Cole and His Dog Page 8

  “Once you decide what you want to be when you grow up—” Ky grinned, “—you can go to college and make it happen.”

  “Like I can afford that.”

  “There are scholarships, Cole. I happen to know you were pulling a 3.5 GPA or better in high school, so apply for some. You might surprise yourself and get one that would pay at least your tuition.”

  Cole chewed his lip then nodded. “Maybe, as soon as I figure out what I do want to do with my life.”

  Ky gave him a quick hug. “You will, once you get used to being the new you.”

  “Your words, and all that crap.”

  “Not sure my words will reach His ears, but, yeah. Okay. It’s late. I’m going to leave you to get some sleep so you won’t be late for work.”

  “You’re not staying?”

  “No. I have things I have to do, now that I know you’re all right with being a shifter. I’ll be back in the morning.” Ky chortled. “Your friends might wonder, if I’m not. I think they’re used to me hanging around downstairs.”

  “True.” Cole hesitated. “I’m not all that sure I’m all right with it. I mean being a shifter. But it is what it is. Now I just have to avoid another run-in with the dudes working for the guy who thinks I’m his son.”

  “Marsham’s men. Yeah, that would be a good idea. I’ll be around in the evenings, as Ky or Bull. We can hope, since they’ve dealt with me, they’ll have second thoughts.”

  “No kidding. Okay, I’ll see you in the morning, and be careful. They know what you look like.”

  Ky nodded, replied, “Always,” and vanished.

  * * * *

  Thursday morning, Cole arrived at work to find Mike waiting for him, beckoning for him to come into his office.

  “Some guy came by earlier,” Mike told him when they got there. “He said he was a family friend and wanted to know when you were due in.”

  Cole frowned. He doubted the Williamses would have told anyone where he worked—or that they even knew or cared as far as that went. “What did you tell him?”

  Mike shrugged. “That you quit a week ago for a better job. There was something about him that didn’t sit right with me.”

  “Thank you,” Cole replied in relief. “I hope to hell he believed you.”

  Mike smiled. “I can lie with a straight face when necessary. Are you in trouble of some sort?”

  “No.” Cole leaned against the desk keeping an eye on the front door, which he could see from the office. “I never told you, mainly because I only found out a few days ago. I was adopted. You know my folks kicked me out.” He paused, going to close the office door. “This is between you and me, if you don’t mind.”

  “No problem,” Mike replied.

  “A friend of mine let me know that someone who claims to be my real father is looking for me.”

  “Claims, as in your friend doesn’t believe he is?”

  Cole nodded. “I gather, from what my friend said, it’s unlikely but not impossible. I had a run-in with two guys who wanted to take me to this man. My friend stepped in to stop them.”

  “And now it’s possible that they followed you here?”

  “Yes.” Cole sighed. “If you want, I can quit. I don’t want to bring trouble to your doorstep.”

  “No way. You’re a good worker. One of my best. I’m not about to let some punks scare you away. They can’t get to you when you’re here, but if they did follow you…” Mike rapped a finger on his desk. “You leave after dark, which isn’t safe. How about I change your hours? Would you have any objections to working ten to seven?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Good. You’ll start them tomorrow. And damn it, Cole, be careful when you’re out there.” Mike dug into a desk drawer then handed Cole a small canister. “It’s pepper spray. I have several of these. We keep one in the cash register, in case someone tries to hold us up.” He showed Cole how to work it, then suggested he clip it to his belt when he was out in public. “Under your shirt, of course. You don’t want to advertise that you have it.”

  “Thank you.” Cole put it in his pocket for the time being. “And thanks for covering for me when that guy came in. He…they might be watching the restaurant, but as you said, in here, I’m safe.”

  Cole figured that was true. They wouldn’t walk in, grab him, and teleport away, no matter how badly they wanted him. That would let people know that shifters—or some kind of paranormal—existed. Unless they were crazy, they wouldn’t want that.

  * * * *

  While Cole was talking with Mike, Ky was doing some research on Marsham, with Larry’s help. “Something I should have done long before this,” he chastised himself.

  Before becoming Cole’s mentor and protector, Ky had known about Marsham in a peripheral way, since they were both Bullmastiff shifters. He’d heard that Marsham was egocentric, wealthy, and had no respect for the females of his species. To him, they were only useful to produce children to enlarge his pack. If what Ky and Larry believed about that was the truth, Marsham would have had no problem forcing himself on a bitch to impregnate her.

  Ky also knew finding Marsham would be difficult. His whereabouts were unknown and he kept an extremely low profile, rarely appearing in public in his human form.

  “So, how did he become so wealthy?” Ky asked Larry as they pored over what minimal information they’d compiled on Marsham.

  “He owns several businesses—hotels, a couple of casinos, a golf course, among other things. He also invests heavily in real estate.” Larry pointed to the site he’d found listing all the Marsham interests—which, Ky noted, were called Hammar’s Realty, Hammar’s Hotel such-and-such, etcetera.

  Ky frowned. “If he does all that, why is he so elusive? You’d think he’d be out there running them, if nothing else.”

  “He might be afraid of risking exposure as a shifter if he did,” Larry suggested. “If he ran into one who picked up on the fact and decided to blackmail him…” He tapped the computer screen then looked at Ky. “You should know about these, given what you do for a living.”

  Ky looked, then said, “He obviously anagrammed his name to Hammar’s, so why would I? As far as I knew, up until the last week or so, Marsham was just another Bullmastiff shifter who was barely on my radar, other than having a shady reputation as the leader of a pack somewhere on the other side of the Rockies.”

  “All right. You have a point.”

  “Thanks,” Ky replied dryly. “What I’m not getting is, why the specific interest in Cole? Marsham must have dozens of progeny, considering how he treats his bitches. What makes Cole special to him?”

  “If we knew who Cole’s mother was, we might have the answer.”

  Ky tapped his chin pensively. “Okay, say she’s the daughter of a rival—an Alpha probably—with power or influence. Possible?” When Larry nodded, Ky continued. “Marsham gets her pregnant, intending to gain control of her son, which will give him the in he needs—a way to pressure his rival into doing what Marsham wants, whatever that is.” Ky paused. “Yeah, that works. Then, she sees through him and decides she’d rather give Cole up than let Marsham get his clutches on him, for Cole’s own good as well as her father’s.”

  “Interesting theory. Proving it is something else.”

  “No kidding,” Ky replied. “And while I try to, I have to keep Cole safe. He’s nowhere near strong enough to defend himself against another attack. The only thing he’s got going for him right now is that he can teleport away.”

  “One positive,” Larry said dryly. “Tell you what. Let me do some digging and see what I come up with. I have contacts within the canid community.”

  “Thanks. I’d appreciate that.” Under his breath, Ky murmured, “If anything happens to Cole.”

  “Ky.” Larry waited until he had Ky’s full attention. “Move him to your place.”

  Ky arched an eyebrow. “He’s safe enough here.”

  “Is he?” Larry asked. “They’ve found him twice. Next time
, if they’re still hunting for him, and you know they are, they might spot him and follow him here, or to the restaurant, as far as that goes. From what you’ve said, both attacks happened at night, so he’s probably safe at the restaurant. Not so much here, unfortunately. All they need is a visual of his room, and that’s easy enough to get from any of the rooftops across the street.” Larry looked pointedly at Ky. “If they teleport in while he’s sleeping, even you can’t defend him from a snatch-and-grab. They’d have him and be gone before you knew what was happening.”

  “That idea does not make my day.”

  “Not with the way you feel about him,” Larry replied with a knowing smile.

  “Even if I was only around to teach him what being a shifter entails—and that was my original mission—it wouldn’t. Now that I’ve…” Ky shook his head. “Okay, I’ll think about moving him. When it comes down to it, however, it’s his decision.”

  * * * *

  Ky frowned angrily. “Okay, tell me again what your boss said.” From what Cole had just told him, Larry had been proven right.

  “That someone came looking for me at work,” Cole replied. “He claimed to be a family friend. Luckily Mike got bad vibes from him, so he told the guy I’d quit.”

  “That does not mean he didn’t stick around to see if that was the truth.”

  “Yeah. That’s what I told Mike,” Cole replied. “He’s changed my hours so I’m not coming back here after dark.”

  “You’re not coming back here at all, after tonight.”

  “Excuse me?” Cole folded his arms over his chest. “Why not?”

  Ky gave him the gist of what Larry had said. When he finished, Cole immediately went over to close the blinds on the windows.

  “It might be too late for that,” Ky pointed out. “We’re not taking any chances. Pack up your stuff.”

  “Hold on a second. Give me time to think. I can’t afford another place. I can barely pay the rent here. And for sure I won’t be safe hunkering down in some abandoned building or on a roof, like I…we were doing before.”

  “I’m aware of that,” Ky replied. “It’s why you’re coming home with me.”

  “With you? You have got to be kidding.” It’s hard enough being around him here, now that I know Bull is him. Damn. Moving in with him? How can I keep my feelings from showing?

  “Your feelings?” Ky said. “Before you ask, you forgot your shields. You were broadcasting loud and clear.”

  “Shit!” Cole turned away, quickly shielding.

  Ky chuckled low. “Too late for that.” He came around, putting his hands on Cole’s shoulders. “Feelings?”

  Cole swallowed hard, not looking at him. “I like you,” he whispered. “I mean, as more than a friend.”

  “Why is that a problem?”

  “It…just is.”

  “Cole,” Ky said, putting a finger under his chin to make Cole look at him. “There’s nothing wrong with caring for someone.”

  “Yeah, there is, if they aren’t interested.”

  “Who says I’m not?”

  Cole’s eyes widened. “You are? You do?”

  “It’s hard not to be when I’ve seen you wandering around in next to nothing night after night. Well, until the last few, after you found out I was Bull.”

  Cole’s shoulders sank. “So it’s just sexual.”

  Ky laughed. “Think about it. Isn’t any interest between two people at least partly sexual? In my case, though, it’s more. I didn’t plan on letting you know. I was supposed to be teaching you, and now, protecting you. Emotions weren’t supposed to come into it. Unfortunately my mind didn’t take that into consideration.”

  Cole latched onto the ‘letting you know’ part of what Ky was saying. “Why didn’t you say something?”

  “At first, I was just a guy who was Adam’s friend. At least as far as you knew. It seemed to me, if I’d come on to you, you’d have laughed and said I was too old, or not your type, or some such.”

  “I don’t think so. I knew for sure I was interested in you that day when you helped Adam with the shopping. I even told Bull…Oh, hell.” Cole blushed.

  “I remember.” Ky grinned then sobered. “You thought I was sexy, which was nice, but I figured, being a teen, it was hormones talking.”

  “Maybe. Probably a bit, but since then, and now that we’ve spent so much time together and…” Cole looked into Ky’s eyes. “You might think I’m too young to know what it means to care for someone like you, but I’m not.”

  “I know,” Ky replied, lightly rubbing his knuckles over Cole’s jaw. Then he stepped away. “Before we deal with our feelings, however, we have to get you somewhere safe and that would be at my place.”

  Cole nodded. “I suppose you’re right. The thing is, how do we stop them from following if they’re out there watching? Okay, dumb question. We teleport.”

  “Smart kid.”

  “I have my moments.” Cole began packing his belongings. “I’ve managed to accumulate a few things since I moved in here,” he grumbled when he could only get half his clothes into his backpack.

  “That’s what they make trash bags for,” Ky pointed out.

  “I actually have some.” Cole got one from the cupboard under the sink. “Should I bring what food I have, as well?”

  “Sure.” Ky got a trash bag, too, for the food. “Not that you have that much, but then I knew that.”

  “You should. I’ve shared some of it with you.”

  Ky laughed. “‘Bull’ learned to eat some very un-doglike food.”

  “No kidding.”

  They finished packing Cole’s things, and then Ky gave him an image of his living room. Moments later, they were there.

  * * * *

  Ky watched as Cole walked around the living room, checking it out.

  “You’re a reader,” Cole commented, stopping to look at the books on the shelves along one wall.

  “I am. Aren’t you?”

  “Oh, yeah, although I haven’t had much chance to since I left home.” His expression darkened momentarily, then he said, “Show me the rest of the place?”

  Ky did, beginning with the kitchen.

  “You like to cook, I take it,” Cole said.

  “You deduced that from all my toys?” Ky knew he had more than he probably needed, but that didn’t stop him from impulse shopping when he saw a new gadget.

  Next, he showed Cole his office.

  “More books. At least it’ll give me something to do during the evenings,” Cole said. He glanced at Ky. “I’ve got the feeling you’re not going to let me go wandering the streets with Bull.”

  “Not even,” Ky agreed.

  From there, he took Cole upstairs. “There are two bedrooms, mine and what will be yours for the time being, and the bathroom, of course. So let’s get you settled in.”

  Cole got his things, while Ky put away the food they’d brought from Domicile. When Ky finished, he went back upstairs to find Cole frowning as he stood in the middle of the bedroom.

  “We forgot my bike,” Cole said when Ky asked him what was wrong.

  “I’ll pick it up in the morning, after I drop you off at work.”

  Cole glowered, pointing a finger at him. “You’ll do nothing of the sort. I’m biking there, like it or not. Well, after we get my bike.”

  “Do you know how far the restaurant is from here?”

  “Umm…no.”

  “Didn’t think so. About ten miles. We’re in Englewood.”

  “Damn. You’re not making this easy.”

  “I’m keeping you safe.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be complaining. At least tell me it’s okay to bike around here. I’ve gotten used to it.”

  “It should be. The house isn’t in my name so they, meaning specifically Marsham, can’t connect it to me.”

  “The same goes for you as for me. They could have followed you here.”

  “Hard to do, when I always teleport in. The car in th
e garage is just for show, or short runs to grocery shop.”

  “Clever,” Cole commented as he sat on the edge of the bed. “I have a question.”

  Smiling, Ky replied, “Only one?”

  “Well, for now. Have you figured out why Marsham thinks I’m his son? I mean, if it is Marsham who’s after me.”

  “It is. Larry and I came up with a theory, although we haven’t been able to prove it yet. Larry’s doing some research to try to find out if we’re correct.”

  “Which is?”

  “That your mother might be the daughter of a rival shifter. If so, and if Marsham managed to seduce her, and get her pregnant, he’d have something to use against his rival.”

  “Me,” Cole said, his mouth tightening in anger. “But why wait until now to try and capture me?”

  “The best we can figure, he might not have known you existed until recently. Why? That’s one of the things we want to find out. There is a chance that he’s way off base—that you’re not his kid. But as long as he believes you are, you’re in danger.”

  “Lucky me.”

  “Debatable,” Ky replied, chuckling.

  “All we need is some of his blood or hair, to run a DNA test.”

  “Nice idea, but first we’d have to find him. Marsham is elusive, to put it mildly. Even though he owns businesses and a sizable chunk of real estate, he’s rarely seen in public.”

  “Do you know where he lives?”

  “Not specifically. He’s the Alpha of a pack, across the Continental Divide from here. I’m not certain where, and there’s no proof he actually lives with the pack, although he’d have to show up in his Bullmastiff form whenever he was needed. As a human, he could have a home, or homes, anywhere in the world.”

  “Not helpful,” Cole said dourly.

  “Not at all.” Ky shrugged, and smiled. “Right now, though, I suggest we both get some sleep. We don’t want you showing up at work looking like you’ve been out carousing all night.”

  “Yeah. Mike might not approve.” Cole stretched, admitting, “I am tired. The problem is, will I be able to sleep with everything running through my mind?”

  “Think of something else,” Ky replied as he headed toward the door.

  “Puppies and kittens and sexy men?”