“You old softie,” Jace said, grinning.
“I am. I admit it without shame. Make yourself comfortable, Shifter. This might take some time. Dylan will send word when the way is safe.”
* * *
Deni didn’t want to eat, but she managed to choke down a burger Sean prepared for her, made with sautéed mushrooms and Havarti cheese, which Deni loved. Mouthwatering goodness, but tonight, Deni had no appetite.
The police still roamed Shiftertown. They’d interrogated the Shifters in Liam’s yard—including Deni, again—and now they wandered the blocks.
Deni noticed that they’d left the cubs who’d gathered at Liam’s alone. A large number of cubs had found their way here, sent by their parents for safety, and now they sat on the porch and its steps, devouring Sean’s burgers. Spike’s cub, Jordan; Olaf the polar bear; the older bear girl named Cherie; Liam and Kim’s little girl, sitting on Kim’s lap; and others from around the town. Andrea carried her son and helped Kim look after the kids, but mostly the cubs had been sent here because of Tiger.
The police hadn’t talked to Tiger much, leaving him and Tiger’s mate, Carly, pretty much alone. They hadn’t gone near the cubs at all, because Tiger had positioned himself between the police officers and the cubs on the porch. The officers, after taking one look at Tiger, had seemed to tacitly agree to stop even looking at the kids.
The cops might have the badges, armor, guns, and authority, Deni reflected, but in this corner of Shiftertown, Tiger had the power. The police seemed to know it, just as small animals knew they were prey for the cat that strolled by, even if the cat wasn’t attacking. They’d feel better once the cat was gone, and they could duck inside their holes again for safety.
Even after the police finally left the yard, Tiger remained on guard. The huge man with black and orange hair unnerved even the Shifters. The only adult truly comfortable with him was Carly, a Texas girl with honey brown hair who wrapped her hands around Tiger’s big arm and smiled up at him. She was just beginning to show her pregnancy, and the look Tiger gave her warmed Deni’s heart. Those two had found love. Knowing what Tiger and Carly had gone through, Deni felt a lick of hope that she too could find happiness—even with the Feline Shifter who was right now hiding out in Faerie, and who couldn’t legally be in her Shiftertown.
“He’ll have to go,” Dylan said to Sean not two feet away from Deni.
Deni turned to them, not bothering to pretend not to listen. If they hadn’t wanted her to hear, Dylan wouldn’t have said anything while she was standing so close.
Sean, turning burgers with tongs, nodded. “We’ll have to try again later.”
They were going to send Jace home, while he was half-crazed with the partially removed Collar, and wait for who knew how long. She opened her mouth to argue, but Dylan shook his head.
“You know I’m right, Den,” Dylan said. “We can’t risk that the cops won’t start taking roll call in all Shiftertowns. I’ll get him home as soon as I’m able.”
Deni nodded. True, Jace would be safer at his own Shiftertown, where he had his father and family to take care of him. But Deni’s heart felt like a stone in her chest, and her food tasted like dust.
She set the plate down, nodded at Sean and Dylan, and walked in a daze toward the porch and the cubs. Deni wished Ellison and her sons were here—she needed to wrap herself in her family to ease the sudden pain.
Andrea seemed to sense her need. She handed her little boy to Kim and met Deni in the yard, pulling her into a hug.
“I know,” Andrea said. “I saw it in your eyes when you looked at him tonight. Don’t worry. I’ll tell Liam, and we’ll make it so you can see him again.”
Andrea was sweet; she truly was. Andrea herself had been given special permission to move from a Colorado Shiftertown to this one, which proved it could be done, but she’d had to jump through many hoops to do it. Deni knew she could see Jace again, but it would be tough, and both Liam and Jace’s father would have to be convinced that it was necessary for either Jace or Deni to move permanently.
Andrea released Deni, giving her a reassuring smile, and returned to the porch to lift her cub from Kim’s lap. The look of joy she turned on her son squeezed Deni’s heart.
“Don’t let him go.”
Deni jumped and swung around, her wolf’s senses sending her into a defensive crouch. Tiger had moved to her side in that stealthy way he had, and now he stood right next to her, alone, his bulk filling the space Andrea had vacated.
“Tiger.” Deni straightened up and clenched her hands. “Don’t do that.”
“You should not let Jace go home,” Tiger said. “Keep him with you.”
“I can’t,” Deni said. “He doesn’t belong here, and if they catch him . . .”
Tiger shook his head. He reached out his hand, carefully, and touched the air in front of Deni’s chest, as though he saw something there. Deni felt the warmth inside her, the tingling need she’d been pretending not to notice. “You have it, don’t you?” Tiger said. “Don’t let it go.”
Deni swallowed. If she admitted the mate bond right now, she’d fall in a crumpled heap and begin weeping. “I—”
“Tiger, honey,” Carly strolled to him and laced her hands around his arm again. “Don’t scare her. She’s been through a lot.”
Tiger only looked at Deni with his intense yellow eyes, as though willing her to understand and obey. He let Carly lead him away, but he glanced at Deni over his shoulder, his gaze penetrating Deni to the most frightened part of her.
Chapter Ten
When Jace emerged from Faerie into the grove of trees in Shiftertown, it was dawn. Shiftertown was quiet, the nocturnal Shifters having turned in to sleep, the ones who lived by human schedules not up yet.
Dylan met him. Dylan’s face was covered with new-growth beard, and lines had deepened about his eyes. He hadn’t slept all night.
Time moved differently in Faerie, Fionn had told Jace, sometimes slower, sometimes faster. Jace had spent twice as many hours there as the time had moved here. Scary. What if he popped into Faerie one day, lived a week, and came out to find everyone long dead? Or he aged in Faerie while Deni had lived only one day? Too weird to contemplate. The solution was not to go to Faerie again, which was fine with Jace.
He still felt better, even with the Collar’s loose links chafing him. He’d have to figure out why he seemed to have recovered from his need to go feral, and if whatever he discovered could help with removing the Collars.