The Catalyst (2 page)

“Bathroom, down the hall,” she croaked, feeling
stupid for going all blubbery on him. Thank God he couldn’t read
her mind and know why she’d been crying. That would have been too
mortifying for words. Better for him to think she was a big wimp
who couldn’t take surface abrasions than to know the truth.

***

Z ambled down the hallway, trying to remember how to
act like a person. He wasn’t good with people. He lived alone and
hunted alone. It was how he liked it. Women were a complication he
tried to stay away from, except when he had a quick roll in the
hay—or cave, with another of his kind who was equally allergic to
relationships. Occasionally, he had sexual liaisons with human
women or other therian breeds, but on principle he tried to avoid
those who wouldn’t understand his solitary nature.

A confirmed bachelor, he had everything he wanted,
exactly how he wanted it. Total freedom. That is, until he’d
stumbled on the pup. Panthers didn’t raise babies—their own or
anybody else’s—which was obvious from the mess he was making of
it.

The little wolf had been sitting in the forest in the
middle of Z’s hunting ground, staring at a spot in the dirt where
there had been a struggle. There was evidence a body of some sort
had been dragged off, probably the mother.

Z had immediately known the pup was a werewolf, but
there wasn’t a pack in Golatha Falls, so how the little guy could
have gotten there, he didn’t know.

He should have just walked away, but he couldn’t.
After a lot of frustration, he’d managed to get the pup to drink
human formula until he could start eating meat, but now instead of
getting easier to raise him, it was getting harder. Every day Z was
more aware of how difficult it would be for the pup when he shifted
to his human form and couldn’t speak the language of his own kind.
When did the ones born in their fur first shift? Age five? Six?

The bathroom the woman had pointed out was the most
organized he’d ever encountered. Her perfectly folded towels were
arranged by color. Her medicine cabinet looked like a
pharmacy—preparation for every potential contingency. Her first aid
supply left something to be desired, though. He didn’t imagine she
had a lot of accidents as cautious as she was. He could patch her
up okay with what she had. At least until she could see a doctor or
something. She might need some stitches.

He felt a twinge of guilt at that. She’d been at
least five kinds of terrified when he’d busted in the house. Z shut
his eyes against the image of her pressed against the wall, her
lower lip trembling. In truth, it was her smell that had startled
him out of the mindless clawing. She smelled so good. He’d looked
up and seen those golden curls cascading down her back, those light
green eyes, and the dusting of freckles on her nose.

He’d switched from violence to growls, not expecting
her to understand a word of it. But she had. Now the wheels in his
head were turning. If he ever wanted his bachelor cave back, he
needed her. Though he felt guilty about her injuries—and her
window—he had no intention of negotiating with the woman. Z
operated on the law of the jungle, and she’d stumbled into his
jungle. Sort of.

The pup was cute, but the kid cramped his style. He
was losing sleep, not getting laid. It was making him grumpy and
unhinged. He wasn’t cut out for this parenting gig, and he was
willing to do anything to fix the situation, up to and including
felony.

Basket of first aid supplies in tow, Z sauntered back
into the kitchen to find the woman sitting at the table, cradling
her arm, so quiet he feared she’d fallen into some kind of fugue
state.

“So I’ve decided you’re coming with me,” he said
without preamble.

“W-what?”

He chuckled when she averted her gaze from his
nakedness. She should be glad he was a gentleman—more or
less—because she sure was a sweet little thing. It had been a few
weeks since he’d scratched that particular itch. Having the pup
around all the time made prowling for women low on the priority
list. He wondered for a moment if he could convince this one to
have some down and dirty, no-strings-attached sex. Maybe after he
found the pup’s family. Before that would be too much complication
with them in such close quarters—since she was coming with him.

Z cocked his head toward the pup who sat on the table
with his nose pressed into the crook of her elbow. This was
perfect. The pup even liked her. It was like a nanny had fallen out
of the sky. A multilingual nanny. Praise the gods.

“You understand what he needs. I need you to help me
care for him. And I need you to stay with him at my place while I
find his family. It’s more secure there. We’ll take you to a doctor
first about your injuries.”

He knew she probably had a life of some sort. Maybe a
job. Probably a boyfriend. But he didn’t care. He was desperate to
get this kid out of his hair. The only way it was happening was if
he got some help, and he couldn’t bring himself to ask another
panther. They’d laugh at him for his foolishness in taking the pup
in the first place.

She sat frozen for a moment as if she were processing
all of that. When she spoke, her voice came out calm and even. “I’m
not going anywhere with you. I don’t
know
you. And I don’t
need a doctor. I just need my magic books and tools. I can heal
myself.”

Z had been surprised when she hadn’t started shouting
spells at him and throwing balls of energy. Some witches were kind
of intense. Different magic users had different skills and gifts,
and he was thankful that didn’t seem to be part of her repertoire.
Aside from the skill she had that he needed, she seemed to need a
lot of prep work for magic, which was good. It kept the balance of
power in his favor, exactly where he preferred it to be at all
times.

He pulled her to him, setting to work bandaging her
arm. “I’m Zane Trent, but you can call me Z.”

“I need my books. I can heal this if you’ll just let
me get my books,” she said, ignoring his introduction. Poor girl
probably wasn’t yet prepared to see him as anything beyond the
crazy naked man in her kitchen.

He snorted. “Sure, I’m that stupid. I get you your
books, and you hex me into a sealed magic jar or turn me into a
frog. No can do. Besides, don’t self-healing spells take a lot of
energy out of a witch?”

“Yes, but…”

“I need you with full energy to help take care of
this pup.”

“You’re insane.”

“Only moderately. This kid is driving me crazy. I
need help.”

Her expression softened. “Still. I-I can’t go out
there.”

“Out where?”

Her gaze went to the door.

“You went out there to bring the pup in.”

“I know but… I try not to go outside.”

Z moved on to her torso, which was just grazed, not
as bad as the arm. He was beginning to think he had a nut job on
his hands. “Why?”

Her voice lowered to a whisper as if she didn’t want
to be overheard. “The birds told me something bad would
happen.”

Fucking great. All he needed was a mentally unstable
nanny he couldn’t bring himself to leave the kid with. What good
was that going to do him?

“I’m not crazy,” she said, as if reading his
mind.

She’d probably just read his facial expression.
Unless she could read minds. Could she read minds?
Hey, I think
you’re real pretty. If you weren’t so pretty I’d eat you for
dinner
, he thought at her. But she didn’t react; she was still
on about her birds. At least his mind was safe from her.

“They
did
warn me,” she said, “I heard them
just like I heard you when you were in your other form. And just
like I understood what the wolf needed.”

She had him there.

“Come on, it’s only a few miles from here,” he said.
Despite his intention not to negotiate with her, he found himself
negotiating. If he could get her to come to his cave of her own
free will it would be so much simpler. Maybe her weird outside
phobia was minor, just a blip on an otherwise sane human being.

“Miles? Miles! No. Oh no. Miles are too far. Way too
far. That’s just impossible for me. I’m sorry.”

He’d known it was too much to hope for.

“Nothing will get you out there. I’ll protect you,”
he said, standing and offering a hand like he was about to sweep
her up on his white stallion and go riding off into the sunset. Was
he about to do that?

She held her bandaged arm up and raised a brow. It
was still dripping blood. “That makes me feel safe.”

He tried again, willing himself to be patient and not
shift and chase her out of the house. He was betting her fear of
him would dwarf her fear of the nebulous
outside
if push
came to shove
.
“What’s your name?”

She looked away. “I wish you’d put some clothing
on.”

“No problem, ma’am. Let me just step outside where I
keep my traveling walk-in closet.” Ordinarily her shyness would
entertain him, but right now it was annoying. “Stop acting like a
virgin.”

The attractive flush that came to her cheeks
confirmed the suspicion that had been building in the back of his
mind, the suspicion he’d hoped he’d been wrong about. “A girl as
pretty as you? You had no opportunities? No interest?”

Her hands were in her lap, and she’d gone to staring
at them, he guessed because clothing wasn’t about to magically
appear on him.

“I don’t ever leave my house. So, no. You’re the
first adult male I’ve ever…”

“Seen naked?” He’d softened his voice because now he
just felt like an ass. He’d destroyed her kitchen, injured her, and
now this. He disappeared back down the hallway to the bathroom and
returned, wrapped in a towel for her comfort more than his.
“Better?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you.”

He sighed. “If you won’t come with me, I need you to
watch the pup for a while. Can you do that?”

She nodded, and he shifted back into his panther form
and jumped out the window. By nightfall she’d be in his cave with
him where it was safer. She just didn’t know it yet. Sometimes
these things took finesse.

Chapter Two

Fiona swept the glass into a pile and put a tarp over
the window. Stan, the window guy, wouldn’t be able to get there to
fix it until the next day. It made her wish she’d had that security
system put in last year or had another magic user come in and put
up wards for her.

She’d let the wards lapse because they required going
outside and all around the house. It took too much time out there.
It made her too anxious. And when she was anxious, she couldn’t do
magic worth a damn, anyway.

Now she was left unprotected with the pup.

The panther had only been gone half an hour, but the
sun was starting to set. She almost wished she’d had the courage to
go with him, with the window being how it was. Maybe she could work
up the nerve to ask him to stay with her overnight, assuming she
could convince him she wasn’t propositioning him. He seemed the
type who knew how good-looking he was.

The bandages were still seeping blood. He was right
about the stitches, if she didn’t do a healing spell. She got up to
get her supplies. The wolf jumped on the pile of glass shards
making them crunch on the floor. A piece flew up and landed on her
foot.

“Oh, no puppy, don’t do that. You’ll cut your paw,
and I’ll have to do two healing spells. I’m not sure I have that
much energy in me.”

He twisted his head to the side like he was trying to
parse her language; his tongue lolled out in a grin. She wanted to
squeeze him. He was so adorable.

Fiona was startled by a knock on the door. “W-who is
it?”

“It’s me. Z.”

He was back already? She opened the door to see him
in jeans, hiking boots, and a black T-shirt that slid over his
muscles like fabric sin. At least it was clothing.

“Fiona Patrone. I believe you left your electric bill
in the front yard.” He passed the white rectangle to her and she
ripped it from his hand. It must have fallen out of her waistband
when she was picking up the pup to bring him inside.

Great. He knew her name now. Not that it mattered. He
knew where she lived. It wasn’t like knowledge of her name was a
bigger security risk at this point.

To make herself stop staring at him, she turned to
scoop up the wolf pup. “He’s been very…” The words died there as a
foul-smelling cloth pressed against her mouth and nose. She
struggled for several seconds, but he was too strong for her. She
tried not to breathe in, to little avail. Besides her pounding
heartbeat, the last thing she heard was his whispered apology.

***

Fiona opened her eyes to find a strange, older
gentleman sitting beside her. As consciousness resumed and the fog
cleared, she felt the pain. “Ow, ow, OW!”

“Careful, you’ll rip the stitches. I’m not quite
done.”

She jerked her arm away, and he released the needle
and thread. It dangled from her arm as she tried to orient herself
to her surroundings.

“Where am I?”

Another form moved into her peripheral vision, the
voice low and deep. “My place.” Z.

She spun swiftly, and regretted it, feeling woozy. He
was there so fast she didn’t see him move, his hand under her
elbow, steadying her.

“Careful.” His warm breath was in her ear when he
spoke. His nearness did weird things to her. His voice, his hand on
her elbow, it was just too much.

She pulled away and he backed off, his hands in the
air as if he were the good guy and she was just some hysterical
woman in the midst of her monthly.
Well, we’ll see about
that.
“You drugged me! I can’t believe you drugged me!”

“It was necessary. I said I needed your help.” He was
still wearing pants, at least, but his shirt was nowhere to be
found.