Free Cormac by Kathi S. Barton Page A

worried that these people had the wrong idea about why she was here. Or
perhaps they did know and were being polite about it. She was his sexual
partner, nothing more. And Mac would have to explain that to them when he had
time. Andi walked into the kitchen and nearly laughed. “I see. I guess we need
to make a few phone calls.”
    She called the office, where she’d been told
Mr. Mac was. There wasn’t any answer that she needed, but a service did kick in
and told her the office hours. Andi didn’t know Mac’s cell phone number, but
Rogers had Storm’s number. She didn’t really want to call the other woman, but
the sink was broken and they needed it worked on.
    “Yeah, hi. It’s Andi Collins. I work for you
at the diner.” Storm laughed and told her she knew who it was. “Okay, well, I
have a problem here. The sink in the kitchen is broken. And I don’t mean that
the water is not working, but the whole sink is laying in the bottom of the
shelf under it in pieces. Like someone with a sledge hammer beat it to shit. I can’t
get in touch with Mac to see what he wants to do.”
    “Did you try your link?” Andi asked her what that
was. “Okay. I’m going to tell you how I was told to use it. Think of him. Just
think of Mac and you should connect with him through your mind. He’ll know it’s
you. It’s sort of like a private number only the two of you can call. You can
reach me too if we were to exchange blood. Which I think might be a good idea
with you being a human and all.”
    “You make it sound like it’s some sort of
curse.” Storm laughed and Andi felt her face heat up. “What will that help me
with? I have this issue now.”
    “You’ll see once you try it. If that doesn’t
work, I’m…. Hang on a sec.” Andi wanted to try to reach out to Mac as Storm had
suggested, but didn’t want to be embarrassed again. She’d been doing that
enough. “Okay, Ordan and another person are coming over to see if they can help.
And so you’re not thrown off by this, it’s Jim, your brother.”
    “Why is he coming here? And where…did he hurt
you? He can be mean, but mostly it’s my father that makes him. I’m not saying
I’m not afraid of him, but he can be nice when it suits him.” She stopped
talking when she heard Storm whistle. “I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be. But I wanted to tell you they were
coming now before they got there. And Jim is staying here. He wants us to help
him get out from under your dad and aunt. We had a long talk and he’s going to
go back to school and try to be an upstanding person.” Andi asked her what if
he didn’t. “Then I kill him, bury him in the back yard, and we move on.”
    Andi wasn’t sure if she was kidding or not.
She really wasn’t sure that she wanted to know either. Storm, according to
Martha and Billy, had been in the army, something special. And could and would
kill without much in the way of effort. Andi had a feeling that her brother
would be dead long before he got to better himself. He was like their dad—too
much to change like that, she thought.
    “He’s on his way over. Are you going to be
all right with that? You have Rogers and his wife Bethany there, right? They
can both protect you if he gets out of hand. They’re both bears.” Andi looked
at the couple as they stood by the broken mess at the counter. Bears? She
wondered what other kinds of shifters there were out there. “Andi, are you
going to be all right with him being there?”
    “Yes. I guess. He’s not…bears? They’re
bears?” Storm laughed and she looked away from Bethany and Rogers, knowing that
they must have heard her. “It’s okay, I guess. I don’t know what I’m going to
say to him, but it’s fine, I guess.”
    “Good. He’s going to work on this, Andi, and
when he does, you’re going to be much easier around him. All of us will.” Yeah,
sure, and her father was going to be a priest too. “If you think you’ll be all
right, then I won’t come over