Free Finding the Magic by Cait Miller Page A

away from the safety of Murray House to a place where he could be captured. The only way to find out for sure was to play along. His reply was as carefully worded as the original e-mail. Stating that his cat Nick had black hair and blue eyes and had been believed to have been killed and that he was eager for his safe return.
    Cam thought briefly of getting in touch with Jack and decided to wait until he knew whether the e-mail was a genuine lead. He knew Jack would be back in a heartbeat if he thought they might have a clue to his brother’s whereabouts. One thing was certain, Cameron wanted to be ready for any outcome and the best way to do that was to call in the security team. He just hoped the outcome wasn’t going to confirm his worst fears and lead to the discovery of his friend’s body.
     
    Contacting the team had been easy. A quick phone call was all it took to ensure their arrival at the house later that evening. Mary would be pleased to see them and Cameron himself was looking forward to spending some time with his friends. Although it would no doubt lead to more arguments about why he could no longer be an active member. Only Chris really understood his reasoning and even he didn’t agree fully.
    He missed them.
    Until a little more than two years ago, Cam had been an integral part of the team. His skill with computers and security systems had been invaluable. Then he had begun to show signs of entering his mating cycle. At first, it hadn’t been too bad, he had been sure his willpower was strong enough to resist the compulsion to take a mate. But as his cycle progressed, it became a huge problem.
    His appetite had declined. Insomnia plagued him and he started to become distracted and short-tempered. His libido increased and his cock was hard more often than not. He found himself being aggressive and combative with other males with little provocation. Once or twice, their work had brought them into contact with marked, unmated females. Cameron had been next to useless as he found he had to concentrate all his efforts on fighting his instincts. It made him a liability, causing unnecessary risk to himself and the other team members. Since he had sworn against ever taking a mate, he had seen no other option other than to leave the team.
    Ultimately, he had ended up retreating to Murray House where he stayed as much as possible in order to try to ride it out. Thanks in a large part to Mary’s medical knowledge and his own determination, he had kept the worst of the effects of the cycle at bay. Until Jack Douglass had landed on his doorstep four months ago. That’s when his carefully ordered life had started to go straight to hell.
    His insomnia was worse than ever and he was exercising himself to exhaustion to try to get some sleep. Mary had threatened him with sleeping pills more than once. His appetite had gone from poor to nonexistent and it was only a matter of time before it became obvious. The high-calorie drinks and meals were only going to help for so long. Then there was the fact that he felt like a walking hormone and the answer to two years of abstinence was sharing his house. A house that definitely wasn’t big enough. To top it all off, by this time tomorrow, there were going to be four more men under the same roof. Shapeshifters . A fact that, with his current run of luck, would not get by Jayne for long. Particularly in Christopher’s case. Cameron dropped his head in his hands and groaned. For the first time he wondered whether it might just be easier to give in.
    To everything.

Chapter Seven
     
    Under the pine trees at the edge of the wide lawn, Henry sheltered from the bitter snow. He and another one of his men had hiked over the hill that morning. They had joined the two men he had already in place and set up a small camp at the far side of the loch. They were armed with both tranquilizers and guns in case things got out of hand but Murray would be no use to them dead. All day they had