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“First, isn’t you labeling me a gangster a bit like the pot calling the kettle black? Not all of your business activities are on the up and up. And second, you’d be surprised what I know that could shed some light on your current predicament. However, I choose to speak with you and your lady in private.”
Mischa nodded to Valentin. “It’s all right, Val. I can handle the lynx-shifter here if it becomes necessary.” Valentin withdrew. “Speak your peace, Reynolds. My mate is just coming through a difficult transition. I won’t have her tired out by you and your Machiavellian games.”
“No games. I understand your mate has recently discovered that she is, or rather was, human. I think Kitty and I can shed some light on the subject.”
“Kitty? I know she’s a lynx, but do you have some way of communicating with her?”
“I do, but so can you. Might I trouble you for a robe of some sort?” Colby pointedly asked Simone.
“Sure, there’s one in the closet.”
“Kitty, why don’t you go change?” asked Colby with a bit of a smirk. The lynx lying next to Simone looked from Colby to Simone and back again. “It’ll be all right. Everything will be fine.”
Kitty jumped off the bed and padded into the walk-in closet, using her paw to mostly close the door. The distinctive sound of a shift came from behind the door. When the door opened, it wasn’t a lynx that emerged. It was a beautiful woman of Asian-European heritage with long, black, slightly wavy hair and dark eyes who emerged.
“Kitty?” she asked incredulously.
“It’s Midori,” said Reynolds.
“Simone can call me whatever she likes.” She nodded to the bite mark on Simone’s throat. “Did you want him to do that? Because if not, I can get you out of here.”
“Explain yourself,” growled Mischa.
“I am answerable only to Simone. I call no man alpha,” answered Kitty/Midori, evenly.
“You’ve been a shifter all this time?” asked Simone. Midori nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me? How was it no one knew?”
“I think your mother has had her suspicions over the years. We shifters are more difficult to detect in our animal form. Like with your medallion, I used a mixture of pheromones and other substances to disguise my scent.”
“But why?”
“Because I failed your mother. I did not intend to fail you.”
“You could never fail me. Did you know my mother?”
“No. Only that she was human and on the run from the Shadow League. I worked with the Shadow Sisters. I went in to try and get her out. I was too late. I heard them kill her. By the time I got there, Martina had arrived, and I knew she would protect you. I waited and watched over you from the time you were a baby. One day a couple of your father’s men tried to kill me. You stopped them and saved me. As I was already a lynx, I chose to remain in that form to stay close to you.”
“How old were you?” asked Simone.
Midori smiled and raised her hand to Simone’s cheek. “I was in my early twenties when I tried to save you and your mother.”
“What’s Reynolds’ part in all of this?” asked Mischa.
“When it was obvious you meant to claim Simone whether she liked it or not, I saw stopping you, if it became necessary, as a way to redeem my failing to save her mother. I had always believed Giuliano and Martina would keep her home in order to keep their secret safe. Her mother may have been killed by the Shadow League, but it happened at her father’s vineyard. At first, I believed Giuliano was complicit in her mother’s death, but now I feel he was only their dupe. As for Reynolds, I asked for his help in ensuring Simone was safe.”
“She is my fated mate; I would never hurt her.”
Midori stared at the bite wound. “You don’t really expect me to believe that didn’t hurt? And I understand having an alpha’s knot shoved up inside you is not a lot of fun.”
“You have been misinformed. I wear Mischa’s mark proudly and the pain he inflicted was more than compensated for by the ecstasy I found in his arms. The same can be true of taking his knot for the first time. I only hope it will not be too long before I feel it again.”
Mischa shook his head. “So, you were prepared to come up and try to wrestle my mate from my grasp?” he asked Colby.
“The Shadow Sisters and I have been allies for some time. I wasn’t as convinced you were the monster Midori believed you to be.”
She could feel a change in Mischa as he reached down for the phone. “Mrs. Perkins? I believe we will be having a guest for the foreseeable future. She will be staying in the guest room Simone first occupied.” He put down the receiver. “Satisfied?” he said to Colby.
“If Midori wishes to remain with Simone, that is her choice. But she is always welcome at Windsong. When your mate is fully recovered, I would like to have you attend a meeting of those who are banding together to take down the Shadow League.”
