Page 16 of Stray Cat

Xav’s love for carnitas was eclipsed by his frustration over Lindsay. He craned to peer out the back door, which he swore he’d heard slam as he’d slid through the crowd.

“She’s gone,” Cassidy informed him.

Tall, blond Cassidy turned her leopard stare on Xav, not without some sympathy.

Once upon a time, Diego’s love for this woman had gotten Xav abducted by murderous feral bears and his arm smashed, but hey, anything for his bro’s happiness, right?

“Who’s gone?” Xav asked, trying to sound innocent. “That smells great,hermano.” He gave Diego a friendly pat on the back. “Can’t wait.”

“Lindsay.” Cassidy had a glass of water in her hand, another hint that she was pregnant. “She had to go home.”

“Did she?” Xav gave up the pretense he hadn’t been looking for her. “She went out the back, because I came in the front?”

“Yes.” Shifters were known for telling the painful truth.

“Shit,” Xav said softly.

Cassidy tilted her head to indicate she wanted to speak to Xav in private before she sauntered to the back door and outside. She didn’t mean to sashay, though Diego turned his head to watch her every stride. Felines always moved with lithe grace.

Xav walked out the door with much less finesse and slammed it behind him.

The open yard was filled with more cubs and Shifter adults. All of Eric’s Shifters would come to celebrate their leader’s son.

The birthday boy, Callum, who was two, ran around in the black leopard form he’d recently begun to shift into. Eric and Iona were both leopards, but they’d wondered if Callum would have his father’s snow-leopard markings or the dark fur of his panther mother. The conundrum was over, which contributed to Eric’s pleased-with-himself expression.

Several bear cubs chased Callum, followed by two boys who were twin wolves, all yelling at the top of their lungs.

Cassidy watched the cubs in fondness but the gaze she turned to Xav was steely. “What did you do?” she demanded once they’d found a relatively empty patch of ground in which to converse.

“To Lindsay?” Xav regarded his sister-in-law in exasperation. “I told her to stop racing into danger before she got herself killed. Excuse me for caring.”

Cassidy’s look turned pitying. “You told a Shifter woman to stay home while the menfolk go out and fight the battles?”

“Not exactly.” Xav shrugged. “All right, maybe. But she scared the shit out of me last night. She followed us to a bust, and then she accepted a deal with a seriously bad—I meanbad—man. She didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with that.” He let out breath. “I guess I don’t know anything about Shifters.”

“No, you don’t know anything aboutwomen.” Cassidy gave him a smile. “You try your best.”

“Thanks a lot, Cass. What do I do to make it right?”

“Do you still want her to back off this thing with AC Parkes? I know what it’s about. Diego told me.” Diego told Cassidy everything, so her declaration wasn’t a surprise.

“AC can’t be trusted,” Xav said with conviction. “I feel bad for his brother, yes, but DX Security can extract him if necessary. We’re experts at it. I don’t want Lindsay to get caught up in bad shit and hurt.”

“I don’t want her hurt either.” Cassidy studied Xav in her unnerving cat way. “Shifter women don’t stay out of the battle, Xav. They’re very protective of their mates and their families. Male Shifters need all the teeth and claws on their side they can get, and they know it.”

“I’m not her mate,” Xav said. Why did that statement make him feel empty? He’d never pictured himself settling down, which was why things worked with Lindsay. She was as adamantly free-spirited as he was.

“You’re family,” Cassidy said. “Maybe not literally, but Lindsay and I are best friends, which makes her a part of my family, and me a part of hers. I’m mated to Diego, and you’re Diego’s brother. We’re all connected.”

“Are you saying I’m dating my cousin?” Xav joked. “Don’t go there, Cass.”

“Very funny. You know what I mean. We’re all close, and you two have a relationship, if a weird and undefined one. Lindsay’s going to protect you, and you can’t stop her. Preventing her means not letting her follow her instincts, which is a sure way to break things off for good.”

“Hiring herself to AC for his possibly deadly mission has nothing to do with her protecting me,” Xav pointed out.

“Maybe it does. You basically told Lindsaynotto protect you, so she’s trying to prove herself to you. Shifters aren’t human,hermano. We’ll never follow your rules, so don’t try to impose them.”

Cassidy absently touched the Collar around her throat, which, like Lindsay’s was fake.

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