Enforcer Ewan “Cal” Calder hasn’t shifted into his Scottish wildcat form in two years. He should’ve gone crazy by now, because that’s how these things are supposed to work. The governing body of all shifters, the Council, has sent him and his adopted teenage son Kit to a sanctuary in Finland. It’s a last-ditch effort to wean Cal off the morphine he’s been using to keep his cat at bay. If he doesn’t shift soon, there’s no way he’s going to retain his sanity.<br><br>Two years ago, Council security officer Derek Lamont was tentatively dating and getting to know Cal, but then he lost an eye in a tragic accident. While he was recuperating in the hospital, Cal and Kit vanished from the house they’d all shared. Derek has been searching for them ever since, traveling the world and grasping at straws because of the undeniable truth: Derek knows Cal is his mate, even though humans aren’t supposed to be able to feel the mate bond.<br><br>When Derek finds Cal and Kit at a small farm in the middle of nowhere, Finland, he feels relief. But their problems are far from over. From Cal’s guilt over the accident, to stray hunting dogs, to figuring out how to deal with the Council, things keep piling up.

Off and On Again

At first,once he’d realized the Council wouldn’t give him any information—he still felt fucking betrayed by that—he’d spent months calling everyone he knew Cal had ever come into contact with.But no,the cat was gone,and now it was for Derek to find him and his tiny fox son.


Derek sipped his coffee and wondered where the fuck this sudden stubbornness had come from.He’d never been that kind of guy.He’d been resourceful and really good at talking his way out of trouble,hell,that was why he was here and not dead twenty-five years ago like he was supposed to be.


He watched the small town outside the diner window and wondered how it would be to have a home he’d chosen for himself.Part of him wanted to go to Oregon,to go check out the town he’d been ripped away from at seventeen when he’d seen something he shouldn’t have and freaked the fuck out.


Chapter 4