Second Nature (23 page)

"So, what brings you here? Still investigating that human writer?" Brian asked.

It came as no surprise that her father already knew about her top-secret mission. Brian Eldridge was still one of the most powerful nataks of the Allied Prides. His fathers had groomed him to become parwese, ruler of all Kasari, but then Brian had spoiled those ambitious plans by having an affair with a Puwar. Their fling had lasted only for a few days, but everyone involved still had to live with the consequences today. The Eldridge brothers had been heavily criticized for breaking the unwritten rule: a Kasari should only mate with another Kasari.

Gus's standing in the Kasari community had suffered too even though it had been Brian, not Gus, who couldn't resist Nella Westmore's Puwar charms. In Kasari society, all the members of a ruling coalition were considered the father of a child, no matter which of them was the biological father — one of many Kasari rules that Griffin had never really understood. She preferred to be responsible for herself and her own actions, not for those of others.

"Yes, it's still an ongoing investigation," Griffin answered. She saw no reason to lie.

"I hear Leigh has been very helpful in that investigation. Make sure you mention it when you report to the council." Brian made it an order, not a suggestion.

Oh, yes, sure, help along your daughter's political career now that you ruined your own.
Griffin wondered if that was why he was discussing her mission in front of half the pride. Did he want to make sure that everyone knew Leigh's accomplishments?
"I'll give praise where praise is due," Griffin answered, letting him draw his own conclusions about whether Leigh had earned praise or not.

"So you're really investigating J.W. Price?" Rhonda asked. She still hadn't learned to curb her natural curiosity. "Why? What has she done that suddenly everyone who has ever met her, no matter how fleetingly, is under suspicion?"

Both Brian and Gus turned toward her, growling to show their displeasure at being interrupted.

"You have to excuse Ronnie," Leigh said even though she knew better than to interrupt her fathers too. "She's a librarian and a little concerned that her favorite author is about to be killed." She gave Rhonda an affectionate look that softened her stern features.

"She's not my favorite author," Rhonda said, but a telltale blush crept up her neck. "I don't really care for her romance novels, but her historical fiction is wonderful."

Griffin ignored them both. "Can we talk alone?" She didn't want her sister or Leigh's little friend involved in her mission or her life.

Brian and Gus exchanged a quick glance, but not a word was spoken between them. It wasn't necessary.

The other guests, who had finished their dinner by now, began to file out. Leigh still hesitated.

"Stay the night at Rhonda's," Brian told his youngest daughter.

"Dad..." Leigh protested.

"Go," Brian and Gus said at the same time. The power of their green eyes drilled first into Leigh, then skimmed over Rhonda until both women turned and walked away.

Leigh took a moment to help an elderly woman get up from her seat.

Leigh's grandmother.
Griffin watched Leigh escort the matriarch from the room. Her light grip on the old woman's arm was respectful and tender despite her anger at having to leave. Cat-shifters were notorious for their curiosity, and Griffin knew her sister was no exception. Leigh wanted in on this conversation.

Brian's gaze came to rest on Griffin. "Now tell us what brings you here. Do you need help with the investigation?"

His offer to help was a surprise. It was also an intrusion, and Griffin didn't want it. "No. All I need is some answers."

"From us?" Brian glanced at his brother, then back at Griffin.

"There's a very real possibility that Jorie Price, the writer, saw one of your people in his or her lion form," Griffin said, "so yes, I'm coming to you for some answers. Do any names come to mind?"

"How do you know it was one of ours?" Brian's deep voice resonated through the room.

Cat tactics. Never answer a question directly when you can answer it with one of your own.
Griffin took care to stay relaxed and appear unimpressed. "Osgrove is part of your territory. If he wasn't one of yours, you're not doing a good job at protecting the borders of your territory."

Very slowly, very quietly, Brian rose from behind the table. The sudden growl he hurled at Griffin was a sharp contrast to the calm silence of his movements.

Gus stood too and took a step forward until he stood shoulder to shoulder with Brian.

"You've seen for yourself that no one enters our territory without us knowing about it," Brian said. "Our border patrol is very effective."

"Oh, yes." Griffin smirked. She stood with the same dangerous slowness, once again enjoying her slight height advantage over her fathers. "You have petite librarians patrol your borders. Very impressive."

"Stop provoking us, Griff," Gus said before his brother could explode. "You came here to ask a question, so ask it — or go."

Oh, so Gus actually can talk.
Brian's younger brother had never said much. As a result, Griffin had never been sure where she stood with him. Did he really accept her and Ky as his daughters, as Kasari society expected of him, or did he secretly despise their very existence? For now, it was better not to try his patience too much. "Is there any chance that one of your people got careless and was seen in his lion form at the edge of Osgrove, maybe even more than once?" she asked, working hard not to put a silent accusation into her words. Her frank Puwar style of communication didn't go over well with her fathers. If she wanted answers, she would have to balance not cowering in front of her fathers with not angering them too much.

"Even if there was, do you think anyone is going to step forward and admit that it was them, knowing it will cost them their status... or maybe even their life?" Brian answered.

"Are you saying it's possible?" Griffin asked but ignored his question.

"Everything is possible," Brian said after trading yet another glance with his brother, "but I don't think so. We have our people under control. They know better than to be so careless."

Nothing but the clean scent of herbs surrounded Brian. There was no lie, no attempt at deception. Griffin stared into his eyes for a moment longer, then looked away. She believed him. Her fathers had almost lost their titles, political careers, and social standing when Brian had fathered hybrid twins. They wouldn't risk their shaky position by losing control over their pride and having one of their shifters make a fatal mistake.

"I suggest you have your people stay far, far away from Osgrove until I finish my investigation," Griffin said.

One of Brian's shoulders angled toward Griffin. His neck muscles stiffened. He knew it was more than a mere suggestion, and he didn't like receiving orders from his own daughter.

Griffin held his gaze. She wasn't here as his daughter or a member of the pride. She was here as a saru, and as such she stood above pride hierarchy.

Finally, after a few tense moments, Brian relaxed. "All right. I'll give the order. No shifting in or near Osgrove."

That wasn't enough. "Even in human form, every Kasari who doesn't work in Osgrove should stay out of town for the foreseeable future," Griffin said. "And I need a list of all your people who live in a twenty-mile radius around Osgrove." Unless the shifter had traveled to Osgrove by car before he shifted shape, he couldn't have covered more than twenty miles in one night in his leonine form. "It would help if you could indicate everyone on the list who has a history of behaving carelessly or losing control."

And I bet Tarquin's name will appear right at the top of the list. They always gave him too long a leash.

Thick ginger brown hair tumbled onto a strong forehead as Brian shook his head. "You know I wouldn't tolerate anyone who might endanger the pride. I wouldn't allow them to stay."

And if you did, you wouldn't tell me, because it makes you look as if you couldn't even control your own people.
"Did you recently throw anyone out because he was a threat to the pride?" Griffin asked.

"No." This time it was Gus who answered. "Not for a lot of years. If we had, we would have alerted the council and the Saru. We follow the rules, Griffin."

His words held a hidden meaning, but Griffin couldn't tell whether they were meant as a silent accusation.

Griffin's birth had broken an important unwritten law, and she had continued to break the rules since then — she lived among humans; she had no partner and no children; she didn't try to fit into the pride, and she had inherited neither the political ambitions of her Kasari grandparents nor the sacred skills of her Puwar grandfather.

A rough shake of her head drove away the unpleasant thoughts. "What about political groups? Are there any groups within the pride that aim at having us come out to humans?" Griffin could easily imagine Rhonda as a member of such a group.

"The only politics within the pride are ours." Brian snarled.

Wishful thinking.
Even within a pride, there were always people who thought differently and tried to do their own thing, achieve their own goals, right under the nataks' muzzles.

"Gus?" Griffin asked. The younger Eldridge had always been better at reading between the lines, detecting the subtle nuances and undercurrents of what was going on in the pride. People underestimated him and talked more openly around him than they did around Brian.

"Groups like this are everywhere nowadays," Gus said, neither confirming nor denying that they had such a group within the pride too. "But what would they gain by giving information to a fiction writer? If they wanted to out us, wouldn't they contact a journalist? Getting pop culture to accept shape-shifters is hardly worth risking your life for."

He was right. Motivation was the biggest weakness in the political-group theory. Right now, Griffin couldn't figure out what any Wrasa would gain by having a shape-shifter novel published. All clues told her that there might not be an informant.
But how else would she know so much about us? Just a string of coincidences?
Her instincts said it was more than that, but she wouldn't find her answers here. "E-mail me the list," she said. She gave them polite nods. "Goodnight."

*  *  *

Griffin stiffened.

She wasn't alone. Someone was watching, lying in wait.

A shadowy figure lurked next to her rental car that Tarquin had parked in the driveway, but the wind wasn't carrying any information toward Griffin.

Slowing her steps, she stalked closer.

The tendons in her fingers twitched as if they were preparing to unsheathe claws they didn't have in this form. She didn't need them. Even in this body, Griffin knew she was a formidable opponent.

Another long step. Not even the pebbles in the driveway crunched under her feet.

Only the wind was a willing traitor, giving away her scent and her presence.

The shadowy figure turned. Cat eyes glowed when a ray of light from the house hit them.

Griffin realized she was looking into her half sister's green eyes. Even in her human form, her eyes reflected light, enabling her to see better than humans in the dark.

"What do you want?" Griffin asked. Her blood was still pumping through her muscles, and she tried to get her body to stand down from its battle-ready stance.

"That's what I'm here to ask you," Leigh shot back. She was blocking the way to the car with her body — a dangerous thing to do since Griffin's predatory mind started automatic assessments of how to remove the obstacle from her path. "What was so important that you had to show your muzzle in pride territory instead of just sending an e-mail? Did you come over so that you could harass Martha and Ronnie in person?"

An e-mail wouldn't have allowed her to see her fathers' body language while they answered her questions, but Griffin saw no reason to share that with her sister. "None of your business." Griffin took a step closer and pulled the car keys from her pocket. Her investigation here was over, and she was in no mood to stay around for even a second longer.

"None of my business?" Leigh bristled. "My help is good enough when you want someone's computer hacked, but if I ask a question in return, it's none of my business?"

Her barely slowed heartbeat picked up again. Griffin tried hard to stay calm, but as usual, Leigh knew how to push her buttons. "That's the way things work when you are a saru. The chain of command doesn't work both ways. I don't owe you an explanation."

"I'm not a saru, and I'm certainly not under your command," Leigh said. She scratched the skin of her arms. "I agreed to help you with the computer part of your investigation voluntarily."

"Oh, don't act like you did it out of the goodness of your heart. You agreed to help me only to further your career." It was no secret that Leigh was aiming to be the first female natak to lead the Ottawa National Forest pride. "And that's also why you don't want me here. You don't want people to remember that you have an antapi half sister, because it might diminish your chances at becoming top cat."

"I don't want you here, because you're threatening my family. Stop sniffing around Ronnie and harassing Martha!" Leigh raised her upper lip in a snarl, revealing still human teeth. A growling sound escaped from her throat. All her muscles were tense and ready to pounce.

Heat rushed through Griffin as her body got ready to shift. Her muscles bulged. The seams of her favorite silk shirt groaned even more loudly than her bones.

"Leigh! Griffin!" Suddenly, Rhonda was there. Her slender body shoved between them, building a barricade to stop them from tearing into each other.

Through the haze of hormones and the biting scent of aggression, the dusty-books fragrance that had always been a part of Rhonda trickled into Griffin's awareness. Slowly, the aching in her bones stopped as Griffin fought down the urge to shift.

Her sharpened senses returned to their slightly dulled human state. They were still acute enough to make out Leigh's trembling form and smell the heat of aggression emanating from her.