over his middle and leaned back in his chair as if surveying his domain. “Nothing wrong with that,” was his wry comment, which made everyone chuckle.
“Says the man who renamed an entire island,” Shelly put in. “After his Clan.”
“What was it called before?” Tracy asked out of curiosity.
“Paradise Cove,” Shelly answered.
“Sounded a little too swinging singles to me,” Mark said, a small scowl on his handsome face. “This place is for families. Jaguar families.”
“And the occasional wolf,” Hank added, putting his hand over Tracy’s.