Normal still didn’t feel… complete.
“Travis! What are you doing up so early?” How Breck, the head waiter, managed to look so fresh and energetic after what Travis knew could only have been a few hours of sleep was a mystery.
“It’s after noon,” Travis said skeptically.
“You still look like you need a week of sleep,” the leopard shifter said critically.
“Thanks!”
“You’re off the books today,” Breck reminded him, frowning at the toolbox. “There are only about four guests left, so don’t sweat anything.”
“There will be more coming, though,” Travis reminded him.
Breck was looking at the calendar and checking the notes. “Not until tomorrow, and next week will be cake compared to the last few.” He gave Travis a suspicious look. “Speaking of…”
“I didn’t touch your cake.”
Breck gave him a theatrically skeptical look, then took off towards the kitchen, opening the door with a surprisingly good harmony to Chef’s song.
Travis shook his head and walked past the kitchen door as it swung shut, heading for the back staff stairs down to the laundry and mechanical room.
The relative stillness of the pool deck and the bar was welcome; it was strange, after the past few days, not to have to elbow through throngs of guests to get anywhere. Tex was behind the bar, and his new mate sat before him on a bar stool.
Our mate, Lynx said, unexpectedly in his head, and Travis had to freeze at the intensity of it.
That’s Tex’s mate, Travis assured him, shaken. Yes, she was a gorgeous woman, and Tex was lucky to have her, with that velvety dark skin and those beautiful curves, but that he would even give her a second glance felt like betrayal.
No, Lynx growled. She’s ours.
All Tex could do was stare.
Chapter 4
Jenny followed Scarlet up the winding white path to a pool deck that she vaguely remembered from the previous night. It looked quite different in daylight, brilliantly gleaming in the tropical sun. It was bigger than it had looked in the faint light of pre-dawn, and was edged with palm trees. What had only been the sound of splashing water proved to be twin waterfalls, flanking a grand staircase that came down into the pool from the upper deck.
Jenny was grateful for the dress Scarlet had brought her, but found herself keenly aware that she was wearing no underthings beneath it as Scarlet led her between scattered sun chairs. She was glad to see very few people, most of them looking hungover and dragging luggage.
“I suspect that Gizelle was not the best person to wake up to in a new place,” Scarlet explained. “But she may be uniquely suited to helping you with your new shifting abilities, and she seems to want to. I apologize for not being able to stay longer and help you get situated, but I have a great deal of paperwork to do in the wake of your arrival.”
It wasn’t quite an accusation.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know when I will be able to pay you for our stay,” Jenny said hesitantly. “The money is going to be tied up in legal battles for a while
.” The life insurance money that had been denied to Jenny and Laura when her parents had been murdered would be difficult to access while the justice system unraveled the depths of Fred’s activity. Jenny’s head hurt, thinking about the layers of bureaucracy they were going to have to go through to put the whole sordid affair to rest. She usually loved a messy challenge to unravel, it was part of the reason she had dived into a career in law. But right now, the idea of facing anything more complicated than a sandwich felt overwhelming. She wasn’t even sure if she’d be able to access her own slim accounts; her laptop had been destroyed and she couldn’t remember any of the details or login credentials.
Scarlet looked as if she had been deeply offended. “You are our guest,” she said in icy tones. “I will put you in touch with some legal council I have connections with once you feel up to it.” Her skeptical tone made Jenny suspect Scarlet rather doubted her ability whether she felt ‘up to it’ or not.
The red-haired woman led her up a wide flight of stairs up to a deck that overlooked the pool and a collection of chairs and tables outside of an open bar. Tinny country music in Spanish was playing on radio and Jenny’s chest squeezed at the familiar sight of her wolf shifter sister, sitting in front of the bar.
“Jenny!” Laura leaped off the barstool and tackled Jenny in a fierce hug.
Jenny was not sure if she should weep on Laura’s shoulder or flee, suddenly feeling terribly unsteady. She clung to Laura much longer than she normally would have, and awkwardly hid her webbed hands behind her when they finally ended the embrace.
“Jenny,” Laura said nervously. “I want you to meet Tex. Or, er, meet him again.”
Tex was leaning over the bar, and Jenny immediately remembered his bear smell, and the beat up cowboy hat he was wearing from the night before. “I’m sorry about the hat,” she said hesitantly.
There was something else familiar about him, and she couldn’t put her finger on it until Tex’s handsome face split into a grin and he put fingers automatically to the rim of the hat in question. “You don’t have anything to apologize for, ma’am,” he drawled, and he extended his hand to shake.