“I haven’t the faintest idea. I swear to you.”
“Then why did you think she was meeting me?”
Goddess, he wasn’t going to let go of this. “Why not call her? I’m sure she’s just shopping or something.”
“I did call. She didn’t pick up.”
Andrea’s worry overrode any concern about herself. Humans were randomly shooting at Shifters; Glory had gone out alone; Glory wasn’t answering her phone.
Andrea pulled her cell from her belt and tapped in Glory’s number. Glory answered after the first ring. “Hey, there!” she sang.
Andrea turned around, walking a little away from Dylan. “Glory? Where are you? Dylan’s looking for you.”
“Is he? Too bad. I’m busy.”
Through the phone, Andrea heard music and laughter—deep, male, throaty laughter.
“Where the hell are you?”
“Having a good time.”
“What am I supposed to tell Dylan?”
Glory’s voice was muffled as though she’d turned to talk to someone else, then she said, “You tell Dylan that I’m not going to wait for him to get around to seeing me. Until he makes a mate-claim, I’ll go out as much as I want with whoever I want.”
“I’m not telling him that! Do it yourself.”
“Sorry, honey, gotta go.” Glory laughed at a male voice in the background, and the phone went quiet.
“Glory. Shit.” Andrea clicked off, her heart sinking. She pivoted to face Dylan, wondering how much he’d overheard, and found Dylan gone. The clearing was empty, quiet, as though Dylan had never been there.
Andrea scented him, though, male musk and anger. So much anger.
Damn it. Andrea tried to tamp down her worry and went back to the Morrisseys to find Kim.
“I’m pregnant, not an invalid,” Kim snapped. “I’m in better shape than I’ve been in years.”
Andrea eyed the car keys in Kim’s hand, wondering if she could snatch them without hurting the woman. “I know that. But you have to understand. We’ve watched so many Shifter women die trying to have babies that we’re a little paranoid about it.”
“I’m perfectly healthy. My gynecologist is amazed at how healthy I am.”
“Yes, but, Kim, if you get sick or hurt on this little expedition—if you so much as skin your knee—Liam will disembowel me and play jump rope with my guts.” Andrea assessed the distance to the keys again. “Don’t make me wrestle you for them.”
Kim heaved a sigh. “Liam has become so protective, it’s incredible. I mean, I like being cherished, but, sheesh.”
“Liam’s terrified of losing you. My mother died trying to have another child. Trust me, I know how awful that is.”
Kim deflated. She blew out another sigh and handed over the keys to her Mustang. “Fine. Go get her. But not a scratch on that car, do you hear me? I’ve seen the way Shifters drive.”
“Sweet.” Andrea closed her hand over the keys. “I won’t hurt it a bit.”
“What do I tell Sean when he comes home?”
“That I stole your car and went joy riding. Or you can tell him the truth. I don’t care.” Andrea caught Kim in a hard hug. “Thanks. I’ll be in touch.”
She danced down the porch steps to the driveway and slid into the little sports car she’d been dying to try out since she’d arrived.
Now to find Glory. Andrea didn’t have much to go on except Kim remembering Glory talking about a bar called Bronco’s in north Austin that she liked to go to. Kim had looked it up on Sean’s computer and printed a map to it.
Andrea studied the map before she pulled out. Since coming to Austin, she had realized that directions to places here could consist of a bewildering array of turns and little jogs down tiny streets that connected to giant thoroughfares. In her old Shiftertown, “down the highway to the first left” had been the extent of the complication. Here, she needed a list of directions to get to the nearest gas station.
She sped through downtown Austin and turned off on Lamar to head north. She tried to follow the map’s directions, but somewhere she took a wrong turn and found herself going back south on the wrong road. She cursed and looked for a street sign, but the next intersection was small, the street sign for some reason missing.
A car full of human males pulled up next to her. She gave them a nervous glance, but though they were youngish, in their twenties, they looked more inclined to wear colorful shirts and party than shoot Shifters. They were probably from the university, taking a day off, legit or not. When they saw Andrea look at them, they began the male ritual of showing off.
Peacocks. They were good-looking in a human way, and they obviously didn’t realize that Andrea was a Shifter. With her jacket zipped high against the cold, her sunglasses hiding her eyes from the glare, she could pass for human. She wondered what these guys would think if they knew she’d been alive for forty years already. Forty for a Shifter was still very young, the equivalent of a human in her early twenties. Plenty ripe for mating. Sean at nearly a hundred was in his prime, his thirties as humans would measure things.
To her, these guys were still cubs. Older than Connor, yes, but not by much.
“Nice car,” one in the backseat called to her.
“Hey,” another said. “Want to go to Red’s with us?”
Andrea smiled sweetly. “Sorry, I’m meeting a friend.”
“Where? We’ll go there instead.”
Glory would eat these guys alive. “Do you know how to get to Bronco’s?”
The two in the back looked blank, but the guy in the front passenger seat became suddenly grim-faced. “You don’t want to go there. That’s a Shifter place.”
Andrea shrugged. “I’m curious.”
“You meeting your friend there?” Front-seat guy gave her a onceover. “What are you, a Shifter groupie?”
“Not hardly,” Andrea said.
“Those places are bad, girl. Y’all shouldn’t go.”
Andrea shrugged again. “Just tell me how to get back to Lamar?”
“Not from around here?” The young man patted the car as the light changed. “Follow us.”
Andrea let them pull ahead. If they led her back to the right street, fine. If they tried to get her lost, she’d drive away and call Kim for help. The day she couldn’t handle herself against four puny human males—unarmed—would be a bad day, indeed.