Misty put on her sandals and walked outside through the kitchen door. A step led down into a backyard with a patch of grass and a path connecting it to a common area between the houses.
Unlike many of the neighborhoods in Las Vegas, a block wall did not surround every yard in Shiftertown. Graham had told her Shifters didn’t need walls. Each Shifter knew where his territory ended and another Shifter’s began. If humans had as good a sense of smell as Shifters did, he said, they wouldn’t need walls either.
Misty stepped into the common area and headed toward the first unfinished house she saw down the way. Two seconds later, a woman was in front of her, one tall and gray-eyed, her dark hair a bit shaggy. A Lupine, Misty guessed.
She eyed Misty coldly, and Misty stopped.
“Stay away from Graham,” the woman said.
Misty hid a sigh. Facing jealous females was not something she liked to do. It always made her feel twelve years old, confronting a mean girl in the school cafeteria.
“That’s for me and Graham to decide,” Misty said.
“No, it isn’t.” The Lupine woman came close, invading Misty’s personal space. Shifters did that when they decided they were dominant to you. Graham did it all the time. “Graham mates for the good of his clan, for Shiftertown,” the woman said. “You’re not good for us. So go away.”
“He isn’t mating with me.”
The woman inhaled, her eyes narrowing. Misty knew she’d washed thoroughly with the deodorant soap, but Shifters had phenomenal senses of smell. They could strip scent down into layers and time, like archeologists uncovering civilizations.
“You reek of sex and his seed. Don’t lie with him again. A by-blow will help no one. Might even hurt you.”
Misty had also learned that when faced with a mean girl, she should look said girl straight in the eye and not back down. Sometimes this had led to Misty getting beaten up, but she’d always fought back with gusto, which had earned her a little respect.
“I’m not sure I like that you know what Graham’s seed smells like,” Misty said. “But it doesn’t matter. It’s Graham’s business, and mine. Not yours.”
“That’s what you think, bitch.”
So some of the mean girls in the cafeteria had said. But those girls hadn’t had Shifter strength, or the huge, clawed hands that now came at Misty’s face.
Misty ducked, shielding herself with her arms, hoping she could fend off the woman and not die. But the blow never came. Misty peeked out from under her arm, and found Dougal shoving the woman backward, his face half shifted to wolf, his claws extended, his voice guttural.
“Don’t touch her.”
“Stay out of this, cub,” the woman snarled.
“Not cub. Not anymore. She’s Graham’s. You touch her, you answer to him.”
The woman had stopped, also half changed to wolf. Her growl was furious, but Misty saw her realize that Dougal had a point. Graham never bothered with calm negotiation when he was angry.
“Tell Graham she’s got to go,” the woman said, her voice harsh. “If the other Lupines decide to take her out, there’s nothing he can do.”
Take her out? Not something Misty wanted to hear.
With a final sneer, the Lupine woman receded to human form and jogged away. Dougal, also back to his human shape, returned to Misty.
“You all right?”
“Yes.” Misty dragged in a breath. “Thank you.”
“Tell Uncle Graham I saved your ass, all right?” Dougal said. “He thinks I’m a complete wuss. If you’re looking for him, follow me. I know where he is.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Graham peered around the darkness of the dug-out basement once the cubs had figured out which house they’d been exploring. They’d taken a while deciding, which had involved dashing back and forth, running in circles around Graham, and sitting on their small wolf butts and howling.
Finally the two agreed that they’d been exploring the basement in the second unfinished house from the end. The stud walls had been raised on the main floor, and now workers were putting in the plumbing and other pipes needed to fit the houses for modern living.
The basements were a secret. Most houses in this city were built on solid concrete slabs, with wiring and pipes in the walls and ceiling. Basements around here could fill with noxious gasses, not to mention desert creatures looking for places to nest.
Shifter basements were different though, whole other worlds. Shifters had dug out the basements of these houses at night, using equipment Iona made sure her construction workers left behind. They hid the evidence by constructing a solid ceiling that could be reinforced enough to take the concrete slab and weight of the house later.
Shifters had been building secret places for centuries. Territory could be invaded by other Shifter clans or encroached upon by humans at any time, so they’d made sure they had places to go to ground and survive, and to keep their most important treasures safe.
To invade another Shifter’s secret territory could be death to the invader. It had been in the old days. Most Shifters, however, weren’t foolish enough to try to enter another’s secret hideaway, sensitive to the fact that they had their own hideaways to guard.
Cubs, on the other hand, needed to be taught. These basements weren’t finished yet, and held no secrets. But the Shifters who moved in here would be itchy for a long time because of the scents Graham and the cubs were leaving.
And Dougal’s and Misty’s scents. Graham smelled them coming, even before he heard Misty’s light footsteps as she climbed down the ladder. Dougal was more surefooted and quiet, but he was talking.
To Misty. The usually silent, sullen Dougal was talking to a female. But then, Dougal and Misty were about the same age. Misty acted much older than Dougal, but humans matured quickly. Had to.
Graham waited for them to catch up. “What?”
Misty gave him the look that said he was hopeless. “I was worried about you and the cubs. There’s a Fae on the loose, remember?”
“I know,” Graham said in a hard voice. “Exactly why I left you safely in my house. Which you’re going back to now.”
Misty folded her arms, which pushed up her br**sts under her little tank top. “You know, when I was growing up and raising Paul, he had a favorite saying when I told him what to do too often.”
Graham wrenched his gaze from her br**sts and moved it to her face. “I’m going to regret asking what it was, aren’t I?”