Desert Bound Read online

  “That’s right. Don’t forget it.” He kissed her. “Hottest man in the world, sitting right here.”

  Jena’s eyes lit up. “You mean you’re going to shift into George Clooney later?”

  “Jena…”

  Ted said, “He doesn’t actually do that when you—”

  “Of course I don’t!” Caleb scowled. “What have you been telling your friends?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Ted listened to their banter and tried to ignore the heat at her back.

  “Saving this for anyone?”

  Why did his voice have to sound sexy when he was tired?

  “Nope.” She sipped her iced tea and glanced at the clock over the counter, studiously avoiding looking at him. She needed to get back to her office, but she couldn’t leave right away. If she did, Alex would think it was because of him. And no one was chasing Ted out of her friend’s diner.

  “What’s good today?” He didn’t grab a menu, just leaned toward her and asked. Like a friend. Like they ate lunch together all the time. She half expected him to throw an arm around her back and lean in to kiss her temple like he’d always done when they were together.

  It was so easy to imagine, it hurt. She had to fix this. They had to at least be friends again. As Jena and Caleb teased each other and the hum of activity grew louder, she turned to him.

  “Listen, Alex—”

  “Just so you know, I’m done.” He lifted his eyes to hers. He was beyond exhausted. Looked like he hadn’t slept in a month. “I heard what you said the other night. I’m tired of trying to fix something you obviously don’t want anymore.”

  “What?”

  “What we had was… whatever. You know what we had. But now? I—we need to move on, right?”

  “Right?”

  “Are you asking or agreeing?”

  Was he joking? Or just really tired? Ted frowned. He’d been trying to win her back for months, trying to charm her and seduce her. Now he was just… done? Maybe the end was in sight with the resort planning and he was headed back to LA. She should be relieved, right? She was relieved. Alex out of sight was better. Then, they could gradually work on being friends again.

  He lifted an amused eyebrow. “Asking or agreeing, Ted?”

  “Asking you what?”

  “If we need to move on. You didn’t sound sure.”

  “No! Of course. I was just surprised. I mean, you’ve been… you know. And I was just thinking… I mean—”

  “What were you thinking?” His voice was hoarse again. “Because that look on your face is making me reconsider the giving up thing.”

  “You must be thirsty.” She shoved her water at him. “You’re probably not drinking enough. You know, even on cool days, dehydration—”

  “What were you thinking, Ted?”

  She took a breath. “Just that, I miss being friends with you. We should be friends again. Real friends. Not you pretending to be my friend to get me into bed, like you have been.”

  “I had a lot more planned than just the bed.”

  “Focus.” She glared at him. “Allie’s going through all this shit with Joe leaving. Jena has the baby coming. The resort is being built. We just… need our friends. All of us.”

  He looked at her a long time, and Ted had to fight the urge to run her hand along the edge of his jaw. He did look tired. Exhausted. Sometimes, when he’d been like that before, he’d lay on her chest and put his face in her neck, breathing in her scent as if just the smell of her would let him rest. She could still feel the stubble where it rasped against her collarbone.

  She saw his eyes drift to her neck, like he was remembering, too. She turned away and took a drink of water.

  “I need to get back to work.”

  His voice was still rough. “Yeah?”

  “The tacos are really good today. I’d have those.”

  “That sounds good.” He stretched his neck and sighed in relief when it popped. “You busy this weekend?”

  Hadn’t they just talked about being friends? Or was he reconsidering it now?

  Shit. She had no idea where his head was at.

  “I’m around. Why?”

  “I was going to ask Jena if I could rent one of her Airstreams. Need to get out of my folks’ house.”

  “I can’t blame you for that. I imagine living with the general must be interesting.”

  The corner of his mouth lifted in a lazy grin. “He was a sergeant, not a general. But yes. My own space would be good.”

  She nodded toward Kathy. “Talk to Jena’s mom. Those are hers to rent out, but I’m pretty sure two are empty right now.”

  “Think you and the girls would have time to help me move a little stuff? Maybe do a barbecue after? Ollie won’t be able to come, but how about you?”

  Ted nodded, trying to come off as casual. It was exactly the kind of thing that friends did all the time. Just like Sunday dinner at Jena’s, which they all went to.

  “Sure. I’ll talk to Jena and Caleb. You talk to Allie.”

  “Cool.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Gives me something to look forward to other than work.”

  “Talk to Kathy, let me know. You’ve got my number.”

  “Mmmhmm.” He was trying to suppress a smile when he caught her narrow eyes. “What? You’re right. I have your number.”

  “See you later.”

  The double meaning didn’t occur to her until after she was back at her office.

  Sometimes, it was good to be a cat.

  Even if that cat was a one hundred pound predator who scared the piss out of her more domestic sisters. Ted was between appointments, during the slow hot drag of afternoon when the kids had left school and the sun was high, baking the western windows of her office and making her drowsy.

  She’d gone through the rush of morning appointments, but wasn’t expecting anyone that afternoon. People from the Springs tended to stay indoors when the weather got too hot. Her practice was feast or famine. She was either really, really busy, or lonely for days on end. Slowly, word about her clinic was starting to drift to some of the more rural desert residents, which meant she had a few people from outside town who were choosing to come to her instead of driving into Indio or Palm Desert for appointments. When the resort opened, she imagined it would get even busier. But that afternoon?

  Snooze city.

  Why fight it? Ted slipped out of the scrubs she wore to work and shifted, curling into a sunbeam that crossed the couch in her office, letting a low purr rumble from her throat. She had better instincts as a cat. No one would come into the building without waking her.

  And about forty-five minutes later, someone did.

  “Will you stop and just—”

  Ted lifted her head at the scuffle that sounded out in the waiting room. She only hired a girl to work in the office half days, so after lunch, she was on her own.

  “Ted?”

  What was Alex doing here? She lifted her head, but didn’t shift.

  “Hey Ted, are you in—oh hi.”

  She let her lion curl her lip.

  “Yes, you’re very ferocious. Will you shift and come out here? One of my guys is hurt.”

  A voice came from the waiting room. “I am not that hurt, dammit!”

  “Marcus, your forearm has a right angle in the middle of it!” Alex yelled. “You’re not shifting until it’s been set.”

  Alex turned back to her. “So… you’re not busy, right?”

  She just stared at him. If he thought she was shifting with him in the office and the door open, he was nuts.

  “Oh!” He shook his head. “Sorry. Yeah, I’ll just…” He looked from her toward the waiting room, then back again. “I’ll be out here. With Marcus. And I’ll leave you. Alone.” She heard him mutter something under his breath that sounded like “naked Ted.” If she wasn’t in car form, she probably wouldn’t have heard it.

  Alex had loved watching her shift from a cougar back
to her human form. Turned him on like a switch. She got up and stalked toward the door, shoving it closed with her nose, but not before she felt the quick slip of Alex’s finger along her back.

  She didn’t shiver. That was just a residual twitch from the shift.

  A few seconds later, she was pulling on clothes and listening to the two men muttering in the small exam room.

  “Not that bad.”

  “—file a workman’s comp claim.”

  “What am I going to tell them? ‘Healed instantly after turning into a king snake?’”

  “If it heals instantly.”

  Ted shoved open the door. “It will probably heal instantly. Let’s just get it set so—oh, whoa!” Her face lit with a smile. “That really is at a right angle!”

  Marcus said, “Try not to sound so excited, Ted.”

  “I just rarely see any of us get really hurt! Usually, it’s the humans and little kids.” She pulled on a pair of gloves and nudged his shoulder so he was sitting on the table. She gingerly lifted the arm, holding onto the wrist and elbow. Marcus didn’t even wince. “What did you do to it?”

  Shifter bones were strong. For one to break like that…

  “One of the guys pulled an engine out with a forklift and dropped it. Caught my arm in the fall.”

  She made a face. “That’ll do it.”

  Alex said, “I want to know why the engine on that scraper was out to begin with.”

  “Sid’s a whiz with engines, Alex. No need to hire someone off site when he can just take a look.”

  “And drop engines on your arm.”

  “No big deal.”

  Ted interjected. “Well, it would be a big deal if it had shattered. Luckily, it looks like a clean break. It’s swollen, but I don’t think you severed anything. Any numbness?”

  “I wish.”

  She felt the skin, but it wasn’t overly cool.

  “All right. My best guess is the two bones snapped. Nothing is poking through. Doesn’t look like excessive internal bleeding or swelling. If you want to make sure, I can take x-rays—”

  “Oh, come on,” Marcus said. “Really?”

  Alex stepped closer from his stance in the corner. “Hey! If she says you need x-rays, you need x-rays.”

  “Or, I’ll pull your arm and wrap it. Once it’s splinted, then you can shift.”

  “See?” Marcus looked triumphant. “Knew I liked her.”

  Shifting when you were hurt could be tricky. If it was a cut or open wound, shifting would sometimes make it worse. Luckily, bones were a bit easier. As long as the bone was in alignment, shifting to your natural form would heal the break when you shifted back. Ted had always theorized it was because their bodies were able to remake their skeletons switching from human to animal.

  “I’m warning you, if there’s any kind of wonky alignment when you shift back, you’re gonna know. I’ll have to re-break it and you’ll need x-rays to see what the problem is. But if you want to take the chance, you can. It’ll be quicker, but it’s up to you.”

  “Actually,” Alex said, “I think it’s up to me. Since he was injured at work.”

  “Bull. Shit,” Marcus said. “I’m fine. You know you’re not filing a claim on this. It was my own stupidity.”

  Ted watched them argue. She was putting her money on Marcus, just because Alex looked green every time he caught a glimpse of that broken arm. It really was a miracle the bones hadn’t broken through the skin.

  “Okay!” Alex relented, throwing up his hands. “You want to risk it, it’s your own arm.”

  “Good. Hit me, doc.”

  “Alex, hold his shoulders.” Ted walked in front of Marcus, grabbing his wrist with both of hers. “We doing this the old fashioned way?”

  He nodded, so she pulled through Marcus’s grunt, bracing herself to straighten the man’s heavily muscled arm. She couldn’t hear it, but she knew when the bones snapped back into alignment. Sweat broke out on his forehead, but the tight clench of his jaw eased.

  “Awesome,” he said. “Feels better already.”

  “Okay. Strip and shift. Let’s see if you’ve got any issues.”

  Alex and Marcus both gave her a look.

  Ted sighed and turned her back to them. “Like either of you have anything I haven’t seen before.”

  Marcus shuffled around, and she could hear Alex helping him get his shirt over his head.

  “I just didn’t want Alex to see where I tattooed your name on my ass, Ted. He might bite me.”

  “Fine,” Alex said. “I’m out of here. I’ll give you guys some privacy.” He tried to sound amused, but Ted knew he was squeamish when he wasn’t a wolf.

  She heard the door shut and asked Marcus, “You ready?”

  “One snake, coming up.”

  The air changed around him as Ted turned back, a shimmer like hot air over asphalt. Within seconds, the large man was gone, and a glossy black snake with pure white rings lay curled at her feet. Marcus was brilliant in his natural form, an abnormally long California king snake who stretched over five feet. Ted loved examining the reptiles, because they were so varied. Most mature reptile shifters could turn into anything from a rattlesnake to a large lizard. The biology of it fascinated her. A few of the Quinns were desert tortoises in their natural forms, and as far as she knew, they were more limited in shifting. But most of the clan were scaled reptiles, and they had fun messing with their forms.

  She examined the snake carefully, nudging him with her gloved hand to stretch out to his full length, squatting down to make sure that no abnormalities presented. After a few minutes, she said, “Okay, looks normal in your natural form. Shift back and tell me how your arm feels.”

  Another shimmer in the air, and Marcus was back. He had black bands tattooed around his forearms, mimicking his animal markings. She’d never noticed those before. Cool.

  “Come on, Ted.” He grabbed his jeans and held them over his crotch. “Give a guy some privacy.”

  She threw a sheet at him and said, “Forget privacy. Let’s see the arm.”

  He tucked the sheet around his waist and stood, holding it out for her.

  “All good?”

  “Feels fine. Anything look crooked?”

  “Nope.” She probed along the break, but other than residual swelling, the arm looked good as new. “You got lucky this time.”

  “That’s what she said.”

  Ted snorted. “Is Josie in town?”

  “Nope. Too bad for me. Shifting always makes me…” He smirked. “Well, you know.”

  “Quinns…” she muttered, picking up his clothes from the floor and throwing them at Marcus before she walked to the door. “Bad boys, every single one of you.”

  Chapter Four

  They started early, but were still sweating like dogs before they got Alex’s stuff unloaded. He was renting the back trailer from Jena’s mom, the 34 foot classic, fully restored and with a brand new AC. He would keep most of his stuff from Huntington in storage, but was taking advantage of the small sheds that Kathy and Tom had built near each rental. It wasn’t permanent, but it was good enough. He’d borrowed Kevin, Allie’s oldest, and Lowell, Jena’s boy, from their moms. The work kept the boys busy and gave Alex the opportunity to see how Kevin was doing with his dad gone.

  “Hey guys, two more boxes and then I think we’ve got it all.”

  Both of them nodded before they trudged back to the car. At fourteen, Kevin had already been shifting for a year. He’d taken after his mother, so his natural form was a fox. He knew the boy probably had a handle on his shifts, but hormones were hormones, and according to his mother, teenagers were even worse when they turned into an animal at the full moon. Lowell had shifted only a few months before. As Alex watched them both, he realized that Kevin had already taken on the weight of leadership over his younger friend. Natural personality or had Kevin been the de facto man of the house for a lot longer than any of them realized?

  “Hey, Lowell?”

 
“Yeah?”

  “Why don’t you run to the house and see if the food is ready. Find out how much time we have.”

  “Okay.”

  Lowell ran off, leaving Kevin kicking his heels in the dust and looking over a small dent near the rear axle of the trailer.

  “You know,” the boy said. “I bet Ollie and me could get that out. He’s been teaching me how to do body work on his dad’s old pickup.”

  “Yeah?” Alex walked over and looked at the tiny dent. He wouldn’t even have noticed it. “You can try, if you want to. But ask Miss Kathy first.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Kevin shrugged. “Maybe I’ll ask.”

  Alex sat in one of the folding chair’s he’d put up under the shade cover. Kevin took the other one and Alex handed him a bottle of water from the ice chest between them.

  “How you doing?”

  “Fine. School’s good. Made the honor roll again. Mom’s happy.”

  “Moms like that stuff.”

  Had he been this hard to talk to at fourteen?

  “Hey, Uncle Alex, can you hire kids during the summer? You know, to help out with the construction?”

  He shook his head. “Sorry. Have to be sixteen. And you have to have a work permit, too. Actually, I’m not sure minors are allowed on the job site, but I’ll find out if you want me to.”

  “Nah.” He shrugged. “By the time I’m sixteen, it’ll all be built, right?”

  “Hopefully.”

  “And you’re still gonna stay here?”

  “Yep.”

  “Even afterward?”

  Alex nodded, glancing over at Kevin, who was staring out at the main road, watching a car head toward the highway.

  “I guess…” the boy started. “I mean, it’s not the most exciting place, is it? Dad was always talking about all the stuff he could be doing if Mom was willing to move.”

  Alex bit his tongue, trying to figure out what to say to the boy.

  Kevin continued, his voice a little rougher. “I guess I don’t blame him for wanting to get away. The Springs isn’t all that exciting.”

  If Joe Smith was standing in front of him, Alex would strangle him.

  “You know, I’ve been a lot of places, Kev. Some are pretty amazing. Traveling is great. You should definitely go exploring when you’re older.”