Strange Lake Falls Panther (Strange Lake Falls Series Book 4) Read Online Free Page B

get in and I’ll fix you something to eat.’ Message three. “ Just checking to see if you arrived yet. Call me when you get in, no matter how late it is. I love you.’ Message four . . .” All but three messages were from his mom. The other three were solicitors. He couldn’t help but smile. He took the cordless receiver and dialed the pack house.
    “Hello?” A familiar voice answered the phone.
    “Hi, Sam, it’s Connor. How’s everything?”
    “Connor! Oh my gosh, you’re back! Mary . . . Ric, Connor’s on the phone.”
    Before he could ask Sam to calm down, his mom’s voice came over the line. It was the best sound he had ever heard in his life. Coming to Strange Lake Falls wasn’t quite home, the house didn’t really feel like home either, but hearing his mother’s voice was home for him. He almost cried right then.
    “Connor, baby. I’m so glad you’re home.”
    He gulped back his emotions. “Me too, Mom. Me too.”
    “Come over here and I’ll make you something to eat.”
    “I’m not hungry right now, really. I’m more tired than anything. I was thinking of going to bed.”
    “Oh . . . you’re right. You must be exhausted. Go to bed and I’ll come by in the morning and cook you a good ol’ fashioned breakfast.”
    “Mom, you don’t have to do that.”
    “I insist. Get some sleep, because I’m going to be there at the crack of dawn.”
    Connor almost laughed when he heard Ric groan in the background about having to get up early. “Let me come over there, but not at the crack of dawn. How about I come over to the pack house about nine?”
    “Fine, I’ll see you in the morning, then. I love you.”
    “I love you too, Mom.”
    He hung up the phone feeling happy and sad at the same time. He hadn’t seen his mother in over eighteen months. He had changed quite a bit. What would she think of him? He went to his old bedroom and into the bathroom. He turned the lights on and stared in the mirror.
    He looked different. He was taller, with more well defined muscles, toned, not a football player’s big body now but more of a gymnast and swimmer physique. He also seemed to be taller. Even his eyes had changed; though they were still the same color, the shape of them seemed more feline. He felt different, too. Would his mother see the differences? Maybe, maybe not. But she would be able to scent the difference. He wasn’t human anymore and she would be able to tell that eventually.
    Maybe he should have warned her. If he had told her what had, she would have come to South America after him and that would have been too dangerous. He could have told her over the phone just now, but then she would have come in the middle of the night to see that he was okay. No matter how or when he told her, she was going to be devastated. He sighed, there was no changing things at this point and time. What was done was done.
    He turned on the water in the shower and removed his clothes. He was looking forward to a real shower, with hot water that wouldn’t run out halfway through and wasn’t mostly brown. His shampoo bottle was still half full. He massaged the shampoo through his hair. Maybe he should have tried to cut his hair before coming home. It still would have grown back long again in a day or two. He had to constantly keep it cut short to prevent it from getting tangled while he moved through the rainforest. He hadn’t cut it since he left South America and it was already past his shoulders.
    He rinsed the suds from his hair and grabbed the bar of soap. He didn’t use a washcloth, just rubbed the soap all over his body. When he was done washing himself, he turned the water off and grabbed a towel. Fast, sure motions got his body pretty much dry. He walked naked back to his bedroom and crawled into the bed.
    The moment he pulled back the covers he froze. The most delicious scent rose up to him and seemed to envelope him. It was a mixture of honey and lavender and something else, something like . . .