Page 54 of Shifters in the Night

He shook his head. “Nah. I can swim. That’s the best thing about shifters. My skull will knit itself back together in no time.”

“I think we need to get professional medical help anyway,” she said, jumping down from the truck so she could help him into the cab.

“OK, you win,” he said as they lumbered toward the passenger side. “Can we get pie, too?”

“I will get you so much pie,” she promised.

“Well, we both win, then.”

* * *

Lia really should have tricked Jeff into the truck somehow before she knocked him out. It was not easy for a woman her size to lift an unconscious man’s dead weight several feet off the ground. To compound the level of difficulty of this little trip, she had to keep Jon talking while they drove into town. Given his level of conversation, she was certain Jon had a concussion.

Between the stress and Jon babbling about how much he missed her while he cleaned out a giant’s rats nest that she didn’t even remember driving into town. It was like she drove on autopilot and suddenly she was parking in front of the clinic. Zed was across the street, taking down some leftover festival decorations when he spotted her speeding into the parking lot.

“Zed! I need help!” she yelled as she burst out of the truck. “And Bael! And more help!”

Zed jogged across the street. “Catin! What’s happening?”

He did a double take when he saw Jon slumped against the passenger window. “Jon, you OK, buddy? Talk to me!”

Lia ran into the lobby, shouting to Will, who was standing at the front desk with Sonja. “Will, you need to look at Jon’s head. Jeff hit him with something heavy.”

“Does that have something to do with Jeff being tied up in the back of your truck?” Sonja asked, pointing to the still-unconscious Jeff. “Nice job, by the way.”

“Bastard dosed me with magic, so I couldn’t shift without his permission,” she growled, tempted to smack Jeff again, as Zed pulled at his feet to get him out of the truck. Zed dropped Jeff’s feet and glowered at the prone man, teeth bared. “Well, I didn’t agree to the terms of his spell, so I shifted anyway and attacked him.”

“What?” Jon mumbled as Will shone a light in Jon’s eyes. Jon squinted as he tried to slap the light away. “Lia, you didn’t tell me about any spell! Zed, kick his ass for me. I’ll be there in a minute to join in.”

Zed took a deep breath, pride shining in his eyes and a thick opalescent haze of familial love rolling off of him. He licked his palm and pressed it against her forehead, while she squealed in indignation. “You are officially adopted.”

“Fine,” she sighed, making Sonja giggle as Zed hugged her.

“Aw, that’s nice,” Jon drawled. “But seriously, kick that guy’s ass. It’s your duty as her brother.”

“I can’t kick an unconscious man’s ass, Jon. It’s not sporting,” Zed objected as he slid Jeff’s body out of the truck bed. Somehow, Zed’s hands “slipped” and Jeff landed in a heap on the concrete. “I don’t have to do a good job of carrying him, though.”

* * *

The next morning, Lia was typing her resignation, effective immediately as Victor walked into her New Ground office. He looked absolutely thunderous, but the moment he saw Zed and Bael standing in her space, packing her personal belongings into banker’s boxes, he paused. Sonja’s frosty “welcoming” expression made him take a step back.

More than ever, Lia was grateful to have her friends on her side. Jillian and Dani tried to invade the office with them, but Will insisted that he needed help watching over Alex and Jon back at the medical clinic. Plus, Sonja wasn’t entirely sure they could trust Jillian or Dani not to set anything on fire or short out all of New Ground’s equipment with their gifts. Also, there really wasn’t any room left in her office with Zed and Bael already there.

“What are you doing in here?” Victor demanded. “These offices are my private property!”

“Yes, but we’re here with your employee, who has given us permission to pack her personal possessions as she prepares to leave your employ,” Sonja told him briskly. “We have not entered any other space or touched any property or paperwork.”

“Lia, where have you been?” Victor yelled, ignoring Sonja. “I haven’t been able to reach you by phone. I come back from my weekend to find Jeff has disappeared from his housing unit and isn’t answering calls, either. What is happening?

“You will direct all of your questions to me,” Sonja said, standing between them. “I’m acting as Alex Lancaster’s proxy for the League. He’s indisposed, but I think maybe you know that.”

“I beg your pardon,” Victor practically squawked. “I need to talk to my employee.”

“Right now, your employee is under the protection of the International League of Interspecies Cooperation. Your authority as her boss ended at the door. More precisely, it ended when your nephew assaulted Alex Lancaster. And then, it was further eroded when he attacked Jon Carmody, threw him in the back of a truck, then indicated to Lia Doe that he had your approval to do all of those things.”

For once, Lia didn’t need to guess Victor’s emotions. He was shocked. His face went white and he sank into one of her office chairs as if his legs were giving way. Maybe he hadn’t known about Jeff’s multiple betrayals. She supposed that was a bit of a balm to her hurt feelings, not to mention her pride, that she hadn’t missed out on Victor conspiring against her with Jeff’s help. It didn’t help much, but it helped.

“We no longer need your services,” Sonja continued, handing Victor a thick file of papers. “Please have your personnel and property outside of parish lines one week from now.”

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