Page 51 of Shifters in the Night

Speaking of his brother, his phone rang in his hand, showing Will’s face smiling from the screen. When in the hell had Will had time to take a picture with his phone and attach it to his number?

“Hey, I’ve been trying to call,” Jon said as a greeting.

“Sorry about that, things have been sort of … busy here,” Will told him.

“That was a suspicious pause. Look, I can’t find Lia. I stopped by her house and she’s nowhere to be found. And she’s not picking up her phone. You’ve both been weird since Saturday. Please just tell me what’s going on,” Jon said.

Will sighed. “There was a problem on the night of the festival. Lancaster was attacked just outside the League campus and he ended up with a nasty concussion. He’d just walked Lia to her car so she could go home, and that’s when it happened, which Bael and I both found worrisome. We’ve been in meetings for most of the last two days, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. We’ve kept eyes on Lia every minute.”

“But she’s OK?” Jon demanded, standing up. He was caught between the urge to dash to his truck or run to the water’s edge and swim to town. He could probably swim a lot faster.

“She’s fine,” Will insisted. “She’s been staying with me and Sonja, for safety’s sake.”

“And why the hell wouldn’t you tell me any of this?”

“Because you were doing a big repair for one of your biggest clients and right now, you’re considering whether you could get to town faster by jumping into your truck or swimming. Lia is fine!” Will exclaimed. “Safe and sound, at least, up until fifteen minutes ago, when she headed toward your place with groceries in hand to make you dinner. You probably just missed her.”

Jon practically sank to his ass on the porch in relief. “Thank you, Will.”

“She’s family,” Will said.

“If I can talk her into it,” Jon muttered. “I’m heading back to my place, to see if I can catch up with her.”

“All right, then. Just don’t get all self-righteous and angry over her not calling you. She was trying to protect you from yourself,” Will said.

“First, I’m scatter-brained and now I’m self-righteous and angry. Pick a lane.” Jon grumbled, shoving his phone into his pocket. He jogged towards the truck. Just as he reached for the door handle, he caught an odd reflection in the window, a human shape standing behind him.

It was the last thing he saw before pain exploded at the crown of his head and took him to his knees. His eyelids fluttered closed and all he could think was, Ouch.

14

LIA

Taking a day off was harder than she anticipated. Fortunately, she’d had meetings with the League officials to occupy her time, so she didn’t go crazy.

The League had closed full ranks around Alex, both to protect him and to find out what the hell had happened to him. Someone called Darwin Messina sent what amounted to a SWAT team to stand security at the League campus and at Alex’s hospital room. The key League administrators met in that hospital room to strategize, to determine how to make the town more secure and how to track down Victor, who was still missing and uncommunicative. Dr. Bremmer tried to make a scene outside Alex’s room, insisting that he was right about the trouble change could bring to the Bayou and insisted that the League needed to set up a vetting system before “allowing” people to move into town. Alex explained that wasn’t the League’s role and he wasn’t even sure how that would work. And then, Dr. Bremmer had started drawing organizational charts.

Lia had taken great pleasure in watching Zed shut the clinic door in Dr. Bremmer’s face. That probably made her a bad person, but she was OK with that.

It had taken a lot of fast-talking to convince Zed, Bael, and Will into letting her drive to Jon’s alone when he’d texted, saying that he was heading home. They’d tried to send one of the SWAT guys with her, but that meant less protection for Alex. And besides, she felt terrible about keeping Jon out of the loop, even if it was for the best. Her “making it up” to him might be sort of awkward with armed personnel nearby.

She agreed to grocery shopping for her special coq au vin recipe with a League-approved escort, and she felt like that was enough of a concession. And if she didn’t mention to anyone that she was dropping by her house to pick up a few essentials, well, that was between her and the trees. She needed her leave-in conditioner and fresh underwear.

She felt fine and settled as she rolled up the driveway to her house. Her house. This was her life now.

It was like everything came into focus all at once and she could see every detail of what she wanted. This was her life now. Her house. Her friends. Her Jon. She smiled to herself as she cut the engine and climbed out.

The moment her feet hit the ground, she knew something was wrong. Something smelled off. A scent that wasn’t supposed to be there, bitter and dark, was hanging in the air. It was familiar and out of place. Her ears perked at the sound of feet moving through the dry grass. She turned, her eyes scanning the twilight, for signs of a predator.

Had Victor finally shown up at her house for some sort of confrontation? He hadn’t been answering his phone. He hadn’t shown up to work, though he’d promised some sort of meeting with her like it was a threat. She reached into her purse for her phone and saw that Jon had called several times in the last hour.

Dammit, she’d been so distracted in the store, she hadn’t even heard her phone!

A throat cleared behind her and she dropped the phone, whirling around to find a thin shape stepping out of the shadows of her yard, his face appearing almost skeletal and his eyes fever bright.

“Jeff, what are you doing here?” she cried. “Is everything OK?”

“Why wouldn’t I be here?” he asked, grinning at her, though his expression was confused.

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