“Yes, exactly. And they seem to have a way of making their needs known. She apparently wanted to be here, in the Hudson Valley, at the veterinary clinic. Within the community here. And…” Julian waved his arm expressively. “Here she is.”
Liam laughed. “Point taken.”
“I feel better that you didn’t know about magical kittens either,” Naomi told Liam, leaning over to steal a potato wedge off his plate as Jacinth moved towards a table a little way aways, where Kester and Tamera sat with one of the Moroccan ladies.
“Hey! Get your own!” He made a swipe at it, but she held it out of reach, laughing as she bit into it.
“There aren’t anymore,” Alessandra put in. “Troy got the last of them, I think.”
“Well, hell.” Liam pushed the plate over a little so it was between them. “Okay, I’ll share.”
“These are really good,” Naomi enthused. “Who brought these?”
Alessandra turned in her chair, scanning the adults seated around at various tables and picnic benches.
“It was Kester. I remember, because I came up the drive behind him when we arrived, and I could smell them, it was all I could do not to steal the whole tray right out of his hands.”
They all laughed. Then, reaching over, Alessandra touched Naomi’s shoulder, angling her head to one side. Following her gaze, Naomi felt a smile spread over her face. The collie she’d seen earlier was sprawled, deeply asleep, next to the bench where Troy sat. Tucked up against her were several tawny little bundles, with long wisps of hair going this way and that.
“Ohmigosh, how adorable! Those are the caracal children, right? I never saw ear tufts so long in all my life. I didn’t even know if it was possible, even if I’d thought to wonder about it, which I didn’t.”
She closed her mouth with a snap, realizing everyone at the table had turned to stare at her. She felt a blush creep into her cheeks. “I’m rambling, aren’t I?”
Julian’s lips quivered a moment, and Alessandra cast him a scorching glance.
“You’re fine. It’s good to see you beginning to relax around us.”
Oh.Her face heated even more, and she found herself at a loss for words.
Liam reached out, covering her hand with his. She was intensely aware of his touch, and it took everything she had not to turn her hand in his, to clasp his fingers and hold on tight.
“It’s going to be okay, you know.”
“I just don’t understand how you can all accept me like this,” she burst out, not meaning to. “You know who I am… what my family is.”
“Who… and what… your family is, isnotwho, or what, you are,” Alessandra said firmly.
“There’s something else you need to think about, Naomi,” Julian told her, holding her gaze with his own. “We may have all just met you in this past week, but Beatrice was an employee at the clinic here for months. Alessandra and I never met her, but trust me when I say that since we found out she was the Rogue terrorizing the women here, she’s been the topic of many a conversation. And the important thing here, that I want you to consider, is that notoneperson who knew her, liked her. Every single one of them thought there was something off about her, or perhaps it was simply a matter of not being comfortable around her, even though no one had a clue she was even a shifter, much less a Rogue.”
Alessandra nodded, taking up the tale. “On the other hand, those very same people have not only met you, they like you. And that, despite what anyone would consider to be a natural caution on meeting you.”
The scrape of a chair on the cement patio had Naomi turning, to see Jacinth taking a seat on her other side. She, too, laid a hand over Naomi’s.
“Beatrice had a darkness to her, that was immediately obvious to me. The first time I met her…”
“I told her about the date with Douglas,” Liam put in.
Jacinth waved a hand dismissively. “Yes, but I hadn’t met Beatrice at that point. But she came by the house, unannounced, the very next day. I can’t sense a shifter, although our Elders have that ability. I’m not old enough to have developed that skill. So, while I had no idea she was a shifter, she still had this edgy feel to her. I don’t really know how to explain it, except that it made all my hair stand on end, at least, that was the feeling I got. What’s more, we’d gotten a kitten for the children, and when Beatrice walked into the room, Brandy was so terrified, all his fur did stand on end, and he even scratched poor Molly trying to get away.”
“The point is,” Liam said, his fingers tightening on hers, giving her hand a light shake until she looked right at him, “this was long before anyone knew Beatrice was a shifter at all.”
Jacinth tilted her head, eyes narrowing in thought. “Now you mention it, I think I remember Katerina saying Troy was badly scratched by a gentle, elderly cat that was a regular patient of his, when Beatrice was outside the examination room.”
“That’s right,” Liam exclaimed. “Maroulla told me about it. She said Beatrice worked strictly in the wing that was for the dogs, that the cats wouldn’t tolerate her presence. Of course, no one put it together at the time, this was only in hindsight, with everyone contributing what they knew to try to work out the whole history of what happened.”
“Yes, and what’s more,” Jacinth said, “upon Beatrice’s departure from the veterinary clinic, naturally the staff began to express their own thoughts about her. It seems that even the normal human employees at the veterinary clinic hadn’t liked her. She was good at her job, according to Douglas and Troy, but she made people nervous. They shied away from her, and avoided her when possible, and when not possible, had as little to do with her as they could manage. One of the receptionists said flat out that Beatrice felt just plain creepy.”
Julian leaned forward to capture Naomi’s gaze. “We all understand that you’re having difficulty believing in yourself, which is understandable, given everything you’ve been through. What we’re asking is for you to have faith inus. You are not like Beatrice, nor are we unsuspecting prey. We’re a close-knit group with one helluva lot of experience, collectively, at our backs. And we believe in you. There is no darkness in you, no edge of danger that prickles our survival instincts. Your innate goodness shines from you like a beacon to me, just as clearly as I see the magic sparking off young Lacey.”
