Page 33 of Fastlander Fallen

Corey thought about it. She tried to imagine being in Hallie’s position, and even imagining it made Corey’s mind skitter away.

She couldn’t imagine being at the receiving end of a stalker’s attention. It had been terrifying watching Hallie go through it.

Good on Gunner for not getting his feelings hurt that even he couldn’t make Hallie feel safe. He was building up weapons around her. She remembered the way Ace had appeared out of nowhere with his hand around that shifter’s throat earlier, and she nodded and rested her head against the top of Hallie’s. Gunner was doing right by her cousin.

“Do either of you have a light?” a man from the next patio asked. There was railing and a thin strip of grass that separated this porch from the family-friendly one at the Rat Nest.

“Sorry, neither of us smoke,” Hallie told him.

“Pity. You both looked fun.”

Corey snorted. “So we can only be fun if we smoke?”

He shrugged. The man was their age—blond hair, built, probably five-eleven or six foot. Confident. Good looking. “I didn’t say that,” he said, lifting his hands in surrender. An unlit cigarette hung between his fingertips. “Just asking for a light is all.”

“There’s a firepit,” Corey said helpfully. “With a flame.”

He hopped the fence a little too gracefully, and Corey narrowed her eyes at him as she watched him light his cigarette with the flame of the firepit. “Shifter?” she guessed.

He glanced up at her, and then took the seat across the fire from her and Hallie. “Not like the ones inside right now. Did you see who is in there?”

Corey sat up straight, and Hallie separated too. She exchanged a glance with her, and then trained her attention back on the man. Hallie’s eyes were also narrowed with suspicion.

“What about them?” Corey asked.

“Nothing. They’re all dominant. Just makes it a little heavy to be inside with all of them.”

Corey relaxed back against the seat. That was fair.

“So you aren’t dominant?”

“I didn’t say that,” he murmured, and now she could see the gold glow to his eyes. “I said it’s too heavy being around the others.”

“Do you know any of them?” Corey asked nonchalantly.

“I know all of them but one.”

“Which one is a mystery?”

The man stared at her from across the fire, but it wasn’t in an unfriendly way. “The one who was buying you orange soda.”

“Observant.”

He flicked his lit cigarette into the flame, and stood.

“You didn’t smoke your cigarette,” she observed.

“I don’t smoke either,” he said crisply before he turned to hop back over the fence.

“How do you know all of them?” Corey asked before he could disappear.

“You’re both human,” he murmured, turning toward them. “You probably don’t know what is in that building right now.” He arched his eyebrows. “That’s a gathering of monsters in there. What I can’t figure out is what you two humans are doing right in the heart of that disaster?”

“Didn’t you hear? There’s a new Crew in the mountains.”

“Oh, I heard. Every shifter heard. You didn’t answer my question though. What are two humans doing with them? Are you groupies? Shifter chasers?” He lowered his chin. “You need help? If so, you don’t have to say it out loud. Just nod.”

Corey respected it. He was asking them if they needed help. That was good-man shit right there, but they didn’t need the help.

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