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The three of us recoil. I imagine Stone has never seen Reggie upset like this before and the sudden power in his voice shocks him. It shocks Jason too, and he lapses into stony silence as Reggie looks at me and says, calmly but seriously, “That’s a heavy accusation, Miss O’Malley. Do you have any way of proving that?”
I nod and hand the paperwork to Reggie. Jason makes a move to stop her but a sharp glance from Reggie stops him. He laughs bitterly and says, “Well, whatever. No point in dragging this out, I guess."
Reggie looks up from the papers and says, “You telling me there’s no point in me reading all this?”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying,” Jason says. “And you can knock off the goddamn high and mighty attitude too. You shifters. Always walking around like you’re better than other people.”
“When did I ever say I was better than you?” Reggie asks. “When did any of us say we were better than you?”
There is no anger or accusation in his voice. Only hurt and to my surprise, compassion. I think Reggie suspects the answer even before Jason says it.
“Oh, come on, Reggie. Don’t act so damned innocent. You know as well as I do Mom and Dad loved you more.”
“What on Earth makes you think that?” Reggie asks.
“What on—seriously, Reggie? My first day of school I had to ride with the Ellmer’s because Dad had to teach me how to eat grass properly. When I was cut from the football team, Dad made me spend all day building you a pen next to his so you two could live like animals instead of people.”
Stone takes a step toward Jason, and I put a hand on his arm to calm him down.
“All my life,” Jason said. “Whenever I was hurt or scared or sad, I had to deal with it on my own. Your birthdays were celebrations with cake, presents, decorations, and dozens of friends and family. Me? I was lucky to get a donut and a card. Don’t say it isn’t true, Reg, you know it is. Hell, Mom wasn’t even a shifter and she still preferred you. Do you know why I burned the house down, Reg? I got sick of looking at it. I got sick of staring at the home where you and our parents lived, and I existed as an unwanted guest.”
Reggie doesn’t speak for a long moment. When he does, he turns to me and Stone and says, “May I have a moment to talk to my brother alone?”
Stone and I nod agreement and head outside to wait. Stone lapses into a…well, a stony silence. I don’t blame him for that. I don’t know a lot about shifters, but I know a lot of prejudice still exists—both explicit and implicit—that they have to deal with even more than a century-and-a-half after officially revealing themselves to the world. The fact that this prejudice is coming from his close friend and mentor’s brother must make it especially hurtful.
After a few minutes, Reggie and Jason walk out. Jason walks wordlessly past us and out the door. We look questioningly at Reggie, and he says, “Jason has agreed to pay to rebuild the ranch house. In return, I have agreed not to press charges.”
Stone begins to protest but Reggie holds his hand up for silence and explains, “He’s my brother, Stone. And while you and I know that most of my parents’ behavior was because they needed to teach me how to control my shifter nature, he’s not entirely wrong. Whether intentionally or not, they treated him like he was second fiddle.”
“So it’s okay that he burned your house down?” Stone asks incredulously.
“No,” Reggie said. “I’m not saying that. I am saying that I’m choosing to forgive my brother instead of punishing him.”
“You could have died, Reggie,” Stone says. “Look, my parents weren’t wonderful to me, either, but I would never burn my sister’s house down because they treated me badly.”
“Yes,” Reggie agrees. “I don’t expect you to understand, Stone, but this is what I’ve chosen to do. I don’t expect to see Jason for a long while. Maybe never. I’ll feel better about that if I know he’s free and healthy and as much as possible happy than I will know he’s languishing in prison.”
Stone looks very unhappy with that, but he doesn’t protest. He nods and says, “All right. It’s your call, Reggie.”
Reggie claps him on the shoulder, then signs the claim denial form. He leaves and Stone and I head back to my car, grateful to put a very challenging day behind us.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Stone
I dig my hooves into the dirt and lower my neck to bring my weight to bear as I pull the lumber closer to the house.
“That’s good!” Ricky calls from atop the scaffolding.
He shifts back to a jaguar and leaps down, then shifts back. “Maybe two more loads and that’ll do it for the roof.”
We hear a deep, throaty growl and turn to see a giant polar bear trotting up with a massive toolbag draped over his haunches.
“Thanks, Rory,” Ricky says, taking some of the tools. He calls to a massive gorilla the size of a heavy-duty truck, “Hey, Brett! Get over here and help.”
Brett growls and lumbers over as Ricky shifts back into a jaguar and leaps onto the roof. He lifts a huge beam with a single paw and holds it up for Ricky to grab.
Ricky hesitates and turns to the leopard walking along the top of the scaffolding. “Hey, Jeff,” he says. “Little help here?”
