As I’m cleaning up the breakfast table, my stepmother turns to me. “We’ll need you to take us into town tomorrow.”
My heart stops. “Me?” I smile. She never asks me to go with them anywhere, and I’m excited to be included for once.
“Yes.” She smirks. “We’ll need someone to carry the packages for us.”
My expression falls. “Oh. Of course.”
After I finish clearing the table, I move back into the kitchen to tell my guards that I’ll be gone tomorrow, but it seems they’ve already heard. Kai’s blue eyes meet mine. “We will go with you.”
“How?”
“It’s easy to remain hidden when we shift.” He chuckles as he uses his hands and gestures how small he would be. “You’ll see.”
I grin. “All right. I trust you.”
I move to the back door to lock it but stop when I notice a black cat approach. “Devon?” He shifts almost instantly then walks the last two steps to greet me in the doorway.
“Were you mad at me earlier?” I ask because I have to know. I don’t like to part with anyone in anger. Father taught me it was not good to hold on to negative emotions.
Devon blinks down at me a moment before answering. He’s so tall. Then again, all of them are. Only there’s something about him that’s different from the rest. Yes, his eyes are cat-like, but it’s more than that. It’s his presence. He moves with a sort of lethal grace that belies his heavily muscled form. He stares down at me with an intensity that makes my heart stop then quicken its pace.
“I want to apologize for earlier,” he says, his voice deep and smooth.
“Oh, that’s all right,” I reply, stepping back to allow him to pass. “You were only acting out of concern and—”
“I meant how I walked away from you and just left,” he interrupts, halting my retreat. “It was wrong of me. I was angry, but not at you.” His green eyes meet mine as he reaches out and touches my cheek. The tips of his fingers leaving a heated trail in their wake. “I could never be mad at you, Ella. Forgive me.”
“I do. I just—” I lower my gaze, unsure what to say before finally settling on, “want us never to leave one another in anger.” I lift my eyes back to him. “Agreed?”
A ghost of a smile tugs at his lips. “Agreed.”
I walk outside, and he follows me to the gardens as I tend to the vegetable beds.
My stepfamily retires to their sitting room as they usually do with the tea I’ve laid out for them, so I know we won’t be interrupted. Even so, I turn back when I notice the rest of my guards following us as well.
“You should all probably shift while we’re out here,” I warn them. “Just in case.”
In the blink of an eye, they all transform.
I smile because, all together like this, they look as if they’re posing for some sort of whimsical painting. A rabbit, a blue jay, a cat, and two chipmunks. All of us surrounded by carefully manicured gardens full of vibrant flowering plants in an assortment of blues, reds, whites, and yellows.
The bushes are all trimmed neatly in rows, and the vegetable garden is thriving with thick vines full of ripe, red tomatoes ready to be picked.
As I work on harvesting some of the vegetables, I smile up at Devon. He’s lounging on the edge of the fountain in a very cat-like pose of feigned indifference to the world around him. Nyx comes up behind him with a mischievous look in his eyes and a slight twitch of his rabbit nose as he studies the cat. He carefully hops toward Devon, and I wonder what he’s up to. Without warning, he kicks out at the cat shifter, knocking him into the water. A loud hiss rings in the air.
A startled laugh escapes me, but I quickly cover my mouth to silence it as Devon pulls himself out of the fountain, dripping wet and looking for all the world to see that he is a miserable cat, indeed.
Devon reaches up to swipe at Nyx, but the rabbit rushes to my side and settles against me. I arch a teasing brow. “You expect me to keep you safe?” I ask. “I thought you were supposed to be my guard, not the other way around.”
“I simply wished to be at your side,” he teases in my head.
Devon flicks his long, black tail in agitation. “Just try that again and see what happens, rabbit.”
Nyx turns away, ignoring him as he nestles against me. He’s so fluffy, I want to pet him, but I’m not sure that’s entirely appropriate since he’s technically a man. So, I don’t.
Kai swoops down and lands in front of me. His blue eyes search mine a moment before he moves closer, settling down against me on the opposite side of Nyx. Finn and Cash come over and do the same.
I smile at them and then glance back up at Devon, wondering if he’ll come over here too.
Instead, he stretches out on the low stone wall as if trying to dry himself in the sun. He closes his eyes.
“Are you going to take a nap?” I ask.
“I’m a light sleeper,” he replies. “I will know if anyone approaches.” He flicks one ear in our direction. “That includes you, rabbit.”
I laugh. His reply was such a cat thing to say.
Sighing, I look out at the garden and the fields beyond the low wall. Everything is so dry here lately. It’s depressing. It used to be green fields as far as the eye can see, but almost everything is dull and beginning to turn brown these past few years. Everywhere but the estate and much of the forest that borders it, it seems.
I look back down at my vegetables
