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Chapter 24
“Make sure everyone is drinking enough water,” Tanith instructed as she lowered a rather heavy cooler to the ground next to the snack table. “Nobody gets to faint on my watch.”
When no one immediately snapped to, she barked the order again, this time louder, and a few of her hardworking shifters stopped what they were doing and trudged over to grab a bottle of water. Even Miguel Ruiz, leader of the bear clan, bowed to her whims—which Tanith thought was pretty cool.
It was also pretty cool that there were at least two dozen shirtless, gorgeous men helping her rebuild her gallery, but she wasn’t about to get braggy.
“Thanks for storing everything for me,” she said to Maida, arms crossed as she surveyed the workers, searching for any signs of heat exhaustion—or just exhaustion in general. According to Blake, however, it took a lot to tire a shifter out.
Given his voracious sexual stamina, she took his word for it, but that didn’t stop her from fussing and pulling the Mom Card whenever she saw fit. Just because shifters could handle the heat and the workload didn’t mean she took them for granted. If someone wasn’t feeling well, even if it wasn’t typical shifter behavior, she wanted them sitting down in the shade, drinking some water and recouping in peace.
“My boss says we can offer a free dessert to anyone who buys lunch from us outside of what we’ve already donated,” Maida noted with a nod to the mountain of pre-wrapped sandwiches waiting to fuel some hungry shifters. She watched the shifters work from her spot next to Tanith, and had been instrumental in getting the food and drink station set up before her shift that morning.
Angel Fire’s police force had been kind enough to barricade the chunk of road in front of Tanith’s demolished gallery, mostly for the safety of the workers involved. All that extra space, however, gave Tanith ample room for the amenities she thought were crucial to everyone working in this summer heat. On top of a food and drink table, she had huge sidewalk-café worthy umbrellas set up everywhere, also courtesy of A Cup of Beans, to provide much needed shade.
“So, how are you feeling after everything?” Maida asked after the pair had handed out some cold water bottles to a few thirsty bears.
“In shock,” was the best way for Tanith to describe it. She sighed, eyes wandering to the stripped remains of her beloved gallery. Since they had started working yesterday, Blake’s crew of volunteer shifters, including a few rams and coyotes, had cleared out most of the debris. Today, they’d finish with that, leaving her a blank canvas to start her renovations. Feeling Maida’s eyes on her, she cleared her throat and offered a small smile. “I mean, I’m coming to terms with Blake being a shifter. That day is still kind of a blur in my mind, but I’m mostly just shocked that everyone is pitching in to help rebuild the gallery for free.”
“Well, if I’ve learned anything about that clan, it’s that they look after their own and then some,” Maida told her, her tone quite affectionate. “They’re some of the best people I know…just a little different, that’s all.”
A week after the cougar battle, things were starting to settle around Angel Fire. There hadn’t been any further break-ins or acts of vandalism. No other local landmarks had been burned down, and Blake had told her last night that he couldn’t scent a cougar anywhere—especially around her house.
Being Espie Ruiz’s best friend, it was no surprise to Tanith that Maida had grown up with a much more intimate knowledge of the shifter world than she’d had herself all this time, and she was grateful that the younger woman had taken the time to explain a few things and check in with Tanith’s feelings about her sudden shift from being an outsider to becoming a part of the inner circle. Not that Blake hadn’t been ridiculously supportive, but Tanith certainly appreciated another human’s perspective.
Good grief. Who was she that she needed to seek out another human to help her with her problems? What kind of a world was she living in these days?
Tanith turned her attention back to the men—and a few women—at work, then smiled to herself. Whatever kind of world this was, it was a good one. Kind. Decent. Caring. She had never felt so instantly welcomed as part of a family before, even in the artistic community.
“Now, where the heck is your fated mate?” Maida teased, tenting a hand over her eyes and scanning the area. Tanith bit her cheeks, hoping that she might catch her blush before it happened, but from Maida’s giggle, she knew she had failed completely.
“He said he had some business back at the hospital this morning,” she said. Not for a second did it bother her that Blake wasn’t shirtless and sweaty with all the others working on cleaning debris. After all, he had paid for the remodel of the gallery out of his own pocket.
The night after the cougar attack, he had presented her with a check that more than covered what she needed to rebuild. They’d had their biggest fight yet, with Tanith refusing to take it and Blake demanding that she should.
“Think of it as an investment in our future,” had been the eventual kick in the pants she needed to swallow her pride and accept his very generous donation. After that, plans to move in together to save money came about, and next weekend they had an appointment to go house hunting in a newer suburban development that had been finished a few years ago.
It was a little further out from town, but Tanith didn’t mind the drive if it meant she got to see the love of her life every morning when she woke up and kiss him every night when she went to sleep.
Working with Blake’s money in mind had made her frugal and cautious with the remodel, but all things considered, Tanith actually liked the plans for this gallery more than she had the last. Fate and destiny clearly had a hand in shifter culture, and she thought they’d both acted in rather mysterious ways lately.
“I bet Hayley is going to be thrilled once the gallery is finished,” Maida said with a laugh. She then grabbed one of the sandwiches and started unwrapping it, not noticing the way the mention of Tanith’s daughter made her stiffen. “She really didn’t get a chance to rule the roost. I did that at my uncle’s restaurant as a kid. He didn’t have any of his own, so he let me boss everyone around and act like I owned the place. It was a lot of fun.”
“Yes. She’s… She’ll be happy to have Blake and I home more often,” Tanith managed. “Excuse me. I need to make sure the water is in the fridge.” She made a hasty departure, headed up the street to A Cup of Beans where all the food supplies were being stored during the renovation. If she stayed any longer, Maida might have realized something was amiss.
Hayley’s latest reports were in from her doctor—and she was getting sicker. Although Tanith’s little angel had been a bundle of supportive joy during this crisis, the enormous shift in Tanith’s life had taken a physical toll that was palpable. She’d gained even more pallor, lost weight, and her energy had diminished considerably over the last two weeks.
Exhausted, Tanith had sobbed to Blake well into the wee hours of the morning yesterday, worried that she might lose her daughter if they didn’t find a transplant immediately. Her condition had moved her up the donor list, but that didn’t seem to move things along any faster.
There was no point in rebuilding the gallery, in spending all this time away from her daughter so she could monitor and help the progress along, if in a few months Tanith might lose her completely. But her head was in a fog, world weary and emotionally exhausted, and it was difficult to make priorities when nothing was certain.
All she could do was spend as much time with Hayley as she could. If she wasn’t needed at the gallery, she was home, helping Trudy home school her baby and praying for a miracle.
After ensuring that more water had been added to the back fridge at A Cup of Beans, she popped into the bathroom to wash her face, dry her eyes, and plaster a grin across her lips. When she looked more her normal self, she hurried back outside, thanking the manager on duty at the café along the way. Two steps out the door, however, that little bell tinkling behind her, Tanith came to an abrupt halt. Striding down the street was a sight she never thought she’d see.
Blake, handsome as ever, hauling a surly, mildly panicked Judd behind him, black eye and all. Two men she had never thought she would see in the same place together unless they were tearing each other apart as a bear and a cougar. They were a tornado, a hurricane, a tsunami of terror and chaos.
And that chaos was headed straight for her.
