Trained by Three Panthers [Caves of Correction 3] (6 page)

“I’m sorry you missed me, but how was I supposed to know? I woke up and everyone was gone. There was no noise. I thought it was all over, and so I went outside—”

“The door was locked,” Declan said.

“I opened it.”

“How?”

* * * *

Asher was beginning to think Kenz would be the death of him. In fact, he was pretty sure she’d killed off two of his nine lives already. One when he’d returned to the dungeon after helping his brothers check the roof of their house and found she was gone, vanished completely. And two when he’d been following her in panther form so he could track her scent, and he’d bounded around a corner and almost knocked her over. And then she’d spoken to him as if he was a cute little kitty, not a big, black, fierce panther who she ought to have been scared witless about. Well, she ought to have been scared witless by being out in the eye of a hurricane as well, but that hadn’t appeared to faze her either.

It was good to know she wasn’t a nervous, frightened little mouse of a woman, but a modicum of good, plain common sense might have meant he still had a full complement of his nine cat lives. Then he grinned. Dammit, he liked that she knew what she wanted and just went off and did it. Although outside in the eye of a hurricane wasn’t a smart move. Yes, sure she came back inside before it got too wild out there, but what if she’d gotten lost?

Again he shook his head. She’d known exactly where she had to go. But how did she do that? It wasn’t as though there were street signs on the island. His ancestors had purposely left the island as uninhabited-looking as possible. Even the main trails were narrow dirt paths, only wide enough for people or panthers to walk in single file. And how the fuck had she gotten outside in the first place? If Colter said he’d locked the door, it was locked. There was no other possibility.

He dressed hastily in his bedroom after transforming back to human form and securely locking the front door. Then he arrived back in the dungeon just as Colter asked Kenz how she’d opened the front door of the house.

“Yes, I’d like to know that as well,” he said.

Kenz sighed. “I can pick locks.”

“I’d already worked that out. Are you a thief?” Declan asked.

Asher winced. That question could have been phrased better. A hell of a lot better.

“Of course not. I’d be either stinking rich or in jail if I was.”

Overhead thunder crashed and the sound of rain got louder. Asher hurried to close the door to the dungeon, which was soundproofed.

“Let’s sit down and talk about this properly,” Colter said.

Once again Kenz sighed, and Asher was certain she’d be happy to skip over the entire incident. He hoped this wasn’t going to be painful for her, but he wanted to know where she’d learned to pick locks and why she wasn’t frightened of panthers as well, although not being frightened of panthers was good news. It meant she’d be more likely to agree to mate them when she learned their secret.

They sat on the mattresses, wrapping the blankets around themselves and piling pillows between their backs and the rock wall. It reminded Asher of the childhood games played while camping, except that outside, despite the soundproofing, it was very obvious the storm was increasing in ferocity.

“Where, when, and why did you learn to pick locks?” Asher asked, needing to know all the details.

Kenz looked down at the navy blue Caves of Correction blanket and said, “At home, when I was about ten, for fun.”

Declan snorted with laughter, Colter’s jaw dropped open, and Asher just stared at her.

“Okay, maybe knowing the facts aren’t enough. How about telling us the whole story,” Asher said, although he had to admit this woman was a match for them all. She thought for herself, and even when she obeyed him completely he still didn’t get what she knew he really wanted.

“I’ve told you a few times my father’s mom was only a teenager when he was born. The father of her baby was not prepared to be a part of the picture, and she reared Dad herself, working as a waitress once he was in school. They lived in a neighborhood she could afford, which meant it wasn’t all that nice a place. By the time he was in middle school most of Dad’s friends were into drugs and crime, and he watched them progress into gangs and serious criminal lifestyles. He decided he didn’t want that kind of a life so he got out, learned a trade, and made a decent life for himself and for his mom. But he never forgot some of the skills he’d learned on the streets, and he taught me how to pick locks and how to fight dirty and win.”

“How to fight dirty? Remind me not to annoy you,” Declan said.

“No wonder he wanted you to go to a good school and to have a good life,” Colter said.

“That’s why I don’t just leave my job while I look for something else. One day I’ll either find a better job, or else I’ll be secure enough financially to throw it over, but meanwhile, I’ll keep paying the bills and putting up with everyone’s shit.”

“What would you really like to do?” Asher asked. Here on the island, there were any number of different kinds of jobs, but everyone tended to help everyone else. Most of the islanders could do someone else’s work if they needed to help out. It’d never really occurred to him that there were people elsewhere who hated their jobs but had no other choice than to keep working or risk using all their savings and becoming homeless.

“That’s the problem, you see. I can’t think of anything I’d prefer to do. I thought of going back to school and taking a degree in something or other, but there’s nothing that excites me. I don’t want to be a teacher, or an accountant, or a doctor, or an architect, or anything really. I like working with a team, being around people, I’m just not so keen on putting up with an endless stream of clients with complaints, half of which are their own stupid fault.”

Once again that was something Asher had never really thought of. He wished he could talk about her working for them on the island, but it was much too soon for that. They hadn’t even played a full-on BDSM scene together yet, far less had sex with her. And oh, how he longed to have sex with her. She was lovely to look at and filled his mind as well as his senses. He knew fucking her was going to be the best sex of his life, but it had to be the best sex of her life as well. This was all about her, not him.

“You need to be punished properly for going outside when you knew damn well you were supposed to stay safely with us,” Colter said.

“You weren’t here when I woke up.”

“But the door was locked. That was kind of a clue, don’t you think?” Declan asked.

“Not really. Your front door lock is baby simple. It wouldn’t keep out a ten-year-old with a hairpin. I didn’t even need to use the credit card as a lever.”

Declan laughed and Asher sniggered. Colter looked angry, but then he, too, smiled. “As long as that ten-year-old was you.”

“Seriously, if you want that door to provide you with security, you need to upgrade the lock to something from this century.”

“What about the lock on your cottage? The renovations on that were only finished just before you arrived.” Asher stared at her thoughtfully, wondering if she’d tried to open her cottage door as well. Hadn’t she said something about another panther?

“Yes, that was a bit more of a challenge but still not as difficult as it should be.”

“So you’ve been wandering around on the island on your own before. Don’t you realize how unsafe that could be?” Colter asked.

His tone was loud and harsh, but Asher thought it was more from worry about her than from anger at her actions.

“I know. That was the first time I saw a panther. The panther tonight was you, Asher, wasn’t it? Was it you the first time as well, or are there more people like you on this island?” Kenz asked.

Asher’s heart was pounding, and he felt almost sick. Then and there she’d taken away his third cat life. Any minute now, Colter might kill him for real for letting her find out their secret. But there was no sense in lying to her. If she was to be their mate they’d have to tell her anyway. They just hadn’t planned to do it yet or like this.

“How did you know?” His voice was high and breathless, which was pretty much what he felt like right now. He deliberately cleared his throat and tried not to look like an idiot, forcing his mouth closed and the shock from his face.

“When you screeched to a stop, you had that same shocked look on your face as now. And your eyes, they’re exactly the same. So, was it you the first time as well?”

“No, it wasn’t. When was that?”

“Last night. Right after you left. How many more panthers are there here? And how did you become one?” She turned around suddenly and stared at Declan and Colter. “You all are, aren’t you? That why your ancestors bought the land, to hide the fact that that you’re different.”

* * * *

Colter was stunned at the way the conversation had gone. By now they should be punishing her for running away from them and scaring the shit out of them. Instead, they were about to give her a crash course on shape-shifter history, which he’d absolutely intended to keep secret until they were certain she was the correct woman for them. But fuck, how had she known about Asher so easily?

“Why are you so sure the panther you saw today was Asher? Lots of people have dark eyes,” he said. He fixed his gaze on her face, trying to determine whether she’d told them everything he needed to know or not. How many more secrets were hiding behind her glasses in that smart little brain?

“I just told you. The panther raced around a corner toward me. When he saw me, he screeched to a stop with that exact same surprised look on his face as Asher had when I realized it was him. And his eyes are not just black. They’re tilted up at the corners a fraction and go really wide when he’s surprised. Yours and Declan’s don’t do that.”

Once again he was astounded by what she said. She was right. Declan was the fun-loving brother, and his face was often stretched in a smile. He had laugh lines at the sides of his eyes and mouth, which did make him look different from Asher. Dammit, he was going to have to tell her their secrets so much sooner than he’d planned to do.

“Are you going to tell me about you and Declan being panthers and the other panthers here on this island now?” she asked him.

“You’ve got quite a bossy streak,” he answered.

“Why is it that when a woman asks for something she wants, a man says she’s bossy. But if a man asks for what he wants, he’s told he’s showing leadership?”

Declan gave a smothered cough then stopped trying to hide his laughter and let it out. Asher stared at her and then laughed as well.

“You might as well give up. She’s got you coming and going,” Declan said, still sniggering.

Colter smiled at her. “It’s just as well we’re in the middle of a hurricane or I’d be very tempted to turn you over my knee and paddle your ass,” he said.

For the first time her cheeks reddened a little. “Maybe we can do that later. Although I don’t know what the hurricane has to do with it. Does it mean you can’t use the equipment in here?”

“No, it means we can’t take you back to your own very nicely furnished dungeon. Ours is a lot more rough and ready,” Asher answered.

“It looks fine to me, but I do want some answers.”

Colter pulled himself together. “You deserve them. I still don’t understand how you knew about Asher, but since you do, I’ll answer you. Yes, my brothers and I are all panthers, and so are most of the people on the island. You’re quite correct. Our ancestors came here to escape persecution. That’s why it’s incredibly important you never tell anyone what you know. Crazies out there are prepared to kill us just because we have some slightly different genes from them.”

“Being a shape-shifter isn’t a disease. You can’t catch it. Getting bitten on a full moon doesn’t make you go mad,” Declan said.

“Some of those old movies have a hell of a lot to answer for. That’s why some people hate us. Of course, there are other people who just hate on anyone who’s a little different.”

Colter was watching Kenz intently, and she was simply listening to them, looking at whoever was speaking but not showing any signs of distress. So far, so good.

“We can’t make you pregnant either.” Colter saw her mouth open and knew she was going to ask for more details, but he spoke fast before she could. “Male panthers can only impregnate their mate. So until a female mates a panther, or several panthers, she can’t get pregnant.”

“We can’t give you any diseases either. Our panther side protects us from them. We won’t ever give you the flu or anything like that either.”

She smiled. “Well damn. I was looking forward to a week off work with the flu in winter.”

Colter could see her lips twitching and knew she was teasing them. Apparently Asher did as well because he said, “You could always fake it.”

Kenz laughed. “I’m pretty sure some of my staff do. At the merest hint of a cold and they get their significant other to call in and say they’re on their deathbed with the flu.”

Colter noticed they were all speaking quite a lot louder now. Despite the soundproofing in the dungeon, the storm was very noisy. The roof had been fine. None of the ties had shown any signs of lifting. But it seemed the second half of the hurricane was going to be worse than the first half. Thunder had kept him awake before, even though Kenz had slept through it. Although admittedly she’d piled half the bedding over her head. Declan had been worried she wouldn’t be able to breathe properly and had made a tunnel from several pillows so air would flow to her face.

He couldn’t imagine anyone sleeping now, though. The storm was loud.

She settled back on the bedding, leaning harder against the pillows between her and the wall, and then she pushed her glasses up higher on her nose. Colter was already coming to recognize that as a sign she was thinking fast.

“You know, this is a bit of a surprise to me. I came here for a vacation that I thought would be filled with dungeon play and sex, along with sun, sand, and surf. Well, the sun, sand, and surf have all happened. I’m still waiting for the sex, and the dungeon so far has been so minor as to not really count. But no way did I expect to meet shape-shifters. You’re all very lucky I’m not the kind of person to fall in a hysterical heap. I doubt very much that nurse on call would visit an island in the middle of a hurricane if I started screaming at you.”