Oh, the poor man.Shifter Affairs agents had to be able to operate in mundane society without revealing their true nature. Shan was facing not only increasing physical impairment, but the end of his career.
Shan tugged at the cuff of his glove, pulling it over his wrist. “You say the children would benefit from having a counselor who also struggles with his animal. But I do not have an animal. I contain a monster.”
There was no anger or self-pity in his voice; only bleak acceptance. She didn’t need special powers to know he truly believed it. If he’d been a camper, she would have wrapped him in a hug.
“I don’t believe anyone is born a monster.” She held up a hand, forestalling any attempt at argument. “Shan, tell me this. Would you ever let your animal’s instincts overrule your own judgement?”
His reply came, swift and certain: “No.”
“Then it doesn’t matter what it wants. You’re no more dangerous than I am.” She knew it was true, down to herbones—and unlike him, she trusted her own instincts. “And I truly believe you’d make a good counselor.”
Shan’s tongue darted across his upper lip. “I tell you what I am, and you still want me at your side?”
“Yes,” she said, willing him to taste the truth of her words. “Frankly, I need your help. I’m worried about the kids.”
“I did not think you believed there could be a genuine threat to the camp.”
“I don’t. If you ask me, Zephyr and Conleth are being ridiculously paranoid about this whole thing. Rufus may believe there’s something strange in the woods, but you said yourself that your ability only determines whether someone’s lying, not whether it’s objectively true. I’m certain this will all turn out to be nothing.”
Shan was still looking confused, at least for him. She was getting better at reading the minute shifts in his expression. “Then why do you wish me to stay at all?”
“Because yesterday, I would have bet my own animal that Rufus would never flat out lie to me.” The sheer wrongness of it felt like a lead ball in her stomach. “Not for any reason. And the other kids are acting out of character, too. Estelle and Archie can be a handful, but they wouldn’t play a prank that might genuinely worry any of the camp staff. And even if they did, Beth and Finley would never go along with it. They wouldn’t tell a lie this big without very good reason, Shan. But I have no idea what it could be.”
“And you want me to help you discover it,” Shan said slowly.
“The kids clearly aren’t just going to tell us what’s actually going on. It’ll be a lot easier to uncover the truth if you’re right there with me, able to sort fact from fiction.” She searched his face, but she couldn’t read his expression at all now. “I need your help, Shan. Work with me. Please.”
His throat worked. He breathed out a heavy sigh, and nodded.
CHAPTER 8
“Be careful!” Beth tugged at the hem of Archie’s T-shirt. “One of the counselors will spot you.”
“Iambeing careful!” Archie shook her off, peering round the corner of the cabin they were all hiding behind. “Quit worrying, Beth. No one’s looking our way.”
This was true. Across the field, Leonie was leading a group of new counselors on a tour of the camp’s sport facilities. Currently, she was showing them round the outdoor climbing walls, pointing out the different routes designed to challenge campers in either human or animal form.
Not all of the new counselors were paying attention, however. The eyes of a sizeable proportion—mainly the younger women—kept drifting sideways to one particular member of the group. There was rather a lot of hair-twirling going on.
The object of their attention, for his part, didn’t seem aware of the inviting looks being cast his way. He stood stoically among the younger counselors like a bull in a flock of geese, gloved hands folded behind his back. At all times, his sunglasses stayed fixed in one direction.
“That settles it,” Estelle declared. “They’redefinitelymates. Look, he can’t take his eyes off her.”
Finley watched the distant group, a worried pinch between his brows. “Yes, but he’s also staying as far away from her as physically possible.”
Estelle dismissed this with an airy wave of one hand. “Yeah, well. That’s because he’s still being a giant dumbass. Obviously. But now that we’ve forced him into staying, they’re bound to get together. It’s fate.”
Over at the climbing wall, Leonie was now dividing the counselors into pairs so they could practice using the safety equipment. She handed a climbing harness to Shan, then stretched her arms away from her body, waiting for him to fit it to her.
Archie squinted thoughtfully at Shan. “I reckon he knows he’s doomed. That’s why he looks like he wants to puke.”
Finley shook his head. “I’m still amazed he believed our story. I didn’t think there was any chance we’d get away with that.”
Behind his friends’ backs, Rufus flinched.
“Of course we got away with it,” Estelle said confidently. “We were super convincing.”
“Especially with all the details I added,” Archie agreed. “Did you see his face when I told him about the stink? I was so convincing, it was like he could smell it himself.”
