He couldn’t agree more.
She turned back to the sink and her hand brushed against a tea cup sitting too close to the edge of the counter, knocking it off. He rushed to save the falling mug but she beat him to it, catching the cup up so quickly and instinctively, the speed gave him pause. She put the cup into the dishwasher as if she hadn’t just moved fast enough to beat his shifter speed.
“Some reflexes there,” he commented, carefully putting distance between them again. The moment he got too close, all he could think about was pulling her back into his arms.
She looked up and blinked at him, then glanced back at the cup. She flashed him a half smile. “Yeah, having Zoe has really sped them up, even faster than they were from all the martial arts. You wouldn’t believe how fast a three-year-old can get into trouble.”
He chuckled. “That’s going to get worse, you know.”
“I know,” she groaned. “And then before I know it, she’ll be a teenager.”
She infused the word with such dread, he laughed again. His tension eased, though his skin still hummed from having her hands on him and he was still hard. He needed to get away from her now, while he could still force his tiger to obey logic.
“Goodnight, Rose.”
Her soft goodnight followed him down the hall, and the taste of her went with him into his dreams.
Chapter Nine
The sound of feet shuffling over the wooden floors brought Rose out of a deep sleep. She sat up, looking immediately to her bedroom doorway for Zoe. When she didn’t see anyone, she got up and made her way in the dark to Zoe’s room. She was still sound asleep, breathing easily, no sign of another episode coming on.
Releasing a sigh, Rose went back into the hall and glanced toward the living room. She stood listening, wondering if she’d dreamt the sound of footsteps. Then she heard the front door open. Vlad was leaving? She jogged to the living room, glancing at the mantle clock to check the time. Four in the morning. Where would he be going so early?
Thoughts of his brothers and the danger they posed had her moving faster. She heard voices just outside and froze. As she listened, it crossed her mind she should go back and get her father’s rifle. Then she realized one of the voices was female. Before she could fully process that, the door opened and Vlad walked in with a tall, dark-haired woman.
Without any lights on, all Rose could make out of the woman was that she had shoulder length hair, pale skin, and moved like a trained fighter. Rose recognized that confident gait easily after years of her own training.
“Rose, this is the woman I told you about. Alexis Tarasova. Rose Callaghan.”
Alexis crossed to her and took her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. You must be so worried. I understand. But we’ll make sure your little girl is just fine.”
Rose blinked at the woman, forcing down a fast and unexpected rush of tears. “Thank you for coming,” she said around the lump in her throat. She’d thought her worry had eased after this evening, but apparently all it took was a kind word to set her off again. “You got here very fast.”
“I was in Colorado when Nila called me, and I took the first flight I could get. I didn’t want to delay. Vlad tells me your daughter had a really bad episode yesterday afternoon?”
Rose’s cheeks puffed up with her breath. “Yeah, that was terrifying. But she took to Vlad showing up as a tiger pretty well, so we’re hopeful.”
“Good. Good. Okay. I think after breakfast and introductions, we should start her lessons. There’s no time to wait, not if you want to prevent any more episodes.” She glanced at Vlad. “You should know, your brothers booked flights back to Phoenix for today.”
“What? How do you know?” He looked more annoyed than worried. He pulled his phone out and checked his messages as Alexis answered his questions.
“The Trackers have had them under surveillance since early September. Are you surprised?”
“No. We all knew as much. I’m just surprised you knew about their flights before I did. You’re not even a Tracker anymore.”
“I keep informed because Nila’s about to be my…sister-in-law, I guess. Maybe niece?” She shrugged and looked at Rose. “Vlad’s sister is engaged to one of the boys I consider a brother. Technically, I’m the adopted daughter of their grandmother so really I’m their aunt, but we’ve always interacted more like siblings.”
“That’s…nice?” She had no idea what to say to all that, especially at four a.m. when she was still dopey from sleep.
Alexis chuckled. “Too much information? Okay, let’s just say I consider Nila a member of the family now. Which sort of makes Vlad family, too.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Sort of.”