Rebirth (Rogues Shifter Series) (20 page)

“No.
Please let it go. I used to have nightmares about him, but now I dream about you.” He pulled me closer, putting his arm around me.

“What you went thru i
s a very big deal, Jackie." He kissed the top of my head as we pulled into the driveway of his house. Sex is remarkable when you're with the person you love.”

“You claimed me
, so we should be together now.”

“It was partly
to ensure that no one else can lay claim to you. Even an older, more powerful vampire can't break the ancient laws. I'm possessive where you're concerned so I've put you under my protection. A gifted cheetah might be a target for others seeking a powerful mate."

“I'm under you now
?” I grinned at the vision.

“He chuckled and spread his mouth into a
crooked smile. "Figuratively."

"Ah.
So what's the rest of the vampire mating ritual and when can we do it?"

"
Always in a hurry."

"I'm a cheetah." I shrugged.

"In the second part we would share blood while we connect mind to mind."

“Will it make me a vampire? “

“No. I’m the only shapeshifter that I know of who survived the change. Come. You need to sleep. We can talk about this another time.”

He walked to my side of the car, lifted me as if I were weightless and carried me through the front door, gently placing me on the bed. He took off my shoes and asked. “Would you like me to take the splint off? Your leg has probably healed enough
to remove it.”

“Yes, thank you.”

He sat on the edge of the bed and gently unrolled the bandages that held the splint in place. My ankle had started to heal, although I could still see the angry red welt where my bone had broken through the skin.

He touched it with his finger tips, looking thoughtful.
“If I lick the wound, you won’t have a scar.” He looked at me with his sexy eyes, and speechless, I nodded. Eyes wide, I watched his every move, wondering if I might turn into a puddle on the bed the moment his tongue touched my skin.

Garrett leaned over me, one hand holding my foot and t
he other resting on my knee. He licked my ankle, twice.
Oh my god
. I didn't melt, but it was close. When he sat up again his eyes were dancing with tiny silver specks and I was breathing heavily.

“Good night, my lovely cheetah. Thank you for rescuing me. ” He smiled teasingly as he kissed me on the forehead and left.

I was dreaming about him before his car made it to the main road.

Chapter Twenty-five

Ethan and I woke up around noon and decided to head to the beach. The day was unusually warm and it seemed like the perfect way to spend a day off. My ankle was fully healed, due to Rob’s quick work, my own healing abilities and some particularly potent vampire saliva. Plus, I was in a terrific mood, probably because of the attentions of the aforementioned vampire. Ethan asked Sinc and Kyle to join us and I turned away with a little smirk. Was Ethan attracted to Sinc? I hoped so. I wondered if Kyle had a girlfriend.

I made sandwiches and gathered other snacks and drinks while Ethan straightened up around the cottage. Kyle and Sinc lived in town so they’d know of a beach that met our main criteria: deserted. The incident with the three bears was ten days ago so we figured we’d be safe as long as we went to an out of the way spot. Ethan and I didn’t have bathing suits, so we planned to stop in at a local store and grab a couple along with two beach towels.

We walked into town, our backpacks full of food, and met K
yle and Sinc at the local discount store. After a quick run through the aisles and checkout, we piled into Sinc's fancy convertable and headed off to the beach. I got the impression that Kyle didn’t like the way Sinc drove, but Sinc didn’t like riding in his SUV, so it became a regular argument every time they went anywhere together. She’d usually give in, and let him drive her car, because she wasn’t comfortable driving with him snarking at her all the time.

The beach Ky
le chose was rocky with only a small patch of sand where we could stretch out next to each other, but it was also empty of other beach goers.

Kyle pulled out a Frisbee and we ran around, slipping on the rocks, catching and throwing, getting soaked in the freezing water and laughing crazily. Because the water was so cold, Kyle, Sinc and I shifted to our cats and swam for awhile, encouraging Ethan into the wate
r where he did pretty well cougar paddling next to us. I happily discovered that feline shifters didn't have the same aversion to water that normal felines had. We shifted back, dressed again and ate everything we brought plus all the food that Kyle and Sinc had carried in. Then we settled down like kittens next to each other on our towels and chatted.

Kyle started in with “So, did everyone see my am
azing shot with that crossbow? I think we can all agree that your ass was up for grabs with smelly old Hank standing over you, Jackie. Good thing I have such great aim. I was running at the time.” He grinned.  “Of course that’s nothing compared to what you’ll be able to do with the ley line energy.”

“She’s already pretty amazing.” Ethan smiled at me and Sinc’s eyes narrowed just a little.

“Hey, now that you’ve dumped Garrett, maybe you and Ethan can hook up, “Kyle looked like he’d just had the best idea of the day.

Sinc’s expression had turned to ice
, Ethan looked embarrassed and I sat up, feeling more than a little peeved. “What makes you think I dumped him?”

“Uh—seriously?
Because you saw what he did to that witch. And because you’re not some dumbass vamp groupie that gets off on blood loss and one night stands getting banged in the back room of some bar. Vamps are bad news.”

I was fuming.
“I appreciate that you saved my ass, but I didn’t dump Garrett. We’re more together than ever. He doesn’t hang out in bars banging vamp groupies. He spends his nights training us so that we can protect ourselves. He's helped you too, Kyle."

He just shrugged. "Sure, I know that."

"Ethan and I were never interested in dating each other.” I wanted to turn the tables. “So what’s your girlfriend like?”

Sinc snorted and then ben
t over laughing. I gave her a puzzled look and she blurted out, "His girlfriend's name is Peter.” Kyle, Ethan and I joined in the laughter.

“Yeah he’s cool. He’s another leopard. We did the bonding ritual four years ago.” Kyle looked so happy that I c
ouldn’t be annoyed with him anymore.

“Peter is the stable, responsible one in the relationship.” Sinc added. “He’s a lawyer and he’s almost as old as Garrett. I think they settled in the same town in Louisiana
back in the 1800s and they're good friends.”

“How old a
re you two?” I asked indicating Sinc and Kyle.

“In real years, Sinc’s twenty four and I’m twenty five, but we haven’t really aged
from when we turned eighteen.”

“How do you know when you stop aging?”

“It’s weird, but you just do.” Kyle answered. “When you stop you start looking the same in the mirror day after day and you heal faster than you ever did before. You feel kind of settled, not antsy anymore.”

Sinc snorted. “You’re still pretty antsy.”

“Nobody asked you, Sinclair.”

“Poor Kyle, since you stopped aging, you’ll never be able to get that plastic surgery to fix your face.” Sinc smirked at him.

“Good thing you already had yours done before you stopped aging. Not that it took.”

“Asshole.” she was smiling.

“Bitch.” he smiled back.

Ethan laughed. “You guys are like Brian and Stewie on “Family G
uy”.” That cracked us up.

“I wonder
when Ethan and I’ll stop aging,” I asked, stretching back out on my towel.

“You two shifted later so you’ll end up aging till around nineteen or twenty, like Garrett. Kyle
looked at me seriously. “You're one very brave or very stupid girl to still be involved with him. Hey, I know he’s smart and he’s certainly hot, I can appreciate that, but he’s freakin’ dangerous. He was brutal with that witch, like they all are: vampires and wolves.” Kyle laid down on his towel and closed his eyes. I wondered what had happened that caused him to hate them so much. Maybe I’d ask Sinc later.

“You know, Kyle”, Sinc said
, sounding aggravated; “I think you should stay out of other people’s personal business. You always manage to stick your foot in your mouth. “

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Sorry, Jackie. If I didn
’t care I wouldn’t say anything.“

“That’s Okay.” I tried to sound sincere
. “And thanks again for the super shot with the crossbow. Maybe you could show me how it works.”

“Sure that would be cool. Once you can use the lines, like Maya, you won’t need
a crossbow to defend yourself.“

“Rob told someone that I was like Maya. Who is she?”

“She’s kind of a shaman for our shifter community. She can use the ley lines to see bits of the future, or to enhance peoples abilities; all kinds of things. She protects Crescent City from outsiders with this cool magical shield she has up all the time. Of course what you can do with the lines might be totally different. You should think about studying with her. She could teach you so much.”

“She’s a cheetah too,
” added Sinc.

“Garrett…” I caught myself before I’d said too much. “Garrett is working with me right now. Maybe one day I’ll have a chance to meet Maya and then we’ll see.“

“Garrett is working
on
you. Before long he’ll be feeding from you on a regular basis. You should see what those vampies are like. They’re like drug addicts. They forget to eat because all they can think about is serving their vamp masters. It’s disgusting. Garrett ’ll have you twisted around his fangs soon.” Kyle turned over onto his stomach and closed his eyes.

“Just shut up,” Sinc said heatedly. She turned to me “Don’t listen to him. Garrett is totally awesome.” To Ethan she said, “Say, do you want to take a walk along the beach?” She grabbed two beach towels and winked at me.

“Sure. You want to come, too?” he asked me.

“No thanks.” I
grinning at Sinc. “You guys have fun!”

“Kyle, keep your eyes open,” yelled Ethan as he ran after Sinc who’d gotten a little ahead, her hips swaying as she walked away. I watched them stroll down the beach chatting and teasing each other. Sinc laughed and reached up to mess with Ethan’s hair, but he grabbed her hand and wouldn’t let go
, so they continued on hand in hand. I could feel the energy of their attraction buzzing around them. I felt so happy for them.

I laid
down on my stomach and pulled out the paperback novel that I’d borrowed from Carly's cabin, chuckling as I heard Kyle’s soft snoring. The author drew me quickly into the plot and before I knew it, an hour had passed. The sun was moving closer to the horizon and there was a beautiful pink glow reflected across the sand. Kyle got up to take a swim, leaving me alone on the beach, but I didn't mind. Thick clouds had started to move in, darkening the late afternoon sky and cooling the temperature of the air.

A long shadow fell across my book and then Garrett was sitting on the sand next to me lifting my salty hand to his mouth and kissing it gently. I put the book away and stood up stretching to relieve the stiffness in my back and neck. I saw him watching me stretch in my bikini, all the time smiling while little silver flecks whirled around in his eyes. His rich voice brushed across my body. “You are exquisitely beautiful, little cheetah.  Unfolding himself gracefully from the sand, he reached over and pulled me close to him
, his other hand weaving long fingers in my hair.

“I’m not curvy like most women.”

“You’re built like a cheetah: sleek and sexy.” He nuzzled my ear, sending tremors down my body.

I grinned.
“I’m covered in sand and I smell like coconut from all the sunscreen I lathered on. You smell wonderful, however.” I buried my face in his neck, catching a delicious breath of his sweet scent as he wrapped his muscular arms around me. I rested there, perfectly content for a minute, then pulled away to ask, “What do I usually smell like to you?’

“Like a field of wildflowers the day after a rainstorm, like cheetah." His eyebrow arched as he realized
something. "You smell like home. The home of my childhood.”

He ran his hand through my hair and smiled his most enticing smile. “I’m taking you home to get cleaned up. You and E
than have to appear before the council tonight,”  My eyes grew wide in surprise. “The bears have convinced the rest of them that you may be a danger to the shifter population.” His eyes glinted with humor. “I think we have a few surprises in store for them.”

“What about the others?” I was looking down the beach for Ethan and Sinc.

“I found Ethan and Sinc before I came to you. They'll tell Kyle.” He chuckled and I wondered what exactly they’d been doing when he found them. “The three of them will go home and clean up and then they’ll all meet us at 10:00 PM. Let’s go.”  We gathered up my towel and backpack and walked hand in hand to his car.