Mine for Eternity [Council Enforcers] (Siren Publishing Classic) (7 page)

Of course he would be strong. He was meant to be our cub. I wouldn’t expect anything less.

After several laps around the yard, Mitch lay down again and Nico climbed off his back. It was then that his lion took over and did what he had wanted to do since the cub had arrived. He stood then lowered down on his front legs with his rear end in the air like he was about to pounce. He made a couple bouncing motions toward Nico, who, being as smart as he was, immediately got the point and took off running. Mitch gave him a head start then began to chase. Each time he caught up to the boy, he would give a small growl then lick him before Nico would take off again laughing and screaming. Mitch had a feeling he would never get enough of hearing the sounds of happiness coming from his cub and vowed to always keep him that way.

Evidently tired, Nico collapsed in the grass giggling and Mitch lay down beside him, half covering the boy up. He began purring as Nico stroked his fur and laid his lead down. Of course, that was the moment Tessa chose to wake up and come outside looking for her son.

Tessa screamed at the top of her lungs and started running toward them. In hindsight, Mitch realized how bad the scene looked. From her point of view on the porch, all she would have been able to see was his lion covering up her son on the ground. The only part of Nico she would have been able to see were his little legs sticking out which, of course, weren’t moving. Mitch had to admit that if he didn’t know any better, the scene looked exactly like he was about to eat the cub.

As Tessa got closer to them, he could see that she had tears streaming down her face and sounded like she was about to hyperventilate. Her chant of “
no, no, no
”
reached them before she did, and Mitch knew he had to do something to ease her worries. Taking a deep breath, he shifted and caught Tessa in his arms just as she reached them. He stared into her wide eyes and saw the shock on her face just as they rolled into the back of her head.

Well, that went well.

“Yeah, hopefully she doesn’t hate us when she wakes up,” Mitch told his lion as he lifted Tessa in his arms. “Come on, Nico. Let’s go get your momma taken care of.”

“Aww, come back, kitty,” Nico complained, but he did as told and followed Mitch into the house.

* * * *

Tessa rushed to awareness at the sound of her son’s voice. He was laughing and giggling at something Mitch was saying. They were both in the same room with her, so Tessa took a peek. She didn’t want Mitch to know that she had regained consciousness yet. She needed time to think. It was taking all of her power to not leap across the room and snatch Nico from his arms, but her son seemed safe at the moment. The fact that Mitch had only ever been gentle and attentive to Nico kept her still.

The night before when she had told Mitch about the man she had seen having claws and fangs, he never flinched. He never showed surprise and shock at what she was saying, which she thought was weird but was too tired to question. Now, she knew why. He was one of them. Tessa didn’t know what to think about that. On one hand he wasn’t human. Mitch was the same as the man she had seen murder a woman and who was now after her. On the other hand, Mitch had opened his home to her and Nico even after they had broken in. He had been nothing but caring and concerned and never even showed a hint of being violent or deranged.

“I know you’re up. Your breathing changed. Please don’t be scared of me,” Mitch interrupted her thoughts.

Tessa sighed. If her son could be brave and still be willing to climb all over Mitch after seeing him change into a huge lion, then she could suck it up and at least listen to the man. There was just one thing she needed to know first. “Did you try to eat my son?”

Mitch laughed and ran his hands over his face. “No. I had been chasing him, and we both collapsed. My lion was covering him up to protect him. If you had seen us from another angle, you would have seen Nico laying there laughing and petting me.”

In Tessa’s heart, she knew he was telling the truth. “I’m sorry I got hysterical, but in my defense, it’s not every day you walk out of the house and see a lion cuddling your two-year-old son.”

“No need to apologize. It was my fault. After what you told me last night about the rogue chasing you, I figured you would think I was the same. I didn’t know how to tell you that I was a shifter also, so when Nico woke me up this morning and asked if he could play with the kitty, I thought it was a good idea. I thought if I got him used to me and you saw that I wasn’t going to harm him, then you would be comfortable around me as well.” Mitch laughed again. “We see how well that idea turned out.”

Yeah, she didn’t know the man well, but she could have figured out that it wasn’t one of his best ideas. Any mother would have done the same as her and freaked. Surprisingly though, Tessa realized that she wasn’t scared of Mitch. She was curious but not afraid.

“You said a rogue was after me. What does that mean? Is a lion the only thing you can change into? Do you have to wait until the full moon? Wait, don’t answer that. You changed during the day, so I guess I know the answer to that. Are you still
you
when you change? How is any of this possible?” The questions just started spewing out of Tessa’s mouth.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down. I’ll answer all of your questions. Just give me a moment to catch up.” Mitch laughed. “Does this mean you aren’t scared of me?”

Tessa took her time answering. She didn’t know what it was about Mitch, but she felt drawn to him. There was a connection between them that had been growing stronger the more she was around him. She had a feeling that her answer to his question would not only change her and Nico’s life, but his as well. “I’m not afraid of you. In fact, I feel safest when I’m with you.”

The smile that lit up Mitch’s face made him go from handsome to drop-dead gorgeous. Tessa had the urge to straddle his lap and kiss him at that moment. She could feel her panties dampening just thinking about rubbing herself all over his erection. She had caught a glimpse of his soft cock right before she had passed out, and it had been pretty big even flaccid. She had no doubt that, when he was hard, it would be huge. She held back a groan at the thought.

Mitch cleared his throat, catching her attention.
Dear lord, I was staring at the man’s crotch.
She could feel her cheeks heating as she looked up at him. Mitch gave her a knowing smirk before shifting Nico to lay him on the couch. Her son had fallen asleep in his arms. If that didn’t prove that he wasn’t frightened of Mitch, then nothing would.

“To answer your first question, which is why I was scared to tell you about myself, a rogue is a shifter that has, in simple terms, gone bad. Just like humans are good and bad, so are shifters. When a shifter turns rogue, they let their animal take over to the point that they are no longer human. They are all animal with the same instincts of their beast. They hunt and kill when they are hungry or feel threatened and are very territorial.”

“So that’s what’s after me? How do I stop it, and why is it still following me?” Tessa thought about the poor woman in the park with her chest and stomach ripped open. She wondered if that was going to be her fate.

“I’m not exactly sure why the rogue is after you. Like I said, they don’t think rationally. My best guess is that he picked up on your scent. Maybe your fear and it triggered something in him. It could be that you just simply smell like prey and the more you run, the more he is willing to chase you. Predatory animals love a good chase, and all shifters are definitely predatory.

“You don’t have to worry though,” Mitch said as he walked across the room to sit next to her. He took her hand and squeezed. “Remember when I told you I was sort of a policeman?”

Tessa nodded.

“What I meant was I am a council enforcer which is basically shifter police. It is my job to catch rogues and keep humans from finding out the truth about us. It’s my job to protect you and Nico and keep you safe. I have wanted to tell you so bad to keep you from thinking you weren’t safe here.”

Tessa leaned into Mitch’s side. Everything he told her was a lot to take in, and she still had hundreds of questions floating in her head that she wanted to ask him. Her stomach decided to growl at that moment, and Tessa was glad. She wanted their conversation to continue, but she needed a moment to absorb what he had already told her. There was another whole world out there that existed right alongside hers, and humans were walking around without a clue. It was enough to make a person go insane just thinking about it.

“Come on.” Mitch stood and pulled her up with him. “I set you some lunch aside. We can finish talking while you eat.”

She followed him into the kitchen and sat at the table while Mitch warmed her lunch in the microwave. Tessa stayed silent just thinking about everything he had already told her. She believed him about there being good and bad shifters. Most humans weren’t exactly model citizens, so she had no room to judge his race.
Is race the right word, or should I say species?
Either way, Mitch couldn’t expect her to be politically correct at the moment.

As she began to eat the food he sat in front of her, something Mitch said popped in her head. “You said it was part of your job to keep shifters a secret from humans, right?” After he nodded his head, she continued, “Will you get in trouble for telling me all of this?” The thought of him being hurt or worse because he shared too much information with her made her stomach turn.

“No, as long as you don’t go running to the media or shouting it in the streets that shifters exist, then we should be fine.”

Tessa laughed. “It’s not like anyone would beli—” She paused when her statement made her remember the woman in the park. Things were suddenly starting to make sense. “Mitch, what happened to the woman’s body in the park? Who moved it, and how did they get the area clean so fast?”

Mitch grimaced. “We have shifters working as human police to be lookouts. When you called the police and told them what you saw, certain things you said caused your report to get flagged as potentially being shifter related. A containment unit was sent out to check the scene. If it hadn’t been shifter related, they wouldn’t have touched it and let the human police handle it when they arrived. In your case, it was a rogue attack so the scene was cleaned and the body removed. I’m sorry it made you feel like you had gone crazy, but it’s just one of the ways we keep our secret.”

“Believe it or not, I understand. If the police had actually seen what I had reported, it wouldn’t have been a secret for long. Reporters would have been all over the place, and conspiracy theories would have started flying.”

Mitch just stared, and Tessa began to get self-conscious. When the silence got too much for her, she asked, “What, did I say something wrong?”

“No, nothing is wrong.” Mitch smiled. “It’s just that, after everything you’ve been through, you’re taking everything I just told you surprisingly well. I guess I’m just waiting for it all to sink in and for you to go grab Nico and run out of here screaming.”

Tessa laughed. “I won’t run. You actually have no idea what a relief it is to hear all of this. It means I’m not crazy. I thought last night was a relief just to have you listen to me and not think I was psycho, but to know you actually believed me is something else.”

It was the truth. What she had seen that night actually made sense now that Mitch had filled in the blanks for her. He had opened her eyes to more possibilities than she had ever considered possible.

“Okay, I’m sure there’s a lot more information you haven’t told me, but enough serious stuff for right now,” Tessa told Mitch as she pushed her plate away and stood. She held out her hand, and he eagerly took it.

“Where are we going?” Mitch asked.

“Well, Nico got to see your lion. I figured it was only fair that I got to as well. The day I broke in and earlier don’t count. I want to be able to see you close-up and pet you.”

“Baby, I’m not sure I can handle that.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Tessa was confused. Why had it been okay for Nico to touch him, but not her?

Mitch sighed. “Nothing’s wrong. I just don’t want to scare you off.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t run screaming again.” Tessa had a feeling there was more to his hesitation, but she ignored it and pulled him into the living room. She figured he would tell her what was bothering him when he was ready.

Tessa returned to the couch she had been lying on earlier and sat. She waited patiently for Mitch to finish whatever argument he had going on in his head. When he suddenly pulled his T-shirt off, she gulped and almost choked herself. Mitch only smirked and continued. He slid his hands along his waistband of his shorts a couple times, and her eyes tracked every movement. She had a feeling he was playing with her as he slowly slid his shorts down his thighs. Tessa felt like she was watching a sexy striptease and reached up to make sure she didn’t have drool running down her chin.

Unfortunately, Mitch bent over, blocking his cock before she could get a good view of it. Her disappointment was quickly forgotten when, in a blink of an eye, Mitch was gone and a huge lion was standing in his place. Tessa wasn’t sure what she expected the change to be like, but she certainly hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly and easily.

“Mitch?” She hesitated before standing and taking a step toward him. The lion nodded its head and then lay down on the floor. She took it to mean that it was still Mitch in there. Slowly, she finished walking toward him chanting
nice kitty
over and over again in her head. When she got close, Tessa reached her hand out and ran it through the golden fur around his head.