Treasured Find (Royal Pride Book 1) (6 page)

Part of her felt silly for even allowing the doubt to take root. Shifters were rare. The odds of Rafe being one were slim. But the whispered warning Seth and Levi’s birth mother had given repeated in Jazz’s head.

“If you ever cross paths with a shifter, run with my boys as far and as fast as you can. They’re special. Others will hurt them because of it.”

Jazz didn’t doubt the threat that existed. She’d seen firsthand what awaited them if the wrong people got hold of them, but Rafe didn’t come across as evil or cruel.

“Our males lie. They pretend to be good, but they’re not. They’re animals, and if given the chance, they’ll hurt those weaker than them just because they can. But they don’t have to be like that. Not if they learn respect. Please, Jazz. If we get separated, you will teach my boys to be kind. I don’t want them to end up like their father.”

Jazz stopped and jerked her chin toward her car. “Why do you think I parked there?”

He glanced from the cluster of vehicles to her. “Your keys. You drive a Ford, and I figured you’d be parked by a light.”

Intuitive or something more? Dammit, she really didn’t want to be suspicious of Rafe.
But if I’m wrong and something happened to my boys, I’d never forgive myself.

“Why not think I parked there?” She pointed toward the lot closest to the bar.

“I’m sorry.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I just assumed that since you arrived so late you would’ve been forced to park as far away as I did.”

He pivoted and headed toward the other lot.

Way to go. Now he’s going to think I’m crazy.

“Wait. You were right. I was just curious, I guess. You’re a very observant man.”

He glanced at her, a careful mask hiding his features. “It’s second nature, I suppose. A consequence of my…job.”

“Really? What do you do?”

“Security.”

She considered that. It fit. She could easily see him working as a bodyguard for some important official or maybe a rock star. She grinned at the possibilities and followed him to her car. She unlocked the door, but Rafe planted his hands on either side of her body, preventing her from opening it. He didn’t touch her, but the evidence of his arousal was easy to see. His erection left a noticeable and delicious bulge in his pants.

“I don’t want to let you go. Invite me home.”

She wanted to. Her boys were already at Mr. Wilkins’. They’d slept over there before, but they didn’t have their favorite stuffed animals or their toothbrushes.

She shook her head. “I can’t, not tonight.”

“Because of your boys.” He sighed. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have asked, but you make me wild. I can’t get enough of you.”

“Same here, but I can’t. I hadn’t planned for my boys to stay over tonight. That’s not fair to them or Mr. Wilkins.”

“Your neighbor?”

“Yes, Mr. Wilkins loves my kids and wouldn’t mind having them stay, but I can’t expect him to do so without talking to him first.”

“Can I meet them? Your boys.”

She grinned, warmed by his interest in her kids. Maybe he was exactly the man she’d been waiting for. “Not right away. I don’t want them to meet you, maybe get attached and have them be let down when you leave. I won’t do that to them.”

“I understand, but I have no intention of leaving anytime soon. My job requires I stay here for a while.” He ran his fingertips over her shoulder to the edge of her sleeve. “And plans change. I have no one to go home to once my job is done. Maybe I’ll stay permanently.”

“Oh, well…”

He skimmed the back of his hand down the front of her shirt, pebbling her nipples. Her thoughts scattered, not that she knew what she’d planned to say.

“Can I take you out for dinner tomorrow?” His voice sounder deeper, richer.

“Sure.”

Rafe gave her a satisfied smile, the kind a man got when he knew he’d be getting a woman naked. Confident, assured, irresistible.

“Maybe you should plan for that sleepover.”

She let out a shaky breath. “We’ll see.”

He chuckled softly and opened the door for her. She got in and tipped her head for a kiss. He hesitated a moment, then brushed his lips over hers, not a kiss exactly but it stirred the butterflies in her belly.

He eased back. “I’ll call you.”

He closed the door, and she drove away but glanced in the rearview mirror before the bend of the road blocked him from view. Gorgeous, strong, mysterious. She smiled and started making plans for dinner…and maybe more.

Chapter Seven

Rafe ran to his SUV as soon as Jasmine’s car disappeared from view. He threw his vehicle in drive and peeled out of the lot. His heart pounded hard. The felines that shared his body paced, their anxiety matching his. He didn’t want her out of his sight for a minute.

The urge to lock her to his side had grown in the short time he’d spent with her. Part of the reason stemmed from the allure of the woman herself. The rest came from the knowledge that she was the mother of Royals—two young boys who were more valuable than she would ever guess.

There were certain humans and shifters who’d kill to get their hands on them. To exploit them. To experiment on them. To steal the gifts the goddesses bestowed upon them. All because their mother had been a Royal.

Rafe tightened his grip on the steering wheel and breathed through the frustration. Their damn tie to the heavens had screwed the Royals. Immortality was not all it was cracked up to be. Not only did boredom set in after a couple of centuries but so did loneliness.

It sucked growing close to humans then watching them die. It was the same with the single shifters, but the sting of loss with them wasn’t as profound. They lived longer, a few centuries; some more, some less, depending on how strong they were. No matter how long they walked the earth, they still eventually passed on, though. Leaving their Royal friend or lover behind.

Alone.

He shoved back the memories of friends he’d lost before depression gripped him. Allowing them to take root wasn’t wise, especially with the possessiveness humming in his veins for Jasmine.

Humans could be injured. They got sick. Died in tragic accidents. All in the blink of an eye. One minute, they could be alive and healthy. The next? Gone. That was reason enough to justify holding their loved ones close. Or avoiding them at all costs. The latter wasn’t possible for Rafe. Jasmine was too important to let go.

Rafe forced his fingers to unclench.
She’ll be fine.

He caught a glimpse of a car ahead of him. The tension drained from his body. He allowed his cats to rise and offer their increased senses. The red taillights turned to dark gray and the world around him brightened as his cats’ night vision became his.

He breathed a sigh. It was her. He remembered the decals she’d had on her windows—stickers to save big cat habitat and to put an end to animal research. They were worthy causes and ones he approved of too.

He dialed Kade.

“Where are you?” Rafe asked as soon as the call connected.

“In the middle of fucking nowhere. It’s no wonder these humans got away with hiding our shifter kids so long. They live in the damn boondocks.”

Rafe chuckled, not at Kade’s irritation but at Jasmine. Her head was bopping as if she were singing along to music.

“It’s not funny, Rafe. I stepped in dung! Do you know how bad that shit smells?”

“It hasn’t been that long since our only mode of transportation was by horses. I remember.” He cleared his throat. “Did you find Jasmine’s children?”

“Not yet. Her property is smack-dab in the middle of two large cow pastures. I checked those first, found nothing.”

Whether her home choice was intentional or not, she couldn’t have picked a safer location. The stench from manure would cover up the scent of her boys and deter other shifters from investigating.

“She said they’re with a Mr. Wilkins.”

Kade grunted. “Figures. He was next on my list. He’s on the opposite side of the bigger farm.”

Up ahead, Jasmine’s car slowed. She turned down a smaller road. He drove past it then did a one-eighty. He waited for her to disappear from view and followed behind with his lights off.

“Looks as if we’re headed there too. Wait until you see headlights then go out to her home and make sure it’s safe.”

“More damn orders. Sure thing, brother.” Kade ended the call.

The one-lane macadam turned into a gravel road. Rafe pulled into the bushes, so as not to stir up dust. His heart raced. The separation from Jasmine was unavoidable. He didn’t want to alert her to his presence, but he hated not knowing where she was, if she were safe.

He dropped his head against the back of his seat. Unless a bear or deer ran into her path, she wouldn’t have an issue. The woman had survived perfectly fine without someone watching over her.

Of course, she’d probably hadn’t caught the attention of anyone who’d be a threat to her or her kids. She lived a good twenty miles from any shifter territory. The nearest was the Kagan pack to the west of her property, but wolves rarely left their pack lands and likely wouldn’t have stumbled over her.

In all honesty, the Royals wouldn’t have either. They tended to avoid single shifters and humans alike, preferring to remain isolated. The Alexander pride was no different. Their plantation home and its surrounding acreage sat in one of the least populated counties of Virginia. The only reason Rafe had left was because of the information sent to them from Shifter Affairs, a small department of the human government few knew about.

Megan’s adoption had raised some flags when Tony enrolled her in kindergarten. Shifter Affairs agents had then identified her as being feline based on her physical traits, and the nearest pride had been contacted to investigate. Rafe and Devin had driven to West Virginia immediately.

It hadn’t been soon enough.

The fire might’ve been an accident, and Tony’s death was just a coincidence. Rafe drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He really wanted to believe that.
We’ll find out soon enough, though.

No matter the reason behind Tony’s death, the hard decisions had yet to be made concerning Megan and Jasmine’s boys. Since they’d been found closest to Rafe’s home, they’d be assimilated into the Alexander pride and tied to their family’s spirit unless their birth parents were found.

It was what happened to those humans the cubs had loved that became a little sketchy. Ultimately, whatever was best for the kids would be the choice that was made. If that meant moving Jasmine with her boys, Rafe wouldn’t complain. The only other option would be to take the kids, allowing the humans who’d cared for them to think they’d died.

That had been done in the past. Actually, it was the preferred solution since it removed humans from the mix. Allowing them knowledge of shifters was dangerous. A human’s vow to protect the secret of shifters’ existence was an easy one to betray, and if a human were found guilty, primal law took over. That demanded the human’s death.

He gripped the steering wheel.
No. Don’t go there. Jasmine is not facing that fate.
If he had anything to say about it, she wouldn’t. Ever.

Time stretched with no signs of Jasmine’s car, and his cats’ demands built. They needed to see her, to know she was safe. So did he.

He slipped from his SUV and moved quickly through the woods. A small two-story home sat at the end of the road. Thick undergrowth and trees surrounded three sides of the place, and a stream wove through the front yard.

The property was serene, quiet and well kept, but it offered too many hiding places for Rafe’s comfort. It was a good thing he’d followed her. He crouched behind the bushes near the yard and scanned the house.

The inside was lit up. Jasmine talked animatedly with an older human male. Hugs were exchanged, then the front door opened. She stepped to the side, revealing the two young boys behind her.

Rafe’s heart stopped. The shifter cubs had chestnut hair with dark highlights and light-brown eyes that looked hazel in the moonlight. The aura of the heavens surrounded them. Rafe recognized the golden glow shadowing the boys. It belonged to the goddess who’d birthed the Alexander pride.

They were his kin. Blood of his blood. His pulse quickened. Possibilities teased his mind. With the number of his family members who’d been lost over the years, he couldn’t guess to whom they belonged. No matter. They were family.

He inhaled, needing to memorize their scents, then cringed. They stunk. Not in an offensive way, at least for humans. They smelled as if they’d rolled around in a meadow. Either the soap or shampoo they’d used obscured their animals’ scent.

A non-Royal, who couldn’t see the aura emanating from them, might not have recognized them as shifters unless they’d gotten close enough to the boys to distinguish between the floral scent of bath products and the unique fragrance of their animals.

Was it intentional? Jasmine hadn’t smelled of the same.

Whatever the reason, he was glad. The boys and their human guardian had remained safe until Rafe could find them. In the end, that was all that mattered.

The boys climbed into the back of Jasmine’s car. They drove off, and he ran through the woods. By the time he reached his SUV, they were long gone.

It only took a couple of minutes to catch sight of them. As before, he followed, lights off. Jasmine turned onto another gravel road. He slowed to a crawl, following as far as he dared before pulling over. He made his way through the woods.

An older farmhouse sat in the clearing. He scanned the home and caught sight of Jasmine’s blonde hair in the kitchen window. Tension drained from his body. She was safe.

He waited until the porch light went off, then retreated to the tree line. The sound of footsteps warned him of the approaching person, but Rafe didn’t react. His cats remained calm. Kade wasn’t a threat.

“I can hear your heart pounding.” Kade stepped behind him. “What’s wrong?”

“Her boys are Alexanders.”

“You’re sure?”

“A golden halo surrounds them.”

“The Golden Goddess.” Kade flicked his gaze from the house to Rafe. “She led us to them.”

Or sure luck did. Rafe didn’t hold much respect for the gods who’d created the single shifters, or the goddesses who’d birthed the first Royals. Of course, Rafe wasn’t a pride leader and didn’t talk to them. Not that the gods—male or female—bothered to connect with the Royals often. When they did, it was to bestow a warning or a blessing. Neither helped their species much.

Instead of sharing his opinions about their gods, Rafe asked, “Did you get a chance to run the perimeter?”

Kade crouched next to him. “Yeah. There’s no scent on her property from the cubs or any stray shifters.”

“She’s masking it with heavily-scented bath products.”

Kade made a noncommittal sound.

Rafe glanced at him. “Say it.”

“I can’t help wondering why the woman would be so fearful. Most of the humans who’d become unknowing parents of shifter children didn’t even know they were different. So, either Seth and Levi—”

“How did you learn their names?”
Before me.
A growl accompanied the question. Rafe couldn’t help the surge of jealousy. The possessiveness he experienced toward Jasmine extended to her kids.

Kade tilted his head slightly and stared at Rafe with narrowed eyes. “The old human called them for ice cream.”

Rafe rolled his shoulders. “I see.”

A long moment passed where Kade simply studied Rafe before he turned his attention to the home. “It’s odd there’s no scent markings or scratchings on the trees. Cubs they might be, but without an older shifter’s presence, they’d be driven to mark their territory. Unless,”—Kade faced him—“she ordered them not to do so.”

“I think she knows what they are and what Megan is. Why else rush to talk to Josh about Megan immediately after Tony dies?” Rafe waited for Kade’s reaction. Got none. His brother simply watched him. “My guess is either her boys shifted due to a threat or they trusted Jasmine enough to share their secret.”

“I suppose.”

Kade’s doubtful tone betrayed his disbelief. Most rescued shifter children were fearful of humans. Not a surprise. Nine out of ten had spent time in one of the many human medical facilities that experimented on their species. Other kids had lived as pets to those demented individuals with enough money to buy a shifter. From the little Rafe had seen, Seth, Levi and Megan didn’t appear to fall into either category.

“I just can’t help wondering how Jasmine had known to mask her boys’ scents,” Kade went on. “Or to pick a home surrounded by cow pastures.”

Hadn’t Rafe thought the same?

He shoved the doubt away before other questions surfaced, ones that left him wary of her. He didn’t want to suspect her of anything illegal. It was damn hard not to, though. No female feline shifter would willingly give up her children. And if Jasmine hadn’t adopted them? Then in Rafe’s mind there was only one other option—she’d kidnapped them.

That wasn’t a conclusion he was comfortable with. Better he not dwell on it, at least not until he had more facts.

Rafe cracked his jaw. “What do you want to do about Jasmine and Josh?”

“Oh? Now you’re asking your pride leader what should be done instead of giving the orders.”

Kade’s lighthearted tone chased back Rafe’s somber mood. Rafe smirked. “You did complain about my lack of respect. I’m trying to rectify that.”

“You just don’t want to make the tough decisions.”

No. Rafe didn’t. If the choice were up to him, he’d toss Jasmine over his shoulder and take her to bed. His, preferably.

“The gods chose you to lead our hodgepodge family, not me.” And Rafe trusted Kade to make those hard choices. For an alpha, the pride came first. Always. Nothing was more important than protecting their family’s spirit. It tied them to the first Alexander and ultimately the goddess who’d birthed him.