Page 15 of Cats and Dogs

Chapter 7

Ghosts

“Nothing?” she repeated, frowning.

Ian scratched the back of his head. “Well, there’s nothing new, anyway. No smell jumped to mind.”

Christine frowned. She’d been so sure she’d… felt something. Maybe she was just being paranoid because they were down half of their adult members.

“That said, I’ll tell the others to stay on their guard. You don’t spook easily, and, frankly, there are people who can go unnoticed if they so desire.” He paused, before adding, “Dangerous people.”

“Dangerous or not, you would have smelled a foreign scent. Plus, Rain’s wards would have buzzed. It was probably nothing, honestly.”

Ian smiled awkwardly, looking like he wanted to say something. When he opened his mouth, what came out was, “Want a drink?”

The kids had gone to sleep, the now relatively bearable dog — not quite so smelly and flea-infested — was in a guest bedroom with Rain, and she could put her feet up for the rest of the evening.

“A drink sounds amazing.”

Ian was amazing at all things kitchen related; cocktails weren’t an exception.

“What can I get you tonight?”

“Your call, bartender.”

She had no clue what he’d mixed, but the pretty pink drink he handed her in a large martini glass was delectable.

“I wished I fancied you,” she said, moaning between sips.

“You fancy me,” Ian stated with a shrug. “We’re just all too smart to go there with packmates.”

She snorted at that. “All of us? Certainly didn’t stop you guys with Kim.”

“Exactly, and we know how that ended.”

With Kim getting all jealous when Rygan recognized Ace as his mate and betraying them to the Vergas pack. Yeah, no one needed a rerun of that mess.

Truth was, adult pack members very rarely ended up hooking up, unless they were fairly certain they were going to bond with their partner forever, because otherwise it always ended up in a mess. Sex was simple, but shifters were possessive of those they formed relationships with. Going down that road with a shifter from her pack wasn’t something she’d ever considered; if her clit needed tickling, she went out to pick up a stranger, like everyone else in the pack.

Still, that didn’t stop her from sighing woefully. Whoever ended up with Ian would be a lucky, lucky girl.

“Stuff this. I wasn’t going to tell you — don’t want you to worry — but hell, you can handle it; and if there is something lurking out there, you need to know. Here’s the fact. There’re some sups who can mask their scent. Even some shifters. They’re known as ghosts.”

“What, how? Magic?”

“Nah, not quite. I’m talking about one in a million, here. You know how I can consciously choose to use my dominance vibes to get someone to submit? Or how you can use your vibes to dissipate conflicts? Well, from what I understand, they also have ghosting vibes. A sort of cocoon around them that allows them to practically disappear. I don’t know why I tell you this. There’s no way you could have known if a ghost had actually been there.”

Christine went to bed with thoughts of ghosts in her mind, so it was no wonder that she should dream of a specter hiding in the woods.

What was strange, though, was the nature of the dream. Instead of being scared of the creature, she followed it, running after it until she caught it. Then, the dream took a turn for the stranger, because the ghost was hot, male, and naked. He had blue eyes, light hair, and a thick, well-muscled torso.

Come to think of it, he looked strangely familiar. She’d seen him before, somewhere; she could have sworn she had.

“Christine,” he called her, his voice a hot whisper.

She woke up hot and bothered, then annoyed at herself.

If there was some ghost-sup out there, watching them, she had no business dreaming of them, dammit.

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