“Rafe is outside with his family. I don’t want you to be afraid of them. They’re here to protect us.”
“From what? Mr. Wilkins wouldn’t tell us,” Levi chimed in.
“Well, I will. Open up. We have a lot to talk about.” The man threatening them, the new shifters who’d be staying with them…and Rafe. Each of those topics were ones she’d rather not discuss, but being a mother wasn’t always easy. She only hoped she could come up with the right words.
The sound of scraping wood and a thump of something hitting the ground came from the other side of the door. It finally opened, and she slipped inside.
Chapter 19
“Everything good here last night?” Rafe asked once Kade slid his phone back into his pocket.
“For the most part. Kids were terrified of me this morning when I came up to the house.”
Jasmine’s boys would be instinctually fearful of all shifter males, especially feline shifters. In the animal world, killing a female’s cubs would force her into heat, but they weren’t animals, not completely. Except without an adult shifter in their lives, Seth and Levi wouldn’t know how to separate their animals’ instincts from theirs.
Rafe still struggled with the distinction between him and his cats at times. He was outnumbered. When his animals all shared the same desire, it was nearly impossible to ignore.
He rubbed a hand over his face. “Poor kids. It’s a good thing Mira is coming down. Any word on when she’ll get here?”
“A couple of hours. She was waiting on Xander. He had to meet with his brothers.”
Xander, the alpha of the Royal Winchester wolf pack that lived near them, rarely left his pack lands. He hated being around humans and avoided them whenever possible.
“Why is Xander coming and not one of his brothers?”
“Devin insisted, said he wouldn’t allow Mira to travel with anyone else.”
Devin’s protective instincts toward his sister had grown over the past few months, not that Rafe blamed him for worrying about her. Word had it that she’d become the object of discussion at the Shifter Council meetings. Or more specifically, the prophecy concerning her—the one where she’d be the catalyst for changing the world.
Rafe pushed away the concern over Mira to be dealt with later and focused on the issues he was intimately concerned with—the secret Jasmine harbored and the threat Jon posed.
“Did Devin tell you about Jon?”
A low growl rumbled Kade’s chest. “Yeah, he told me.”
“He held her, Kade. After I left my scent on her. Now he knows she’s important to me.”
“I’m sorry I was the reason she left you this morning. The older dog saw me. It stood there and waited for me to pet it. The human noticed. I had no choice but to go up and introduce myself.”
“What’s done is done, and at least we know who we’re up against. Had Devin not seen Jon’s animal form we might not have known about him until it was too late.”
“I want to know how Jon got his hands on the Royal’s drug. If the government or some human betrayed us, the scientists might stop making it. That’s not acceptable. Our women and kids need the protection it offers.”
Otherwise, they’d be in the same situation they’d faced for a millennium, covering their unique smell with perfumes, exactly as Jasmine had done, a practice that sometimes drew as much notice to the shifter as if they hadn’t.
“With all the regulations in place, I find that unlikely. Only a select few individuals have access to it, and those that do must pass strict background tests.” Rafe shook his head. “No. It’s more plausible he stole it, but even then, a report should’ve been filed. We see those come across the communications loop. I haven’t seen one in close to three years.”
“Unless a report wasn’t filed. I can see Jon sending humans to target a Royal female. Steal her purse or something. If it was a human, she might not report it to Shifter Affairs. There’d be no point. A pickpocket wouldn’t have a clue what the drug was used for.”
It made sense. Many females carried at least one extra dose with them, just in case they had to eliminate their scent completely to escape the notice of a single shifter who might’ve figured out the truth. Not all Royals could pass easily for humans. Unless Devin and Mira dyed their hair and wore sunglasses or contacts, they’d stand out.
Rafe curled his fists. He hated that their kind had to fear other shifters on top of the worry over what humans would do if they learned of the other species living among them.
“No matter how he got it, we have to assume he has more.” Rafe scanned the woods around them. “I hate to say it, but the elders were right about the masking drug when they said it would destroy us.”
“No. Greed and hate will, and those were doing a good job before the drug was ever invented.”
Rafe couldn’t argue that.
Mr. Wilkins’ booming laugh drew Rafe’s attention back to the house. Megan knelt on the ground with five dogs around her, all with tails wagging. She was giggling as one of them gave her sloppy kisses.
“We have too many innocents to protect.” Kade crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not happy about the idea of keeping them here. They’d be safer back home.”
Rafe already knew Kade’s opinion. When Devin had called Kade earlier to fill him in on the plan, Kade’s bellowed curses had been easy to hear.
“I agree, but we’ve always done our best not to stress those we rescue.”
“We’ll need someone to watch the older male until Jon is caught or we’re sure he’s moved on. I wouldn’t put it past Jon to kill the human.”
“You’re right. We’ll ask Devin to stay until our brothers arrive.”
Silence descended. Finally, Kade cleared his throat. “Did you ask Jasmine how she came to be the mother of Royals?”
“She claims she found
