“You’re not a human.” Kari shook her head as she sipped her tea. “I was just passing by when I thought to come by.”
“No. That’s not right. Let’s not start this on a lie. You’re a person who knows my husband’s mother. I’m thinking she didn’t send you, but you’re here for her.” Emil nodded slowly. “Good, this is much better. Let me see…you know her father. Did you know that I work with him? More than likely not. He told me that he’s able to go there without her—”
“He’s been to the house?” Kari hid her smile and nodded. “He never said. When you visit another, it is only polite that you let them know.”
“Did you?” When she looked away, Kari continued. “I didn’t think so. But it’s okay. We had to be sure it was her. When she took on another name, it was hard to know. All this time, we thought she was dead.”
“She did her child as well.” Kari had already figured that out. “We didn’t even know there were twins until just recently, much less a living child. The Bennetts, they said her child had died. And it was all I could do to get her up and out of there before something untoward came to hurt her. Bennett, the senior, was not a particularly nice person.”
“No, he was not. But I’m surprised you didn’t know about the children.” It wasn’t meant to be a slight against either woman but simply curiosity, but the woman took it as something completely wrong. Emil stood up and the room heated to about twenty degrees warmer than it had been. It was only seconds before both Aster and Billy were there, and neither of them looked all that happy. They stood in front of her as if they would do battle.
“She accused me of harming my human.” Kari started to protest, but Aster moved to stand in front of her more so that she could barely see Emil. Then as she took a step forward, Emil took one back.
They stared at each other for several seconds before either of them moved. Then Emil, gently and slowly, moved her fingers to touch Aster’s forehead. Of course they didn’t touch, but even Kari could feel the emotion that ran between them. It was then that she realized again how much Aster must favor her mother.
“You look like her.” Aster nodded at Emil. “So much so there is no doubt that you’re her child. You even have her lovely eyes.”
“You know my grandda?” Emil glanced at Billy but said nothing. Her entire focus was on Aster. “You’re kind of creeping me out staring at me like that. Can you at least say something please?” Emil smiled and looked at Kari before turning back to Aster.
“Your brother, does he look like you?” Aster nodded, then laughed. Emil did as well. “I suppose he does but not pretty…no, beautiful like you. You are. So very beautiful, like my human. She will fall in love with you the moment she sees you.”
“My mother.” Emil nodded. “Then you believe us? That we’re her children? I need to see her. I want to…we want to tell her that we want to get to know her. Spend some time with her too.”
“I’ll tell her. I’ll let her know.” Emil disappeared, then returned almost immediately. She smiled hugely. “I forgot to ask you your names. I heard it was Aster and Steele, but—”
“I’m Aster. And yes, my brother is Steele. You’ll love him. He’s so wonderful and his wife is amazing. But you know that already if you’ve spent any time with her. They want to have a baby soon.” Emil looked at her and then at her belly. There was no child as far as she could tell. And from what she’d been learning, she’d know as soon as Kari conceived.
“We’re still trying to have a baby. It’s been…we haven’t been trying very long. But we’re hoping. I’ve been…I don’t know a lot about being a panther yet, but that too is a learning process. It’s been an uphill battle to get as much information as we could find until recently.”
“Your sire, he is dead?” Kari shrugged. “He would be in a great deal of trouble to have left you without training you. Dead or alive, there are those that do not take kindly to leaving your own without help. I’ll see what I can do about finding out where he might be.”
“He didn’t have her permission to change her either.” Emil looked shocked, and Kari nearly laughed. But when Billy continued she seemed to relax a bit. “He took a bunch of them, girls, and changed them. We’re working to find them all.”