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 two young boys carrying ice cream cones.
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. So were her boys.
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 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 and goddesses, 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 he did. 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. They might be cubs, 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 learned, 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 Jasmine of anything illegal. It was 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 was 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.
