The door opens, and the woman beckoning us inside is so stunning—and so veryother—that my jaw drops open.
Sin elbows me in the side as he steps in front of me. “Dion. I did not expect to see you here this early.”
“Look who’s talking,” the—what? Panther?—says as she holds the door open for us. “You were pretty wasted when you stumbled out of here.”
“That is putting it mildly. My partner, Agent Zoe Dawes. This is her second day with the Bureau, so I hope you will forgive her for being less than...discreet.” His words hold so much disdain, I want to take that travel mug and smack him upside the head.
“Honey,” Dion coos as she wraps one very sleek, furry arm around my shoulders, “your partner’s an ass. You’re human?”
“Yes.” I’m not quite sure how to feel about her motherly tone, or the way she steers me to the bar and pulls out a stool.
“Then today only, you’re allowed to ask one question about me, panthers, shifters in general… Any question. No judgment.” Her smile shows no evidence of feline teeth, and her golden eyes hold both exhaustion and amusement.
“I thought shifters would either look fully human or fully...animals.”
Her fur ripples and fades away, leaving the most beautiful bronzed skin without a single blemish, though she shivers and goosebumps rise on her bare arms. Running a hand over sleek, black locks that tumble over her shoulders and over her green tank, she says, “Does this make you more comfortable?”
Frowning, I shake my head. “No. That’s not what I meant. No one has the right to ask you to look or act orbesomeone you’re not. My comfort isn’t the issue—nor did it bother me to see you as you were. Shit. You’re gorgeous in both forms. But all the books with shifters, at least, talk about them changing from one form to the other. I never thought you could hang out somewhere in between.”
A decidedly feline purr starts low in her chest as fur covers her skin once more, and her amber eyes change shape subtly, angling out at the corners as her nose flattens. “I like you, Agent Zoe Dawes. I think we’re going to be friends. The jury’s still out on your partner, though. Short answer? When I look like this, I feel more…powerful. More me. Plus, fur does a better job regulating my temperature than my naked skin does.”
“This is all new to me,” I say with my first genuine smile of the day. “Thank you.”
Dion swipes a rag over the bar and glances down at her phone. “Jinx is gonna be a few minutes. Can I get you a refill on those coffees?”
Clearly, I need to work on my poker face, because as soon as my smile falls away, Dion leans forward and lowers her voice. “Hon, these are Blue Bottle beans. We only serve the cheap shit at night. When it’s just me and Jinx here, we spring for the good stuff.”
This is the most comfortable I’ve felt since I started at the Bureau, and I slide a hip onto the stool and pop the lid on my mug. “It was a long night. I’d love another cup.”
“Not as long as his,” Dion says as she tops off Sin’s mug as well. “Next time, demon, you’re cut off after the fifth drink.”
My brows shoot up. “Fifth? How much did you have last night, Sin?”
He remains silent and sullen, but Dion snorts. “Bastian kicked him out after number twelve.”
“You did six shots of vodka right in front of me, one after another,” Sin mutters.
“And I burn it off in no time.” Dion slaps her ass, clad in tight hot pants, and then winks at me. “Best part of being born this way? The metabolism. When my cousin got married last year, I went camping down in Yosemite. Spent three nights runnin’ from sundown to sunup. Came back fifteen pounds lighter. Though it works both ways. My grocery bill’s through the roof.”
After another sip of coffee, I meet her gaze. “Can I ask one more question?”
Dion’s easy to talk to, and Sin definitely isn’t. When she nods, I give him a pointed look, and he mutters something that might be “Humans,” before wandering over to the railing that looks down onto a dance floor.
“What’s the one thing you wish humans knew about shifters? Or the biggest misconception we have.”
“We aredefinitelygoing to be friends, hon.” Resting her elbow on the bar, she fiddles with the strap of her tank for a moment. “That we’re really no different than you are. Most of those in theOthercommunity are just like the friends and family you’ve known your whole life. Hell, a bunch of themareyour friends and family, they’ve just never come out to you. We want the same things. Solid relationships, trust, love, respect. That’s why losing Jacinda hurts so much. And why your partner saw me pound the vodka.” Dion’s eyes water, and she swipes the back of her hand over her cheek. “That girl was the sweetest thing.”
It takes me a moment to put the pieces together, and when I do, I glare at Sin. “Seriously? When were you going to tell me you got a name?”
He flinches. “When I sobered up enough to remember I hadn’t.”
If so many of my nights recently hadn’t ended at the bottom of a bottle of Jack, I’d be harder on him for his actions. But the hell I went through only left me with one scar. His? I think it almost destroyed him.
Twelve
Sin
Jinx beckons us from the back office, and as I follow behind Zoe, I kick myself, yet again, for letting my past interfere with this case. If I had been sober last night, perhaps I could have stopped Regina. Or trailed her to find Thorn—and the missing shifters.
