“They’re still shifters in private,” Alexei said.
“And I am who I am,” Lulu said. “I can’t change it. But I’m not the only person in the world with a skill they aren’t using. Humans who speak multiple languages don’t get chastised because they enter into careers other than being translators. And if humans are allowed to have gifts and not use them, so am I.”
I couldn’t argue with that—and wouldn’t, even if I’d wanted to. Her magic—her genetic gift and burden—was hers to carry.
Alexei just watched her, quiet and still, then nodded once. An acknowledgment of what she’d said.
“So,” Theo said, breaking the awkward silence that followed, “what was it like?”
“What was what like?”
“The biting. And this isn’t prurient interest,” he added, hands raised in innocence as he smiled at Connor. “I’m just curious.”
“It was . . . odd,” I said after a moment’s consideration. “Mentally, it felt like a violation—given the circumstances. But physically, it felt natural. It felt vampiric. I’ve bitten vampires before—two of them. Both in Paris, but it wasn’t like this.”
“Who’d you bite before?” Connor asked with a heavy air of “Who do I need to beat up?”
I shifted my gaze to him, grinned. “A single vampire in Paris is going to be a single vampire in Paris.”
He humphed. “Have you ever tasted a shifter’s blood?”
The heat rose to my cheeks so quickly, I might have been on fire. On one level, we were having a perfectly average conversation about our normal biological processes. But beneath it was something more—curiosity, anticipation, interest.
“I haven’t,” I quietly said, and kept my gaze on him. “Are you offering?”
“Things are getting warm in here,” Lulu said, rising from her seat, “and that is very much our cue to exit.”
Connor just smiled . . . wolfishly.
“Do we have a plan for tomorrow?” Theo asked.
“We check if the searches have found anything,” Connor said, “and we talk to Beyo and we see where that leads.”
We walked to the cabin door. They’d moved the RV to a larger lot about forty yards from the cabin.
“You want me to walk you back to the RV?” I asked. “Or Connor can.”
“Oh, I’m not going back to the RV.”
I shifted my gaze to Connor, lifted my brows. “Why not?”
“Because I’m not going near the cat.” He looked up, then toward the window. “She was staring at me through the window.”
“She was looking outside,” Lulu said. “You just happened to be there.”
“She had malice in her eyes.”
“She always has malice in her eyes,” Lulu said. “It’s her nature.” She rose. “Come on, Lis. You can walk me back. You’re brave enough to face her.”
“I live with her,” I said. “She knows where I sleep. Seeing her through a window’s the easy part.”
* * *
* * *
The air had cooled by the time we walked outside, a nice breeze flowing off the lake. It was a hint of the winter to come, which would be even harsher here than in windblown Chicago.
Theo stayed a few paces behind me and Lulu, giving us space to talk.
“He’s afraid of her,” Lulu said as we walked across a field of overgrown grass. I worked to not think about what might be sliding through it.
“He has no reason to be afraid,” I said. “He’s enormous, as a man and a wolf.”
Lulu snickered. “Like you’d know.”
“Context clues,” I said with a grin.
“Look, from a psychic standpoint, when you get down to the attitude and the magnificence, she weighs a ton.”
I glanced at her. “Why are you kissing up to the cat?”
“I’m doing no such thing. I merely recognize her worth. And her very acute sense of hearing.”
I looked up toward the RV. Eleanor of Aquitaine had planted herself in a windowsill, watching, waiting. “She hid something again, didn’t she?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I laughed, low and easy. “She did. She hid something you need, and you’re trying to get it back. What was it?”
Lulu rolled her eyes. “My screen, okay? She took my screen, and I have no idea where she put it.”
“Of course she did.”
* * *
* * *
I deposited Theo and Lulu in the RV and made my way back to the cabin and was shocked to meet Arne and Marian, the shifters we’d met on the way to Grand Bay, coming up the path. They both wore light jackets, carried to-go cups of fragrant coffee.
Why had they driven all the way out here? I wondered, and hoped the violence hadn’t spread to their home.
“Hey,” I said, walking toward them. “Is everything okay?”
“I think we need to ask you that,” Marian said, giving me a hug. “How are you and Connor?”
“Okay for now,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
Arne held up his cup. “We’re taking a turn on shutter duty today.”
“Shutter duty—” I began, and it took me a moment to figure out what he’d meant. “You drove up here to stand guard?”
“We did,” Marian said. “Connor is important to us, and you’re important to him. Alexei put in a call, so we came.”
Probably hearing voices, or because he was making sure I’d made it back from the RV lot, Connor walked out of the cabin and looked as surprised as I probably had. “Everything okay?”
“They’re guarding us today,” I said, saving them the second explanation. “Alexei asked them to.”
“You didn’t have to drive up,” Connor said, giving them both hugs. “But I appreciate that you did.” He gestured to their cups. “You’ve got enough caffeine?”
“We’re fine,” Marian said.
“We’ve got pizza if you’re hungry,” I said. “Someone ordered too much.”
“We’re good, but thank you.”
“How were the girls’ recitals?” I asked.