I owed Jace, even beyond the normal respect due an Alpha from one of his pride members, and paying him back with insolence was unacceptable.
In our dorm room, Robyn finally turned away from the window to watch me throw clothes into my duffel. “You’re leaving? Now?”
“My dad wants me to come home for Christmas.” I threw my toothbrush, its charger, and a nearly empty tube of toothpaste into my toiletries bag on top of the small, square box I hadn’t unpacked after my previous trip home. Then I scooped my makeup into the bag with one swipe of the counter. “Will you be okay here on your own?” Since she was staying on campus over the holiday, we wouldn’t have to pack up all our stuff and vacate the dorm room, a convenience I hadn’t truly appreciated until that moment.
“Yeah. The nightmares are practically gone. I’m fine, Abby. Really.”
I studied her in the mirror, trying to decide whether or not that was true. She had few physical scars from what had gone down in the woods over fall break, and those bastards hadn’t gotten the chance to molest her. Still, she’d seen three of our friends slaughtered right in front of her, and most people weren’t used to witnessing violence or death, up close and personal.
More than anything in the world, I wished I wasn’t either.
“Okay. Knowing my parents, I’ll probably be gone for most of the break, but I can come back sooner if you need me.” I pulled her into a hug. Robyn had been through so much in the woods, and no matter how fine she claimed to be, I knew better than most how long that kind of trauma could take to overcome. If she was staying over the holiday, I should be staying with her. Reluctantly, I let her go. “Call if you want to talk. Okay?”
“I promise.” She smiled at me in the mirror. “Now go have Christmas with your family.”
Christmas with my family.
My mother would hover over me and analyze everything I said for evidence that I hadn’t recovered from that summer four years before. My father would watch me out of the corner of his eye and not so subtly mention what an accomplished enforcer Brian had become, looking for any sign that I was ready to settle down and turn my parents into grandparents.
My brothers would follow me into town so I couldn’t get snatched off the street during any last-minute Christmas shopping, and they’d mentally dismember any guy who had the balls to even look my way, in spite of my large fraternal guard detail.
Going home for Christmas sounded about as pleasant as Thanksgiving spent in prison.
On the bright side, there’d probably be ham.
“So, what’s the big emergency?” I threw my duffel onto the rear floorboard, then slid into the passenger’s seat of Jace’s SUV. His gaze landed on my thighs, where my skirt had ridden up, and the sudden jump in his pulse was…gratifying.
He’d seen me naked—and I him—a million times, but nudity means little to most shifters because it’s required for the transformation to and from feline form. Shifters are aroused by what theydon’tsee. What theyalmostsee. By the intent implied by flesh displayed behind or beneath strategically placed panels of lace or silk. Flesh that is put on display in private, for a specific intended audience.
Jace had never looked at me like that before. As if he wondered what my underwear looked like. As if I might be something other than a child in need of protection.
I desperately didn’t want Jace to think of me as a child. I was old enough to hold his attention. I was old enough towarranthis attention.
Wait.
I shook my head, jarring loose dangerous thoughts and foolish desires. An Alpha held an authority equivalent to a corporate manager, a parent, and a ruler all rolled into one, and even if dating an authority figure wasn’t completely inappropriate, Jace was too old for me. Too experienced for me.
And then there was Brian.
Not that any of that mattered. One glance south of my neck didn’t mean Jace was actually interested. It just meant he was a guy.
I shifted in my seat and Jace’s gaze snapped up to my face. He looked flustered for a moment, then he stared straight out the windshield and made an obvious, concerted effort to slow his pulse.
I decided to call that a compliment, even if it didn’t really mean anything.
“Jace?”
“Hmm?” He slammed the gearshift into reverse and made a production of looking into the rearview mirror as he backed out of the parking space.
“The emergency? Why are we going to the ranch?”
“Oh. Someone’s killing humans, and the local news has picked up the story.”
“Local?” I fought to control my own racing pulse. “How local?”
“For us? Very. The victims have all been killed in the Appalachian territory.” Jace checked both directions on his way out of the parking lot. “Right now, the cops think there’s a wild animal on the loose, but if we don’t find the rogue and take him out, they’re going to start suspecting foul play. Or they’re going to shoot one of our guys while they’re out hunting this mythical black cougar, then they’ll have biological proof that humans aren’t the most dangerous thing out there. The council’s in self-defense mode. They’ll do whatever it takes to keep us from being outed.”
My mind raced as the details began to coalesce into something that almost made sense. “You’re sure the killer’s one of ours? Couldn’t it be a thunderbird or a bruin?” Pleaselet it be a thunderbird or a bruin. Bird- and bear-shifters could be every bit as vicious as werecats, and if it wasn’t a cat, it wasn’t our responsibility.
