Sheer Bliss (2 page)

The she-cat wisely
quieted, but didn’t lose her smirking expression. The remainder of
the hair appointment passed without further argument or discussion
of Calla’s personal life.

Yet, as Calla watched her
client’s jaw twitch and her eyes dart from side to side—implying
the cogs in the she-panther’s brain were working overtime—she bit
her lip and said a silent prayer to whatever deity these shifters
worshipped that Sheila and Lorraine would honor her request to
recognize her private life as simply that.

Right.

Chapter Two

Leave it ‘til tomorrow to
unpack my case...

Caleb hummed the rest of
the Beatles tune quietly, practicing as Paul McCartney preached by
dropping his duffel bag at the foot of the stairs. Stretching, he
paced the foyer slowly and inhaled, happy to be out of a car and
away from pressing pride issues in the city, eager to free himself
of all human accoutrements so he could enjoy a long night run on
the beach in panther form.

He shed his jacket,
hanging it on the antique coat rack by the door, then kicked off
his shoes.
So much better
, he thought, wiggling his toes in
his socks. Maybe if he could sneak out through the kitchen and take
the back way to the beach, he’d be undressed and shifted before
anybody at home realized his return.

No such luck, however. The
Houlihan women possessed the keen hearing skills of their panther
ancestors. The family no longer hunted, so now his aunt and younger
cousins often used this gift to listen for his Porsche to come
roaring up the street.

“
Caleb?” Cousin Trisha
raced down the stairs, pausing at the banister post. Caleb turned
to regard the beautiful young woman, amazed by the changes he saw
in her, though only a month had passed since he left Bliss. Wearing
her hair long over a strapless club dress, Trisha approached
gracefully on lethal red high heels to give him a hug.

“
Did you just get back?”
she asked. She smelled of her mother’s Chanel No. 5—hard to believe
this same girl had worn dungarees and favored soda pop lip balm
only a few years ago.

“
Yes. Don’t tell me you’re
heading out.”
Especially in that.
It surprised him that he
hadn’t heard Aunt Sheila’s conniption fit from the
turnpike.

Trisha smiled. “I’m
meeting some friends at The Wall in a bit,” she said. “Come on,
you’ve been in the city long enough to know things don’t heat up
around here until late.”

“
True, but Bliss is no New
York City, and you make sure you don’t get too close to any
flames.” He chuckled at Trisha’s heavy sigh, then clapped his
hands. “Got you something.”

He bent toward his duffel
and unzipped a side pocket from which he plucked a small red box
dressed with a white ribbon. “I stopped in Times Square yesterday,
went to that store you love,” he teased her.

Trisha folded her arms.
“You promised you wouldn’t go there without me.”

“
I know, but I didn’t want
to risk this getting sold out from under me before then.” Caleb
watched with warming pride as Trisha opened her early birthday
gift, a diamond and ruby studded Hello Kitty pendant on a silver
chain.

Trisha held it high,
enamored by how it sparkled under the light of the foyer’s
chandelier. “Caleb, it’s beautiful. And it matches my dress, too.
Thank you.”

She turned her back and
Caleb fastened the necklace for her. “I know you still have all
that Hello Kitty stuff from when you were little. I figured if you
will continue to collect it, you might as well upgrade.”

Trisha laughed, but as her
fingers grazed the tiny gems that comprised the iconic cartoon face
her smile fell. “These are real,” she said, almost in accusation.
Then her gaze sharpened, her eyes glowing with mild panther rage.
“Why would you spend so much on me?” she demanded. “There’s a
string attached to this, isn’t there?”

Caleb sighed, and paced
the foyer again. He should have known his honor graduate cousin
could sniff out an appeasement so easily.

“
Trisha,” he
began.

“
You met with the Weaver
pride while you were in New York, didn’t you?”

“
You know I did,
sweetheart.” Since the death of Trisha’s father three years ago,
Caleb assumed the role of head of the Houlihan pride as the next
male in line. Ideally, Caleb would have been happy to let Aunt
Sheila take the responsibility, but the old guard panthers and
their chauvinistic values kept such progress at bay. He hated it as
much as the Houlihan women—especially Trisha, who viewed herself as
the Council’s latest sacrificial lamb.

“
So, what news from
Mordor, then?” she cracked. “I suppose you weren’t able to get me
out of this draconian arranged marriage.”

Rather than reveal he
hadn’t gone to New York for that purpose, Caleb instead hung his
head and let his cousin gather that information for herself.
Peering up through his lashes, he watched Trisha finger her new
trinket as though she meant to yank it off her person and hurl it
at the wall.

Instead she inhaled and
let her fury spill rapidly in time to her clacking heels on the
marble tile as she paced. “I never asked to be born a
were-panther,” she said, fuming. “What I wouldn’t give to go a club
and dance with a guy of my choice, and not have to worry about
whether or not some animal is going to rip his dick off later. Now
I have to marry somebody I don’t know, and move to fucking
California because the Council won’t step into this
century.”

“
Trisha...”

Trisha snatched her purse
from the coat rack and slung it around her waist. “Sorry, cuz, I’m
wasting valuable freedom talking to you. Marcy’s waiting for me to
pick her up.” Without saying goodbye, the eighteen-year-old slammed
the front door with a force that rattled the frame.

“
Be careful,” he finished
to the empty room, then sighed.

“
Caleb?” called his Aunt
Sheila from upstairs. “That you?”

Shit.
“I’m going
for a run,” he shouted back, and quickly ripped open his shirt. He
could dash through the kitchen in seconds, but his late uncle’s
wife had descended the stairs with a stealth that kept him in
thrall. Closing his shirt, he sighed again and turned to submit to
her third degree.

Sheila looked like a near
carbon copy of her eldest child, right down to her youthful smile
and stylish outfit. “We got in from the movies a while ago,” she
said, removing her earrings. “Did you see Trisha on the way
out?”

“
Our paths crossed
briefly,” Caleb said, keeping his mouth a straight line. “Did you
see what she was wearing?”

“
See it? I helped her pick
it out.”

Carrie Bradshaw, eat
your heart out.
“Look, Aunt Sheila, it’s been a long day. If
you don’t mind, I want to get in a run while the shoreline is
relatively devoid of people.” While most locals knew to expect the
occasional shifted beast roaming the beach, the late season
tourists concerned him more. Decades after settling in New Jersey,
the were population remained Bliss’s best kept secret. Non-shifter
locals, while relying upon tourism in summer to keep businesses
afloat, did not broadcast the were presence for fear of an
uncontrollable surge of curiosity seekers…or else a nationwide
panic that stood to threaten an otherwise peaceful shore town. “Can
we talk about the Council when I get back?”

“
Actually, it’s my hope
you won’t be back until morning,” Sheila said. Her smile unnerved
Caleb.

“
I talked to Wes last
week,” she continued, referring to another panther shifter within
their Council’s jurisdiction, but not of their immediate pride. “He
had some blood work and tests done on Calla Savitch and discovered
something very interesting.”

“
What’s interesting is how
easily the good doctor is willing to breach doctor-patient
confidentiality,” Caleb retorted. He didn’t want to think what his
aunt had done to the poor panther to get this juicy tidbit of
gossip.

Sheila didn’t appear
remorseful. “When it comes to matters that directly affect our
pride, all bets are off. And it happens that Calla is recessive for
the shifter gene.”

“
The
panther
gene?”

“
Wes couldn’t say
specifically, but you know that recessives are known to adapt to
the environment.”

This environment included
wolves. Calla could easily mate with one of them. “So what?” Caleb
shrugged. Sheila had revealed nothing earth-shattering; he knew
that many non-shifting humans were similarly genetically
predisposed. Calla may not be a true shifter, and all this revealed
was that one of her ancestors had been one, and either married or
mated outside his pack. Big deal—that could have been centuries
ago.

“
So, if Calla were to mate
with a panther, the chances for naturally shifting children are
greater than if you married any other human.” Sheila appeared giddy
with the news.

Caleb raised an eyebrow.
“Me specifically?” Lord, he wasn’t ready to marry again. He’d only
lost Teresa to cancer four years ago, and attempts to find a new
mate among the eligible she-panthers in their region proved
disastrous.

“
Caleb, you know I’m not
big on...mixing. That we’re able to find a pureblood match for
Trisha is nothing short of amazing, but our numbers are dwindling,”
Sheila said, impassioned and close to cracking. “By the time Dawn
and Robbie are of age there may not be a good pool of candidates
left—”

“
Maybe that’s a good
thing. Your other children can then marry for love instead of
duty,” Caleb spat.

Sheila took a step closer.
Suddenly that Chanel perfume had lost its allure—now it cloyed his
senses.

“
We are talking about
preserving our race, Caleb.” Her voiced turned cold.

“
The Houlihan name will
survive regardless of our genetic makeup, Aunt Sheila,” Caleb said.
“Come on,” he touched her shoulder, “I know this means a lot to
you. I’m sorry if you’re getting the idea that I don’t think highly
of you.” He knew his aunt did care deeply for her children’s
welfare, despite her insistence to hold fast to these
traditions.

This seemed to placate
her. “You know, I never once heard you complain about
your
match,” she said. “Only how much you miss her.”

“
It’s like you implied,
Aunt Sheila. The times, they are a-changing. You can’t compare my
experience to Trisha’s or anybody else’s.” His cousin did have a
point that the Council needed to modernize, but blast if he
couldn’t outright reject the more conservative point of view. What
Sheila told him now, the old guard had warned during each meeting.
If intermarriage continued, it posed a threat to the were-panther
way of life. What abilities they possessed that gave them an
advantage over humankind would certainly become muted over time,
until they all might as well be fully human.

“
What do you want me to do
about Calla Savitch?” he asked.

“
I want you to go over to
her house and show her a good time.”

“
A good time.” Caleb
rolled his eyes. “Fine. We’ll make popcorn and rent
Sex in the
City
.”

“
Don’t be cute, Caleb.
Lorraine Winston was in Shear Bliss today and—”

“
Stop.” Caleb held up his
hands, ending all conversation. He should have known the old and
ridiculous rivalry with the werewolves came into play here. No
doubt Sheila wanted Calla wooed away from some Winston bachelor
more than she wanted the hairstylist as part of their pride. No way
did he intend to act as a pawn in such a petty game.

Besides that, if he
managed to get through Calla’s door he’d consider it a minor
miracle, or severe amnesia on her part. The woman hated him, and
confirmed that numerous times over the years since he spurned her
romantic overtures to fulfill his arranged courtship with
Teresa.

“
I’m not interested,” he
told his aunt, yet deep down his conscience nagged at him. He
couldn’t say he didn’t find Calla unattractive, but why waste time
on a losing proposition? “Leave her to the wolves.”

Sheila raked a hand
through her hair, sighing. “Look, surely to God she’s gotten
over—”

“
She hasn’t, so please
don’t bring it up.” He wanted to run on the beach, not stroll down
a dark-clouded memory lane. He blamed himself mainly for the
disintegration of his friendship with Calla. He shouldn’t have led
her to think they had a future in the first place.

As for the prospect of one
now...forget it.

“
We can talk more about my
meetings with the Council when I get back,” he said as he barreled
out of the foyer. “Order something from Nunzio’s, please? I haven’t
eaten since lunch.”

He heard Sheila call to
him for specifics, but he was out the back door, shedding articles
of clothing along the way. By the time he hit the edge of the
fenced backyard where their property met public beach, he had fully
shifted and broken into a brisk run down the dark, deserted
residential beach.

He made sure to go fast.
He didn’t want to give his aunt the satisfaction of seeing him head
toward Calla’s home.