Naomi bounced on the mattress with excitement. “We can share reading lists,” she told Beth. “It’ll be like a book club, we can pick books we’re both interested in, and then talk about them on Zoom.”
The sisters were still in deep discussion of possible books to read together, when Liam’s phone chimed. He listened a minute, then smiled and closed his phone.
“Ladies!” He rose to his feet and waved one hand to get their attention.
“That was Maroulla,” he told them. He didn’t even try to hold back a wide grin. “The Council has agreed to let Beth move to the residential section, rather than stay here in an animal enclosure. You’ll still be confined,” he warned, as Beth’s eyes widened. “But you’ll live in an apartment, as a human.”
Beth stared at him, seeming bereft of speech, while Naomi squealed and hugged her sister. Liam had to grin at her excitement.
“Maroulla’s already called the Admin. They’re preparing rooms for you now. It’s not like a human prison. You’ll have a small suite, rather like a studio apartment, with a bedroom, living room, and bathroom. Hector will come by to let us know when it’s ready. Unlike the others, though, you’ll have to be restricted to your rooms.”
Naomi frowned at that, looking a little worried. “What if her cat wants out? You know it’s as dangerous to never let our animal out as it is to stay in our animal forms.”
“Just let them know,” Liam reassured Beth. “There’s an open courtyard, like a large park, for residents,” he carefully avoided using the word prisoners, although that was what they were. “The guards will escort you there, and you can Change and spend as much time as you like as your cat, then they’ll take you back to your apartment when you’re ready to Change back.”
Beth’s eyes filled with tears.
“I-I don’t know what to say,” she stammered.
Naomi hugged her tighter, rocking her sister back and forth. “You don’t have to say anything. You just do what I did… eat, and sleep, and get better.”
“What you did?” Beth echoed, a puzzled look on her face.
In a few brief sentences, Naomi explained her own situation. Beth’s arms tightened around her. “I’m sorry, Sis,” she whispered. “I’m sorry you went through that.”
“It’s okay,” Naomi reassured her. “I’m doing so well now, and surrounded by the whole shifter community there. They’re so wonderful, embracing me, and helping, and being my friend, in spite of… well… Beatrice.”
Beth shuddered. “Oh my God, she’s so awful! And Mom, too.” She raised her head from Naomi’s shoulder to look at Liam. “Thank you for getting me out of there. Being in an apartment will be wonderful but getting me away from them, even if I had to stay here in this pen, I’d be fine with that, so long as I was away from them.”
She smiled tremulously, holding up her new phone. “And at least, now I won’t be alone. Not really.”
“I’ll be calling you all the time,” Naomi promised fervently. “We may not be able to see each other a lot, but you’ll never be alone, I swear.”
Beth hugged her again. “I’ll have a place to live as a human, a place to spend time as my leopard, and I’ll have you. And at the same time, I’m where I can’t hurt anybody. I can’t ask for more than that.”
Chapter21
Nerves at facingher first day on the job had Naomi up before dawn Monday morning. She’d expected to have trouble sleeping, after the visit to the Sanctuary, seeing Beth again, and having to part from her to return to New York. Instead, she’d slept surprisingly well, and woke up alert and ready to go.
Padding downstairs in her quilted robe and slippers, she fixed herself some hot coffee from the dining room, and headed back to her room. It was chilly as she stepped onto her balcony, but she inhaled deeply, loving the clean, fresh scent of late fall, the stillness of the surrounding woods with their lurking shadows in the pre-dawn dark. Leaning against the railing, she sipped her coffee, feeling the gradual zing of her brain waking up.
Out of the corner of her eyes, movement caught her attention. A small form, not much more than a blurred shadow, slipped across the lawn to disappear into a rose bush. As she blinked, trying to clear her vision, it darted out, heading for the edge of the woods, scurrying so lightning fast, she got nothing more than a vague impression that the form had been on two legs. But she could have been mistaken in the darkness. With a gulp, she wondered if it could be a raccoon. It’d been much smaller than a raccoon, though, and it hadn’t come from the trash bins, located on the far side of the inn’s small parking lot, away from the building itself.
Oh, geez. She shuddered as another possibility occurred to her. Rats? She shuddered. Surely, not! Regardless, she’d better let Renee know. Leaning sideways, she peered through the window into her room, checking the digital clock on her nightstand. While it wasn’t quite six o’clock, Renee was probably well into preparations for breakfast.
Still in her robe and slippers, she went back downstairs. The dining room was empty… not surprisingly, since breakfast wasn’t available until seven. She crossed the room and stuck her head through the kitchen door. “Renee?”
“Well, good morning to you, Naomi,” Renee said as she emerged from a deep pantry. “This your first day at work, right?”
“Yes, but, um, there was something else I wanted to let you know about.” She cringed inwardly. Talk about an awkward conversation. “I saw something run from the back of the inn, into the woods. It was too big to be a squirrel, but not big enough to be a raccoon. And it was really fast. I thought I should let you know, in case it was something worse, like, I don’t know, rats or something.”
“Ah!” A huge smile spread across Renee’s face. She beckoned with one hand. “Come this way, Naomi.”
Going into the lobby, past the check-in counter and down the hall that led to the back parking lot, Renee paused at a door marked Private. Opening it, she beckoned Naomi inside. Naomi looked around curiously. The room was clearly Angus and Renee’s private study, with a comfortable sofa and recliners set before a fireplace… a real one, she noted, with a basket of logs to one side, and a rack with fire irons. Wide, curtained windows looked out over the lawn and to the woods beyond. A narrow staircase along the far wall likely led to their bedroom suite.
Renee crossed to the fireplace, gesturing to the hearth. On a corner of the hearth, beside the logs was a small bowl and saucer. Naomi peered at it, then looked to Renee with wide eyes.
“Brownies?”
