“I know. But she’s here in this world because of me, and I kind of feel like that gives me the right to be over-protective. To withhold trust until it’s earned, on her behalf.”
Austin nodded slowly. “I felt the same way. In fact, I kept Bishop at arm’s length for six months, trying to keep him away from Yvette.”
“Why stop after six months?”
He chuckled, then took another sip of his beer. “I found out they were sleeping together. And going to extraordinary lengths to keep that from me.”
“You’re a fucking shifter.” I blinked at him. “How the hell did they keep that from you?” He should have been able to smell his friend’s scent on his sister’s clothes, and vice versa.
Austin shrugged. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” He took the last bite of his burger and passed the fries toward me as he chewed. “So…if you’re worried about her, why keep her here? Why not send her to live near your parents? Or at least find her an apartment where she won’t be surrounded by shifters?”
“It’s…complicated. Mostly by the fact that she’s an adult and, as she puts it, I am not the boss of her. Also, she has an equal stake in the bar, and she won’t sell it to me. It took me months to convince her to sell fifteen percent of her stake to Titus, just to keep us afloat in the beginning.”
“Oh. Wow. I didn’t realize.”
“Yeah. And if Icouldconvince her to move to Florida, that would just mean I’d basically never see her. It’s not like I can fly down there whenever I want.”
His brows rose. “The territorial boundary restriction?”
“Yeah.” Werecats could only travel into another territory with permission from that territory’s Alpha, and most of those Alphas were reluctant to have strays on their land. Even stray Pride members, who’ve vowed to follow the rules.
“Really? I wouldn’t have thought that would be much of a problem for you, considering how short our society is on female shifters.”
I shrugged. “Imighthave appeared to the council during a ‘congratulations on surviving scratch fever’ video call and sworn in a profanity-laden rant that I wouldnotbe marrying one of their sons and producing their grandchildren. Ever.” I crunched into his last fry, then spoke around it. “And since that gives them no use for me, I’m basically grounded from leaving the territory. Unless I want to find a direct flight into one of the free zones.” And I certainly didnotwant that.
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. I rarely see my parents as it is, because traveling gets harder for them every year. Losing my sister too doesn’t seem like much of a solution to anything. And since I can’t keep her away from the bar, considering she’s part-owner, I figured the best way to keep her safe is to put her next door to my most trusted enforcers.”
“So…you’re spying on her.”
“I’m protecting her.”
Austin huffed. “How’s that different?”
“I don’t ask for updates on her activities. I acknowledge that it’s none of my business what she does, as long as she’s safe while she’s doing it.”
“So, you’re basically the mom handing out condoms to her teenagers.”
“No! No condoms. This is not a condom-relevant scenario.”
Austin laughed. I laughed.
We were still laughing when Bishop stumbled out of the bedroom, wiping his chin on his sleeve. “Sorry man,” he mumbled, his unfocused gaze trained on the back of Austin’s head. “I think I puked on your shoes.”
SEVEN
“Seriously, nine a.m. is an hour that shouldn’t exist.” I slid into the corner booth across from Vance just as the swinging door squealed open behind me.
“Maybe this will help.” Tucker appeared next to our table with a plate in his right hand and two more balanced on his left arm. All three were piled high with chicken strips and waffles, with sides of butter, syrup, and peppered white gravy.
“Oh mygod, you’re the best.” I took the plate he handed me and I’d already devoured half of one giant chicken strip before he could settle into the booth on Vance’s other side. “You’re going to make some lucky young man very happy, some day.”
“Damn right I am. And that has nothing to do with my cooking.”
“I don’t know,” Vance teased. “I think you missed your true calling.”
“Fuck off. I only cook for you assholes, and that’s only because I know no one else is going to.”
