Page 6 of Bloodline Unbound

He couldn’t quite pout in any of his cat forms, but his displeasure was clear as day. Caden huffed and stood in my arms, rubbing his cheeks against mine while glaring at his brother. I did my best not to giggle at him staking his territory in such an adorable way. I might as well be wearing a neon sign that said Caden’s Human.

I snorted. At least he’s content with being a cuddlebug instead of trying to piss on me to keep his brother at bay.

“Thanks, Lo,” Seth said, offering me an apologetic smile. “I promise I’ll be out of your hair soon. Could I bother you for some snacks? It’s been a while since I’ve eaten.”

Caden growled in my arms, but I booped his nose to cut off his cranky sounds.

“There’s leftover lasagna in the fridge. Help yourself.”

Caden looked up at me with wide eyes. That’s mine.

“I’ll make you some fresh tomorrow. How’s that?” I kissed the top of his head. While Caden handled the vast majority of the cooking, lasagna was one of the few items I did well and made for him on occasion.

Acceptable. He purred too quietly to hear, but I could feel it against my hands.

I gave him some good scritches behind his ears and carted him into the kitchen. Seth was already microwaving the leftovers. Caden stood carefully, laying one cat paw on each of my shoulders before headbutting the underside of my chin.

Also mine.

I giggled and gave him a solid hug. Caden ran his cheek along mine, deliberately scenting me again in front of Seth.

“Oh my gods.” Seth drew out the last syllable. “I’m not trying to crawl up Logan’s ass like I did with Rachel. I just need a place to crash. I’m not going to take her.”

I froze and stared at Seth. Caden sat stiff as a board in my arms at Rachel’s mention. I only had vague details about Caden’s ex-wife. They’d been together only a few years in the early ’60s, and she’d disappeared—presumably died, since from the sounds of it, the shifter community had completely lost track of her—barely a year after she’d left Caden. Had Seth and Rachel…?

Focus, Logan. Something hunting shifters was more important right now.

I rubbed a soothing hand down Caden’s back, getting the spot he really liked at the base of his tail until he started to relax again.

“Seth, be nice or get the fuck out.”

Heat flickered in Seth’s gaze, but he didn’t challenge me.

That finally made Caden melt, and he settled properly against me. I was more than ready for bed now that sex was off the menu for a bit, but first we needed information. I sat down at the kitchen table and Caden got himself comfortable on my lap in a position where he could watch Seth over the edge.

“Tell us everything you know,” I said.

Seth sat down across from me with his steaming lasagna. “I’d heard bits through the grapevine. A coven went radio silent. A few lone shifters here and there disappearing without warning. Seems like the nests are okay, at least. I never saw anything, just kept feeling that ‘predator is watching you’ kinda vibe ever since I was here last.

“I was at a bar in Rochester earlier tonight and felt it sweep through. Crowd parted like the fucking Red Sea, but there was nothing there, at least not that was visible. A shifter we didn’t know got snatched up, the normies started freaking out, everyone was screaming. So, we ran. The friend I was with decided to head to the New York nest, and I got him to drop me here on his way.”

Can you grab my phone? Caden asked me. I carried him into the bedroom to get it and punched in the code for it, letting him paw swipe on the screen on the way back to the kitchen. Here, see what the forums are saying.

I read over the most recent posts for our state. Hundreds of messages from today were people panicking over the attack in Rochester. “It doesn’t sound like anyone knows what the attacker was, only that the shifters who were targeted died before reaching the hospital. The first was a Rochester local, owl shifter, one-hundred-and-sixty years old. The second was a deer shifter passing through, aged thirty-nine.” I scrolled a little more, seeing a familiar town mentioned. “Another shifter was killed in Fairport about an hour afterward.”

“It’s heading this way,” said Seth. He squeezed the fork, his knuckles turning white. “Shit.”

We should be prepared to leave. We need a safe house if it shows up. Caden looked up at me, his claws digging into my thighs. I can’t protect you from something I can’t sense.

“What kind of safe house would protect from that, though?” I asked.

Seth shoveled lasagna into his mouth and chewed quietly.

I don’t know. Caden shivered, his fur poofing out. But it’s coming this direction and people have already died. We shouldn’t risk it. If it was tracking Seth, he could have led it here.

I absorbed his words. I didn’t want to go anywhere, but I also didn’t want to get eaten by some unknowable entity. “Where would we go?”

“You could take her to the nearest nest,” suggested Seth. “New York is the closest.”

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