I risk a glance her way, but her poker face is damn good.
“Okay, what's our move?” I focus back on Callum, pretending like there’s nothing off. He sighs, fiddling with the phone.
“Some low-level shifters are missing.” He darts a look at Sheena, worry digging harsh lines in his face. “At first, it was women on their own, but then the pattern changed.” He hesitates, then focuses back on me as he continues.
“They took a wolf from the local pack. It’s hard to say whether they got sloppy or overconfident, but they made a mistake. She’s well connected. The only reason we know about the other disappearances at all is because the alpha heard about them while tearing the town apart looking for his niece.”
I let out a low whistle. You don’t snatch an alpha’s niece unless you have a death wish, especially if you’re trying to fly under the radar. While every species is a little different, women are almost universally protected within shifter hierarchies.
This is a mess. I don’t bother hiding my concern when I turn my focus back to Sheena. Her face is still slack, but I’m not fooled, not when I can hear her heart beating out of her chest. I don’t think she even realizes she's shredding her napkin into tiny pieces. My heartburn flares back to life. I desperately need to burp, but now doesn’t feel like the time.
Callum drops his phone on the table with a clatter and takes Sheena’s hands in his, stopping the napkin massacre.
“We won't be gone long,” Callum whispers. “We'll show you how to work the security system and leave you with a gun.” There’s no sign she’s even hearing him, but he doesn’t stop. “This place is off the grid. No one has any reason to believe you're here.”
That does it.
Her head snaps up, pupils blown wide as the black consumes the vivid green. I can practically taste her fear. I get why she may be uncomfortable, but this degree of terror seems a little extreme. Still, I’m opening my mouth to tell her we won't go—that we won’t leave her alone for even a second—when Callum takes hold of her chair. He yanks it towards him. The wooden legs screech against the tile in a horrible way before the sound cuts off abruptly.
“You're tough and smart. You don't need help from me or Gideon, but it’s yours if you want it.” Callum cradles Sheena’s face in his hands. His thumb grazes her bottom lip, and only then do I notice how they’re both trembling.
“Sheena,” he whispers. “It’s your choice.” His conviction makes each word sound like a promise.
Fuck, this is make or break.
I sit helplessly, taking the tension in my body out on the fork in my hand. It bends in half while we both wait for her answer.
Sheena stares into Callum's dark eyes, clearly searching for something. He holds the eye contact. Neither of them so much as blink as she reads him. When she finally finds whatever she’s looking for and clears her throat, I hide the mangled fork under the table.
“I was taken,” she whispers, her voice haunted. “I still don’t know who they were or how they found me. One night, I was in my twin bed crying over a boy. The next, I was in a cage.” She trails off, sucking in an uneven breath.
I wait for rage to overpower me, but it doesn’t. The anger is still there simmering deep in my gut, but my overwhelming instinct right now is to comfort the woman in front of me. I’m clearly not the only one feeling that way because Callum pulls her carefully onto his lap.
I take her now vacant seat and lay a tentative hand on her back. She doesn’t seem to notice, too lost in her past to focus on either of us.
“These people you're looking for—they sound a lot like the group that hunts me,” Sheena says. I stiffen at that; the need to hunt them down and rip out their spines builds inside of me.
“No matter where I hide, they always catch up.” Her breath hitches. “I don't want to bring any trouble down on you, so I’ll head out today. It may take time, but they will find me. They always do.”
Her focus returns to us. She tries to climb out of Callum's lap, but he's not having it and neither am I. He shoots me a warning look over her shoulder, but it’s too late.
“You're not leaving,” I snarl at her. “We'll track them down and gut them like the cowardly monsters they are.” I’m roaring now, too consumed with rage over what happened to her to control myself. “You don’t need to go anywhere.”
Callum clears his throat.
“What Gideon means to say is, our job is to protect supernaturals in this territory, Sheena. We would never toss you out to avoid trouble.”
She must hear him, but she doesn’t react to his declaration. Instead, she turns in his lap to study me. Sheena’s face is blank and impossible for me to read. Panic stings my skin. Any second now, she will run screaming from this kitchen, and it will be all my fault. Even knowing this, I can't stop the feral rumblings escaping my mouth. Maybe I can beg forgiveness. Maybe I can?—
“Okay. I'll stay,” Sheena says.
Wait. She can’t possibly mean that. Right?
Sheena erases the distance between us, gently cupping my jaw in her hand. It’s the first time she’s touched me deliberately in my human form. I’ll remember it until the day I die.
“As long as you're both fine with it, I'll stay,” she repeats, glancing over her shoulder at Callum.
He’s watching me closely, like he's preparing to snatch her out of my reach if I lose control again. Callum is familiar with my temper, but I could never hurt Sheena. I felt the truth of that deep in my bones the second she touched my face. Still, I give him a nod, and some of the tightness in his expression disappears.
