This has nothing to do with her being my mate. She’s in a dangerous circumstance, and I would have offered the same thing to anyone else in her place.
The vehemence I try to convince myself of that is laughable.
Her eyes widen and she almost takes a physical step back. “No way. It’s not that I’m unappreciative of the offer,” she says, trying to quell the outburst that could be considered rude, “but it would be a huge disruption to your lives. Finals are coming up and I have to be on campus at absurd hours.”
“I don’t know, Tess,” Eliza mumbles. “That sounds like a pretty good offer.”
“Even more reason to stay, especially if you’re going to be on campus after hours. At least for a few weeks.” I see her trying to think of a way out of my suggestion.
“It’ll be fun,” Leo chimes in. “And we have movie nights every Friday,” he says, wagging his eyebrows up and down like a movie will sway her opinion.
“It’s a good idea,” Ben says, rubbing his jaw in thought. “It’ll give us more time to figure out the person behind these attacks. He’s gotta be overseas and that will take some time to track.”
My shoulders flex unconsciously at the thought of a Master targeting Tess. I’ll need to contact Gabe and see what he can find out about these Bulgarian vampires. A group this big is bound to attract attention.
Leo drives the car we came down in leaving me to ride with Tess in her Civic for eight uninterrupted hours. To say the ride starts out awkward would be an understatement. The two cats sitting silently in the back doesn’t help. Tess attempted to get them out of the car but they refused to budge. A house full of cats and dogs should be interesting.
Her fingers drum the steering wheel as music softly plays in the background. “How did you find out where I live?”
Her first question is pretty close to what I had been expecting. “Your friend’s car.” When she doesn’t respond I continue. “I tracked the license plate.”
“So you have connections?”
I don’t respond, wondering how much of my job would be safe to reveal.
“The police? Someone who works at the Department of Licensing? Are you involved in shady business with sketchy back alley dealings?”
I chuckle at the theories growing more grandiose. “No, nothing like that. I was able to do it through my job.” She grows quiet before squinting at me out of the corner of her eye.
“The mafia?”
Barking a laugh, I can feel a stupid grin on my face so I turn to look out the window. Sprawling estates grow closer together, soon shifting to normal houses before turning to businesses as we drive through an increasingly populated area.
“So, your friend with the glowing eyes,” I start, hoping she’ll pick up the conversation.
“Yeah . . . she can, if focusing on a specific moment in time, see a couple of seconds into the future.”
I feel my eyes widen in disbelief but can’t stop it from happening. “The future?”
“Yup.”
Standing on the rooftop shouting commands I thought she may have just had intuition, or could anticipate the vampires next move and give warning. But Tess and Ben followed her instructions without a second thought. Nifty tool to have.
“And your other friend. What about him?”
“They have names, you know. Ben has a special connection to his ancestors.” Her secret smile makes me think I’m missing something, but I get the feeling she won’t tell me.
“Is that it?” she asks after a long pause. “That’s all the questions you have? After everything you’ve learned?”
“How long have you been shifting?”
The question has been burning in my mind since I first saw her change. Based on Marilyn and her friends account, Tess’s parents weren’t shifters so I wonder where she got her gift. Heck, I didn’t even know there were shifters outside of wolves.
Her eyebrows draw together and I know she’s thinking of what happened in her house.
“That was the first time.” Her voice is barely above a whisper.
“I’m sorry.” The words are inadequate and I wish there was a way to comfort her. Losing your parents is hard enough without seeing it happen. Maybe the best thing is to give her a distraction. “What do you remember from the shift?”
Clearing her throat, she blinks away the tears pooling in her eyes before answering. “Nothing. I didn’t even know I had changed.”
Her lower lip gets sucked between her teeth and a blush creeps across her cheeks, adding a faint color that has me clenching the side of my thigh to keep from taking her hand. Maybe Leo and I should have switched places.
“It’s common not to remember after your first time. It takes practice, like stretching a muscle, to recall what transpired. Then it just becomes second nature.” My words are meant as a comfort, because the opposite is true. She may not have remembered everything, but there should have been fragmented pieces, a way to know she was in control. The fact she didn’t is worrisome.
“That’s a relief.”
“Would you want to try it again?”
She takes a moment to consider. “No, I don’t think so. I already have the benefits of a large cat without needing to turn into one. I suppose if it’s something I need to do it’ll happen.”
I don’t let her see my disappointment. It’s her choice. And it’s always been my opinion that shifting is a private matter. Wanting her to open up to me of all people is selfish.
Taking her bag of weapons from the trunk, I store them in the garage before showing Tess to one of the upstairs guest rooms. We’ll need to grab some things from her apartment but it will be better if Caleb and I go so that her scent isn’t fresh. That way, hopefully, the vampires will leave everyone else alone.
“This is it,” I present, stepping into the moderately sized room. The queen-sized
