In Plain Sight

Cougar Falls, Montana

Cullen Whitefeather swore as the snow descended. He loved a white Christmas as much as the next guy, but he wasn’t too keen on traveling through the white crap. And considering it was mid-March, he figured he’d had enough snow to last him through another winter wonderland.

Nights of no sleep compounded with his dislike of the slick ice forming on the ground even now. His stomach grumbled and, blinded by the glaring sun, he almost missed an open spot. Parking, he quickly left his truck, darted into a very crowded diner, and stomped his boots free of the snow.

He glanced around the Fox’s Henhouse, looking for a place to sit. The Chastells sat in one corner.

Damn cats always took the best defensive positions.
He wasn’t surprised to see members of the bear clan in another corner. And there, in the middle, sat several of his new clan, now that the eagle clan had disbanded.

The raptors. At a nod from Mike Shaw, he joined the group, wishing he’d arrived earlier.

He didn’t particularly like Mike and his friends. Though the new clan included all the diurnal birds of prey, he missed the eagles, being a golden eagle himself. By and large, raptors tended to hang out in groups, and Cullen lived a solitary existence. The damned clan could get cloying at times, barely giving a body breathing room. There was always some drama or another stirring the need to shed blood and compete to mate. As if Cullen could ever preen for a female’s attentions. He could barely string two sentences together whenever
she
was around.

Distracted by the aroma of cinnamon and vanilla drawing close, Cullen inhaled and focused on getting a piece of that heaven. To his right, a lucky pair of silver foxes dug into their breakfast, and he could only stare with envy. Mac made the best waffles in Montana, and Cullen lived for Sarah’s coffee.

Sarah Duncan.
He spent way too much time thinking about the captivating woman, and he couldn’t explain why. They were both Ac-taw, but then most of the folks in Cougar Falls were shapeshifters. Those who weren’t had shapeshifter blood somewhere in their family tree.

“Cullen.” Sarah stood next to him with a pot of coffee in hand. She wore her dark brown hair in a ponytail, exposing the creamy expanse of her neck and the soft planes of her face. When the light hit her just right, thin strands of gold and red shimmered in that sable hair. All in all, a mouthwatering package topped with a generous smile. “What can I get you?”

As usual, his tongue tied in knots, and he had to force himself to take a moment, playing it cool.

Otherwise, he’d fawn like a fool.

“More like what
can’t
he get from you,” Mike Shaw said with a snicker.

“Excuse me?” Sarah paused with the pot just over Cullen’s cup.

So close, and yet so far from breakfast.
Cullen nudged the carafe with his mug. To his relief, she poured him a full cup of steaming-hot brew. She brushed against his arm, and his body tingled from the contact.

“Waffles, please,” he said in a rumble.

Sarah nodded and turned, but not before Mike added in a loud voice, “Jenny’s not too happy with you right now. Best you steer clear of clan central for a while.”

She turned back around. “What the hell are you talking about?” There was no love lost between Sarah and Mike, not since she’d rejected him at the last festival dance in front of everyone. Though Cullen didn’t participate in social events, even he’d heard about Mike’s crash and burn.

“Please.” Mike scoffed. “Everyone knows about you hitting on Dennis. ’Course, from what I remember, you favor married men, isn’t that right?”

Cullen couldn’t tear his gaze from Sarah’s face. He wanted to pound Mike into the floor, but the shame that darkened Sarah’s cheeks stopped him. What the hell was Mike talking about?

“Yessiree,” Rob Jenkins added from the other side of the table and turned to Mike. “Wasn’t it your brother who was taken advantage of by that same pretty face not so long ago?”

Sarah opened her mouth to speak then seemed to notice how quiet the diner had become. “Will was a mistake. You know better than anyone about mistakes,” she said to Mike in a low voice. “But I don’t know what you’re talking about with Dennis. I haven’t even seen him in weeks.”

“Not what he says,” Rob answered.

“No matter how many times he tries to say no, you just won’t let him go, will you? Hard for a man to reject those pretty thighs,” Mike murmured and nodded to her slim legs encased in jeans. “Especially what’s in between them.”

Cullen’s heart beat too fast. Rage settled over him like a smothering blanket, and he had to work to control himself. Sarah and Dennis Larsen? Larsen was not only one of the raptor clan leaders, but a married man to boot. Raptors considered marriage a sacred bond. They didn’t tolerate adulterers well at all.

Sarah leaned closer to Mike, a predatory gleam in her eyes. “You’ve been waiting for this, haven’t you? You push and you push because you think I won’t break. Well, guess what, Mike? You want to hash it out? I’ll be happy to explain to everyone just what the hell’s been going on.”

“You don’t want to say anything you might regret,” Mike hastily interrupted. “Admitting you were foolin’ around might get you banned from the clan.”

Banishment from the clan meant banishment from the town. Cullen wanted to shout at Sarah not to say anything, but his lips were frozen shut.

6

“You’re just pissed because you weren’t as clever as your brother. The only reason Will got lucky is because he lied. I had no idea he was married when he charmed me into bed with promises of happily-ever-after. Funny that happened three years ago, yet you keep bringing it up, don’t you? And Dennis?” She laughed, a grating sound both ugly and pained. “
He’s
the one who won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Clan leader? More like clan loser. He’s hard up for sex since Jenny won’t give him any, not since she found him screwing around on her the
last
time. I wouldn’t touch him if my life depended on it.

“So you go ahead, Mike. You air out the clan’s dirty laundry. And while you’re at it, you can stop telling everyone I’m the town whore. I never earned that title. But your brother and Dennis sure the hell did.” Looking around her at the stunned patrons staring in shock, she put the coffeepot on their table, took the receipt book out of her back pocket, and threw it at Mike. “Go fuck yourself, ’cause no one else in Cougar Falls will.”

Sarah stormed away, disappearing behind the counter into the back.

No one spoke for a few moments.

Cullen didn’t know what to think. He didn’t keep up with town talk as a rule. But this news about Sarah and Will Shaw? How had he missed that? And to think Dennis Larsen had been pawing at her and she’d had to put up with it?

“She’s full of it,” Mike tried to bluff.

This asshole spreading lies about Sarah is the end of enough.

“Well, that was interesting,” Burke Chastell growled. “I can’t believe I ever listened to your bullshit.

You know, Mike, from what Sarah said, it sure doesn’t seem like she sleeps around, not like your clan leaders. This just confirms what I’d already thought about Larsen.” Burke snorted, then murmured something to his wife and brothers, and the four of them stood. “We’re leaving. Mac,” he said to the man behind the counter. “Make sure Sarah gets her tip.”

The cats left, as did some of the bears, while everyone else remained in place. Whispers grew into excited chatter. Yet another juicy piece for the gossip mill, Cullen thought with disgust.

Having had his fill, he stood and pulled Mike to his feet.

“What the—”

Cullen slammed his fist into Mike’s face before the idiot could finish his sentence. Lightning fast, he dumped the scalding pot of coffee over the man’s crotch and then shoved Rob on his ass before he could land a punch.

“This is why I stay away from the clan. You guys are dicks.”

He left the yelling behind and followed the route Sarah had taken. Cullen tossed a few bills to Mac.

“Sorry for the mess.”

Mac scowled at the crowd behind him. “Don’t mention it. Next meal’s on the house.” He raised his voice. “Raptors, out of the place. Now!”

7

Cullen didn’t wait around to watch. He strode through the back door, only to see a golden eagle flying away in the distance.

Sarah wiped at the useless tears on her face and threw clothes haphazardly into a ragged suitcase.

“I cannot believe this backwater town. I made a mistake three years ago and I’m
still
paying for it. Of course Burke never wanted to go out with me. He probably thought I’d give him a disease.” She hiccupped, wanting to die with embarrassment.

For years she’d had a crush on Burke Chastell, a catamount Shifter with killer good looks. He didn’t seem to mind that she had no family but the clan she belonged to. Like her, his parents had passed away years ago. But unlike Sarah, he had two brothers to raise.

She respected his loyalty to family, and to making his ranch a priority. He didn’t seem the type to listen to town gossip. But then, she didn’t know Burke as well as she might have wished. It seemed anyone she was even remotely interested in took a giant step away from her. Now that she thought about it, Mike Shaw might have been the reason.

The ass. As if she’d ever sleep with him. He was no better than his damned brother.

She swore at thoughts of Will Shaw, but she couldn’t help remembering the past, as much as she wished to forget it.

Will Shaw was one of the few Ac-taw who’d gone away to college. After he returned, he’d seemed so worldly, so unlike the high school football captain who’d left Cougar Falls the town hero. When he’d asked her out on several dates, she’d been in heaven. None of her peers appealed to her. The raptors she knew were bent on conquest and considered her a prize to be won. But Sarah wanted a real man, not a boy bent on adding her notch to his bedpost.

Though twenty-one at the time, she was a young twenty-one, innocent and naïve of the tricks men could play. Before long, she’d fallen in love with Will. After a few weeks, she’d gifted him with her virginity, and apparently, her reputation. Not three days after he’d professed to love her forever, he introduced the town to his
wife
, a shy Shifter from a respectable family, who he’d met and married while in college.

The jerk had knowingly seduced Sarah, and then bragged about it to his friends. She’d spent years trying to overcome that humdinger of a mistake. Ignoring the whispers and stares of those in her clan, she’d tried to focus on the present. But it seemed no one would let her. And really, why would they? Will Shaw was a favorite among his peers. Sarah was pretty and a hard worker, but she didn’t have clan-leader blood in her veins.

8

Not like Dennis Larsen, another jerk who couldn’t keep it in his pants. The sheer hell of it was that he knowingly broke his wedding vows time and time again. Yet she, a woman who’d been lied to, was cast as the town whore who’d sleep with anyone.

She felt foolish for crying, but the humiliation just wouldn’t stop. Now everyone knew the truth, if they chose to believe her. If her situation weren’t so pathetic, she’d laugh. Sex with Will hadn’t been terrible, but it hadn’t been pleasant. She’d lost her dignity, for what? A sweaty screw in the backseat of a Mustang?

I’m leaving this town. There’s nothing else for me here. No family, no clan.

No clan.

The idea of facing life without the support of other Ac-taw was daunting, but Sarah had come to the end of her rope. If her friend Julia could live outside of Cougar Falls, so could she. Granted, Julia was having some problems at the moment, but she’d survived life outside the town—among humans—for over a year.

Despite her bad track record with men, deep down Sarah wanted a family. A mate to love and laugh with, children to raise with tender affection. Her children would never want for acceptance.
And just how
the hell am I going to find a husband here, where everyone thinks I’m no better than a slut?

She wiped her face again and packed enough to last a week. She’d spend a few days elsewhere, to sit and think about where to go and what to do.
All alone, like I’ve always been, while the Dennis Larsens and
Will Shaws of the world bask in their own power and popularity.

Laughing at her bad luck before she could cry again, Sarah headed out the door with her suitcase in hand just as Jenny Larsen and four of her cronies arrived.

“Once a slut, always a slut,” Jenny said with a sneer. She towered over Sarah at an impressive six feet.

A bald eagle when shifted, the woman was a threat on every level.

Shit.

Thinking fast, Sarah forced a grin. “You know, this town just keeps on giving.” She threw her suitcase at the others and shoved Jenny as hard as she could. In a flash, she ran inside the house and locked her door.

She stripped down to nothing and raced to a back window. Shoving it open, she shifted into her animal soul and sped into the sky, aware of five birds of prey hard on her tail.

9