Page 76 of Truthfinder’s Promise

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Jensen held on to Meredith while she fought him like a woman possessed. Her nails dug into his forearms. She kicked and clawed and screamed and didn’t even seem to realize he was the one holding her.

At first, when he’d seen her strange weaving through the room, as if she was looking for something by feel rather than by sight, he’d thought maybe she was doing some weird Aspect thing. Then she’d stopped in front of that circlet and gone too still, too entranced, her power crackling in the air around her like lightning, so strong it had been uncomfortable to breathe. She hadn’t heard him when he’d spoken, even when he’d shouted her name in her ear.

Now he held her a foot off the ground as he carried her toward the stairs, grateful for years of raising a baby sister who’d refused to come indoors at mealtimes. He’d always had to go pick her up kicking and screaming, at which point she inevitably shifted into her snow leopard form and proceeded to claw the shit out of him. Meredith’s nails and stilettos had nothing on a snow leopard in the grips of a full-on temper tantrum.

At the bottom of the stairs he dropped one arm from Meredith’s waist to dip and slide underneath her legs, hoisting her fully off the ground and taking an elbow to his right eye for the trouble.

He clamped her tight and bounded up the stairs. The opening at the top was too narrow for them to fit through together. He dropped her feet, gripped her waist, and tossed her up and out, leaping through after her. He caught her around the middle when she lunged for the sarcophagus, holding her until the lid slid back into place of its own accord.

Not until it had fully closed did she stop fighting him and straighten, her unfocused eyes regaining clarity.

She blinked. “Jensen? How did…” She trailed off, as if it was all coming back to her, and then she looked down at the blood under her fingernails and the scratches on his arms. “Shit.”

She grabbed the first aid kit he’d left by the tomb and opened it hastily, items spilling everywhere. “Shit, sorry.”

He wondered if she knew that the more flustered she got, the more she cussed. “You don’t have to apologize, and you don’t need to worry about it.”

She grabbed a package of gauze, halted a rolling bottle of saline with her foot and bent to scoop it up, taking both back over to him.

“I clawed you bloody, what do you mean don’t worry about it?” She pulled his left arm toward her.

“Trust me, you have nothing on baby snow leopard claws.” He tried to take his arm back but she scowled at him and he figured it was better to just let her get on with it.

She practically drowned his arm in saline wash. “Baby snow leopard? Your little sister?”

He nodded.

“So you guys don’t…I mean, you’re a wolf. Your sister isn’t?”

“It’s the ability to Shift that’s hereditary, not the animal we choose. We aren’t born to a specific form, but we are bound to the first animal we shift into. Shifter lore claims that our animal matches our soul.” He grinned at her. “Most people I know match their animal pretty well, but I figure that has less to do with the innate qualities of our soul, and more to do with being drawn to the kind of animal you already identify with.

“I really liked wolves as a kid. Didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out I’d end up shifting into one. Nat was the same way, always obsessed with feline furballs. Anyone could have guessed she’d go cat by the time she was three.”

Meredith opened the gauze and wiped carefully at his arm. “She’s a lot younger than you, right?”

He nodded. “Sixteen.”

“So…your grandmother raised both of you?”

“Not exactly. Grams raised me. Mom dumped me on her when I was five and took off. I never thought I’d see her again.

“Then one day she showed up with a six-month-old Natalie. She shoved Nat into my arms, told me to take care of her, and took off. Grams was out of town, so I took care of Nat. When Grams got back I thought she’d take her, but she just looked at her and said she was done taking care of my mother’s castoffs, and if I wanted to keep Nat so bad then I could, but she was my responsibility.”

He could see her doing the math. “You would have been, what? Eighteen?”

He nodded.

Meredith frowned. “How did you change your grandmother’s mind?”

He took a few beats to answer. He wasn’t sure how she would feel about it. “I didn’t,” he said finally. “By Shifter law, Nat was mine the moment I took her. I’m her legal guardian.” Meredith’s hands froze for a second, then went back to cleaning off blood. He couldn’t read what was on her face, she was so damn good at keeping her emotions closed off. “I’m the only father Nat’s ever known. She called me Dad until she was old enough for me to make her understand I wasn’t her dad.” Pain welled up at the memory of that discussion. Nat had cried for days. “I still don’t know if I shouldn’t have just let her think I was. She’s basically my kid. How the fuck did I let this happen to her?”

“This isn’t your fault,” she said softly.

He wanted to believe that. “Isn’t it? She was so mad at me the day she disappeared. I don’t even remember what about. So I wasn’t worried when she didn’t come home right after work. Figured she’d gone over to one of her friend’s houses so I didn’t start looking as soon as I should have. And then I couldn’t find anything, and when I came down here I was still useless. I looked all through this town and found nothing. I didn’t even know if I was looking in the right place.” He swallowed. “And then I met you.”

Her hands stilled. “You must have hated me.”