What’s New Pussycat(32)

Thankfully, she, much like Derrick, was capable of self-healing. Because wow, that would have taken some explaining.

Then she really realized there was a half-man, half-somethingorother staring down at her in all her nakedness. Her hands flew in every direction, trying to cover her exposed bits.

And hello, Martine. Sasquatch alert. She should be afraid of this Jerry, who resembled something out of a horror story. But after what she’d just hurled into the forest from her mouth, she didn’t have the energy.

The man fell to his haunches, his eyes red and glowing in the darkness, but his face, changing rapidly back to his human form, was full of concern. In a calm voice, he asked, “Are you Martine?”

Now was maybe the time to be alarmed. How did he know her name? She backed away, catching her hip on a limb from the fallen tree and wincing. “How did you know that?”

He half-smiled at her, his hazel eyes, as thickly fringed as Derrick’s, crinkled at the corners, making him almost adorable in the right light. “I’m Derrick’s cousin Jerry. That thing you did, you know, with your mouth—that was really something else. I thought you were a cat shifter, not a witch?”

She shook her head, her hands trembling. “I’m not a witch. I am a cat shifter. A familiar, to be precise.”

Jerry’s mouth fell open then snapped shut before he said, “Oh.”

His one word held all the condemnation she knew she’d face if anyone ever found out what Escobar made her do.

Putting her shaking hand on his arm, she shook her head, her sodden hair clinging to her cheeks. “I swear, it’s not what you think. I was just getting rid of something I was forced to take. Please believe that.” Why did she care if he believed her?

Because you like Derrick’s family, and you don’t want them to think ill of you.

“Here, take my coat. You’re gonna get real sick out here in the cold, and Derrick won’t like that.” He shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around her with tender hands.

Stupid tears, hot and salty, sprang to her eyes at his kindness. Why were all the Adamses so damn nice? Enough with the nice, it was making keeping her secret from everyone even harder. “Thank you,” she murmured, pulling it tightly around her.

“I have to get you back to Derrick. Will you let me help you?” He held out his hand again, now shifting back to normal.

As she gazed up at Jerry, even in her shivering state, she couldn’t help but notice as he shifted back, how handsome he was. Classically handsome with chestnut brown hair that fell to his collar, high cheekbones with two red patches defined by the cold air, and an easy, calming smile.

“Martine?” he prodded in that hushed, gravelly tone he had.

Fear swept over her. If they knew about Escobar, if Escobar knew about them, he’d come looking for her. She’d seen the damage Escobar could do when he’d snatched her right out of a nightclub, trashed the place, and left everyone with no memory of it. She didn’t want that to happen here to these nice people who had no choice about their involvement with her.

Which meant, she had to tell them so they knew what they were getting into. She didn’t come free of baggage, and maybe Derrick wouldn’t want his life saved by someone who might put it in even more danger before they ever got around to the death-sex.

“Will you tell Derrick what you saw?” She wouldn’t blame him if he did.

Jerry’s face, now fully in human form, was sweet and soft when he cracked that half-smile again. “Nope. He won’t hear it from me. That has to come from you. So I need you to promise you’ll tell Derrick, because I get the feeling whatever just happened out there wasn’t good. Just like I’m going to have tell Hector I was out here hunting bunnies when I found you. Honesty’s the best policy, even if he’s going to kill me for it.

Martine took his hand and let him help her up, groaning at the ache of her muscles. “You mean Hector of the amazing brownies?”

He nodded his dark head and smiled. “Uh-huh. Did you like them? He put catnip in them just for you. He said cats love catnip.”

Well, that explained her uninhibited-dirty-girl performance back at Derrick’s and her heightened sense of awareness. She and catnip had a touchy relationship. “Okay. So we both come clean on our own terms. Fair?”

“And as long as you promise you’re not here to hurt anyone with whatever just happened. Because I’ll eat you for dinner and pick my teeth with your bones if you hurt my family.”

“Promise.”

Her heart did a funny shift thing as she agreed. Rather like it had when she and Derrick made love. Martine believed he would make a meal out of her if it meant protecting the people he appeared to love enough to threaten her. That was what she’d heard family was all about.