Second Nature (52 page)

"I understand only too well what hiding a big part of yourself can be like," the human said. "Don't you feel much better now that you told Rhonda how you feel about her?"

The sudden introduction of Ronnie into their grim conversation threw Leigh off balance. She had to stop the automatic smile at the mere mention of Ronnie's name.

Somehow, the human saw it anyway. She chuckled. "You do," she answered her own question. "I'm glad my big mouth didn't ruin things between the two of you."

She hadn't. Leigh had to admit that without the human's conversation with Ronnie, she and Ronnie would have continued to live side by side without ever confessing their feelings to each other. The human had seen the love between them even when they had both been too blind to see more than their own feelings. It suddenly occurred to Leigh that she owed the best thing in her life to a human.
Great.
Saying thank you to a human wasn't on her list of favorite pastimes, but Leigh knew she needed to say something. "Ronnie likes you," she said. "And so does Griffin."

"Is that enough for you to promise not to try to have me for dinner again?" the human asked.

"We don't eat humans," Leigh said. Only then did she see the twinkle in the dark eyes.
She's teasing me,
Leigh realized. Again she couldn't help admiring the strange human who was brave enough to joke about her desperate situation. "But if you keep teasing me, I might make an exception for you, human," Leigh said sternly.

The human nodded with a serious expression. "No running and no teasing around predators. I got it. And it's Jorie, not 'human.'"

A grin tugged at the corner of Leigh's mouth. "You better go to bed now before my sister blisters her feet standing around in the hall."

"What?" The human frowned. "You mean... Griffin is standing outside the door, eavesdropping on us?"

Despite her natural curiosity, Griffin wasn't really standing there to eavesdrop. "She's keeping watch, just in case I suddenly find myself famished for some tender human meat." She made a show of licking her lips as she eyed the human.

"Tender?" The human shook her head. "Writers don't have tender meat. Our backsides are a little tough from sitting around on it all day. I'm quite heavy on the stomach; I assure you."

Underneath the joking words lay a silent message of strength. This human wasn't easy prey. Leigh gave a nod of understanding.

The human walked toward the door. "Goodnight, Leigh," she said with a quick glance back.

"Goodnight," Leigh answered, then added, "Jorie."

CHAPTER 22

R
HONDA REACHED OUT a hand.

The bed next to her was empty and cold.

"Leigh?" she whispered into the darkness. Blinking, she sat up and looked around the room but saw no sign of Leigh anywhere. Only the familiar contours of her bedroom furniture surrounded her. A sense of dread skittered along the edges of her mind and pushed back the hazy peace of sleep.
Oh, Great Hunter! Please don't tell me I was just dreaming all of it.
It wouldn't be the first time she dreamed of making love to Leigh, but this time, Leigh's scent was still clinging to her skin.

Rhonda got up and took a calming breath, inhaling the scent deeply. Her bare foot stepped on something soft — Leigh's T-shirt, stripped off carelessly by eager hands. With a grin, Rhonda slipped it over her head. The familiar scent embraced her as Leigh's arms had embraced her earlier. Low voices came from the kitchen, reassuring her of Leigh's presence in the house. There was no fighting or shouting, so she hoped Leigh and Griffin were finally talking to each other.

She stepped to the window and looked out, enjoying the sight of the moonlight dancing over the rooftops. Everything appeared so much brighter and happier tonight.

Her good mood almost evaporated when she saw the figure lurking halfway between her house and that of the neighbor. The moon shone just brightly enough for her excellent night vision to make out his face.

Tarquin! What in the Great Hunter's name is he doing, hanging out in front of my house at night — especially this night?

It wasn't a social visit between friends. Tarquin had hated Griffin ever since she had beaten him up for insulting Ky. Most likely, Tarquin was keeping an eye on Griffin's every step while she was here.
Or maybe he was hoping to get a glance at me through the bedroom window.
The thought made her shiver, but not in a pleasant way.

She had been aware of Tarquin's interest for quite some time, but she had always preferred to ignore it. His interest wasn't really in her as a person anyway. As the son of an old, influential Kasari family, he'd had dreams of becoming Brian's protégé and successor. Marrying Rhonda, only daughter of a well-respected family, would have been another rung on his career ladder. When Brian and Gus had instead supported Leigh's plans to become the first female natak, Tarquin had felt he had been humiliated by one of Brian's daughters again. Now he was keeping a close eye on both Griffin and Leigh.

Shit. If he's watching the house, it won't be long until he realizes there's a human hiding in my home.
Rhonda shook her head. She wouldn't allow that. Fierce determination gripped her. She needed to keep Tarquin away from her property and from the three women in her house.

Quickly, she slipped into her pants and opened the bedroom door.

Deep in thought, she jumped when glowing cat eyes met hers in the hallway. "Leigh?" she asked. It was the only name, the only person on her mind tonight.

"Wrong sister," came the amused answer.

Rhonda looked more closely. The form leaning against the wall next to the kitchen was indeed too tall and too broad to be Leigh. When Rhonda lifted her nose from the T-shirt she wore, her sense of smell confirmed that it was Griffin. "What are you doing out here?" she asked, puzzled. "And where's Leigh?"

Griffin pointed at the kitchen door with her thumb. "In there, talking to Jorie."

Good,
Rhonda thought. Leigh had never really talked to a human, and it was long overdue. Going through life hating all humans wasn't healthy, and Rhonda knew if any human could earn Leigh's respect, it was Jorie. "And you're standing there, eavesdropping?" she asked, secretly amused.

"No!" Griffin growled at her, but it didn't intimidate Rhonda. "I'm just here to make sure that Jorie is safe. Being attacked twice by Leigh is more than enough."

Rhonda couldn't hide her smile. "You like her."

"She's not so bad for an annoying little sister," Griffin said with a shrug.

"I'm talking about Jorie, and you know it," Rhonda said. Griffin could deny it all she wanted, but Rhonda knew exactly what it looked like to be attracted to someone and to try to hide it from herself and the world around her.

Griffin just looked at her with a blank expression and changed the subject. "So you and Leigh finally figured out what everyone around you has known for years, huh?" She shook her head. "Mooning over each other for fifteen years... Fifteen years!"

Heat shot up Rhonda's neck. "Well, I was convinced that Leigh saw me only as a friend, someone to protect like a little sister. I knew she would do anything to take care of me and make me happy, but I didn't want her to start a relationship with me for all the wrong reasons." It seemed Leigh had never confessed her love for similarly stupid, if selfless reasons.

The longer both of them stayed silent, the harder it became to be honest with each other. In the end, both had decided to endure their feelings of unrequited love to save their friendship.

It took the interference of a human to finally make us take a risk.

Embarrassed, Rhonda rubbed her reddened cheeks. "Don't change the subject," she said. "We were talking about you and Jorie, not about me and Leigh. The way you treat Jorie reminds me of the way you used to treat me when you had that crush on me." She gave Griffin a fond smile to let her know she was not making fun of her or her younger self.

It was amusing to see the tall, imposing woman squirm like a kitten. Griffin looked as if she wanted to shift into her cat form and escape as fast as her paws would carry her. "I wasn't much more than a cub back then," she said.

"I remember you standing guard exactly like this," Rhonda indicated Griffin's position next to the kitchen door, "when Tarquin wanted to talk to me one day." Suddenly, she remembered Tarquin's presence outside her house. "I'll let you off the hook for now," she said, giving Griffin a pat on the arm. "There's something I have to do."

"Where are you going?" Griffin called after her.

Rhonda didn't answer. There was no time for long explanations. She didn't want to take the chance that Tarquin would be gone by the time she got outside or that Griffin would follow her. This was her battle to fight, not Griffin's and not Leigh's. She knew she had a better chance at resolving the situation and sending Tarquin on his way peacefully.

He was still there. When he saw her, he tried to slip back into the shadows and escape to his car, but Rhonda was faster.

"Tarquin!" she called, letting him know that he wouldn't escape unnoticed or unidentified. "What are you doing here?"

His dismay at having been caught wafted toward Rhonda as he turned around. He stared into Rhonda's eyes in a silent battle of wills.

Rhonda knew that she couldn't win this way. She couldn't get him to answer just with the force of her personality as Brian could or by intimidating him physically as Leigh could have done. She didn't need to. There were other ways.

A long step forward, right into his personal space, made Tarquin stiffen. She touched his shoulder in a friendly gesture. "We weren't scheduled for patrol duty tonight, were we?" she asked, even knowing that it wasn't their turn tonight.

Tarquin blinked at the unexpected question, giving up on his attempt to stare her down.

"No," he answered. He pointed in the direction of the house, at the door that was still secured only provisionally. "What happened to your front door?"

"Oh, you were worried about me. How nice of you." Rhonda gave him another pat, secretly grinning at the thought of leaving her own scent — and Leigh's — all over him like a stamp of ownership. "It was just a little accident. Leigh thought I was calling for her from the bedroom, so she was in a hurry to get through the door." A sensual smile danced along her lips.

Tarquin's eyes widened. His nostrils flared as he took in her scent.

Rhonda's hand brushed along the sleeve of the T-shirt — Leigh's T-shirt.
Yes, that's right; I'm Leigh's. You've got no right to be here.
Rhonda hoped he was getting the silent message. "Now that Leigh is moving in, I'm thinking of installing a giant kitty door," she said. "That way, Leigh — and also Griffin — can get in and out faster. They're both so protective of me... and of each other that they'd run down my front door every time they think one of us is in danger."
Did you hear that, Tarquin? We're sticking together. Griffin isn't standing alone against you this time.

The tightening of his jaw told her he had gotten the silent message.

"Goodnight, Tarquin," she said pleasantly, dismissing him. "And thanks again for coming over to make sure I'm all right. I've been trying to get Griffin to realize that such concern and loyalty is one of the perks of living in a pride."

Tarquin blinked. His scent fluctuated between shame and anger; then he whirled around and stormed away.

*  *  *

Griffin was leaning against the wall next to the door when Jorie left the kitchen. She didn't even try to hide that she'd been there the whole time. "So you finally taught my stubborn sister that you have a name," Griffin said.

Jorie glanced back toward the kitchen, very aware that Leigh with her catlike hearing could probably hear every word they said. "You didn't need to stand guard," she said, letting both Griffin and Leigh know that she was not helpless and not afraid of Leigh.

Griffin's protectiveness evoked a mixture of emotions in her. A part of her was annoyed that Griffin didn't trust her to take care of herself and acted like her bodyguard, especially since Griffin had been the one who had tried to kill her just a few days ago. At the same time, she had to admit that she felt safer with Griffin sticking around, just in case Leigh lost control again.

Griffin shrugged. "Better safe than sorry."

That seemed to be the Wrasa's life philosophy. They were even willing to kill just as a precaution.
Not all of them,
Jorie reminded herself. She was trying hard to see them as individuals, not as a species of murderous monsters that she had first thought them to be.

They wandered back to the guest room and closed the door behind them.

"I don't think Leigh really wanted to kill me," Jorie said and realized that it was true. "It was just convenient to take her anger out on me, a human, when she thought you had taken Rhonda away from her."

"You impressed her," Griffin said. "She's learning that you're different from other humans."

"That's just it — every human is different from the others," Jorie objected. "We don't have standardized traits or reactions. I'm not denying that some of us might react with fear or hatred when they learn of your existence, but I'm sure others will be curious and will want to get to know you. We're not just a race of hunters and killers as Leigh seems to think."

"Neither are we," Griffin answered. She settled down into the easy chair and plucked some lint off the knees of her pants. "And even those of us who have killed aren't necessarily proud of it. We're not bloodthirsty monsters."

She's talking about herself,
Jorie realized. She believed her. Although she knew Griffin could be a lethal fighter, she had a hard time picturing her as someone who took pleasure in killing. "Then why did you get involved in this job as a... saru?" she asked.

Broad shoulders lifted and then fell when Griffin blew out a breath. "I took the easy way out," she said. "I wanted a job that lets me stay away from the pride, my family, and most other Wrasa, but still lets me be a part of it somehow. Me being a saru was the only thing my mother and my fathers were proud of, so I stayed."