Trouble in a Fur Coat (The Fur Coat Society Book 1) (8 page)

Silver quickly changed into leggings and an oversized sweatshirt, ignoring the happy chatter and laughter surrounding her. Energy and excitement was running high after a spectacular grand finale, but as the high of the performance started to fade, Silver’s own energy was fading, too. She could feel the room starting to spin again, and she held onto the wall to steady herself as she walked toward the exit.

When she left the backstage area, she found Jack, Grant, Storm, Bash, and Juno all waiting for her. They were all grinning, and Bash was holding a big, colorful bouquet of flowers. But as soon as they saw her, the smiles fell from their faces.

“Sil, what’s wrong?” Storm asked. “You look really pale.”

“Uh, I don’t feel too great,” Silver said, struggling to focus on Storm’s face. The spinning sensation was getting worse, and everything was starting to look a little blurry. Moments later, Silver was filled with a weird sensation, like she was going weightless.

“Silver!” Jack screamed. That was the last thing Silver remembered before everything went black.

Silver blinked her eyes open in a daze. She was staring up at her living room ceiling. Bright sunshine streamed in through the windows, and a big, soft blanket covered her body. She tried to sit up, but it was a bit of a struggle. Every muscle in her body felt stiff and unresponsive. When she finally made it up onto her elbow, she glanced over and was surprised to find Jack slumped over and sound asleep in her armchair. He was wearing scrubs, and looked like he had come directly over from the hospital. His I.D. badge still hung on a lanyard around his neck.

“Jack?” Silver asked. Her voice was raspy and rough, as though she hadn’t had a drink of water in days. Jack stirred, but didn’t wake up. Silver furrowed her brow and tried to figure out why she was sleeping here on her couch during what appeared to be the middle of the day. The last thing she remembered was seeing her friends after the show last night. Everything after that went completely blank.

“Jack?” Silver tried again. Jack stirred again, but this time he slowly opened his eyes. When his eyes focused on Silver he sat up straight with lightning speed.

“Silver! Oh my god you’re awake!” he said, then jumped up and ran across the room to her. He placed one of his palms on her forehead, and reached to feel her pulse with his other hand.

“Yeah, I’m awake. What happened after the show? Did we go out and party too much or something? I don’t remember anything. And, oh my god! Did you have to work after the show? Why are you in your scrubs? I can’t believe you guys all got tickets to the show.”

Silver was starting to feel better as she woke up a little more. She sat up straight, and then smiled. “Hey,” she said. “The room isn’t spinning anymore. I wasn’t feeling too great last night before the show.”

Jack’s look of concern deepened. “Silver, do you really not remember anything?”

Silver frowned. “You mean about after the show? No, not really. Oh, god, did I drink too many margaritas again?”

“Silver, you almost died!” Jack exclaimed, his voice frantic.

Silver stopped talking and stared at Jack, dumbfounded. “I almost died?” she asked, racking her brain even harder to try to remember what had happened.

“Yes. As best we can tell, you were poisoned. You had some really weird flu bug that I’ve never seen before. Neither had my buddy Ethan, and he’s one of the best damn doctors I know.”

Silver frowned. “Did I go to the hospital or what? I’m so confused. Last night is a total blur.”

Jack ran his fingers through his hair and sat down next to Silver. “Wow, you really don’t remember anything, do you?”

“Apparently not,” Silver said. “Care to enlighten me?”

“Well, first of all, it’s not the day after your show. It’s three days after.”

“
What
?” Silver asked. “How is that possible?”

“It just is. Today is Wednesday. You’ve been passed out since after the show Sunday night. Basically, we came to meet you backstage when the show was over, and you fainted. Just totally, completely lost consciousness. You even stopped breathing at one point. I had to do CPR on you until the ambulance got there. They rushed you to the hospital, where you were lucky enough to be assigned to my buddy, Ethan Halpert. He took really good care of you, but you still were on the edge there for a few hours. He didn’t even tell us how bad you were until after it was clear you were going to make it.”

Silver’s eyes widened as she tried to process everything. “Do my parents know?” she asked.

“No,” Jack said. “By the time we realized how close you had come to dying, you were already better. Bash decided it wasn’t worth alarming your dad. Once you were stabilized we brought you home to recover here. All the Fur Coats have been taking turns staying with you. I just got home from a shift at the hospital a few hours ago and took over for Juno.”

“So, what was wrong with me? You said I was poisoned? I wasn’t feeling good all day on Sunday, but I thought it was just some kind of flu bug, too.”

Jack frowned. “Ethan found weird chemical substances in the blood tests they ran on you when they were trying to figure out was wrong with you. It was a combination that should have been deadly, and he couldn’t figure out how you made it through. It was more than enough to kill a normal human woman. Of course, I didn’t tell him…”

“That I’m a shifter,” Silver said as Jack let his voice trail off.

“Right,” Jack said. “I think someone tried to kill you. Someone who obviously had no clue that poisoning you wouldn’t be as easy as he or she thought.”

“Oh no,” Silver said, a feeling of dread filling her as Sunday’s events started to come back to her. “I think I know who did this.”

“I have a pretty good idea who you’re going to name,” Jack said. “But why don’t you go ahead and tell me what you think before I say anything.”

“Joe’s dad,” Silver said. Jack just nodded grimly, so Silver continued. “He called me Sunday morning and asked me how I was feeling, which was really suspicious since I had woken up feeling so awful. I didn’t have time to think about it too much, though. I was focusing all of my energy on making it through my performances. But he must have tried to poison me.”

Jack’s eyes darkened, then he jumped up and angrily threw a throw pillow across the room. “That man is a menace. I have a good mind to go over there right now and rip him to pieces. How did he manage to poison you, anyway?”

Silver rubbed her forehead with her hand in frustration. A mixture of anger and dread was flooding over her, and she struggled to remember anything she could about Saturday night. “I don’t know. I don’t remember anything unusual. But things are so crazy on show nights. People running around, stuff everywhere, catered food and drinks. It probably wouldn’t have been that hard for someone to slip something to me without my realizing it.”

“We have to get rid of him,” Jack said angrily. “I don’t want someone walking around freely who wants you dead.”

“You can’t just walk in and take him out,” Silver said. “That’s going to draw too much attention. I think it’s time we called our parents and asked them for their help. This guy is obviously dangerous, and he wants to wipe us out. We need reinforcements.”

“No!” Jack said. “If we call our parents, this whole thing is going to blow up. They’ll all come here and descend on Chicago and we’ll never be able to live a normal life here again. The news will inevitably get ahold of the story, we’ll be outed, and all of a sudden we’ll have to explain who we are to everyone.”

Silver leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes. “Maybe it’s better that way, anyway. Aren’t you tired of always hiding who you are?”

“No,” Jack said, his voice taking on a strong stubborn note. “I’m not hiding anything. I’m just not flaunting it. Look, I’m not ashamed of being a bear. But I just want to live my life like a normal citizen. I don’t want to have to deal with old-timey clan laws and rules. That shit is tedious and ridiculous.”

Silver opened her eyes again and raised an eyebrow in Jack’s direction. “I had no idea you felt so strongly about all of this. Your dad must be very proud.”

Jack rolled his eyes at Silver. “Yeah, my dad gives me a hard time about it. But it’s my life. He lets me live it. That’s all I really ask of anyone. And Joe’s father is not letting you live your life. He’s trying to freaking kill you.”

“That’s the point, Jack. Don’t you get it? He’s trying to kill me for just the slightest possibility of potentially overhearing his plot to eliminate shifters. This is serious. He isn’t playing around. You might not want to get involved with all the clan politics, but you can’t just let a threat to your entire people run rampant and wild.”

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t deal with him. I’m saying we shouldn’t get our parents involved. Like I said, I’m happy to go over there right now and rip him to shreds. If he wants to say that shifters should be feared, I’m happy to give him something to be afraid of.”

“Jack, you have to slow down and think about this logically. You could potentially be caught if you kill off Joe’s father, which would land you in prison for the rest of your life. But killing him won’t necessarily kill the problem. We don’t know who he’s working with. Joe’s father is probably just a pawn they’re using. This is a lot bigger than just him. And if Joe’s father is gone, they’ll just find another pawn, but we won’t know who it is. Right now, at least we know one of the pawns. We at least have a starting point to figure out where this threat is coming from and what we can do about it. It’s not a great start, but it’s something.”

Jack was quiet for a long time, his lips set in a tight, angry line. “You might be right about that,” he admitted. “And it’s definitely time to take this threat seriously. But I don’t think we should get our parents involved. There has to be a way for us to figure this out on our own, if we all put our heads together.”

Silver sighed. “Fine. Then let’s all put our heads together. Why don’t we call another meeting of the Fur Coats?”

“Alright,” Jack said. “I’ll see if everyone’s available tonight. In the meantime, you need to keep resting and get something to eat. You haven’t had any nutrition in days, except for what they pumped into you through an I.V. at the hospital. What about some eggs? I can make you an omelet.”

“That sounds great. I’m starving,” Silver said. Jack nodded, and then stood up to go to the kitchen and make some food. Silver sat cross-legged on the middle of her couch, trying to remember any details that might give her a clue about when she had been poisoned. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and Joe’s father had probably intended it to be that way. He wouldn’t have wanted to raise any red flags. Silver was actually surprised that he had even bothered to call her Sunday morning. If she had died, that phone call would have been awfully suspicious. Then again, Mr. Astor had a lot of friends in high places. It probably wouldn’t be all that difficult to get the police off his trail if he really wanted to.

Silver shivered as the full realization hit her of what she had done by breaking up with Joe. She had created a very, very dangerous enemy for herself in Joe’s father. And that enemy would only become more dangerous if he discovered that Silver was a shifter.

Silver had a feeling that her easy, comfortable life was about to be shaken to its core.

Jack sat in stunned silence along with the rest of the Fur Coats. His mind tried to comprehend everything that Juno had just told him, but part of him didn’t want to understand it. Part of him didn’t want to believe it was true.

The group was all gathered at Silver’s condo for another emergency meeting. After Silver woke up this morning, and realized that it was Joe’s father who had poisoned her, they had all agreed to gather tonight to discuss things. Silver had explained, as best she could remember, the call she had received from Joe’s father that morning. Everyone had been angry, but not all that surprised. The real surprise had come when Juno had spoken up about a new, top secret project she had been invited to participate in at the research department of her university.

“They’re calling it Project DADNA. That stands for Detect Animal DNA. Not very creative, I know. Basically, some old eccentric scientist wants our help testing and improving an eye scanner that is designed to detect the presence of animal DNA. This guy somehow has a lot of money, and he’s promised to donate it to the university if we help him. He only wants the top students working on it, though. And he wants it kept top secret.”

“If he only wants the top students, how did you get invited onto the project,” Bash teased.

Juno glared at him. “Shut up, Bash. You’re just jealous because I’m ten times smarter than you’ll ever be.”

Bash broke out in a fit of laughter, which he only silenced when Silver told him to hush it. Something about Silver’s tone seemed to warn Bash that this was no laughing matter.

“Anyway,” Juno said, glaring in Bash’s direction. “The scanner isn’t working properly right now. The problem is that it’s oversensitive, and it sets off false alarms a lot. It reads about fifty percent of humans as being animals. I set it off, obviously, but it also set off several of my fellow students who I know are definitely not shifters.”

“That’s good, then.” Storm said. “It means we probably still have a lot of time before they get it to work. And as long as you’re there working on it, they’re going to think it’s still being oversensitive. I mean, no one there has any suspicions that you might be a shifter, right?”

Juno shrugged. “I don’t think so. No one there had even heard of shifters before we got pulled in for a special top secret meeting about the project. I acted just as shocked as everyone else, so I don’t think anyone is onto me right now. Also, this is kind of beside the point, but I can’t believe they’re expecting a bunch of university students to keep something top secret.”

“That’s worrisome to me,” Jack said. Something was setting off warning bells deep within his gut. “Do you think it’s possible that they
want
this leaked for some reason?”

“Why would they want that?” Juno asked. “I don’t see the benefit of letting the public know that there’s a faulty eye scanner out there.”

“Well, they might want to raise awareness in the public that there are shifters out there. Like you said, a lot of people have never heard of us. If people start to hear about us, and rumors start to fly, things might heat up quickly. That could put a lot of pressure on the government to get things moving toward some sort of shifter-detection technology.”

“Why not just tell people, then? Why go through all the hoops of pretending something is top secret?”

Jack shrugged. “It might make it feel more legitimate if it’s something that was ‘leaked’ as opposed to something that’s being put out there as propaganda.”

The group fell silent again, and if the expressions on the faces in the room were any indication, everyone was feeling pretty glum over the latest turn of events. Silver was the first one to speak up.

“Guys, I know we’ve all been resistant to this idea, but…don’t you think it’s time to get the elders involved?” she asked.

Jack forced himself to bite his lip and let the others answer first. As much as he adored Silver, he couldn’t understand her insistence lately on calling in their parents. He knew that if the elders of his clan back home heard about the trouble in Chicago, they’d come sweeping in like an angry flood. “Attack them before they attack you” had been the policy of his clan ever since they’d almost been wiped out by a clan war and a disease epidemic. Luckily for Jack, he wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to involve the elders.

“Heck no,” Grant said. “Bringing in our parents should be a last resort. I love them, but, you know how overprotective they get. If we say a single word to them about this situation, we’re going to lose the element of surprise. They’ll all fly out here to Chicago and Mr. Astor will know for sure that his cover is blown.”

“Sorry, Silver, but I have to agree with Grant on this,” Storm said. “I think the best option right now is to lay low. You won’t be around Joe’s family anymore, so we’ve lost our ability to spy on Mr. Astor. But Juno can keep an eye on the scanner situation. She’ll know right away if any significant progress is made.

The others all nodded in agreement, and Silver looked over at Jack, her eyes pleading with him to take her side. He could feel his heart melting at her look, but he had to stay strong. As much as he didn’t want to disappoint her, he firmly believed that getting anyone from Alaska involved would only complicate the situation.

“They’re right, Sil,” he said. “Just be patient. We need to figure out better what is going on before we tell anyone else what’s happening.”

Silver crossed her arms in defiance. She didn’t say anything else, but her expression looked more displeased then Jack had ever seen it. He forced himself to look away, lest he crumble under the burning desire to please her that was filling his core. He didn’t know what had gotten into him, but all he could think about lately was making Silver happy. Is this what people meant when they talked about falling head over heels in love? Jack had dated a few girls here and there, but he had never felt anything this strong for anyone before.

Thankfully, Silver decided to let the subject drop. “Fine,” she said. “I think you all are wrong, but I’m obviously outnumbered. We need to keep a close eye on the situation, though, and be willing to change our strategy if things get too heated.”

“Don’t worry,” Juno said. “I’ll monitor things closely. If there’s an immediate danger, I’ll let you all know right away.”

The conversation turned to more technical questions about the scanner, and Jack found his brain wandering as Juno tried to explain the science behind detecting animal DNA to the group. Since he’d been through medical school, most of Juno’s explanations about cellular structures were old news to him. He was thankful when everyone finally tired of talking about the scanners and turned to lighter subjects. By the time the pizza Silver had ordered arrived, the conversation had turned to the latest trial going on at Grant’s law firm. The threat to the shifter community had been put on the back burner, at least for the moment.

The evening wore on, and eventually everyone except Jack had left Silver’s condo. Jack didn’t want to leave. He was enjoying Silver’s company, and he wasn’t ready to leave her alone yet. But he couldn’t stay here all night without his feelings becoming obvious. So he forced himself to stand up and stretch casually, acting like it had just occurred to him that it was getting late.

“I guess I should get going, too,” he said.

Silver nodded, but let out a long sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked.

“Oh, nothing. I guess I just realized that the thought of being alone at night is making me a little bit nervous. I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Joe’s dad actually tried to poison me.”

Jack frowned. “I can stay here, if it makes you more comfortable. I have the night off.”

Silver looked down at her hands. “Nah, I feel silly being so worked up about it. I’m sure it’ll be fine. This building has a decent security system, and I don’t really think Joe’s dad would try to break in here. It’d be a lot easier to just get to me when I’m out on the street by myself one day or something.”

Jack sat down again right next to Silver, then reached over and grabbed one of her hands. “Silver, it really is no trouble. I want you to feel safe.”

As soon as Jack touched Silver’s hand, he knew he was in trouble. He felt sparks of electricity shooting through his body, and a red hot heat started burning in his very core. Silver’s face, inches from his own, was the most lovely thing he had ever seen. He tried to keep his hands steady and his expression neutral. His heart was running away with him, but his head was screaming at him that he didn’t have the space in his life for a woman. He was too busy at work, and, besides, Silver had just ended a longstanding relationship with another guy. She probably wasn’t interested in a new boyfriend right now.

But Silver didn’t seem to notice how warm Jack’s hand had become, or the way his cheeks were flushing up with desire just from sitting next to her. She looked up at him and shrugged with a sheepish expression on her face.

“That’s really sweet of you, Jack. But you’ve already done so much. How did you get tickets to the show last Sunday, by the way? I can’t believe there were that many tickets left, let alone that many seats together. They must have cost you a fortune.”

Jack laughed. “Well, they were pretty pricey, but it was worth it to come out and support you. I actually bought the tickets from Joe’s mom.”

Silver’s eyes widened. “What? How?”

Jack smiled and casually withdrew his hand as he spoke. If he kept holding Silver’s hand, he was going to give in to the desire to kiss her right then and there. And the timing definitely wasn’t right for that. “I guess Joe’s family thought they’d make a quick buck off the free tickets you gave them. I found them selling them on an online ad, and I bought them. They had no idea who I was or that I knew you.”

Silver furrowed her brow in anger. “Those bastards! I can’t believe they sold those tickets! They got them for free. Besides, that family has more money than God. It’s not like they need the couple hundred dollars from some ballet tickets.”

Jack shrugged. “Don’t let them get to you. I’m just glad I was able to find a way to go watch you dance. You were brilliant.”

Silver blushed. “Thanks. I’ve never danced while feeling so sick. I almost passed that show off to the understudy, actually. But right before I was going to tell the director that I didn’t think I could make it through the show, I got your text with the picture of the whole gang. I decided to power through, and I’m glad I did. Even though everything kind of went to shit afterwards, at least I finished off that show.”

“You were amazing, Silver,” Jack said. “I don’t know how you did it, dancing with a knee injury while poisoned. But you really did dazzle the crowd. You have a gift.”

“Thanks. I feel really lucky to be able to do what I love for a career.”

“Me too, actually,” Jack said. “I was just thinking the other day that I’m so happy that I’ve been able to come to Chicago and follow my dream to be a doctor. My parents weren’t too happy about my moving away, but I think they’re pretty proud of me now.”

“Well, they should be! You’ve spent over a decade of your life pursuing that dream, between school and your residency.”

Silver smiled over at him, and the corners of her eye crinkled up in the most adorable way possible. Jack suddenly jumped up and offered her his hand. He didn’t want this night to end yet, and he had an idea of how to keep it going.

“Come on, get up,” he said.

Silver took his hand and let him pull her up, giving him a quizzical look. “Where are we going?”

“To celebrate. We all wanted to take you out for drinks after your show Sunday night, but obviously that didn’t happen since you collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital. So we should go get drinks and celebrate now. Dreams that have come true deserve to be celebrated, and I know dancing as Cinderella was a dream come true for you.”

Silver grinned, her eyes lighting up with excitement. “Okay. But we’re toasting you, too. You’re kicking ass in the dreams department as well.”

Jack shrugged. “Whatever you say. But I’m buying the drinks, so don’t even think about trying to sneak in and pay for anything.”

Silver laughed, and followed Jack out to his hovercar. Fifteen minutes later, they had landed next to cocktail lounge called the Violet Hour. The place was popular and drew a huge crowd. Even on a weeknight like tonight, the line was out the door. Jack watched as Silver looked over at the line and shook her head.

“Jack, this place is way too busy. We’re going to have to wait at least an hour to get in.”

Jack grinned. “Think again, kid. Stick with me and we’ll have a table in a few minutes, I promise.”

Jack grabbed Silver’s hand and pulled her through the crowd, relishing the confused look on her face. This was going to be fun. A few people frowned at them as they made their way toward the front of the long line that snaked out the door. Jack could tell Silver felt self-conscious under their glares, but he didn’t slow down. As they approached the front door, the bouncer who was controlling the in and out flow of traffic, looked up and grinned from ear to ear.

“All right, people, move back, make some room,” the bouncer bellowed. “Move it on back people, we’ve got some VIPs coming through. Couple of celebrities right here, make some space for them.”

Jack watched Silver’s face grow even more confused as the glaring expressions from the people in line turned to curiosity. A few people even whipped out their phones to take pictures of Jack and Silver, caught up in the frenzy of the moment. As Jack approached the bouncer, the man pulled him in for a big bear hug, clapping him on the back heartily several times.