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

Cal let go of his hand and pulled him close.Derek realized the tears on his own cheeks only when he put his face on Cal’s shoulder and Cal’s T-shirt got wet.


“So you went with them,”Kit murmured,reaching for Derek’s hand over his dad’s lap.


“Yeah.You know how they operate.Private jets and covers ops and all that stuff.I checked a few years ago,I was pronounced dead a decade after I went missing.My parents…they divorced soon after.My dad passed away a year later,and my mom remarried.I don’t….”


“You lost everything,because of the secrecy,”Cal murmured into Derek’s hair.“I’m so sorry it happened to you.”


“Me too,”Kit said,squeezing Derek’s fingers.


“I got kicked out of my home for being gay when I was fifteen.Someone my parents knew had connections with the Council,and as soon as I hit the streets,I was scooped up again,”Cal spoke in a quiet voice.


“Yeah.It wasn’t quite such a journey for me to Italy,although I wasn’t in Council’s city until much later.”


Chapter 23