Page 4 of Mountain Air
Chapter Three
Rob stood there blinking. Oh no, he didn’t go there. Thinking back to what the man said, yes, he did. Taking a deep breath, Rob got control of himself before speaking.
“Who are you?” he asked. “And shouldn’t you check on the cubs?”
The man grinned at Rob. “Kelsey and Erin are just fine. Aren’t you girls?” He looked over his shoulder and Rob could hear the cubs yowling and growling. “As for who I am? I’m your escort for the time you’re here. Park Ranger Garrett Flores, at your service.” Rob was surprised when he didn’t bow. He sounded so formal.
“It’s nice to meet you, Garrett, but I do have to say that this is the strangest introduction I’ve ever been a part of. Do you think we could go back to the station? Maybe you could put on some clothes?”
Garrett looked down at himself and shrugged. “Shifters are always naked around each other. I’m so used to it that it slipped my mind.”
“But I’m not a shifter,” Rob argued, as he tried to keep his eyes focused above Garrett’s waist which wasn’t a heart break. Just a tad under Rob’s six feet, dark hair, piercing brown eyes, scruff on his cheeks. Yeah, Garrett had nothing to be ashamed about in the looks department.Wonder how he’d look with my teeth marks on his neck?Rob shook himself at that thought.What the fuck?
“We’ll talk about that again later because I can smell your cat.” He turned to the cubs, showing Rob his ass again.Oh yeah, he had an amazing one.“Let’s go girls, back to Uncle’s work.”
Rob watched as the cubs hopped up and shook themselves before prancing down the trail. It was all he could do to not laugh.
“Come on, Doc. Those two could find trouble in a nunnery. This being case in point. If they needed anything, they knew that my work was only down the trail. I’m guessing that you were hiking and heard them?” Garrett asked as he stepped closer to Rob.
Ignoring his reaction to Garrett’s proximity, Rob nodded. “There was such a racket. Little troublemakers, are they?”
“They can be. I didn’t know that my sister had them out here shifted or I would’ve checked on them sooner. I’m not sure why Kim was running here today. It’s set that the conclave doesn’t enter the park area during certain times/days.” Rob watched as Garrett moved back to where the cubs had been and picked up a backpack. He moved passed Rob and dropped the bag on the trail. “Okay, I’m really not sure now. I’m going to shift and run to catch the girls. Join us at the station.”
One minute Rob was staring at the gorgeous park ranger and the next the mountain lion was standing in his place. The mountain lion was tawny with areas of darker caramel around his head and paws. The lion bent his head down and grabbed the backpack in his jaws before glancing at Rob. He seemed to be waiting for Rob to say something.
“I’ll meet you back at the station. Shouldn’t take me long. Go take care of your nieces,” Rob told Garrett. The lion nodded and took off toward the station. “Definitely the strangest meeting I’ve ever been in,” he said as he started back up the trail.
§ § §
Garrett had no idea what Kim had been thinking or if she had even been aware of where and what she was doing. He would swear that her eyes were glazed from drugs. But that couldn’t be because they couldn’t shift while incapacitated. He was going to have to try and see if the girls knew why they were there.
Approaching the station, he looked around and other than his SUV and a truck there were no other vehicles in the lot. Where the hell did Kim park her car? He spied the girls sitting on their hind legs in front of the door. After bounding up the stairs and dropping the bag, Garrett shifted, picked them both up and ran his cheek over their heads.
Picking up the backpack with two fingers, Garrett reached around his arms full, punched the code into the door, before pushing it open and carrying them in. The girls each mewed and squirmed to get down. He dropped them and the bag in front of the bathroom door.
“Okay, girlies, in you go and shift back. No playing with the sink or the soap. Shift, get dressed and get back out here. Understood?” Garrett told them, putting a bit of alphasuaderebehind the commands. The one time he hadn’t given them complete step-by-step instructions, he’d checked on them after a few minutes and the room had been covered in bubbles.
Both cubs nodded and slipped into the room. The door slammed shut harder than it should have. One of them must have pushed it with her butt. The thought made Garrett chuckle as he crossed to his office area. He’d left his uniform draped over the chair, so it didn’t take long for him to pull his dark green uniform pants and lighter green shirt on. His boots were under the desk and in no time, he was dressed to impress.Yeah, right.
“Kelsey and Erin, you better be out here post haste or there will be no snacks,” he called out as he moved to the kitchen area. While he didn’t live at the station, Garrett did keep a few essentials on hand. Soon enough, two little blonde-haired girls were next to him.
“We heres, Unchi,” Kelsey said over the top of her sister.
“Yummies, ‘eees?” Erin asked. She was only three and a bit shyer than her sister but more direct.
Garrett squatted down and held out his arms. Both girls pushed close and grabbed his shirt. What the hell? They always liked hugs but hadn’t grabbed at his shirt since they were infants.
“Are you two okay? Was your mommy bringing you to visit me?” Yeah, he might be questioning them, but he was going to be subtle.
Both girls nodded then shook their heads. Translation? Garrett wasn’t sure. Teach him to ask two questions at the same time. “You’re okay?”
They nodded again. So maybe they answered in order. “Were you coming to visit me?” He watched as they both frowned.
“Mommy was playing hide and seek. She putted us on the tree and hided,” Kelsey told him.
“Hide and seek? Do you like playing that?” What the fuck was his sister thinking? His uncle was going to be pissed. He didn’t dictate with an iron fist but there were some rules that he expected to be followed — protecting cubs being the first.
Both girls dropped their heads back to Garrett’s chest and rubbed against him. That wasn’t a good sign. “Kelsey? Erin? You know that Unchi will keep you safe. Don’t you like playing with Mommy?”
