Page 11

Chapter Eleven

Aswan

The old legends were true: Claiming my Mate had completed me. The week after Hannah and I had consummated our Mate bond, Tova and I were walking Joshua down Main Street when we passed Giza juggling the keys to his tattoo parlor and his new daughter Raina. I jumped in to help, and the older male took one look at me and burst into proud chuckles.

“Congratulations, t’mak !” he announced, slapping me on my shoulder before accepting my help in unlocking his shop. “Sakkara told me you were settling into Eastshore, but I hadn’t realized how well.”

I knew I was blushing, but my Kteer crowed with pride, and so I smiled as well.

“Aww, she’s adorable,” Tova was telling Giza. “Is that what Emmy looked like as a baby? Does she look like you or her mom? What’s her name? Can we go inside?”

Since this last one was directed to me, I sent Giza a raised brow in question, and he ushered us all into his shop. The front half was a sort of display area for orcish artwork—mainly made by Karnak here on the island, but there were pieces from as far away as Bramblewood Bluff—while the back half was where he did his tattoo work.

To my surprise, he spent a half hour—the time we were waiting for Ben to finish his class at the rec center—answering all of Tova’s questions about baby Raina and his Mating bond with Harper, Raina’s mother and Eastshore’s resident lawyer…while I tried my best to keep Joshy from tasting priceless art.

Yeah, I was settling into Eastshore alright, and it was all thanks to my Mate.

For so long, Bramblewood had been my home, and I thought that was the best I could hope for: a new purpose among other non-humans, and a restaurant of my own. But here on Eastshore? I’d found a real community…and a family of my own.

My Mate was here, and she’d accepted me as hers. What more could I want?

Kitlings who look at you the way Raina looks at her father .

Shaking my head, I bent to scoop Joshy up and placed him atop my shoulders. The boy knew I was his nanny, knew he could trust me to take care of him, protect him. That was like being his father, wasn’t it?

It would be good enough. It had to be good enough, because Hannah had made no more mention of sharing our relationship with her children, and we still hadn’t had the promised conversation about our employer/employee status.

She no longer slept in Joshua’s room, but I didn’t think the children had noticed her moving her things back into the master bedroom. Each night, she slept wrapped in my arms, and I reveled in the feel of her body—her soul —next to mine…and that was good enough. I had a Mate, and she loved me as I loved her. I should be satisfied.

My Kteer should be satisfied.

But it wasn’t.

Despite things being settled between Hannah and myself, my Kteer was unsettled. And I knew it had everything to do with the kitlings.

Eastshore Isle’s Independence Day celebration came and went with a red, white, and blue parade and a sandcastle building competition—Cairo and his Mate won this year with a rendition of a giant cupcake. We joined Hannah’s parents to watch the parade, and when I lifted Joshua—clutching Mr. BunBun, of course—and Tova so they could see better, Allison made a big deal out of how well I blocked the sun for her.

She seemed delighted by everything I did, and her gentle enthusiasm made me smile as well. I was sending over meals to her home now at least twice a week—her husband Charlie sometimes picked them up, or Ben and I drove them over—and they’d begun to ask for my help when it came to tasks that were just too tiring for them.

Honestly, I was happy to help, and I knew it was important for Ben and Tova to have an opportunity to help them as well .

So, during the second week of July, when Allison called me directly to ask for help picking up her new purchase from the antique store in town, of course I agreed. It was an afternoon when all three kids were home with me—Emmy had a dentist appointment off-island, and Ben had been staring at the T.V. too long—so I strapped Joshy to my chest, and we all walked to Second Time’s A Charm .

Allison was waiting for us on the walkway out front.

“Oh, there are my favorite grandbabies!” she cried, holding out her arms.

Tova ran for a hug immediately, her enthusiasm almost knocking Allison over, but Ben merely rolled his eyes and smiled. “We’re you’re only grandbabies, Nana.” Still, he stretched up on his toes to kiss her fragile cheek.

I eyed her color and the pink baseball camp she wore over her missing hair. “You’re looking good today. Those fish oil supplements are helping?”

“And knowing that the end is in sight,” she agreed with a bright smile. “The steak you made on Tuesday didn’t hurt either.”

“Nana!” Joshua bellowed, kicking his legs and waving his lovey. “BunBun wants a tiss!”

When the older woman leaned closer to kiss first the toddler, then Mr. BunBun, I inhaled, and realized I could recognize Allison’s scent the same way I knew Joshy’s, or Ben’s, or Tova’s. Just like Hannah, this woman had become part of my family, and I would do everything in my power to make her life a good one.

“Thanks so much for your help today, Aswan, kids. I can’t wait to show you the credenza I found,” Allison was saying as she held the door to the antique shop for us. Second Time’s A Charm smelled of well-dusted treasures. “Of course, Mavis wasn’t going to be any help in loading it into my car?—“

“I’m eighty-two!” came a call from the rear of the store. “I don’t load cars!”

“So that’s where you come in,” Allison finished smoothly, gesturing toward one of the aisles. “I really appreciate this.”

I was only half paying attention, instead trying to keep Joshua from kicking me as I unstrapped him from the carrier. “Here you go, buddy,” I announced gratefully as I placed him in the aisle. “Stay with us, okay?”

“Wook, BunBun!” he yelled, holding the lovey above his head. “Forts!”

“They’re not forts,” Ben said with a good-natured scoff. “They’re old people furniture.”

“Forts!” his younger brother yelled, then took off running toward the stale-smelling couches.

With a sigh, Ben shot me a look. I glanced between him and his grandmother, wondering how much trouble a toddler could get into in an antique store. Probably a lot .

“You help Nana,” Ben said. “I’ll watch Joshy.”

I nodded gratefully. “Don’t let him get near anything glass or breakable. Tova, where are you?”

It was a little maddening to have to try to keep track of three kids and Allison amid the delicate antiques, and I was ready to get out of there as soon as she finished paying for her credenza. Which—in case anyone else has been in this world for a decade and had no idea what a credenza is— isn’t actually a kind of houseplant, which is what it sounds like, but a sort of cabinet.

Not terribly exciting, but also large enough to understand why Allison was worried about it.

In the end, I solved the problem by sending Tova to hold her grandmother’s hand, and picked up the entire thing with a grunt, then maneuvered it out the front door.

Allison hurried ahead to open the trunk of her SUV. “If you can manage to get it in here, Aswan, I’ll give you all a ride home. Oh, thank you so much!”

“Ben,” I grunted, even as I managed to manipulate the wooden cabinet into the trunk. “Can you— oof —get your brother strapped in?”

Tova was climbing over the seats, chattering about the forts they’d imagined inside the store, and Joshua was giggling along. Until, just as I managed to close the trunk, he suddenly wailed, “BunBun! BunBun gone !”

Allison paled, and I resisted the urge to mutter a curse. Instead, I met Ben’s eyes and jerked my head toward the store. “We’ll find him,” I assured her. “Tova, you stay here with Nana and your brother, okay?”

Ben joined me at the door, and it wasn’t until he said, “I’m really sorry,” that I realized how downcast he was.

“Whoa, what?” I pulled him aside, right outside the antique shop, and bent down to meet his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

His hands were in his pockets. “Joshy was my responsibility. I’m sorry I lost Mr. BunBun. ”

I frowned as I placed my hand on his shoulder. “ I’m sorry for asking you to watch your brother—that wasn’t your job, and if I’d been better prepared, it wouldn’t have happened. Watching Mr. BunBun was Joshy’s responsibility, but…” I shrugged. “What do you expect from a three-year-old?”

I saw Ben’s lips twitch as he peeked up at me through his lashes. “You’re not mad?”

“No, of course not.” I pulled him to me for a quick hug, then turned to lead him through the door. “Besides, it’s easily fixed, right? Let’s split up inside and go up and down the aisles. You check in all the places where Joshy hid, okay?”

With a quick, determined nod, the ten-year-old turned down the left-most aisle, and I headed toward the linens section, where I remembered Joshua playing.

It was less than two minutes before I found the missing lovey, lying forlornly under a table piled high with pillows. “Found him!” I called out, but when I emerged with Mr. BunBun clutched in my hand, I realized I hadn’t heard Ben’s response. “Ben? I found him.”

Nothing.

Frowning, I cocked my head and turned in a slow circle, realizing I hadn’t heard anything from him since we split up. Had he returned to the car?

Not sure why my Kteer was urging me to hurry, I half-jogged back outside and wrenched open the door to the SUV, even though my senses were telling me Ben wasn’t inside. “Have you seen Ben?” I barked, tossing Mr. BunBun over the seat to a relieved Joshua. “He didn’t come out? ”

Allison was already reaching for her seatbelt. “No, he’s not out here. I’ll help?—”

“I’ll find him.” I was already turning back to the antique shop. “Stay with the kids,” I commanded, heart pounding.

He’s fine. He’s hiding. He’s playing .

Except…my Kteer was telling me it wasn’t fine. What had happened?

“Ben?” I yelled again, striding through the store. “Mavis, have you seen the boy I was here with?”

“What?” came the cracked voice again. “Who’s speaking?”

Gods below, she wouldn’t be any help. “Ben? Where are you?” I used my height to peer over the piles of furniture in the jumbled store, each heartbeat sending me closer to panic. “Ben!” I reached the back of the store and kept going, striding into the storage room. “Where are you, buddy?”

And then.

And then I heard it.

A scuffle, a muffled cry. A car door slamming.

The back door was still swinging closed, and I don’t know how I knew it, but I knew Ben was in trouble. I went from a standstill to a full run in a moment, and reached the back alley in time to see a bright blue sedan peel away.

Ben was in the backseat, eyes wide and scared and mouth opened as he peered back at me.

No no find hunt save hunt hurt safe no now .

My Kteer’s instructions were instinctual, primitive, and I couldn’t not obey.

With a roar, I whirled and pounded back through the store, still in enough control of my primal instincts to know what I had to do.

“Who’s that?” came Mavis’s call, and I ignored her to wrench open the front door. Allison was standing beside the SUV, and when she saw me, she paled. My rage must have shown on my face.

“Someone took Ben,” I snapped out, not bothering to modulate my volume. “A bright blue sedan, Tennessee plates. Call the cops and Hannah!” I yelled, already jogging backwards down the street.

“Wait!” Allison called frantically, hand out. “Where are you going?”

“There’s only one place he’s going!” I bellowed, turning around.

And I know where it is .

My feet pounded against the asphalt as I hurtled down the center of the road, not bothering to swerve for oncoming traffic. The cars would get out of my way, or I’d go through them, because nothing was going to stop me from getting to the ferry dock.

My breath burned in my lungs, my arms pumped, and I refused to believe I would miss the ferry. My Kteer urged me to focus on the hunt chase kill , but I struggled to guess the time. We arrived at the store a little before eleven, and the ferry left Eastshore docks on the half hour .

It was the only way off Eastshore, and if that’s where the bastard had taken Benny, I had to beat him there. I couldn’t catch him, but I could head him off.

Because if he got on the ferry before I could reach him, who knew how much time he’d have to hurt my charge. My kitling. My son .

Howling with rage, I pushed myself harder.