Page 9 of Bad Blood Panther

Xander wagged his head back and forth in a so-so motion. “Kind of loud inside my head right now.”

Jenny’s face filled with concern. “Are you hurt?”

Ha. No. Her fucked-up panther friends had already done the major damage.

“Nope,” he said, in his best ‘zero-fucks-given-here’ tone. “They’re afraid I’m going to go postal and they’ll have to trank me. Better stand back.”

Jenny looked like she didn’t believe him, until Flynn opened his hand and showed her the mini trank gun he held. Somebody always had one when he went out, in case things turned ugly.

Jenny was clearly shocked. “They drug you?” she said. “How often do you—”

“Go postal?” Xander finished for her. “Once or twice a week. They don’t have to trank me every time,” he added. “Sometimes they just lock me up.”

He saw the moment the shock on her face turned to pity, and he told himself he didn’t care. Hell, it wasn’t like he’d ever been her hero. They’d just been friends—good friends. Before Cindi came along and blew up his entire life.

“Yep,” he said. “I’m still a lousy excuse for a shifter. What did you all think would happen, after Cindi fucked me up?”

A horrible thought shot through him. “Shit, you didn’t bring her here, did you?”

Jenny looked around reflexively, as if Cindi might appear out of thin air. “No! No, I—I need to get away from the clan. It’s complicated. I heard you were with a crew now, settled, and… I was hoping maybe I could stay with you for a while.”

What the fuck? He hadn’t seen Jenny in years—not since he was Turned. Why the hell would she come to him?

He was about to tell her to fuck off, when she stepped forward and put her hand on his arm again. It was like somebody had turned his cat off with a switch. Blessed silence reigned inside his head.

How the hell did she do that?

Flynn was looking from one of them to the other, eyes narrowed.

“Xander?” he said. “Your call. Does she come with us, or not?”

Xander looked from her hand on his arm to her face. Jenny. He really had liked Jenny a lot. She’d been a good friend, except for the whole introducing him to Cindi thing. And if she could quiet his cat, maybe she could teach him how to do it too.

“Yeah,” he said slowly to Flynn. “I at least want to hear what she has to say.”

Flynn gave a short nod. “You two will ride with me, then. Tank comes with us in case you lose it on the road.”

Jenny said, “But my car—”

“Sloan will bring it. After he checks it for trackers and transmitters.”

Her mouth dropped open. “For what?”

“Don’t ask,” Xander murmured.

“But my stuff…” she said.

“Will still be in it. I’ll have Caitlyn search your bags, in case you’re shy about Sloan touching your underwear.”

Jenny bristled. Xander was glad she was showing a little spine—for a minute he’d thought she’d forgotten everything he taught her.

“Okay, now wait a minute,” she said. “That’s completely out of line.”

Flynn fixed his flat black gaze on her. “My territory, my rules. Deal, or leave.”

Jenny looked around the circle of eyes, none of them friendly. She looked to Xander, as if asking for help, but he shrugged. They’d all been through enough, and been betrayed too many times. And Flynn’s paranoia had saved their lives more than once. He wasn’t going to argue.

Jenny blew out a sigh. “Fine.” She fished in her purse and found her car keys. Sloan held out his hand, and she passed them over.

She must want to talk to him pretty bad.

He wished he fucking knew why. Not that he wouldn’t want to help Jenny, if she really needed it. It was just…seeing her brought back some bad, bad feelings. He would have said memories, except he’d been drunk and wild for weeks after he was Turned, so it was all a raging alcoholic blur.

They started for Flynn’s truck, and then the alpha spun around and impaled Jenny with his gaze. They all stopped in their tracks.

“Nobody’s after you, are they?” Flynn asked.

Jenny started. “No, I…don’t think so.” Okay, that wasn’t even a little bit convincing. Damn. She really was in trouble.

Flynn rolled his eyes. “Fuck. Not another one.”

Jenny whispered to Xander, “Another what?”

But Flynn had turned and headed for his truck again, shaking his head and muttering. “No, Flynn, nobody from my fucked-up bear-worshiping cult is after me. No, Flynn, you won’t need to fight a shifter-hunting SWAT team and break me out of a cage. No, Flynn, my secret agent ex-boyfriend isn’t going to kidnap anybody. Why do you ask?” He called to Sloan and Caitlyn, “Check that car good. Because I have a feeling we got more shit coming down the line.”