Desperately Seeking Shapeshifter (25 page)

I took a clean knife and pushed her aside, and began to cut as she sucked the blood from her thumb. As I cut, I told her about the wolves and what they’d said.

“What are you going to do?” my sister asked quietly.

I shrugged with more calmness than I felt. “What can I do?”

Bath frowned and reached to tug her ponytail out of habit. Her hand fluttered, finding nothing, as her hair was put up in a bun. “I’m not so sure that it’s wise to invite the wolf pack into the service and let them date Alliance clients.”

“It’s not. I don’t trust them, but what can we do? If we refuse to serve them at the agency, it’ll cause a huge stink. You know Beau wants the wolves to join. One wolf pack leads and the others will follow. If we piss one off, we kiss them all good-bye. All we can do is put their profiles in the system and hope that no one shows interest.”

I didn’t tell my sister about the three-for-one deal that they’d mentioned to me. Some things just weren’t for sharing. I planned on curling up in Ramsey’s arms and telling him, though.

Speaking of . . . “Have you seen Ramsey today?” I set aside the plate of sandwiches.

Bath moved to the far counter, digging out plastic wineglasses. They were the kind you had to assemble, and she grabbed a stack and began to snap them together. “I haven’t. He’s off with Beau on a job, and I’ve been busy buying up all the wine in the county. I got a variety, because I’m not sure what the various breeds like to drink. Do you think this stuff is okay?” She gestured at the rows and rows of bottles.

I leaned against the counter, wondering exactly what kind of job Ramsey and Beau were up to. I didn’t ask, though; it’d just make my sister more anxious. So I looked at the varieties of wine. “If it’s free, no one’s going to care if it comes from a barrel, a box, or a bottle.”

“You have a point,” she said, chewing on her lip. “I just want tonight to go perfectly. To show Beau that I’m a good mate for him, and that I don’t have to have fur to be able to hang with the Alliance or run an Alliance business.”

Jeez. My sister really
was
nervous. “So what else is on the menu tonight?”

“Peach cobbler,” my sister announced. “And the brisket is going to be delivered half an hour before the dance officially begins. Austin’s out on a beer run, since a lot of guests are going to want that.”

“Good call,” I said. “So what else needs to be done?”

My sister sagged against the counter for a minute, looking exhausted. “Everything.”

I gave her a cheerful smile. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I showed up early.”

We worked companionably through the afternoon. As the Russells and Gracie set up the dance area, my sister and I prepared food. Cookies, cupcakes, and appetizers were also on the menu. When she started to pull out ingredients for homemade chili, I stopped her. At this rate, we’d have enough food to feed an army.

Austin returned with beer and bags of ice, his cousin Savannah tagging along. She gave me a faint smile as she entered with two bags of ice in her arms, while Austin reached over and tousled my hair.

“Hi, Savannah,” I said cheerfully. “Nice to see you out and about.”

She blushed and nodded at me, then disappeared into the kitchen. My sister recruited Joshua and Gracie to fill some of the barrels with ice for the beer. As she did, I moved to Austin’s side. “She doing okay? Your cousin?”

Austin nodded. “Got a sad look on her face every now and then, but she seems to be all right. We try not to leave her alone at all times. I heard that wolf guy can’t take a hint.”

I nodded, thinking of Connor’s desperate longing for Savannah.

Austin suddenly stiffened, and I lifted my head as a familiar scent caught my nostrils. Not Gracie, but close. It was odd to smell wolf just when we’d been talking about them. . . .

And then I realized that things were about to get really bad. Because Connor had clearly followed Savannah here.

Three of the Russells dropped what they were holding, their bodies stiffening with anger.

Then the door of the kitchen opened. “Savannah?” a man called out.

Oh, shit.

Joshua and Ellis rushed past me, Austin a few steps behind. The door hadn’t even closed behind Connor before he was tackled and flung to the floor. The Russells piled atop him, and the human sounds of anger gave way to animal snarls. Ellis’s back rose, a sure sign that he was going to shift.

“Savannah,” Connor howled, the sound then muffled by the smack of a fist into his jaw. “I want to see her!”

“Get Savannah out of here,” shouted Joshua from the pile.

I saw Savannah hesitate, but she didn’t leave. Her face seemed agonized.

A cry of pain erupted from Connor, and the snarls intensified. I rushed forward, shoving my way through the thrashing limbs.

“Stop it,” I shouted, grabbing hands and arms and trying to wedge my way through the seething mass of bodies. “Joshua! Jeremiah! Ellis! Stop this right now!”

They ignored me. Austin tried to pick me up but I clung to Ellis’s shirt, unwilling to be removed from the fight.

Connor continued to struggle, and as I watched, his face seemed to grow more canine, a slight shift occurring even as he struggled against Ellis and Jacob. “I just want to talk to her,” he snarled.

“No wolves allowed,” Ellis said, leaning over Connor’s prone form with a feral snarl curling his lip. “No one wants your filthy kind ’round here.”

I flinched and moved forward, just in time to catch a flying fist. It hit me in the mouth, and I wrapped my hands around that big arm and bit down.

“Ow,” Joshua yelped, and all eyes turned to stare at me. “What the fuck, Sara?”

I released him, my lip curling into my own snarl. Connor’s mouth was bloody, his face defiant, nose crunched like a snarling wolf’s. He looked ready to take on all the Russells, his nostrils flaring. It didn’t matter to him if he won or not, I realized. He simply had to see Savannah or go insane.

And suddenly, I understood that.

“Let him go,” I said and released Joshua’s arm. “He just wants to talk to her.”

Austin stepped between Connor and me. His hands raised in a placating gesture. “Sara, you need to let us handle—”

Someone moved to my side, and I caught a whiff of Gracie’s scent. I knew what she was feeling—anger and outrage. I felt a little of it myself at the sight of the three Russells beating up Connor.

The wolf side of me grew agitated. “Handle it?” I finished for him. “You mean, you want to beat him to a pulp just because he’s a wolf?
I’m
a wolf, too.”

Jeremiah shook his head. “Not like them.”

“She’s just like us,” Gracie snapped. “That’s why Maynard and Daddy want her so bad, you big idiot.”

“Connor isn’t like the others,” I said quietly. “I know him.” I pushed between them, putting my hands on my hips to increase my mass. “Connor signed up to be in the Alliance. He’s as welcome here as any Russell.”

“Or me.” Gracie’s normally playful voice was cold and unfriendly.

Joshua’s expression darkened. “That so?”

“I just want to talk to Savannah,” Connor panted. “Then I promise I’ll go.”

We all looked to Savannah, hovering at the far side of the room. Her face was deathly white as she stared at the scene.

“Do you want to talk to this low-life wolf?” Joshua said, and I wanted to kick him.

Savannah hesitated. After a long, long moment, she shook her head. “No.” Then she turned away and walked back into the kitchen.

I looked at Connor. Anguish was etched on his handsome face. Ellis slowly got off of him, and Connor hauled himself up and headed for the door, his stride angry. Joshua elbowed Austin, grinning.

Irritated with the two of them, I gave them both a shove and raced after Connor.

“Connor, wait,” I said, chasing him through the parking lot. He wouldn’t turn to look at me, but I eventually caught up to him and touched his arm. “Are you all right?”

He turned dark, agonized eyes on me. “Do I look all right? I love her. I can think of no one but her. I don’t care that she’s not a werewolf. I want to take
her at my side and keep her safe. But she won’t even talk to me.”

“I’ll talk to her,” I said, helpless at his pain. “See if I can find out what’s bothering her.”

“I know what’s bothering her,” he bit out. “I fucked her. She begged me to let her go when we found out she was in heat, but my father wouldn’t agree. And so we slept together, and now she hates me because it wasn’t her choice.”

Savannah had every right to be upset. What could I say?

“I just . . . I just want to talk to her. Hold her in my arms and let her know that I care for her. That she’s the one for me, and I love her and our child.”

Child? Well, hell. Of course she was pregnant after being in heat. That was how nature worked. The human part of me just hadn’t put two and two together. “I’ll talk to her and see how she’s feeling. I’ll call you in the morning, okay?”

Behind us, I heard the door to the community center slam, and we turned to see Gracie stomping across the parking lot, flip-flops slapping the pavement. She was furious, her curly hair flying.

“Let’s go, Connor,” she said, glancing over at me. “We’re going to tell Daddy just what the Alliance thinks of wolves, and see what he has to say about things.”

“Gracie,” I began, a note of alarm in my voice.

Gracie bared her teeth at me. “You heard them. Wolves are shit and good for nothing. Ain’t all
wolves like that, just like I’m sure all were-cats ain’t assholes,” she snapped. “You’re better off with our kind, and the sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be. You’re always going to be trash to them, just because of the kind of fur you grow. And don’t you forget that.”

With that, she got into Connor’s car and didn’t look back at me. Connor, his shoulders slumping, took one last dejected look at the community center and then got in, too.

I watched them drive off, my arms crossed tightly over my chest. I didn’t know what to do. I liked Connor. I liked Jackson and Dan. I even liked Gracie in a roundabout way—but I hated the rest of the wolves. But what had just happened in the community center alarmed me. The wolves were the enemies of the Alliance. They’d bullied other supes for so long that they weren’t familiar with being outnumbered, and it was clear they didn’t like it. Would there always be a war between our breeds?

And of course there was Savannah to think about. If Connor was right, she was carrying his baby. A cat-dog-human.

I really, really wanted to talk to Ramsey in that moment, to share my confusion and have him rub my back and tell me that it’d be all right. To remind me that I was welcomed, not the enemy. He’d be here soon, and I looked anxiously at my watch.

Rubbing my arms, I returned to the community center. The three Russells were parked next to the
beer, each with a bottle in hand, pressing it to their jaws where Connor had gotten a wallop in.

Joshua looked over at me and adjusted his baseball cap with a frown. “He hit you, too, eh?”

I touched my throbbing cheek and raised an eyebrow at him. “Actually,
you
did.”

His look of shame was almost worth the pain.

Chapter Fifteen

A
few hours later the dance began to fill up, and my sister’s nervousness was in full bloom. She twisted the long, silky fall of her blond hair. “Are you sure I look all right?”

“You look beautiful,” I said for the fourteenth time. She wore a pale yellow sheath made of eyelet, and due to the chilly weather she’d put a white cardigan over it. She was golden and beautiful, and I knew Beau would love the sight of her.

“I don’t look like a supe,” she said with a rueful smile.

“And that’s perfectly okay,” I said, reaching over and giving her a squeeze around the waist, happy I could do so for once. Before my secret had gotten out, I’d been afraid to touch anyone for fear of my scent lingering. Now I didn’t have to worry about that, and I enjoyed touching.

I especially enjoyed it when Ramsey touched me.

Bath gave me a critical look. “I think you need more makeup on your cheek.”

I touched the bruise. “That bad?”

“It’s not good,” she agreed, pulling out a compact of powder and offering it to me. “Downplay it a bit more so Ramsey isn’t upset. Trust me.”

I felt a blush creeping over my cheeks and adjusted my own dress. My sister—who likes to think of everything—had brought me a short, swingy little green number with spaghetti straps. I liked the color and was glad I’d dyed my hair red to match.

The music changed to a slow song and my sister smiled when the floor filled with supes of all kinds and their partners. I knew she was mentally cataloging which ones seemed to be getting along well and making notes for when she got back into the office. I’d seen badgers dancing with tigers, jaguars dancing with cougars, and even the harpy had gotten a dance or two in—no small feat. The scent of the different supernaturals filled my nostrils, but not in a bad way. As I watched, a tiny female were-fox led Jeremiah and another man out on the dance floor and slipped between them, her hips cradled between both men.

I’d heard that sort of thing about were-foxes.