“I was young and sheltered,” she said slowly. “In college, I didn’t know any shifters, I just ... wanted somewhere to belong, I guess. They weren’t bad people, and neither was I, at least I don’t think so. We just didn’t know any better. And Grant, well, I suppose he found me a useful idiot.”
“Arden, no.” Baz rolled on his side and put his hand to her face, stroked her cheekbone. “You definitely aren’t an idiot, not by any definition of the word.”
“Maybe not. But Grant found what he was looking for, which was someone who had cred with those groups and would appear on stage with him. I truly don’t think he has any strong feelings on shifters one way or the other. That’s not who he is. He just takes money from whoever pays him. If some pro-shifter lobbying group gives him an envelope of cash tomorrow, he’ll vote whichever way they tell him to, and flip sides in the morning.” She smiled a little. “You know what they say, an honest politician is one who stays bought. Well, Grant never has been an honest politician even in that sense. It makes me wonder what I ever saw in him.”
Baz went on stroking her cheek with his fingertips, then ran his hand down to play with his fingers around the sensitive edges of the place where his teeth had claimed her as his own. “You were young, and you wanted someone to admire you.”
As he went on admiring her, in his face and his touch, she began to relax. “Maybe. I mean, Grant never did, not really, but ... he really is charming. And I was just blown away that someone like that was interested in me. Baz—I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Grant, or about my past.” She searched his face, half desperate, but found nothing except love and understanding. “Ilovebeing with you and your friends. You’re wonderful. The worst thing I could think of is that you all would hate me, or think that I hated you. I really wanted to tell you, but the more time that went by and the more all the half-truths piled up, the more trouble I had figuring out how I could possibly say it. And then of course it came out in the worst way, as these things probably always do.”
“It’s all right,” Baz murmured. “I mean, I get it. You’re right that I didn’t tell you about Declan, either?—”
“And you were right not to.” It was easier to say, now. “You’re right, it was his secret to tell, and I’m sorry that it ended up coming out to Grant too.”
Baz’s brow wrinkled in a frown. “Do you think he’ll do anything?”
“Not with the blackmail material I have on him. If there’s one thing Grant cares about above all else, it’s what’s good for Grant. But I agree, Baz, I don’t like it. I hope ...”
She trailed off as Baz’s phone vibrated to indicate an incoming call. Baz held up a finger and sat up, gloriously naked to the waist, his chest hair a fuzz haloed in the lamplight. Arden propped her head up on her hand as Baz retrieved his phone from the bedside table and put it on speaker.
“Lexie,” he said for Arden’s benefit. “Hey, what’s up? Are you calling me from Windrock? That’s great.”
“Yeah, we have wifi calling now.” Lexie sounded a little out of breath. “I’m so glad I caught you. Where are you?”
“I’m in town, and everything’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Arden and I are planning on being back tomorrow.”
“You might have to change your plans. I’m sorry, Baz, I really am, but you have to get back here as soon as you can.”
Baz straightened, his face suddenly all business. In that instant, Arden felt a sudden thrill run through her. She had never experienced anything like it, a sharp charge as if electricity had galvanized her spine. Gazing at Baz, she realized that she was feeling something to do with the mate bond for the first time.
This was what it meant to be mated to an alpha.
“What’s wrong?” Baz asked, his voice quick and serious.
“To be honest, I don’t know,” Lexie said. “But a bunch of the wild shifters are here, I mean alotof them, and there’s something wrong. They need someone to talk to them and calmthem down, and they won’t deal with us. They want to speak to whoever’s in charge, and Baz—I’m afraid that’s you.”
BAZ
The skystill glowed with a flaming sunset when they set off from the motel, but by the time Baz slowed to find the turnoff into the woods, it was fully dark. He crawled up the dirt road with nothing but the headlights to guide him across the puddles and ruts. Beside him, Arden was pale and resolute in the glow of the dashboard lights.
He had suggested that she stay behind, then pushed for it, but she was just as determined to come back with him. Now she sat beside him with her hand clasped on his, occasionally shifting her grip to his jeans-clad thigh.
“Do you think everyone’s all right?” she asked.
“I’m sure they are.” Baz wasn’t entirely sure that he felt the same confidence he was trying to project, but he was reasonably sure his alpha sense would have told him if they were all in dire danger. “They’ve got Declan, and everyone else turns into bears. And if they really have to, they can hole up somewhere and wait for help.”
Main Street was lit up. The generator was running, and someone—probably Lexie—had strung lights along the street. There was also a bonfire burning, casting long shadows. Baz parked behind it.
Down the street, he could see a small crowd of assembled wild-clan shifters; at least he assumed that was who they were. From here, all he could pick out were shadowy shapes, maybe a few dozen people. Some were in their shift forms—he glimpsed the dark bulk of bears, the outlines of antlers, the smaller darting shapes of a few bird shifters.
“If I can’t talk you into leaving, what about staying in the truck?” Baz murmured to Arden. He hated the thought of having her out there.
Arden shook her head. “I’m going where you go.”
The store’s front door opened and Lexie came out. She hurried over to the truck and tapped on the door. Baz rolled the window down. “Should you be out here?” he asked.
“It’s okay, they don’t seem to be doing anything threatening. They’re just staying down there, and we’re over here. It feels kind of like a standoff.”
“Where’s everyone else?”
