He’d just hit the grassy area when another cougar came up beside him. It was Taylor. They ran until they reached the opposite end of the field before they stopped and took on their human forms once again.
“It’s a nice day for a run,” Taylor said.
“Yeah, it is.” The sun shone brightly, and even though it was fall, it wasn’t too chilly, not that they’d have felt the cold through their thick pelts.
“You really like Harley, don’t you?”
“Yes. I now know why you prefer human women. No pressure.”
“You mean a human woman, as in the singular. Aspen is the only one for me.”
“I know. I meant before you met her.”
“Being banished from the family group did give me a better perspective on life. I’m thankful one of our females didn’t set off my pendant. I don’t think I would have been able to stand it.”
“Which is why you have a human for a mate.
Speaking of your banishment, have you spoken to your werewolf buddies yet?”
Taylor had lived and worked for a werewolf.
Meadow had been human until she became the mate of one of the werewolf sentinels, who turned her. Meadow and Taylor had become so close Taylor thought of her as a sister. When he’d left Juneau, where Meadow lived, he’d done so without telling her where he was going or why, not sure what to expect when he arrived in Anchorage. Banishment was usually meant for life.
Only their father’s illness had made it possible for Taylor to come back to the family group. He’d been the heir apparent to take their father’s place.
And since Blaise had outright refused to take his brother’s place after he’d been kicked out, their dad had decided no one else but Taylor could do the job so he overturned the banishment.
His brother nodded. “Yeah, I called Meadow a couple days ago.”
“How did that go?”
Taylor chuckled.
“Good.
I explained everything to her. Once she got done giving me crap for feeling as if I couldn’t talk to her about it, she said she wants me to bring Aspen to Juneau for a visit or Meadow and her mate Durlach will come here. She made it perfectly clear she was going to remain a part of my life.”
“So you told her about Dad.” Blaise said it as a statement.
“Yes. Meadow also offered a couple options if he starts to go downhill fast. She said she’d get Durlach to bite Dad and see if he would gain immortality like them, or she’d talk to Ryder, the sentinels’ shaman, about seeing Dad and trying to cure him with a magic spell.”
The sentinels were the only werewolves who were able to turn a human, or mortal, as they called them. The six original sentinels were the very first werewolves, who were from the ice age.
Their shaman back then had used a spell to create them. They had different aspects about them that modern-day werewolves, their descendants, didn’t have. Like being able to turn humans and werewolves alike, making them hybrids, and being immortal.
Blaise met Taylor’s gaze. “The first one, I know for a fact Dad wouldn’t tolerate. He’d be a mix of werewolf and cougar, and who knows if that would even be possible. Plus, if he became immortal, then Mom would have to be turned as well since she would want the same life span as him. The shaman on the other hand, I wouldn’t turn him away.”
Taylor nodded. “I already told Meadow I’d be giving Ryder a call if it becomes necessary. She was going to pass on that message to him.” His brother paused before he spoke again. “So you’ve been having doubts about Caleb as well?”
“Yes I have. I didn’t really until the other day.
Before that, I was starting to question if he was going to be able to help Dad. Now I’m wondering if he’s purposely making him sick.”
“Even though Caleb is our cousin, we aren’t as close nor know him as well as we do Jase and Grady. He was raised in his mother’s family group after our uncle disappeared and his mother died. We’d have to know for sure he’s deliberately causing Dad harm before we accuse him of it. For one thing, Dad wouldn’t believe us.
He’s always tried to look out for Caleb when he could.”
“Even paying to send him to medical school. I know we’d have to have proof. Hopefully the blood tests Harley does will show something.”
“We don’t know for sure, but you realize there’s more than a good chance she’ll see the differences in our blood compared to a human’s.”
“I know that. I’ll deal with it if it comes down to that.”
“How?”
“I’ll tell her exactly what I am, what we are.”
“Be prepared for her not to accept it.”
“I will be. She hasn’t set off the magic in my pendant. There’s a chance she never will. I’ll let her go if she can’t handle the truth. And I’m pretty sure she’ll keep the secret of our existence as well. If she told anyone I doubt they’d believe her, and she’ll know that. She’s not stupid.”
“And if she does set off the magic? What will you do then if she still doesn’t want to be with you?”
Blaise shrugged. “I have no damn idea. I’ll have to hope she’ll come around as Aspen did for you.”
Taylor smiled. “That had a lot to do with the fact Mom went to talk to her and explained everything about us.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to ask Mom to do the same thing for me.”
His brother clapped him on the shoulder.
“We’ll have to wait and see if it comes to that. In the meantime, let’s hope Harley does find something to help Dad, be it giving proof Caleb is doing something fishy or a solid answer as to what Dad’s illness is. I’m going to head back to the house. I told Aspen I would talk to you, then we’re going for a horseback ride.”
Blaise watched Taylor change to his cougar form once more, then take off at a run toward the house. He shifted as well but headed in the opposite direction. He still had some time to kill before Harley arrived.
He thought over all the things he’d discussed with Taylor. Now that his brother voiced his own concerns about Caleb, Blaise was thinking more and more that not everything was on the up and up with his cousin. And if the blood tests did end up showing something was very wrong, he wondered how Caleb would be dealt with. Trying to harm a family group leader was not something that could be overlooked.
Then Blaise’s thoughts strayed to what if Harley did end up setting off the magic in his pendant. He wouldn’t dislike the idea of her being his mate. He was more worried about the fact she was human and wouldn’t be able to accept him being a cougar shifter. Once the cougar’s ruby eyes started to glow, he wouldn’t be able to think about anything but trying to persuade her to take his necklace from him and put it around her neck, thus causing a bond to form between them, claiming him as hers. And by persuading, he meant sex. He’d be in a state of arousal almost constantly, unable to eat or sleep. Harley rejecting him wouldn’t make it go away either. It would make it worse. The idea had Blaise feeling leery about all of it.
He slowed his loping run, figuring he’d gone far enough. Blaise turned around and headed back the way he’d come. As he’d told Taylor, he would deal with all that when the time came, if it happened. There was no guarantee.
Chapter Six
“What’s going on, and why is this person I don’t know standing in my bedroom?” Blaise’s dad asked as his gaze landed on his mate, Taylor, Blaise and Harley in turn.
“This is Harley.” His mom nodded in Harley’s direction. “She’s Blaise’s girlfriend. She also happens to be a medical lab technician. She’s going to draw some of your blood.”
“Why?”
Blaise knew what had to be going on in his dad’s head that he couldn’t voice out loud. He would want to know why Harley, a human, was going to take his blood. And he probably wasn’t too thrilled to hear she was Blaise’s girlfriend either.