Ruffled Feathers Read online

  Simon smiled as if he’d made the meal himself.

  The great food and the even better company made her feel more at ease. “You know, maybe we shouldn’t have met up for lunch. You’re going to have to top this during dinner,” she teased, going back to her omelet.

  He picked up his sandwich. “I know when I’m beaten, but I make a pretty good lasagna, and I can give you several references for my chicken and random vegetable stir-fry.”

  “Tempting.” She’d always liked men who didn’t shy away from the kitchen. Not that there’d been any men in her life lately. She was too busy.

  “What about you? What do you like to cook?” he asked, before taking a bite.

  “Usually something that leaves me leftovers. But last week was ‘eat everything that’ll go bad’ time since I’ll be out here.”

  They talked about favorite foods and successful and failed recipes they’d tried, and Madison enjoyed herself so much she almost forgot about her appointment with Mayor McFadden.

  Simon paid, taking care of the tip as well, and escorted Madison over to the mayor’s office, which shared a building with the post office. She checked her bag for her notes, and when Simon came in with her, she was surprised.

  “I know you can do this by yourself,” he told her, having noticed her expression. “But like I told you, I want to help you. And I know our mayor. She’ll want to know how people in town feel about the plan, and I can tell her that.”

  “Not that you’re biased.” It was sweet of him, though.

  “I am extremely objective.” He led her down the hallway. “And if Kathleen doesn’t want me there, she’ll tell me.”

  “Good. I mean, not that I want her to tell you to leave, but that she’s straightforward.” She hated dealing with university politics and higher-ups who never gave you a clear answer.

  She knocked on the door to the secretary’s office, despite it being open.

  A woman in her late forties, with blonde hair tied back in a neat bun, looked up from her computer. “Can I help you?”

  Madison gave her friendliest smile. If this was the secretary she’d spoken to earlier, the mayor must’ve informed her what Madison was doing here. And like everyone else in town who knew who she was, the secretary eyed with her with a justified amount of suspicion. “Good afternoon.”

  “Good afternoon.” The secretary noticed Simon standing in the doorway. “Simon? I thought only Doctor Adams was meeting with the mayor.”

  “I know,” he replied. “I thought that an extra shifter’s perspective on the matter would be useful.”

  The secretary picked up her phone. “I’ll tell her you’re here.”

  Madison clutched her bag, trying to look calm and confident. She’d given presentations at conferences with her scientific peers and rivals in the audience looking for something in her results to criticize. And yet this appointment was more nerve-wracking than any of that.

  The secretary informed the mayor that her two o’clock was here, and so was Simon Miller. She stayed silent, humming once, and put down the phone. “Mayor McFadden will see you both now. She’s in the next office over. Would you like something to drink? Coffee? Tea? Water?”

  “Water will be wonderful, thank you.”

  Madison led the way to the mayor’s office, knocking twice and opening it upon the ‘come in’.

  The office wouldn’t have looked out of place in her building at Pinevale University. Several plants sat in the windowsill, with at least one of them dying and hanging on for dear life. The bookcase behind the mayor’s desk was filled with thick folders and a few books, and the table in the center of the room had several stacks of paper on it.

  Mayor McFadden stood up from her desk, dressed in a charcoal pantsuit. She looked to be in her early fifties, taller than Madison, with her shoulder-length dark hair graying. Her handshake was firm and she gestured for Madison to take a seat at the table.

  “It’s been a busy morning.” She grabbed several stacks of paper, moving them over to her desk to join other stacks. She sighed as she put them down. “Very busy.”

  “If you have more important things to do, I can—”

  Mayor McFadden gave her a sharp look. “You are the important thing, Doctor Adams. A scientist discovering shifters exist? Nothing’s more important.” She glanced at her desk. “Although I really should get back to the principal about new PE equipment. Shifter kids don’t know their own strength.” She gave another sigh before sitting down. “It is good to meet you face to face.”

  “Likewise.” She resisted the urge to ask more about shifter strength. Judging by Simon’s smile, he knew she was thinking about running experiments with volunteers already.

  “And what brings you here today, Simon?” the mayor asked.

  He looked at Madison and smiled. “Well, it’s the right thing to do. I’m the reason she’s here. Why she found out about us. So, it’s my responsibility.”

  The secretary came in with a tray with three glasses and a carafe of water. Madison murmured her thanks. Pouring water gave her something to do.

  The mayor nodded, thanking her secretary as she left. “I gave you permission to look around, Simon. We share the blame.”

  “I’m the one who put up that net.” Madison didn’t want Simon or the mayor to feel guiltier than they did. “And my department is responsible for confining you to your homes for weeks every year.”

  “We choose to keep a low profile,” the mayor told her.

  “And that’s unfair.” Madison opened her bag, finding her notebook with the notes she’d put together that morning. “I know this area. It’s got to be big enough for us to share while my team does field research.”

  “That will depend on how much space you need.”

  Madison nodded, flipping through the notebook until she found her map of the area where she’d marked locations for the nets. “Do you know how much space your shifters need?”

  “That depends on the individual shifter,” the mayor replied. “But I have a pretty good idea how much space we need overall.”

  “Great!” That would save them a lot of time. She slid her notebook closer to the mayor. “Here’s where we’ll be putting up our tents, and the other crosses are where I want to put up our nets.”

  The mayor took the notebook, studying the map. “The south-west, as usual.” She looked up at Madison. “It’s good to finally talk to someone like you. I’ve been trying to get this information for years.”

  “Ah.” Madison was all too familiar with that bitter tone. “Let me guess, Professor Brown ignored your emails, brushed off your phone calls and wouldn’t speak to you while he was here?” He was a lot of things, but not a people person. Not when he had research to do.

  “I’ve tried to get a meeting with him for years,” she explained. “About five years ago, I visited him and his team, and he still wouldn’t speak to me. Kept telling me to talk to his students. Who, I should say, were very polite when assuring me they weren’t harming any birds. There clearly wasn’t any point in discussing things with him.”

  Madison winced. “That sounds like him.” It was such a shame. Years of frustration, and all because one professor was obsessed with his research.

  “I never knew that.” Simon cocked his head. “You didn’t mention it when I offered to scout ahead.”

  The mayor gestured dismissively. “What was the point? It wouldn’t have changed much. I wanted to know when exactly he’d come down here and how long exactly they planned on staying.” She tapped Madison’s map. “I wanted to know where they’d be. I wanted to know if they’d ever found anything inexplicable that might lead to them finding out about shifters.”

  “Not from what I can tell.” Madison exchanged a look with Simon. “But I guess it’s too late now.”

  “Yes.” The mayor took a deep breath. “But what’s done is done. I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later.”

  “I won’t tell anyone else,” she immediately assured her. “
I know you’re all worried I want to put you in a lab and study you, but I’m here for the bird-birds.”

  “I trust her.” Simon reached out to take Madison’s hand.

  The mayor looked at their joined hands, but didn’t comment as she smiled and pushed the notebook back to Madison. “The question isn’t whether you trust her, but whether I and everyone else will. This meeting is an excellent start.” She turned to Madison. “Can you make sure your team stays in the areas you’ve indicated? They won’t go on hikes and run into a shifter?”

  Madison looked at her map again. “I’ll discuss it with my students when they come here tomorrow. Our area is big enough for a few short hikes, but I can tell them they can’t stray too far from the camp-site for safety reasons. Or I’ll keep them so busy that they won’t want to go on long hikes.”

  “Or have them visit the town,” Simon suggested. “If you’re worried they’ll wander off because they’re bored, they can come here. Are they driving from Pinevale?”

  “Yes, that’s a good idea.” She should’ve thought of something besides ‘more research’ to keep her students occupied herself. “It’ll let people here get used to having scientists around.” She smiled at the mayor. “Maybe they’ll realize we’re not that scary.”

  “Your predecessor only sent students here for a quick trip to the general store,” the mayor replied, nodding along. “Only a few visits during those weeks. It certainly wouldn’t hurt if your team visited more often for lunch or dinner.”

  “I think they’ll enjoy that.” She was glad the mayor was thinking along with her. “I’ll make sure the students stick to the areas we discuss with you beforehand. That way, it should be possible for bird shifters and other shifters to shift if they want to.” She gestured at her map. “Do you think it’s okay if we declare that area off-limits to shifters for the next four weeks?”

  “I think several people will disagree with me no matter what I do,” the mayor told her, smiling wryly. “Some will think I should chase you out of the woods and back to your university. Some will think I shouldn’t have this meeting at all.” She eyed Simon. “And some will want Simon’s head for bringing you here.”

  “It’s not his fault!” Madison said, just as Simon opened his mouth. “He didn’t fly into that net on purpose. It was a coincidence I was still nearby. If I hadn’t come over immediately, he’d have escaped by shifting and destroying the net before flying off again. They can’t blame him when it’s my fault we met.”

  “He still told you about our community.” The mayor’s smile was soft. “He stayed with you and explained things.”

  “It was the right thing to do,” Simon replied.

  “I know not everyone feels that way.” Madison’s memory of the diner was still fresh. “Your community is worried about us scientists.” The bad feeling in the pit of her stomach returned. This entire community feared her. Suspicious, and rightly so. “I understand your concerns.”

  “This plan will take time,” the mayor said. “People will have to get used to it.”

  Madison hesitated. She didn’t want to jump to conclusions. But… “So that’s a yes?”

  Mayor McFadden smiled. “As far as I’m concerned, yes. I’ll have to discuss the details with the local council and set up rules, provided they agree.”

  “Whatever you need.” Madison couldn’t believe it. Their plan was going to work. Simon wouldn’t be confined anymore. “I can give you more updates. My students won’t be too surprised at me keeping in touch with local authorities.”

  The mayor nodded. “Can you give me daily updates on your schedule and location?”

  “Sure. I’ll send you the plans so far, but we’ll have to change them as we go.” She’d done enough fieldwork to know changes to the plan were inevitable. “But I can keep you updated. Exact places where we’ll be on what day, things like that.” She slid some of her notes over to the mayor. “These should cover the basics.”

  “I’ll go over this today.” Mayor McFadden stood up, and Madison knew it was time for them to leave. “Simon, could you stay for a quick word?”

  Simon nodded. “Of course.”

  “Thank you for making time to talk to me.” She shook hands with the mayor before leaving. Simon smiled at her as she left reluctantly.

  When she closed the mayor’s office door behind her, she let out a relieved sigh. She’d have to drill it into the PhD students tomorrow that they couldn’t stray too far. She had to show everyone in town that scientists could stick to their side of a deal, even if only one scientist knew about that deal.

  She walked past the secretary’s office, nodding at her in greeting, then stopped. She had dinner with Simon that night. A date. And all she’d packed were practical clothes for camping and the outdoors. She couldn’t turn up in those.

  Or, well, she probably could. She’d worn those last night when he’d asked her to dinner.

  Still, she wanted to look nice.

  She knocked on the secretary’s door again. “Excuse me, is there’s a clothing store in town?”

  The secretary looked up from her keyboard. “Yes, it’s down the street next to the diner. They sell other camping gear as well.”

  Of course she assumed Madison was looking for that. “No, um, I meant something nice. For a date.” She felt flustered, which was ridiculous. She was a grown woman.

  “Oh, I see.” The secretary smiled, the first genuine smile Madison had seen on her face. “With that nice Miller boy?”

  Madison’s face reddened further. The secretary must’ve watched him grow up. Shifter small towns really were regular small towns. Which meant her answer was going to be on the grapevine five minutes after she left here. “Yes.” Besides, if the date went as well as she’d hoped, the gossip would’ve started tomorrow morning anyway.

  The other woman’s smile grew. “Take the second left once you leave here. Rebecca always has wonderful dresses. Good luck.”

  Madison knew she didn’t only mean with clothes-shopping. “Thanks. Um, Simon is still with the mayor. If he comes out wondering where I went, just tell him I went back to work and that I’ll see him tonight.”

  As if she was going to get any work done today. Not with the butterflies in her stomach.

  5. Simon

  He wondered why Kathleen wanted to talk to him. He’d told her everything that had happened when he’d called her this morning.

  Okay, not everything.

  Why are we letting our mate get away from us? his hawk demanded.

  Simon knew she had her work to get back to, although it pained him they couldn’t spend more time together. We will see her again tonight.

  It didn’t settle his hawk’s need to go out and find her.

  “What was it you wanted to discuss?” he asked.

  The mayor picked up her glass of water. “You left out something important this morning.”

  “No, I didn’t. I told you exactly what happened. I got caught in her net, she wanted to band me, so I shifted.” He hadn’t wanted Madison to have to explain the whole thing to Kathleen. Much better if it came from him.

  “You didn’t tell me she’s your fated mate.” The mayor looked at him, her eyes piercing through him.

  He should’ve known she’d realize. She was an eagle with the eyesight that came with it.

  “I didn’t think it was important for the meeting. Not for the plan to work. I know you think I’m biased, but I think it’s a good plan,” he argued. “You agreed to it.”

  “It is important,” she insisted. “Because it means she’s biased as well. She’ll do anything to protect you.”

  “I—” He’d been so caught up with looking out for Madison that he hadn’t realized she’d want to do the same. Humans didn’t recognize fated mates immediately like shifters did, but they felt the connection. “I don’t need protecting.”

  “Didn’t seem to stop her,” the mayor told him, looking far too pleased. “This morning she told me I shouldn’t blame you for s
hifting. I had a hunch, and the meeting confirmed it. The way she defended you and took the blame. And I’d have to be blind not to see the way you look at her.”

  He felt his cheeks redden. “I can’t help it.”

  The mayor sipped her water. “Like I said, a scientist was going to discover us sooner rather than later. That scientist being the fated mate of one of our shifters is the best outcome we could have hoped for. Fated mates are fated for a reason. Some people say there’s a reason for how fated mates meet as well. Always at the right place, at the right time.” She smiled at Simon. “That will go a long way to convince people it’s a good idea.”

  He smiled back. “Maybe don’t lead with it.”

  “Oh, the information she’s left with us will do most of the work.” The mayor picked up the notes Madison had left. “Besides, I doubt everyone will immediately take to the skies if we agree to her plan.”

  Simon knew her eagle was as annoyed at having to stay inside as his hawk was. Eagles and hawks didn’t hide from a threat. “True. All we need is a couple shifters willing to try and show that it’s safe.” Plenty of shifters would remain cautious, but he was sure there’d be others who wouldn’t mind sticking to one or two areas of the woods if it meant they could fly or run free.

  “How long is she planning on staying?”

  He shrugged. “She said it depended on how today’s meeting with you went, but she hoped to stay four weeks.”

  “That’s long enough to talk to people and give it a chance. There are a lot of details to work out, and we obviously haven’t met the rest of her team yet.”

  Simon nodded. You didn’t change years of cautious behavior overnight. “But this is a good first step.”

  “Yes. Now, I’m sure you can’t wait to be with her again, so I won’t keep you. I’ll call her tomorrow to discuss how to proceed with the daily updates. We’ll go from there.”

  “She’ll be glad to hear it.” He stood up. “Thank you for making time.”

  The mayor nodded. “Of course. This is going to change things for us. Hopefully, eventually, for the better. I’m glad that if any ornithologist had to discover us, it’s someone like her and not Professor Brown. The arrogance of the man, completely ignoring me.” The mayor walked back to her desk. “All right, I have to see who else in town I need to talk to about this, and I’m sure you have better things to do as well.”