Page 20 of Three Meows

“No,” Elijah stepped forward. “It’s time I took my responsibilities as the leader seriously. I will try to explain the best I can.” He took a deep breath in. “As you saw last night, we are shifters. A fact we endeavor to keep hidden.”

“The permission you gave was to approve of revealing your secret?” I asked, everything coming together now that I wasn’t in the middle of a crazy moment.

“Yes, it’s…” Elijah searched for a word.

“A big deal!” Chester chimed in.

“Sacred,” Rowan said at the same time.

“It’s necessary to reveal the secret, which is not only our secret but concerns the survival of all the shifters that hide from publicscrutiny, only to those who are deemed trustworthy,” Elijah continued.

“You… you really trust me with this?” I asked, stumped.

“If there is one thing I am sure about, it’s that you would never endanger a cat,” Elijah smiled at me. “And we are cats, aren’t we?”

I huffed and crossed my arms.

“Give yourself some credit. I won’t reveal your secret, but it’s not only because you are extremely cuddly as a cat.”

“I assure you I am extremely cuddly in both forms,” Elijah said proudly.

“Let’s not get distracted.” I narrowed my eyes, even if I was very interested in testing that theory. “Okay, you are magic or whatever. I can roll with that. What bugs me is why you inserted yourself into my life so thoroughly. Chester sought me out immediately at the University and crawled into my home as Cheddar with no hesitation. Rowan stalked me as a cat…”

“Kept you safe,” Rowan huffed. I ignored him.

“…and Elijah pursued companionship with me as a human before I spotted his cat form. You were keeping tabs on me wherever I was. You got so close to me… I thought… I let myself… Have you been hired by my father?”

I hoped they would protest but the silence was telling. Elijah nodded in the end, confirming my suspicions. My heart was breaking and I couldn’t hide the hurt in my eyes.

“Wait, so when you scared Kevin off… it was on my father’s orders?!”

“No, Lisa,” Chester stopped forward to herd me against the wall. How he seemed to loom over me when he was shorter than me was beside me. “By that time I did it not because I was paid to do it… but because I wanted you.”

Chester kissed me with all the passion and vibrant energy that could barely be contained in him. For a moment I let myselfbe swept in the strong current of the kiss, letting my lips part, enjoying the thrill of slickness of meeting tongues. But when we parted, still keeping so close we shared the same air, the world interfered.

I caught how Elijah flinched and stepped back when he saw the kiss. The gaze he dragged away from us was unfathomably sad. He was ceding the ground just because Chester kissed me first…

Rowan, on the other hand, did not prescribe to the rule of dibs. He stepped toward us with deadly calmness, making Chester straighten in alarm, then grabbed my chin and kissed me himself.

If Chester’s kiss was raw passion, this was a tease. A brush of lips to make me want more. A placeholder. A promise that it could turn into more, but it wouldn’t yet.

“You want all three of us,” Rowan said quietly, but in the silence of the room he may have been as well shouting.

My lips were dry as I tried to shape the words.

“Yes.”

“We want you as well!” Chester beamed. “Right guys? We were just talking about it when you knocked…”

Rowan and Chester had already made their want clear with a kiss, but I looked towards Elijah. He looked rooted to the spot.

“Elijah?” I asked. “Can I have a kiss?”

That made him move. He took my hand and brushed his lips against it before he took my lips in a careful, hesitant kiss. We ended up holding hands and I could feel his shake slightly.

“Does this mean I can really have all of you?” I whispered when we parted.

“Not yet,” Rowan said and pulled out his phone. When the video connection flared to life on the screen, he thrust the phone at Elijah and I scrambled out of view.

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