Page 3 of The Griffin, the Tiger, and Their House Cat Omega

Chapter Two

River

The pounding at my front door yanked me from my sleep—not that it had been a deep sleep. The storm raging all around kept waking me up. More than one branch had fallen on my roof, and I wasn’t looking forward to checking that out in the morning. There wasn’t anything I could do about it during the downpours.

Lightning struck close by, the impact shaking the house. Again. Great. Not for the first time in this storm, I wished that I’d already removed the tree I had planned to. If it got hit and fell in this direction, my cabin was going to be useless.

More pounding at the door reminded me why I was up. Sleepy River wasn’t an aware River, which was why I’d been turned down instantly when I applied for the position of an enforcer of my streak. My tiger was fierce and could hunt like a boss, but for middle-of-the-night emergencies? I wasn’t the best choice by far.

I’d been so disappointed at the time, but I was glad to have a chill desk job.

“I’m coming,” I called out and padded to the front door.

I opened it to find the pack alpha standing there soaking wet. He was not okay. He was very much not okay.

“Hey, alpha. Computer problems?” I was the tech guy for the group. Not that there was much work for me—we were pretty low-tech—but since that’s what I went to school for, that was my job. It was a far cry from my youthful dream of enforcer, but I liked it well enough.

“No, not tech.” His beast was so close to the surface. “I need you to come with me.”

That didn’t sound good.

“In fur or clothes?”

“Clothes. Go put something on and move quickly.”

He was always gruff, snappy. Even if he needed something silly done, he was forceful and commanding. But tonight, it was different, almost sad, and it had my tiger off-kilter.

I threw on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, grabbed my jacket, and off we went. He didn’t say anything the entire trip. The silence was filled with pouring rain, more lightning, thunder, and the wind. So, so much wind. But even with all that distraction, I couldn’t help the dread building in my middle.

He took me straight to my sister’s house.

“What’s going on, alpha?” My heart pounded in my chest. There was no reason to bring me here unless something bad happened. Not at this time of the night.

“You’re needed here.”

That’s all he said as he led me straight inside without even knocking. One of his betas nodded at us and walked out.

“Flora is upstairs.” He didn’t even meet my eyes.

“Okay.” Why was he talking about my niece? “And my sister, Fern?”

He shook his head.

“My brother-in-law, Max?”

He shook it again.

“I’ll let you know when I know.” And off he went again.

I spent that night pacing, wondering what the hell was going on. I couldn’t leave, not with Flora sleeping on the floor above me. And I wanted her to sleep because if she came down those stairs, I would only be able to answer as Alpha had, which was not at all.

It wasn’t until the next morning that I discovered the horrible truth—that their car had slid down the mountain on their way back home from a dinner out. After taking the teenage babysitter home, Alpha came straight to me. They neededsomeone to watch my niece while the rest of the pack tried to find my sister and her mate.

If I had known then, I’d have declined, wanting to be part of the search. But Alpha had been right. If Flora had woken up to anyone but me, it wouldn’t have been good.

And they did find my sister and her mate, but not the way I hoped. They were with the Goddess now. No longer would I be able to pop over and have a cup of coffee with her, or go hunting with her mate or bring donuts, my sister’s favorites, when I knew she was having a stressful week.

The good news, if there were any, was that they didn’t suffer. My brother-in-law had shifted upon impact. My sister was gone before her beast could take over. It was quick.

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