Bruno chuckled, as she meant him to. “What about you, any exes I should be worried about?”
“I’ve had a couple of boyfriends, but none of them should concern you. No weird stalkers or secret babies. Book boyfriends, that’s where you might want to watch out! If some of my favorites came to life, I’d drop you like a hot rock and head back in time or outer space with them.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Bruno said, kissing the top of her head.
37
BRUNO
The buzz of a dryer from far away in the silent house woke Bruno. He wasn’t sure how he’d fallen asleep. Exhaustion from nearly freezing to death, probably, and Clarice’s warm, safe presence. But as soon as he remembered where he was, he remembered Gil and got worried. Clarice stirred in his arms and sat up.
“Oh, your clothes!” She scrambled out of the layers of curtains they were covered in, and the air that replaced her was toasty warm. “I hope I didn’t melt your jacket. The instructions said tumble dry low was okay, so it must not be real down, but one of those synthetics. I think I have PTSD from accidentally ruining my sister’s favorite dress in the dryer. See, I told you that you should have given me a business card instead of a date!”
Bruno examined his fingers and toes while she was gone. They were tender and tingling, but had sensation, and aside from one discolored fingertip, seemed to have survived unscathed. Did Clarice think he was weak? Tracy had hated it when he showed any signs of inadequacy. Shethought he was too invested infeelingsfor a man, and notalphaenough.
Bruno shook his head firmly. He was only thinking about Tracy at all because he and Clarice had talked about her…and because he wanted to let Clarice into his life the way he’d once let Tracy in. Clarice felt like all their best moments and none of their bad ones, and she already knew all of his secrets and frailties.
“It’s almost a shame to give you these back,” Clarice said from the doorway, her voice teasing, and Bruno realized that he’d opened the coat and was sitting basically nude. He leaned back to give her a view. He couldn’t make out her expression without his glasses, but she whistled in appreciation. “You’re definitelywarmerthan you were!”
Worry for Gil or not, he might have indulged in nude Olympics with Clarice if Veronica’s phone had not rung then.
“Yes?”
“I’m calling about a house you have listed on Zillow?—”
Bruno cursed. “Veronica’s not here. Call back later.”
But the might-have-been-sexy moment was gone. He got dressed swiftly.
“Would it do any good to call Juliette?” Clarice suggested.
“Probably not,” Bruno guessed. “Juliette’s taking care of more important things right now. She’ll call when she can.”
“So, who’s Juliette? How does she know about Tiny Paws?”
That required a great deal of careful explanation, about the shifter agency that protected their secrets, and Juliette’s maternal relationship with Tiny Paws, about thegene company, Stork, that was trying to unlock the keys to shifting and had already tried to steal children to study, including Addison while she was in labor..
“So wait,” Clarice said. “Shifters can sense each other. That’s how the man next to Hunter knew you were a shifter. So, was he a shifter, too?”
“Yes, and one of the men in the Stork jackets was, too,” Bruno said.
“Why would a shifter be helping any of them?”
“Being a good or bad person isn’t limited to being human,” Bruno said dryly. “As much as I’d like to believe that having an animal sharing my skin inherently speaks to the quality of my soul, the truth is that money and power are strong motivations, and everyone has selfish hierarchical needs.”
“I need a flowchart,” Clarice complained. “I need my binder of shifter information.”
“You have a binder of shifter information?”
“I didn’t know they were shifters. I was pretty firmly on the side of wizards at the time, because I thought Gil could teleport. So, wheredowizards actually fit into this?”
“I have no earthly idea,” Bruno confessed. “I know one of the kids at Tiny Paws can teleport, but I figured it was part of being a gryphon.”
“He’s a gryphon? Are there other mythological shifters, too?” Clarice actually clapped her hands in glee, which was incredibly cute.
“One of the irregular kids at the day care is a dryad,” Bruno said. “She drags her tree around with her in a pot.”
“That isadorable,” Clarice said. “Are there dragons and unicorns, too?”
