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

The cat ran.It needed to get away.Away from the shame of seeing what it had done.Seeing Mate,with only one eye.It could feel flashes of sense memory;the way it had swiped at the intruder with all its might.It could hear the echo of its mate’s startled,wounded cry that would never leave its brain.


It didn’t deserve a mate.It didn’t deserve anything!


Derek got to his feet,but Maxim moved quicker than any man his size should’ve been able to block his way.


“Dad?!”Kit’s voice was closer now,and he whirled around the corner like a dervish,looking around wildly.


When he spotted Cal’s clothes on the ground,he wailed.And then his gaze hit Derek.


“W-what?Derek?”Kit frowned with obvious confusion.“What happened?”


“Well,I don’t know,but somehow Cal got upset enough that his cat took over and took off,”Mikael said in a tone that was full of blame in Derek’s ears,even though he wasn’t sure if that was actually it.


Chapter 7