“I’ll fetch some clothes from your cabin.” She pulled on her shoes as she spoke, hastily tying the laces. “Someone might still be around, and Leonie’s already got the wrong idea about the two of us.”
“Good thinking. Thanks.” Buck hesitated. “Honey?”
She paused in the doorway, looking back at him. The dim half-light filtering through the curtained window painted his body in shadow.
“Even if I could turn you, I wouldn’t,” he said softly. “I’m stuck in this motherloving freakshow, but you aren’t. You’ve got your own life waiting for you, out there in the real world, when summer ends. You don’t want this. Not really.”
She thought of her grotty apartment in the bad part of town, so different from the cozy family home she’d worked so hard to make. The long, silent hours in her classroom, finding excuses to stay long after the students had gone. The thought of going back to that cold, lonely life, now that she knew there was magic in the world…
But he was right. She didn’t belong here.
And if there was one thing she was good at, it was hiding her feelings.
“No.” She even managed a smile. “You’re right. I don’t.”
CHAPTER16
“So I gather there was some excitement in Maple cabin this morning,” Zephyr murmured, joining him at the staff-only coffee machine at the back of the dining hall. His soft voice was nearly lost under the clamor of campers wolfing down breakfast. “A rat, apparently.”
Buck grunted as he poured himself a coffee.
“I’m sure your campers have told you all about it,” Zephyr continued. “Beth in particular. She’s been very eager to relate the tale. She sought me out first thing, in fact.”
“Really,” Buck said flatly.
“Mmm.” Zephyr’s expression was as bland as the oatmeal. “I believe she told me it was a rat three times. She seemed particularly keen to impress that fact upon me.”
Buck gave his nephew a level look over the rim of his mug. “Is there a reason you’re telling me this?”
“Just wondering if you had an opinion on what I should do about this rodent of unusual size,” Zephyr said, utterly poker-faced. “Should I tell Facilities to put down traps?”
Buck looked round, checking that none of the kids were watching. With his back to the hall, he lifted a hand, keeping it tucked against his chest. He folded down all of his fingers but one.
Zephyr snorted a laugh. “I’ll take that as a no. So how are things going with Honey?”
Buck didn’t glance at the table where Honey was eating breakfast. “Fine.”
“Since when does ‘fine’ include sudden screaming?”
“I’ll tell you when you’re older.” Buck sighed. “Look, it’s not what you think. Damn mutt dumped me buck-naked on the roof again.”
Zephyr’s eyebrows drew together. “You still shifted last night?”
“Yep. Honey helped me cover it up, no pun intended.” Buck refilled his mug from the coffeepot. This was already shaping up to be a day that required a lot of caffeine. “Don’t worry. I’ll be more careful chaining myself to the bed. The campers won’t get an eyeful.”
His nephew gave him a long, somewhat troubled look. “That’s not what I’m worried about. Uncle, I don’t want to pry—”
“Then don’t.”
Zephyr let out his breath. “Look, there’s no point trying to deny it. I know what’s going on.”
“There’s nothing to deny.” Buck took a sip of coffee. “Whatever you think you know, you’re wrong.”
Invisible jaws clamped around his arm. Buck didn’t allow himself to react to the bolt of pain. Zephyr’s suspicions had to be nipped in the bud, and fast. They couldn’t afford for him to start wondering why Honey wasn’t acting like a shifter in the grip of mating fever.
Stop that, he silently snarled at the nonexistent fangs worrying his humerus.I’m doing this to protect her, you idiotic hairball. Do youwanthim to send Honey away?
The grinding pressure hesitated, then eased up. Buck kept his face impassive, not betraying his flicker of surprise. It was the first time the cursed animal had ever been even remotely reasonable.
