The Lion Within (Ghost Cat Shifters #1) (2 page)

Sophia watched him turn and walk away, his stride long and loose. She forced her attention to the next customer. The day raced by. Late that evening, when the sun was falling down behind the mountains, she walked down Main Street, heading back toward home. Her eyes tracked the motion of her cowboy boots, the pointed tips alternating in her line of sight. She was weary from a busy day, but in any free moment, her mind wandered to worrying about her brother. The only relief she had came from wondering about Daniel today.

***

Daniel walked down the street, his eyes on the setting sun ahead. Painter was as beautiful as his mother had told him. The little town sat amidst the mountains, its streets winding along the hillsides. The view behind downtown was glorious at the moment. All that was left of the sun was a curved sliver above the ridge, bright orange with red and gold rays radiating into the sky behind it. Eyes on the sky, he suddenly collided with someone.

“Oomph!”

He looked down to find Sophia stumbling against him. Sophia was better known to his brain and body as the woman from the coffee shop who was so damn sexy he craved her as much as he craved coffee. Not even a single moment had passed since he’d met her for all of a few minutes and she’d been simmering in his mind all day. Her hands landed on his chest, and he didn’t want her to move. One of his hands landed reflexively on her hip, while the other curled around her upper arm.

“I’m sorry! I wasn’t paying attention.” Her words came out rapidly.

“You and me both,” Daniel replied with a wry smile. “I was looking at the sunset.” He nodded behind her. She looked over her shoulder.

She turned back. “It’s beautiful,” she said softly.

Daniel nodded. He thought perhaps he should step back, but he couldn’t. He felt the soft give of her hip under his palm. Her bright green eyes held his. A low charge hummed between them. He couldn’t keep his eyes from flicking down. Her breasts pulled against the thin cotton of her black t-shirt. He forced his eyes up, only to have them land on her full mouth. He could see the flutter of her pulse in her neck, and he had to hold himself back from leaning over to drop his lips against the soft skin there. His arousal strained against his jeans, at which point he realized he was about to make a fool of himself. He shook his head and stepped back, his hands falling away.

He scrambled to recall what she’d said before his body had taken charge of his brain.
The sunset.
“It is,” he said, his words coming out gruff.

Sophia’s eyes held his, a green so deep he could lose himself in them. “I’ll probably see you tomorrow if you’re working again.”

“Oh, okay.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Sophia rushed past him. He hadn’t meant for that to be goodbye, but she seemed to have taken it as such. He turned and watched her walk away. Her dark hair hung straight down her back, swinging in tune with her walk. Her dark hair with her porcelain skin and bright green eyes was mesmerizing. When she’d looked up this morning, he’d wanted to reach across the counter and kiss her, right then and there.

Her hips swayed as she walked down the sidewalk. She wore purple leggings with black cowboy boots. Her leggings hugged her curvy hips and strong legs. Daniel watched her until she turned down a side street.

Chapter 2

Sophia stirred the scrambled eggs and glanced over her shoulder at Vivi. “Do you know anything about David and Sarah Hayes?”

Vivi had stopped by for breakfast, something she often did on weekends. Her daughter Julianna was ensconced in the living room for her allotted half hour of Saturday morning cartoons. Vivi sat at the small round table in Sophia’s kitchen. She was in the middle of braiding her hair into two side braids. She paused, her hands stilling on her hair. Her eyes narrowed and then widened. “Yeah. You don’t remember hearing what happened with them?”

Sophie gave the eggs one last stir and turned off the burner. She quickly served the eggs on two plates and walked to the table, sliding one plate over to Vivi. “I thought I recognized their names, but I couldn’t remember why.” She paused and glanced at her empty coffee mug. “More coffee?” she asked, as she reached behind her and grabbed the coffee pot from the counter.

After she filled both of their mugs, she glanced back at Vivi who had finished one braid and was working on the other. “So, what happened with the Hayes?”

Vivi looked through the archway from the kitchen into the living room at Julianna. Julianna was entirely focused on Scooby Doo. She had a fascination with the old school cartoons, in particular Scooby Doo. Vivi turned back, her blue eyes sober. “Don’t you remember? Their son David was the little boy who shifted at a playground and ended up getting shot. The Hayes moved away and no one heard from them again.”

Sophia set her fork down. “Oh my God. I remember hearing about that. No one talks about it, but it’s the saddest thing. I can’t imagine what that must have been like for them. Did they ever find out who killed him?”

Vivi nodded. “Yeah, it was a hunter. I’m sure we can look up the old news reports because Lord knows no one likes to talk about it. It’s every shifter parent’s nightmare. The guy said he turned around and saw a mountain lion in the middle of the playground, so he shot it. What brought them up?” Vivi finished braiding her hair and started to nibble on her eggs.

“Their other son, Daniel Hayes, showed up at the coffee shop today. He said he was moving here for the summer because he wanted to see the town his mother said was so beautiful.”

Vivi’s hand flew to her mouth with a gasp. “Oh wow. Really? Do you think he knows what happened?”

Sophia shrugged. “I have no idea. I only talked to him for a few minutes. He said he was born here, but they moved away when he was three. Both of his parents died in the last few years.” She set her fork down. “Wow. If he knows what happened, I can’t believe he’d want to come here.”

Vivi nodded and took a sip of coffee. “I know, right? But he’s here. Damn, once word gets around town, this is going to spin some heads. If he doesn’t know what happened, I’d hate for him to find out through town gossip.”

Sophia’s own head was spinning and her heart hurt for Daniel and his family. Born and raised a shifter in one of the oldest shifter families in Painter, Sophia was steeped in the mindset of how important it was for shifters to maintain their secrecy. She hadn’t recalled the names of Daniel’s parents, but the memory of why they left was a bitter legend in Painter. The story held power as a warning among shifters, so she’d heard it time and again. She looked over at Vivi. “I hope he doesn’t find out like that. I mean, that would be horrible. It’s hard to imagine he’d be here if he knew though.”

Julianna came wandering into the kitchen at that moment, leaning against her mother’s hip. “Can I have some eggs?” she asked in her lilting voice.

Vivi brushed Julianna’s dark hair off her forehead. “Aunt Sophia put red peppers in them. Think you can handle veggies in your eggs?”

Julianna’s brown eyes bounced between Vivi and Sophia. “Uh huh,” she said with an emphatic nod.

Sophia stood up and spooned some eggs into a small bowl for Julianna. “Here you go. I think you might like veggies this way.”

Julianna set the bowl down on the table and took a small bite. Her eyes widened and she looked up at Sophia. “They’re good!” she offered with a wondering smile.

Vivi chuckled and sipped her coffee. Sophia joined them at the table again. “You going to eat with us or Scooby?”

“Scooby!”

Vivi snagged a napkin from the center of the table and tucked it in Julianna’s jeans pocket. “Make sure to put your bowl down when you’re done.”

Julianna held her bowl in both hands as she returned to the living room. Once she was out of earshot, Vivi turned back to Sophia. “So what was Daniel Hayes like?”

Sophia recalled Daniel’s almost black hair, blue eyes and body to die for. Her cheeks felt hot.

“Well, well. I’d say you thought Daniel was some kind of something,” Vivi offered with a grin between bites.

Sophia’s cheeks only got hotter. “You’ll see him around soon enough. He’s, uh, pretty damn handsome.” Just talking about him flustered her. She didn’t know why he had such a strong effect on her.

“Handsome or not, you don’t usually go around blushing about guys. In fact, you hardly ever notice them.”
Sophia shrugged. “So what? It’s not like I have time for relationships. I’m busy running the coffee shop and with everything going on with Heath, I’ve had other things on my mind.”

Vivi’s eyes narrowed. “I care about Heath as much as you do. This year’s been rough ever since he was in the accident. The last few months are just icing on a shitty cake. Heath is going to have to walk out of the mess he walked into. You can’t do it for him. In the meantime, you could use a distraction. Just saying.” Vivi’s mouth curled into a wry grin.

Sophia’s chest tightened. She was so weary of worrying about her brother. A year ago, his car had skidded on an icy road in the mountains and tumbled down a hill. He’d come out of the accident alive, but with multiple injuries, including a fractured femur in his thigh. It was that fracture that required multiple surgeries and caused him so much pain. The damn pain led to his painkiller addiction, and unbeknownst to anyone close to him, his subsequent search for heroin to replace the painkillers.

“Stop it,” Vivi said sharply.

Sophia’s eyes swung up to Vivi’s. The warm concern in her gaze belied her stern tone of voice. Sophie sighed. “I know. I need to stop obsessing about Heath. I’m working on it.”

“I get it, but all you can do is be there. A distraction like Daniel might be just the thing for you.”

“You make it sound easy. Daniel showing up here is going to send gossip running wild. Not so sure he’ll hang around.”

Vivi took the last bite of her eggs and set her fork down. “Maybe so, but don’t go making excuses before anything even happens.”

***

Daniel leaned back in his desk chair and stretched his arms above his head. He’d been hard at work all morning. He was a computer coder and worked wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. For the most part, it was great. The downside was he tended to get caught up in what he was doing and lose all track of time. His father had taught him computer coding when he was a little boy, so he’d had a head start before the rapid rise of technology jobs. He’d been working on his own doing contract work for companies all over the world since before he graduated from college. He loved the work and enjoyed the flexibility, but it didn’t make for easy opportunities to meet people.

Now that he was in Painter, he wanted a chance to learn more about his family, which meant he needed to get out and meet people. His mind spun back to yesterday and Sophia. The last few years hadn’t left much room for relationships. Between helping his mother care for his father in the year leading up to his eventual death from complications from heart surgery, grieving his father’s death while supporting his mother and then grieving his mother’s death within another year, it was fair to say he simply hadn’t had the emotional energy to consider any relationships. He could barely remember the last time he went on a date.

Sophia had an effect on him unlike any he’d ever experienced. The fall of her dark hair, her deep green eyes and her generous curves were mesmerizing, but it wasn’t that. It was something about her—he wanted to know her. He might not know her well, but he knew she’d been born and raised in Painter. He couldn’t help but wonder if she knew his parents and might know more about what happened to his older brother whose death had led to his parents’ abrupt departure from Painter so many years ago.

His mind spun back to the conversation he’d had with his mother when she was in the hospital.

“Daniel, I have to tell you something,” his mother said. She’d been resting in her bed, her soft gold hair faded and threaded with silver. Her blue eyes had been weary. She hadn’t been awake much for more than a few hours at a time, and talking was difficult at times due to the occasional bouts of coughing from pneumonia. He’d been standing by the window and turned to sit in the chair beside her bed.

When he met her eyes, he saw a sadness he only saw when she spoke of David who’d died when Daniel was only three. He barely remembered David. His gut tightened at the look in his mother’s eyes. “What is it, Mom?”

She reached for his hand, curling his around it and squeezing. “I should have told you the truth long ago.”

“What are you talking about?”

“About how David died.”

His gut churning, Daniel had been uncertain if he should let his mother speak or discourage her. He didn’t know what was better, or worse. She’d continued. “You know how you had those episodes when you’re hiking?”

She was referring to times when he’d gone hiking and experienced what could only be described as frightening. His skin prickled to the point of pain, he wanted to lash out and scream, and an otherworldly sense of power raced through him. Each time, he’d raced out of the woods and returned home. When he’d asked his mother to take him to a doctor, she’d avoided it, insisting it was nothing and would pass. The only thing he’d discovered was as long as he stayed out of the wilderness, the episodes didn’t recur. After leaving Painter, his parents had moved to Denver. Though Denver was a bustling city, the mountains were right there and the city was filled with outdoor enthusiasts. Daniel had to curb his natural inclination to spend time hiking the many trails in the area. At his mother’s question, he finally nodded.

Her eyes teared up. “I know exactly what was happening. I don’t know how else to explain this, other than to just say it. It’s going to sound crazy, but trust me, it’s completely true. I didn’t tell you before because I wanted to protect you the way I didn’t manage to protect your brother.”

He took a breath and nodded.

“You know those rumors you hear every so often about mountain lions that are also people?”

He could barely breathe, but he managed another nod. Whispers of mountain lion shifters were frequent in the area. Colorado, along with most of the West, was home to a healthy population of mountain lions. Rumor had it shifters lived amongst them, shifting from human to lion and back again at will. Daniel, along with most people, dismissed them as wild legends from times gone by.