“This isn’t about you,Titus.”
“Bullshit.” He stood, gesturing with both hands, just like our dad used to do when he was mad. “This is aboutallof us. Whether you like it or not, out here, you represent all strays. You don’t get the luxury of making mistakes any natural-born tom would get away with because when natural-born cats mess up, people assume they’ve made an isolated mistake, but when we mess up, they assume we’re demonstrating an innate inferiority. That we’re justifying theirprejudices.”
“That’s bullshit!” Isnapped.
“Yes.” Titus’s nod was short and sharp. “But it’s also reality. What your mistakes are telling the people who have the power to keep guys like you and me from becoming citizens is that if they let us into their world, we might steal their cars and gamble under age—either of which could draw the attention of the human authorities—and drag their precious daughters into a fucking crime spree! Tabbies are everything out here. You may not understand that,but—”
“I understand. I’ve been living the shifter immersion program for four months, Titus. But Kaci’s not like the other tabbies. They don’t think of her like that. They…” Anger flared inside me at just the memory of what I’d heard from Brian Taylor, and from Kaci herself. “They call her the man-eater.”
My brother blinked, his head cocked to the side. “What?”
“That’s what they call her behind her back. Though she hears them. She’s grown up like that. Feeling like a freak and a monster. Like no matter what she does, no one will ever want her, despite how rare and precious women are in their world, and how desperate they are for femaleshifters.”
“Why?” Titus’s forehead furrowed; obviously Marc hadn’t told him thatpart.
“Because when they found her, she’d been living on her own in the woods, stuck in cat form for so long that she’d nearly forgotten she was ever human. She was terrified and starving. She found a human corpse, and she ate from it to survive. But these assholes out here don’t understand shit like that. They’ve never been stuck in one form. They’ve never thought they were losing their minds, when their bodies start doing things they don’t understand. Demanding things they don’t want. They’ve nevernotknown how to handle hunger, or rage, or bloodlust. But Kaci has. She’s just like us. Titus, she may have married me for the money—so we could both get the hell out of here—but I married her because I understand her. And because I knew after just one night with her that no one else wouldeverunderstand me like she does.” I sucked in a deep breath, then spit out the truth. “I fucking love her,man.”
“You…? She… She’s a stray?” He combed through his hair with one hand, and I enjoyed his confusion way more than I should have. Historically, there had been very few things that I understood but my older brother did not. “I thought Robyn was the onlyone.”
“She’s not a stray. She’s what they call a genetic recessive. Her parents both had the werecat gene, and one of their daughters inherited two recessives—which activates the gene—and the other didn’t. Kaci was born to human parents who had no idea shifters existed. Then she hit puberty, and one day:bam! She shifted into a big cat. Out of the blue. She wasn’t scratched. She didn’t grow up in a house full of shifters. She was a human, then she was a cat, with no preparation, warning, orinfection.”
“Holy shit,” Titus whispered as he sank onto the couch again. “I didn’t even know that waspossible.”
“I didn’t either. Evidently no one did. They theorize that she wasn’t the first incidence of that. Shecouldn’thave been. But Marc can tell you all about that. What I know is that after she shifted, she was terrified and freaked out, and she accidentally killed her mother and her sister, when they found her in the back yard.” I frowned. “Well, actually what they found was Kaci’s clothes, and a big black cat growling at them. They tried to defend themselves. She tried to defend herself, and shit went sideways. She’s been through things neither of us can imagine, Titus. So, you’re going to be fuckingnicetoher.”
My brother stood and pulled me into a hug. “I’m sorry Justus. I didn’t know. And Mom and Dadwouldlikeher.”
“Yeah. They would.” And for a second, I thought I’d actually gotten through to him. I thought maybe I could bring Kaci back in, and we could start over and be a happy fucking family for a fewminutes.
But then I realized there was something off in his expression. In the sad but determined way he was looking at me. Like he looked at me the day he told me our parents haddied.
“But Justus, that doesn’t change anything. Sit down.Please.”
“No. Just say whatever you’re going to say, so we can get on with this argument.” Because that was clearly all this discussion would everbe.
Titus held my gaze as he sank onto one of the couches again. “I’m releasing yourfunds.”
“What?” I sat on the sofa across from him. That wasn’t what I’d beenexpecting.
“I’m releasing your funds. I have that authority, as the executor. I’ve already bought you aticket.”
“A ticket.” And suddenly I understood. “You want me to run? No. I’m not going, Titus. Not withoutKaci.”
“You don’t need to run. The tribunal is going to rule in your favor,in absentia, the moment they have confirmation that you’re out of thecountry.”
“How do you know what they’re going to do?” And, more important, “Why would I need to leave, if they’re going toacquit?”
“Because that’s part of the deal I made. In a few years, after Kaci—” He had the decency to look uncomfortable with whatever he was about to say. “—has married and given birth to at least one child that isn’t yours, you can come back. Live a normal life. Still a member of the South-Central Pride, if you want. Or you can come to the Mississippi Valley. You’ll always be welcome athome.”
“But not until Kaci marries someone else.”This can’t be happening. This makes no sense. “Not until she has someone else’skid.” Rage made my vision go dark around the edges. “She won’t do that. You can’t make her do that. How thehellcould you make a deal like that? We’re not toys for you to play withTitus!”
“Of course not.” To his credit, he looked distinctly uncomfortable with the deal he’d struck. “I made no promises on her behalf, and no one’s going to make her do anything. But you won’t be welcome back until and unless they’re sure Kaci won’t be handing the keys to the kingdom to a stranger, for lack of a better analogy. That’s the only way this will work, Justus. The only way I could guarantee that they’re not going to executeyou.”
“I don’t need your help! Kaci was working on the vote. We only needed one more. And if I don’t get that, she’s coming withme.”
“Grow up, Justus,” Titus’s voice had gone hard, his gaze narrowed and impatient. “That’s not how the world works. If she goes with you, they’ll hunt you both down to get her back. She’s not old enough to defect. And there’s nothing you can do to get that extra vote, now that Blackwell is dead. The Taylors will votetogether.”
“You don’t knowthat.”
