RaleighPointRescueSue (10 page)

She watched his hands shake as he donned a condom.

Breath whooshed out of her as in one move he was encased,
and he stilled.
“Again.”

“I don’t think—”

“Good, I don’t need you to think.”

She knew her eyes had bled to amber just as his were jet
black. Desire answered to desire.

Mac dipped his head again and wrung deep, drugging kisses
out of her to center on her insides once more. A soft rhythm started as he pushed
gently, and she hummed back. Mac moved slightly, hitting her at different
angles, his face intent on hers until she opened her eyes wide.
Oh.
Mac grunted and pounded on that most
sensitive spot, once, twice “Oh, Oh,
Mac
. There.”
Don’t stop.
Twisting her head, long deep
stabs, almost painful, shot around her side and exploded out of her as she
shook. Seconds later, Mac followed her cries with his answering shouts and just
managed to fall to her side as he pulled her with him.

Wrapped, safe, love—
no,
he hadn’t said that, but she could, very, very easily. She snuggled closer
and closed her eyes. Did it matter? Was being his mate the same as that or
better? Would it be worse if she loved him and he never loved her? Thoughts
chased her briefly, intruding, then a strong arm pillowed her on a warm shoulder,
and she sighed, giving up.

Chapter Ten

Lisa looked nervous. He knew she was concerned for both the
girls and hoped their trip to pick them up went smoothly. Mac fixed a hard
stare on Riley, willing him to notice and do his thing. Riley lifted an eyebrow
in reply and gazed at Lisa’s twisting hands. Okay, yeah, he got it and quickly
covered both of them with his. Lisa flashed a grateful smile and sighed slowly
as she cuddled into Mac.

Brett had insisted he was going to leave it to him. “It
won’t be long until I’m gone. You might as well do all the assessments from now
on.”

Mac was a little surprised. Brett seemed very confident, but
he was pleased for him. He knew Brett desperately wanted to belong to a wolf
pack. He also wondered if Angie was giving him grief. She hadn’t come back to
Raleigh Point since they had returned from their honeymoon. Personally, he
thought his pack was better, but he wasn’t a wolf. So what did he know?

Mac spent much of the journey worrying about Lisa and what
to tell her about the conversation he’d had with Daniel that morning. They’d
gone to investigate the nurse, and she’d disappeared. There didn’t seem to be
any records of an employee matching the description Mac had given them. That in
itself
set off alarm bells. He’d seen and smelled her.
The fact that someone had made all traces of her disappear, no one liked. All
the employees Daniel had tracked down were definitely human.

Daniel had managed to locate an old group mother of Lisa’s.
Retired now, but she remembered Lisa and had told him that when Lisa first
started displaying aggression, they were expecting her to just have local
treatment, maybe counselling, not to be squirrelled away in some psychiatric
facility. She’d told Daniel in no uncertain terms that quite a few of Lisa’s
temper tantrums, as she called them, were nothing more than adolescent reaction
to some bad situations. She was never sure why such extreme treatment was
thought necessary, but there had been nothing she could do.

Daniel was concerned and had promised to keep digging.

Mac didn’t like it at all, and neither did his bear,
currently pacing in his head. Not even the comfort of having Lisa close was
able to settle the big guy. He would definitely have to go for a run soon.

The van pulled into a fairly busy looking parking lot next
to some apartment blocks. Riley nodded over to the one in the corner that had a
tall fence around it. Looked a bit creepy, but then the doors exploded open,
and kids came out laughing and heading for the benches. A few shot off to the
swings in the corner and a couple of older women followed them out,
both clutching
a mug, sipping and smiling.

* * * *

Lisa gazed over, interested.

“Doesn’t seem bad on the face of things,” Mac murmured.
“So usual practice guys.
Raleigh Point is a regular
long-term group placement, specializes in kids that may not get adopted
easily.”

Riley gave both women a hard stare and nodded shortly.

Lisa smiled in agreement. Mac closed the folder he had with
him. “Mrs. Kelly is in charge. Girls are called Molly and Erin. Molly’s the
seven-year-old.”

Lisa smiled approvingly, the distinction that had come so
easily to him was their age, and not that one of them was a shifter. She was
ridiculously pleased that he showed no bias.

“Is this how you normally get kids? They’re referred?”

“Not always.” Mac smiled ironically. “Sometimes, we have to
get people like Daniel to interfere.”

“Who’s Daniel?”

“He’s a cat shifter,” said Riley with a grin.

Lisa wasn’t sure how to frame the next question.
I don’t think they’re talking about
something small and furry.

Mac grinned. “I keep forgetting how much you don’t know.
Sorry, we shouldn’t tease.”

“He’s a tiger shifter.”

Lisa gasped, looking at Riley to check if he was serious.

Riley continued. “He’s also one of Mac’s F.B.I. contacts.
Mom and Dad set up a network when they first thought about Raleigh Point.”

“So, it’s just shifters that know about the home then?”

“No,” put in Mac. “There are humans.
Dr.
Michaels for example.”

“Well, not just human mates. There are other humans that
know about us. We come in very useful sometimes.” Mac drawled and shook his
head.

Lisa looked at Mac and waited for him to continue. He gazed
out of the window. She filed away the question to ask later. “So, do you take
all shifter kids then? Not just wolves and bears?”

Riley nodded and grinned at Mac. “Remember Nate and Ellie?”
He turned back to Lisa.
“Panther twins.
Nate had a
hell of a temper. Mom practically needed to get the whole house painted.”

Mac chuckled and put a hand over Lisa’s. “Jamie? He’s an
ocelot—very rare.”

“No one knew what he was at first. Found him wondering
around the res.” Riley frowned slightly.

Lisa thought how hard it must have been to the guys when
they were growing up to deal with this sort of thing on a regular basis.
Kids coming and going.
She glanced at Riley and smiled. He
nodded.

Mac smiled at Riley. “We only found out when he fell on some
ice and broke his arm. Little tyke was so shocked he shifted.”

“Didn’t he know?” Lisa was astonished.
But, I didn’t know.

Riley sighed. “We only know his first name. He was found
about a year ago. We don’t know whether he doesn’t remember where he came from
or refuses to tell us. He’s closest to my dad. My dad found him while he was
hunting, and it took a long time for him to even talk to him. He wouldn’t leave
his side for the first month. Dr. Michaels has spent a lot of time with him,
but didn’t get anywhere.”

“Daniel set up a special department of children and family
services. The cover story is that sometimes families have originally been in
say, witness protection, or something like that. New papers are issued etc. and
no one questions why the kids come to us.”

“Wow.” Lisa leaned back.

“It’s not infallible.” Riley glanced at Lisa apologetically.

Lisa smiled as they got out of the car.

After having their IDs approved, they were shown into a
small office, and a gray-haired, diminutive lady
rose
to great them. “Mrs. Kelly?” Mac stuck out his hand and performed
introductions, identifying Lisa as a support worker from Raleigh Point.

“Well, goodness, it is nice to meet you. Raleigh Point has
such a good reputation. I met Mrs. Knight some years ago.”

 
“Our mother.”
Riley looked interested.

Lisa watched Mac study Mrs. Kelly carefully. She knew she
was human. She thought both guys were trying to size up how much she knew.

Mrs. Kelly smiled, and Lisa warmed to her immediately.
“Coffee, Tea?”

“No, thank you, we’d like to meet the girls as soon as
possible,” Mac put in smoothly.

Mrs. Kelly nodded. “I’m so pleased you’re taking them. They
need more help than we are able to give, that is if they are to stay together.
I don’t know what it would do to Erin to have Molly taken away. Molly is very,
very sensitive to emotions. Least little argument, she hears with the other
kids
sets her off. Erin is just trying to protect her.”

Lisa cocked her head to one side. “You think they should
stay together?”

Mrs. Kelly nodded vigorously.
“Absolutely.
I know, unfortunately, we haven’t placed them very well with prospective parents,
but she’s her younger sister. She’s bound to be protective, losing their
parents like that. We really should have taken more care. Did you know Erin was
adopted originally?”

Mac glanced down at the paperwork. “There’s no mention of
that here.”

“No? It
err
... must have got left
off. I can’t imagine how.”

Mac grinned, as he and Riley shot each other a look. “Could
that be because some people might have used that as a further excuse to
separate them?” Mac looked carefully at her.

Mrs. Kelly chuckled softly. Lisa decided she really liked
her.

“Happens more frequently than you’d think.
A couple adopts thinking they can’t have kids, then,
bam
.
Instant family.
It was tragic. They
were both very much wanted from what I understand.” She smiled again. “Come on.
The rest of the children are outside. The girls are in the playroom. They know
you are here.”

They all trooped into the playroom, Lisa immediately hanging
back and going to sit in the corner. Mac shook his head and nodded for her to
follow Riley. Taking one look at the older girl, she immediately understood why
Riley was heading over there.

The girl shook. At first, she thought it was in fear, but
then seeing her hot angry green eyes blaze at them while she pulled her sister
into her defiantly, Lisa knew she was mad and grinned in delighted. Temper,
yeah temper she could handle.
Tears not so much.

Riley ignored the little girl and put his hand out to Erin.
“Pleased to meet you, I’m Riley.”

Lisa understood Riley was trying to touch her to calm her
down, and at Erin’s pointed ignoring of Riley’s hand, Lisa just let out a huge
guffaw.
Not much chance of that.
She
grinned and flopped down on the sofa next to the girls. There was a huge TV in
the room.

“Oh my God, Pony Tales?
Haven’t seen that in years
.”
Lisa looked at both girls. Molly had a
thumb firmly glued in her mouth, cute. “You’ve seen the one with the rainbow
games?
My all-time
fave
.”
Lisa shrugged her jacket off and put her feet up on the table in front of the
couch.

Mac bent down so no one could see his lips twitching.

Molly turned her attention straight to the TV, checking the
episode, and Erin opened her mouth, only to close it as if she couldn’t think of
anything to say.

Mrs. Kelly smiled wryly at Lisa’s feet and turned. “I’ll
just leave you to get to know each other a bit.”

Cool green eyes dared Lisa in challenge. “Why?”

“Why what?”
Lisa responded
casually.

“Why do we need to get to know you? We’re getting shipped
off with you anyway. Not like we have a choice, is it?”

Riley opened his mouth, clearly to say something reassuring,
but Lisa jumped in.

“No. No, you don’t. So do you want to do the whole
how are you
speech or shall you just get
your stuff?”

Shocked eyes stared back. Lisa smiled to herself. Clearly,
Erin wasn’t used to anyone doing anything other than trying to appease her.
Yeah, so that obviously worked,
not.

Mac stood up as Mrs. Kelly entered the room. “Ma’am, we have
quite a drive, so if everything’s ready, we’d really like to get going.”

Mrs. Kelly nodded and went to hug both of the girls. Molly
returned the hug fiercely, but Erin held back, and ducked her head.

Tough girl then, thought Lisa, smiling.

Lisa deliberately sat herself next to the girls in the car,
and Mac sat up front with Riley, talking quietly.

Molly instantly went to sleep, and Lisa stared bemused at
the innocent freckled face and the red curls. She looked a bit like Cassie.
Erin’s gaze was firmly fixed out of the window, shoulders hunched and body
tilted away from everyone, screaming,
don’t
touch me.
The only movement she made was cautious looks at her little
sister every so often.

Lisa decided to bite the bullet. “So how long has it been
since Molly spoke?”

Erin looked up shocked, and her mouth tightened to a hard
line. “It doesn’t matter. I know what she wants.”

Lisa smiled.
Interesting and defensive.
She wondered if Erin ever felt inferior, either because she was adopted, or
because she wasn’t a shifter, and she wished she had the skills to ask. Maybe
that was something she could do? Cassie was in college, maybe she could go.

“She’s lucky to have you. I would have killed for a sister
growing up.” Lisa sobered slightly. “Still would.”

Erin eased herself away from the window slightly and gazed
at Molly. “She had it hard. She saw things.
Heard things.
I couldn’t.” Erin added softly, “She was like my dad.”

Understanding flooded Lisa. Erin was checking on how much
they knew without giving away any of her sister’s secrets. The fire would have
been terrible for any child, but add enhanced smell, sight, and hearing to the
mix, it would be mind-numbing. She glanced up at the guys. It also explained
why a shifter parent would adopt a human child. Mom had to be human. Riley
flicked
her a
glance in the mirror, and Mac just
looked with troubled eyes.

Lisa thought furiously. “Sometimes that extra stuff must
have gotten a bit hard for you.”

Erin shrugged and turned to the window again.
So done sharing then.

“Why don’t you try and get some rest?” Lisa grinned at the
stiffened shake of Erin’s head.
Clearly not going to let her
guard down easy.
So Lisa eased herself back to give the girls more room
and waited patiently. It wasn’t long before Erin’s head was nodding. Lisa
smiled at Mac, leaned back, and closed her eyes.

A soft hand touched her face, and she breathed in honey.
Mac.

“We’re here. Can you help Cassie settle the girls?” Cassie
stood on the steps holding Codie, beaming. Jamie and Alex were hanging around,
trying not to look interested. Erin came awake, suddenly alarmed and stiffened.

“Hey, we’re here. Do you want to get Molly? I think she’ll
appreciate her big sis taking her in.” Lisa nodded casually to the little girl
who was starting to wake up.