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Next, Lucas phoned his ex-wife Emily.
“Lucas!” she greeted him. “Thanks so much for that photo. It’s adorable! How are you doing?”
Her question sounded sincere. After a couple of painful years following their divorce, they’d manage to salvage their old friendship and were currently on good terms.
“Hey, Em, I’m doing fine, but I need a big favor,” he said. “I just got a call about an urgent investigation in another part of the state, and I need to leave town ASAP. Can you take Taylor and Savannah for a few days, maybe a week?”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I can’t,” Emily said, to Lucas’s dismay. “Nathan and I are on our way to the airport. He booked a week’s stay at the Empress Hotel in Victoria for our anniversary, and I won’t be back until next Sunday night.”
“I see,” Lucas said awkwardly.
Emily sighed. “Lucas, I know you really love your job, and you’re doing important work. I get that. But maybe it’s time to find something that won’t send you away on a moment’s notice.”
Lucas and shook his head. It was the same old story. Emily had always claimed that his career was one of the things that had driven a wedge between them. But she was a high-powered attorney, and she hadn’t been willing to compromise on her desire to make partner at the law firm, either.
“Yeah, I’ll think about it,” he said, insincerely. “Have fun on your trip, okay? And say hi to Nathan for me.”
“I will. And you stay safe.”
“I’ll do my best, Em.”
Lucas ended the call and slumped back against the sofa base.
“Fuck,” he said out loud.
“Mommy says that’s a very bad word!” Savannah called from the other side of the living room.
“I know, kitten, and I’ll try to do better,” Lucas replied.
As always, he couldn’t help wondering whether he would’ve tried harder with Emily if his cougar had actually formed a mate-bond with her.
Back then, his cat’s lack of interest in her had bugged him. Now, he acknowledged it for the mercy it was. Mate bonds were for life. If she’d left him after he mated her, it would’ve doomed him to spend the rest of his life unable to date, much less mate, anyone else while Emily lived.
Not that he actually had any time to date right now.
When he wasn’t working an insane caseload at his job, he was trying to be a good dad to his girls. It was all he could do to get enough sleep every night to remain functional.
He phoned his parents next. Cougar clans were small, usually consisting of just a matriarch, her daughters and their families, and unmated sons. By long tradition, men remained part of their mother’s clans until they found a mate. After that, they joined their mate’s clan.
His mom answered the phone.
“Ofcourseyour dad and I will watch the girls,” she said immediately, after he explained the situation.
Luckily for Lucas, his parents lived on the other side of Boise.
“Great,” he said. “I’ll drop the girls off after dinner, if that’s okay with you.”
Mom knew better than to ask where he was headed, or any details about his investigation, though he knew she was dying to know.
“Of course, dear. I’ll put some cookies in the oven, and we can all watch a movie before bedtime.”
“Thanks, Mom. I don’t know what I’d do without you and Dad to help me out,” he said, gratitude mingling with guilt about not being a better father himself.
“You know we’re here for you…until you find yourself a new mate. And how’s that going? Have you met any nice shifter girls lately?”
Chapter 3
“Ha, ha, funny, Mom. You know I don’t have time to meet any nice girls, shifters or otherwise,” Lucas said.
