The two shifters were also enforcers. They took the day shift when they could, and it was seven in the evening, so they'd headed to his place to chill before dinner.

  They'd taken to hanging out with him in their spare time, probably because he was the only sad-ass original member of the pride who wasn't mated. Maybe they could dub their trio’ the third wheel united’.

  "Beer?"

  It wasn't really a question. He handed them a bottle each and reached up to the cupboard above his sink. He knew Ari liked a glass. He'd just done the dishes, so there were four clean glasses, but he couldn't help himself from showing off, pulling one of the pretty new mugs out instead. Ian smiled as he handed it to the woman.

  "Hey, look! Homie got plates and shit," she said.

  He only smiled broader.

  "Nice, right?"

  "Super nice. Where did you get them? Ace's damn lynx freaked out the other day when I came in the kitchen and I broke a bunch of shit. I need to replace them."

  She didn't really; if they needed new plates, it would be ordered through the pride's account, but that was the kind of person Ari was. Straight as an arrow and responsible.

  "Didn't buy them. Friend made them."

  Friend was a bit of a stretch. Knowing Ari would dig if she sniffed a story, he changed the subject. "Who's cooking tonight?"

  They didn't have to eat together every night, and sometimes on his days off Ian went off to the city, ate out, hung out at a bar; but that was mostly when he wanted to get laid.

  "Ace," Theo replied, beaming. "Whole house smelled of cake when we left."

  While their alpha female was a decent cook, she was a truly gifted baker. Suddenly he was looking forward to dinner.

  "Hang on, aren't we questioning the friend thing?" Ari challenged. "You're an annoying know-it-all. You don't have friends."

  Ian laughed. "Ouch."

  She shrugged, unapologetically. "If the shoe fits."

  "I have friends," he lied.

  He had the pride, some employees in an office he’d never stepped a foot in, and family. Not because he was a know-it-all, but because he genuinely didn't have the time for anything else.

  "No, you don't," Theo stated.

  "All right. Well, I have a friend, and she gave me some plates she made." Knowing it was unavoidable, given the fact that he'd dug his own grave earlier, he added, "In fact, you'll meet her soon. I invited her over for dinner with us."

  Theo spat out some beer, while Ari laughed. "I knew it! I knew you looked ridiculously smug. You like the girl."

  "For dinner. Here?" Theo asked. "Why?"

  Ian rolled his eyes. He knew every adult in the pack would have the exact same reaction. "Because I owe her for the plates," he replied casually. "I figured I could take her out, but restaurants are a pain."

  He didn't mind eating out alone, or with other members of the pride, but it was rare that he got out in the city without having to take pictures or sign autographs; they often ran into fans, or just people who wanted to brag they'd met a real shifter. Then, there were sometimes more alarming encounters, with shifter haters, often violent or preachy.

  The folks of Lakesides were fine, but there weren't any nice restaurants in town.

  "I could cook here, but if any of you suspected I’d cooked and didn't make anything for the rest of the pride, there'd be a lot of whining. So, I figured I'd ask her to come eat at the main house. It's not forbidden."

  He was right; inviting guests over was the prerogative of any enforcer, as long as it wasn't anyone officially labeled as an enemy of the pride. Ian didn't even have to ask for the alphas' permission, although he would, out of respect.

  The thing was, no one actually did it. Clari had eaten with them a few times before she was turned, but that was about it.

  "Look, there's no version of this where all of us don't try to dig for more information," Ari stated casually. "We're cats. Curiosity is in our nature. So, you either spill and tell us more, or we're going to drill the poor girl at dinner for details about every single interaction you've ever had. Your call."

  He sighed, wishing Ari was exaggerating. "All right, I'm not repeating myself, so let everyone in the main house know. She's the vet we saw when we took Cutie to get checked the first time. She's hot, and I certainly wouldn't say no to a romp between the sheets, but it's not about that." After a moment of hesitation, he added, "She's in trouble. There's something that tells me she needs support right now." The smell of drugs and alcohol that didn't quite come from her, a shadow in her eyes...his animal was telling Ian that the woman was mixed up in some shit. "We're not currently being attacked by gods, werewolves, or anything else for a second, so I figured I have the time to play nice." He shrugged. "She's sweet."

  Ari and Theo were done teasing him now. "Fair enough. I'll relay the message."

  Chapter 7

  Tania frowned. She'd stayed at her father's for over three months now, and from her experience, seeing other cars parked in the driveaway was never a good thing. She pondered her option. She could head over to a restaurant, maybe. Go to a movie?

  But she needed a shower, to get changed and relax, and Princess needed her food. She sighed as she got out of the car, resolved to just say hello politely before locking herself in her bedroom.

  When she walked in, the house stunk of cigarettes, weed, and alcohol.

  As she arrived in front of the living room, Nigel accosted her. "Here she is! My pride and joy. Smart, that girl. Always been smart."

  She forced a smile. "Hi, Dad."

  Nigel Martin's state ranged from hungover to passed out. Right now, he was plastered, but not quite bad enough to collapse in his own vomit yet. There were three other guys around him, all drunk, big, middle-aged men with receding hairlines.

  "Come here, come here."

  She hesitated. The last thing she wanted to do was to get closer to these guys and their roaming hands.

  "I have to feed my cat."

  Lame excuse if there ever was one.

  "Come! Trevor is saying stupid things. I want you to tell him it's not true."

  Trevor was the one in a white wife-beater and a pair of jeans he wore low on his hips. Ew. That just wasn't necessary.

  She took one step forward. "What's your question, Trevor?"

  The man slurred. "Heard you all at the fur clinic were serving shifters. Heard one of them cat people came."

  His grin was nasty.

  Tania knew better than to give a straight answer to that.

  "We don't treat shifters, only regular animals."

  "But at the pub, they're saying they're coming to you to treat their dog."

  "That can't be true, right, Tania?" her father insisted.

  She had a hard time preventing herself from rolling her eyes.

  "We don't request our clients disclose their nature—after all, we do treat animals, not shifters, as I said. But if a shifter came with an animal that needs help, it would be illegal to turn him away because of his nature, so it's possible."

  The blow came swiftly, right on her left cheek. Tania wasn't sure why she was surprised. It was the first time that her father had hit her, but she'd seen him raise a hand to her mother throughout her entire childhood, until Laura got out.

  Nigel was shouting. "No daughter of mine is going to service fucking shifters, you hear me? They're damned, the lot of them. You're going to go to hell—"

  She was halfway up the stairs already, and she tuned out the rest, making a beeline for her bedroom.

  Princess was lying down on a bed. Tania closed her door, locked it, and rummaged through her closet to pull out the cat carrier. "Ready for a trip?"

  She didn't bother packing any of her belongings, just grabbed her purse, containing her cards and ID, and the carrier with Princess inside. Tania all but ran to her car, ignoring the voices and footsteps following her. Her father was rushing to her, but in his state, rushing didn't mean much, given the fact that he couldn't manage two steps without tumbling.

  She unlocked her beetle, and got in, putting Princess on the passenger seat and locking the door just as Nigel reached her. He tried her door, and then punched the window. Tania started the car and reversed out of this hell.

  What the fuck was she doing here? Why had she believed that she'd be safe at her father's? Shit.

  She drove aimlessly for a while. North, toward Valley Vets, she realized. Tania guessed that if Nigel was drunk enough to try to follow her, he'd go in that direction, so she drove past the practice, ignoring every motel on the way. Two miles up, she turned left, seeing a motel's sign. She bit her lip, hoping they accepted pets.

  Chapter 8

  Ian refused to acknowledge how much the phone inside his pocket had irked him all day. So what if a woman didn't answer his text? He'd waited until the following morning to contact her, and she had to wait at least a few hours to get back to him. It was common male-female protocol. But still, every time the damn device beeped, he pulled it out eagerly, and stuffed it right back in his pocket with a frown. An employee. A spam. A cold call. Ace, asking if he wanted to stop by for cupcakes. Stupid question. Of course he did.

  He was in the main house, gobbling leftover icing, when the phone rang; properly rang, announcing a call rather than a message. None of Ian's acquaintances called him; they knew an enforcer was supposed to be silent on the job and could rarely take calls. A good excuse he was sticking to. Expecting someone wanting to install a solar system on his property, he glanced at the phone, and cursed out loud.

  "Holy shit."

  His screen displayed her name.

  "Hey there."

  "Hi! Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I was slammed all day."

  "That makes one of us." He'd caught up on an action TV show while stuffing his face with junk food. "Is it usual for you to get busy on Fridays?"

  "There's no quiet days, really. My uncle is off with a broken—well, everything. He had a car accident a couple of months back. And one of the other vets is on maternity leave. That means it's just me and Kenneth, plus the nurses. They can see the simple cases—you know, post-op check-ups, stuff like that, without complications, but we're still swamped. Today was a mess. Wait, you don't want to hear about my problems."

  Ian found that actually, he did.

  "No, feel free to share. I'm curious. It's not like I know many vets."

  Shifters didn't often keep pets.

  Tania didn't question his remark.

  "Well, one of the ranches we cover called because their mare went into labor. They normally take care of things themselves, but there were complications. Poor girl needed a couple of hands. Literally. Up her..."

  "You're right. I probably didn't need to know."

  She laughed. Ian liked the sound, but he also caught the small sigh at the end of it. Something was wrong, and his animal wanted—no, demanded—to know what it was.

  He could have asked, but the tiger inside him wouldn't have been satisfied with words. He needed to check her; her eyes, her expression, her scent.

  "Listen, are you free tonight? I'm off today, so I figured we could do dinner now, if you want."

  She hesitated.

  "Or not. No pressure."

  Ian bit his lip, playing with the icing gun in his hand.

  "I'm not sure it's the best time. Things got a little complicated at home."

  He knew it. He'd known something was wrong.

  "Anything I can help with?" Remembering they were strangers, he added, "I mean, I do owe you for those plates. They're amazing."

  She laughed. "Not unless you know someone open to doing a short-term rental around the area."

  Ian tried to connect the dots. "Things didn't work out at your father's?"

  "You could say that. I left yesterday. I looked on Airbnb and sites like that, but it's not like we're in a popular destination. The few places I could find were only free for a couple of nights at a time."

  "Give me two secs, putting you on hold."

  He was glad his virtual PA had shown him how to do that. Pausing the call, he lifted his head to meet Ace's gaze. The alpha female's attention was fixed on him anyway.

  "Can I have the lake house for a friend?" he asked, without elaborating.

  Her acute hearing had, no doubt, caught both sides of the conversation.

  Ace watched him closely, before nodding once.

  "Thanks." He returned to his call. "There's a place you can use in our territory for a few days if it helps. We just finished renovating it, so it's sitting empty."

  The house had once been Ace's home, but when they'd bought the large modern home in town, she'd moved in there with Rye and the rest of the pack. It was old, charming, and with a lot of character. The newcomers, Ari and Theo, lived in the lake house at first, but last summer, the pride had renovated the cabins they owned in the woods surrounding the lake. Ari and Theo each claimed a cabin, leaving the house empty, so they took the opportunity to revamp it, stripping the old-fashioned carpets and wallpaper the previous owners had chosen. Now there were hardwood floors with underfloor heating and fresh paint or open bricks on the walls. The place rocked. They'd decided to use it for their occasional guests; some of the Wyverns did get along with their family, after all. Ace, Daunte, Christine, and Rye's parents occasionally visited. Same for Ava's brother. Ian had invited his cousin numerous times, although Roxanne always claimed to be busy. Ian knew better.

  Mostly, the lake house stayed empty. That didn't diminish Ace's kindness, or her trust in him. Shifters were territorial. A born alpha like Ace didn't easily accept a stranger on her property.

  "Oh, I couldn't..."

  "No worries. The offer's there if you need it. How about you come for dinner and see the place?"

  He wasn't going to insist right now. Tania needed to come and see with her own eyes that he wasn't trying anything shady. When she met the pride, and saw the house—a good mile away from his own cabin, entirely empty—she might change her mind.

  After a short silence, she asked, "What time do you want me over?"

  Chapter 9

  She'd said yes to dinner because she needed a fucking distraction. The motel she'd stopped at the previous evening didn't accept cats, so she'd gone for a one-night rental on Airbnb instead. When she got there, the place smelled damp, and Princess peed on the floor right away to show what she thought of it. Tania ended up sleeping in her car in the driveway, only going in to take a quick shower before heading out to work. She had a change of clothes at work, thankfully.

  It was an hour away from the practice, which meant that she had to get up super early, too.

  What she needed right now was twelve straight hours of sleep, , on a clean bed, or her weight in caffeine. She'd found another listing that looked a little more promising for the following evening, but she had another night in her car to look forward to tonight.

  Nevertheless, she wasn't about to accept Ian's offer. She wasn't that desperate. Okay, so maybe she was, but she was too proud. And too cautious. She didn't for one second believe the crap that her father spewed about shifters, but Ian was a man she didn't know; smart women didn't stay with strangers.

  A smart woman wouldn't have stayed with her father, either.

  She'd been considering calling her uncle and asking if their couch was free, but found herself calling Ian instead. At least, she knew where she was eating.

  Rather than going all the way back to the horrible rental, she took a shower in the staff room, and changed into the clothes she'd worn when she'd come in that morning. Jeans and a red sweater. Definitely not fancy, but it was what she had on hand. Wishing she'd taken the time to grab her cosmetic bag, at least, she checked her purse, only finding a cherry-scented lip balm. That'd do.

  Ian had said she was welcome to come over any time; dinner would be ready at seven. She hoped that turning up at six wasn't against protocol.

  The Wyvern house was easy to spot, as he'd told her: at the edge of Lakesides, the white, modern, fenced home wouldn't have stuck out on Hollywood Hill. She lowered her window to press the intercom, but before she'd touched the button, the iron gates slid open.

  She drove up to the house, parking the beetle next to a handful of cars and trucks. They were all new, top of the line, and well used, if one was to pay attention to the mud and wear on the wheels.

  Between the house and the cars, it was obvious that these shifters did very well for themselves. Tania tried not to feel intimidated. She had a good job, but a ton of student debts that went with it. She'd grown up on a modest income and none of her acquaintances were wealthy. She bit her lip. Hopefully, she wouldn't feel too out of place.

  The main door burst open, and a handful of kids rushed out, laughing as they all ran toward her. A young girl almost as tall as her, wearing boots, tight leather pants, and a shredded t-shirt despite the cool weather, reached her first, and touched her shoulder.

  "Tag!" she yelled, before fist-pumping the air. "Oh yeah," she danced around a little. "Got her first."

  Another kid, a boy around ten years old, sighed dramatically. "It's not fair. You got longer legs."

  "Whatever. I tagged Tania, I get to show her around."

  She grinned at her. "Come on in! Ian can't leave the kitchen 'cause he's making cheese soufflés, and no one wants him to mess those up. Wait, is that a cat in your car!"

  All the kids surrounded the beetle, peeking through the windows. "Awww, she's adorable."

  Tania had set up Princess' litter box in the trunk, and had removed the back seats to give her some room.

  "She's an indoor cat," Tania explained. "They're very territorial, and she might freak if we let her out."

  "She wouldn't," one of the children stated with a shrug. "Not with Ace around. Ace is a cat whisperer."

  "That's because she's a cat," said the youngest, a small, ridiculously adorable girl wearing a pink penguin onesie.

 

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