I slowed my car in front of an animal shelter and put my white Trans Am in park. It wasn’t one of the muscle-car models, but sporty with a sunroof. I stuffed several large bills into a white envelope and approached the front door, placing it in my usual spot. Once a month, I donated my daily earnings to the shelter—something I’m sure plenty of Shifters would have scoffed at. I didn’t like watching images on the news of those poor little creatures caged and sentenced to be euthanized. How could a Shifter in good conscience look away when we ourselves had once been kept under the oppressive thumb of immortals in a similar manner? Caging animals was offensive, and sometimes I’d fantasize about setting them all free.
But no one can save the world. Instead, I supported the no-kill shelters to keep them in business. Maybe my money would make room for one more animal to find a family who would show it unconditional love.
A chill ran up my spine and I whirled around, narrowing my eyes at the shadows on the dark street as I hurried back to the car. My heels clicked on the concrete, echoing in the quietness. Some people foolishly brushed off chills, unaware that on a warm night it could only mean one thing: a Mage was in the area. Sometimes they were flaring their energy, and other times they didn’t bother concealing it. I didn’t trust those immortals. Many were ancients, and a whole lot of them walking around had once committed unspeakable crimes against my kind—my family—and even kept them as pets, although what that really translated to was slavery.
I hopped in my car and sped off so fast that the tires screeched. A smart woman never brushes off her instincts, and mine were pinging off the charts.
When I reached a red light, I dialed Lexi’s number.
“This is the party to whom you are speaking.”
“Izzy?”
“Oh, shoot,” I heard her say. “I must have grabbed the wrong phone. I’m sorry. Who is this?”
“It’s Naya.”
“Right,” she said with a laugh. “Sorry about that. Hold on just a second.”
I looked around, anxiously waiting for the light to turn green. The city was teeming with other Breeds, but it wasn’t typical to find them on the human side of town at this hour.
“Naya? It’s Lexi. What’s going on?”
“Nothing, girl. I just want to keep you on the phone until I get home. I’m almost there.” The light turned green and I floored it. “I left work early because the wine at dinner made me too sleepy to dance.”
“Sorry about that. Hope you don’t get in trouble. Swing by! We’re just sitting around playing cards and munching on snacks. Well, actually we’re playing Go Fish with Maizy”—her voice became stern—“who should be in bed.”
That wasn’t a bad idea. I took a sharp turn and headed their way. She lived close, and that would allow me to get out on an open stretch of road to make sure no one was following me.
“Sounds perfect,” I said. “I won’t stay long; I need to head home and take care of—”
“The hairball.”
“Well,
that’s
not very polite.” Lexi and I often bantered about my little cat, but I never took it personally.
“No, Naya is coming over for a little while,” Lexi said to someone else. “Where do you think you’re going? We’re still in the middle of a game.”
“Hello? Lexi?”
“Sorry about that, Naya. I’m listening. Is something wrong? You don’t usually drop in so unexpectedly.”
“We’ll talk when I get there. See you soon, darling.”
Ten minutes later, I pulled into their driveway. The Weston pack lived in a grand home that had once been a hotel in its heyday. Someone had recently built a carport to shelter a couple of the cars, but what they really needed was a garage if they wanted to protect them from hail. I carefully weaved around a blue truck and parked beside Austin’s black Dodge Challenger.
Darkness blanketed the property, but lights from inside the house shone onto the wooden porch that wrapped around the front and side of the house. I got out of the car and glanced behind me as I ascended the steps. The humid air put a dewy sheen on my face and I dabbed at it, realizing I had forgotten to wipe off my heavy work makeup.
The door swung open before I could pull a tissue out of my purse.
A grin slid up Denver’s face, and he leaned on the doorjamb. “I didn’t know you delivered.”
“Don’t be obtuse,” I said, moving around him. “Lexi invited me.”
When he closed the door, I glanced down at the pile of shoes by the door. I’d never followed that unspoken rule on my visits, but his eyes traveled down to my black heels as if he were expecting me to take them off. Either that or he was admiring my red polish and toe ring.
“Naya! We’re in here,” Lexi called out from the dining room.
Their house had a cozy appeal, even though it wasn’t my style. Lynn had done an impressive job selecting the decor for each room and adding features like crown molding. Lord knows she’d tried to add a feminine touch to the otherwise masculine furniture. The living room had two areas: a stone fireplace straight ahead, and a seating area to the right in front of the television and stereo. In the winter, they moved chairs in front of the fireplace, but in the summer, they kept that area open. Farther to the right was a study and another small room they only used for parties. The hall to the right of the fireplace went straight to the back of the house. The dining room was on the right, and then you passed a hallway on the left before reaching the kitchen. Lexi had mentioned that the rooms in that hall were probably where the hotel staff slept.
To the left of the stairs was a spacious area that could function as a sitting room. But Lynn had just decorated it with a few accent tables and lacy curtains. I liked that she didn’t put furniture in every room, because it left plenty of room for social gatherings and events. Smart thinking on her part since Shifters loved peace parties.
Everyone slept upstairs. Well, everyone except William. He had the third-highest rank in the house below Austin and Reno. I liked William, and I suspected it had to do with the fact he’d traveled to different countries and didn’t originate from the South. He used to be Lorenzo Church’s second-in-command until he’d struck Ivy with his car by accident. Then he changed hands and joined the Weston pack. At first I’d thought Austin was punishing him by making him live in one of the small rooms off the kitchen, but Lexi mentioned William had requested that room above all others. Something about how he liked to raid the cupboards late at night.
My heels clicked on the floor when I entered the dining room. “Where did everyone go?”
Lexi stretched back in her chair with a bowl of pretzels in front of her. “Denver is getting ready for work, Trevor and William went to a club, Austin’s asleep, and I don’t know where the twins went. Jericho tucked Melody in and took off for a gig. Lately Maizy’s been wanting to stay up later than Melody, but she kept nodding off, so we sent her up to bed a little while ago. So… it’s just us girls,” Lexi said with an exaggerated smile, waving her hand toward Izzy and April.
Izzy’s flaming red hair was wild and gorgeous, and I wondered if her next baby would be blessed with the same genetics.
“Congratulations, mama! I heard the great news.” I made my way around the end of the small table and gave her a quick hug.
She flashed a smile. “I had a feeling I was pregnant, but our Relic came out and performed an exam just to confirm.”
I chuckled and took a seat to the left of April, patting her back.
“How did your wolfy react?” I asked, referring to her mate, Jericho.
Izzy admired the sparkly diamond on her finger—not a tradition among Shifters, but Jericho wasn’t your average guy.
“Hell’s bells, he’s over the moon,” she said. “Melody’s a handful, so I honestly didn’t think he’d be ready for more kids so soon. When I asked if he wanted a boy or a girl, he said he doesn’t care. He’s just been—”
“A knight in shining armor,” April interrupted, threading her blond hair away from her face. “Rubs her feet every night after supper. I can only
imagine
what he’ll be like when she’s actually showing. Remember the last time?” she asked Lexi with a soft chuckle.
Izzy twirled her ring. “I’m a little nervous because twins run in my family. It skips every other generation, so there’s a chance I could have more than one in here. Then he’ll
really
be on his way to getting his own band.”
We laughed, and Lexi looked down at her pretzels wistfully. I could see how conflicted she was and wondered if anyone else had noticed. April carried no such look. By choosing to be with Reno, she’d willingly given up the promise of children—if she even wanted babies. Not all women do.
Izzy sure did. I could tell she was going to give that wolf a litter before it was all said and done.
Denver swaggered in and sat at the head of the table on my left. “Well, I for one can’t wait.”
Lexi set her elbow on the table and tucked her chin in the palm of her hand. “You just want a boy so you’ll have someone to play video games with.”
“Shut it,” he said.
Denver was a handsome man in an obnoxiously charming sort of way. His smiling eyes were the color of the Atlantic Ocean—deep blue and always sparkling on the surface. I didn’t care for men with blond hair, but his was a pleasing shade of dark blond cut in a trendy style—messy with a wave, but not quite long enough to cover the scar on his forehead. With that charismatic smile, he undoubtedly made a killing as a bartender. Unfortunately, most Shifter women wouldn’t find his youthful and energetic personality an attractive quality.
“So when are you going to have some little kittens?” he asked me, arching a brow.
“Perhaps I’ll have some calves,” I replied, leaning my elbows on the table.
“That would be udderly adorable.” He winked and we all turned around when Maizy wandered in with sleep in her eyes and a tangle of blond hair in her face.
She had on a pair of blue pajama bottoms and a yellow shirt. I missed the days when she wore pink nightgowns with ruffles on the end. We used to have so much fun dressing up, but she was growing into a woman too soon.
“How come no one told me Auntie Naya was coming over?” she asked gruffly.
“I’m just here for a minute, princess.”
Denver swiveled to face her. “Come here, birthday girl.”
She flashed her blue eyes at him with a growing smile. “It’s not my birthday yet.”
He glanced at his watch and masked his humor with a serious expression. “You’re right. Only birthday girls get to stay up past their bedtime. That means you need to go back to sleep.” He reached out his arms. “Come on, Peanut. The express train is going upstairs, so all aboard.”
“The express train is going to crash with that heavy cargo,” Lexi quipped. “She’s getting too big to carry.”
Denver hunched over, letting Maizy leap onto his back and wrap her arms around his neck.
“She’ll never be too big for me to carry,” he choked out, his face turning red from the lack of circulation. When he hopped and shifted her higher, he was able to grab her legs and release the death grip around his neck. “Say good night, Peanut.”
“Good night, Peanut,” Maizy replied sleepily. She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
Denver turned around and glanced at Lexi. “Tomorrow I need a few hours sleep before we head out, so can you tell everyone to keep it down when I get home from work?”
“I’ll kick them out of the house,” Lexi promised, pulling her hair out of its ponytail. She threaded her fingers through the top until it was disheveled. “We have to be there at noon, so if you get home early enough, you should be able to sleep for about five hours.”
“True that. I’m going to take her upstairs and then I’m outta here.”
“G’nite, Maze. I love you.” Lexi watched Denver carry the sleepyhead down the hall.
“He can be the biggest dickhead, but he’s so good with her,” Izzy said. “I used to think it had to do with his lack of maturity, but she’s getting older and he treats her differently. Still attentive, but in a different way. I would have never imagined a guy like Denver being such a good watchdog.”
“I can’t lie,” Lexi said. “He’s the best. He really listens when she has something to say, and that’s not easy in a house like ours when we’re all talking over one another. Last week I drove out to Wes’s grave. She never got to meet her big brother, but I still want her to know about him. I guess his death is sinking in now that she’s older, because she was in such a sullen mood when we got home. She wouldn’t talk to me about it, but Denver took her out front and they sat down on the steps. He wrapped his arm around her and just listened to everything she had to say—stuff she’s never admitted to me, like how sad she is that she never got to meet Wes. She wondered if he’d like her.” Lexi’s lip quivered and tears glossed up her eyes. “I can’t imagine the absence she has to live with of having never known her brother, and on top of that, coming to grips with reality that her own father didn’t love her.”
“She has all the love she could ask for in this house,” I reminded her. “That’s all the family she needs.”
Lexi wiped her wet cheeks. “I know, but tell that to a ten-year-old who just wants to know
why
. Why couldn’t she have met her brother once, and why couldn’t she have had a father who took her to the zoo. The first time she met him was when he dragged her through Austin’s house and then shot me in front of her. I healed, but that affected her in a way I’ll never understand. How do you explain stuff like that to a kid? Mom does a good job, but Maizy will never have those questions answered, and that’s a heavy load to carry in life.”