Tabi powered up the computer with a touch of the spacebar and found the surveillance footage we needed to destroy. At least, I was pretty sure that’s what it was. At first, it was just a bunch of people hanging around having drinks and eating, and then a familiar-looking group came in. My daughter and her new friends. Cam, the pretty bear, was easy to see. More so when he shifted, and the screen was full of furry belly.
When he moved back, all the people who’d been with him were now animals. A wolf. An owl. A snake. An alligator. A bunny. They went through the bar at warp speed, weapons of mass destruction—in a place where glass was a premium supply, anyway.
Oh, wow. This was so hard to watch. Thankfully, there was no sound. No way would I have been able to handle that much broken glass. And the hits kept coming.
My stomach churned with fear. That was Tilly. My little girl was a property-destroying rabbit with no qualms about hopping through a pile of broken glass. After all her years of being smart, of choosing the right path, she had somehow lost her way in the most epically unpredictable way imaginable.
It was painful to watch. All of it.
When they were finished, and they’d left through the front door like nothing had happened, Tabi stopped the video and clicked the little trash can on the screen. We were destroying evidence, but thanks to Esther, there would be no trial against a giant grizzly, and more importantly against a bunny. And hopefully no vampires riding into town to punish us all.
Esther pulled a check from her purse, wrote the word donation on the memo line and filled in a ridiculous amount—probably enough to buy a new bar. We left the office, and she slapped it onto the counter. Two servers came in, rolling a trash cart between them and smelling of cigarettes. Esther smiled and approached them, but her smile fell away when she got close enough. Then she went around erasing their memories, just as she had with the bar owner, which was a neat trick, one I wondered if I could replicate.
I didn’t dare ask while we were so deeply ensconced in such an important illegal activity.
On the back patio, we found a group of people drinking and discussing what had happened. I counted them and was pretty sure this was the same group that had witnessed the strange animal attack. But Esther seemed to be one hundred percent sure, because she did her memory trick on them too.
“That should be everyone,” Tabi whispered, and we all headed back to the parking lot.
“Was that your daughter on the screen?” Tabi laid a hand on my shoulder when we were back in the car.
I nodded.
Tabi sucked in a deep breath. “She looks like you.”
There wasn’t much consolation in that since she was now a criminal, even if it was in bunny form and no one would know thanks to Esther and Tabi.
“I should get home and talk to her. Make sure this isn’t going to keep happening. Tell her about the…” I lowered my voice and turned to face Tabi. “Vampires.”
“You should.” Tabi nodded with wide, serious eyes.
Air whistled through Esther’s nostrils as she sucked in a deep breath. “But be prepared for her not to want to hear you. Alpha shifters are especially convincing, almost like how I have a way of erasing memories, they have a way of commanding others. It’s not that people are forced to obey them, but if they’re feeling a bit lost and unsure, they’re definitely easy to manipulate.”
I don’t know why, but her words only made me feel worse. “Tilly has always been a good kid.”
“I’m sure she still is,” Tabi said, giving me a kind smile. “We just want her to find her way. Before it’s too late.”
Before it’s too laterolled through my mind as we sped home. What did that even mean? Bunny jail? I didn’t have a clue, but I also didn’t like what I heard.
They dropped me at my driveway, and I walked toward the door. Before I went inside—this time I had my keys—I took a deep breath. I needed a moment. This was huge. A lot to deal with. And I wasn’t sure I was in the right frame of mind to deal with her. I’d already gone a round with the mountain man in flannel, and seen the destruction at the bar first hand and on video, and now I had to go another round with my Shifter-supremacist daughter. Inform her of the error of her ways.
I walked inside and beelined straight to her room. When I pushed the door open, I expected to find her snuggled in her bed since she’d had such a full night of breaking the law, but her bed was made and empty. Again.
And didn’t it just figure?
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
The phone call came way before I was ready to take it. Way before I was awake. Way before I had a cup of coffee in my hand or clothes that weren’t my pajamas on my body. But I took it because it could’ve been Tilly. I hadn’t slept well, hoping I would hear her when she came home, but I didn’t.
“Hello?” I croaked.
It was Esther. The caller ID had already told me so, but I wasn’t a morning person, and I hated those people who answered by saying, “Hello, caller’s name here.” It was like they were showing off that they could read a phone screen. Or maybe I was just a cranky morning rebel.
“We have a line on the pack.”
“A line?” It was too early for cloak and dagger speak.
Her voice lowered. “We know where to find them.” Apparently, she didn’t care much for dumbing it down for me.
