A Catamount Christmas

Chapter 5-1

5

The next morning, Dane met Jake at Shana and Callen’s house as planned to continue what they’d started yesterday and hopefully find more answers than questions. Dane got Jake set up on Callen’s computer before getting started on packing for Shana. She’d texted him a short list of items she wanted. He quickly took care of it and loaded the boxes in his truck. Returning to the kitchen, he tugged a chair beside Jake where he sat at the table silently. Though Jake barely moved, he quickly flicked the mouse and scrolled through screens at a rapid pace. He had a flash drive plugged in to save whatever he found.

“Anything?” Dane asked.

About the only thing that kept his mind off Chloe were his worries about what happened to Callen. Though even with the looming fear around that, Chloe danced in the edges of his thoughts.

Jake made a few clicks before answering. “A few leads to chase. The guy that kept popping up in his email, Hayden Thorne, works for Fish and Wildlife. I can’t pin anything on it, but he had a ton of contact with Callen recently, and all of it was about mountain lions and rumors about shifters. He made it sound like he was fascinated with the myth and all that, but he asked a lot of questions. Too many. And I hate that he works for the Feds.”

“Yeah, that detail makes me more than a little nervous,” Dane replied.

Jake saved whatever he was working on and ejected the flash drive, pocketing it quickly. He swiveled in the chair and looked at Dane. “So what’s up with Chloe?”

Dane didn’t even bother hiding it. Jake was a shifter too. He knew damn well what he sensed from Dane yesterday. “She’s mine,” he said simply before catching himself. “Let me rephrase, the cat in me would like to make her mine. But I have some sense, so I’m trying to figure out how the hell to tell her who and what I am.”

Jake chuckled. “I gathered that’s what you’re hoping, but how serious are you?”

“More serious than I’ve ever been. As soon as I got near her, I knew she was the one.”

Jake’s grin faded, his blue eyes becoming thoughtful. “So when exactly do you plan to let her know you’re a shifter? And what that even means?”

Dane rolled his head around, easing the tension in his neck. “As soon as I can. Just trying to figure out the how and when. I don’t want to put it off. I can’t have her thinking I tried to hide it from her. But damn if I know how to go about it. Any advice?”

Jake shook his head slowly. “You know how it went for me the one time I tried. Not good.”

Jake had fallen in love with a woman in college. To this day, Dane didn’t think it was love, but rather l**t. But when Jake showed her who and what he was, she freaked out. The culmination being that she left campus never to been seen again, but not before she spread plenty of rumors and left the shifters busy debunking the rumor mill. Jake had sworn off any woman who wasn’t a shifter since then, but that definitely limited options. There was also the fact that shifter clans stayed stronger and healthier if they expanded with humans. To find Chloe and feel the way he did with her, Dane didn’t want to lose her. He couldn’t shake the worry of how to tell her and what to do if it didn’t go well.

Dane nodded. “I know. I’m hoping it won’t go like that with Chloe.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I’ll figure it out.”