Page 241 of Warlords, Witches & Wolves

“Fine.” He yanked open the door and left, not bothering to close it after himself.

She called after him, but he didn’t turn. He kept walking until he reached the thin strip of scrub that passed for the local bushland nature reserve. No dogs or cats allowed. The sign said nothing about snow leopards. He stalked along the trail, the temperature dropping as the sun set. He found his favorite place to sit and waited for night to settle. The chill embraced him but didn’t calm the anger. It boiled his heart.

He seethed, wishing he’d left home at the start of the school year…but he needed to finish year twelve or he’d have nothing. And if he left, he was scared school and surviving would become too hard and he’d drop out. A few more months was all he needed. He’d stick it out and start a new stash.

And then what? He’d leave his eighty-year-old grandmother alone and at the mercy of the men?

Bailey hung his head.

She couldn’t help it. She’d watched her family die, killed by soldiers for being born shifters. She never talked about his mother and what had happened to her. He used to think it was too painful, now he wondered if she’d dobbed in her daughter and let the men kill her. Was she really capable of that?

He knew nothing about Gran’s past, besides what had happened to her in Russia. There were decades unaccounted for.

He lifted his chin. Was she even his grandmother?

The sky darkened and a few brave stars appeared. He stared up at them and stripped so he stood naked and scrawny in the moonlight. Tension hummed in his body, the need to shift and something more. He reached out with the magic, felt along the bond, and let the dizziness consume him. Then there was dust on his tongue, tiredness, a feeling of being lost.

He drew back, hating what the witch had done to him, even as he wanted to do it again and more. Kass might have seen the human, but all he’d wanted was shifter magic. Not for the first time, he wished he’d been born human.

* * *

Kass staredup at the stars as they appeared in the sky. They were all unfamiliar. The smells, the skyline, even the dust was different, like landing on the moon. And just as inhospitable and difficult to leave.

He closed his eyes and drew in a breath. If he’d had a few more days in Sydney…

“Please, let it fade. It will be better for both of us.” Without the bond, he was sure he’d stop dreaming of Bailey. Twinky blonds were not his thing, yet he should’ve known from the way he hadn’t been able to look away. From the way he’d needed to touch. But he’d been so desperate to pick up and have a good time he hadn’t thought about the danger. He’d been ready to drop for a hotel room and make the most of it. He shook his head and smothered a laugh.

He took a last glance up at the sky and for a moment he tasted anger and sadness as surely as if it were his own. Then heat rippled through his body. He shivered as though cold, and then it was over. He drew in a breath, and then another, not sure what had just happened, but he was consumed with the need to do more than stand under the stars.

* * *

After lolling in the moonlight,rolling in the dirt and scratching up a tree, Bailey thought he had enough control to shift back to human form—though he totally understood why some shifters went ‘fuck it all’ and slinked off to be wild so they never had to deal with humans again. However, this patch of suburb bound scrub was too small and too close to home.

With the pinch and snap of tendons as his body rearranged itself as he shifted. He remained crouching, hands in the dirt for a few heartbeats to catch his breath and orientate himself to two legs. He hated that bit; it was easier to go human to cat than cat to human.

He dressed, then checked the time on his phone. Well after midnight.

He considered staying out all night, but the men wouldn’t leave. They’d wait. Unless they were already out looking. Gran should’ve never told them about the cash, they could’ve kept it. He trudged home, knowing what was waiting.

A few more months was all he needed. Could he convince Gran to leave? They could start over somewhere else, beyond the reach of the men whoprotectedthem. But she hadn’t left when she was pregnant, or when her daughter was killed. Gran would never leave as she believed whatever lies the men told her and feared the government with every cell in her body. She craved safety, not freedom.

Freedom was all he thought about.

He shoved his dirty hands into his pockets as he turned the corner to his street. At this end there were some houses. A car without wheels in one front yard, a swing set in another. He smiled as he walked past the always green and always well-kept yard. But the smile faded as he got closer to the complex he lived in.

There was one car parked on the street. A white sedan, completely and utterly boring in most places, but too new around here. It stood out and people would wonder… no, they wouldn’t. The smart ones knew who ran the neighborhood. The real clever ones looked away and saw nothing. His steps slowed.

He only had what he was wearing, five dollars, and his phone.

If he didn’t show up tonight, they’d come to school and that would be worse.

If he were a leopard, he didn’t need school.

He should’ve stayed in the witch’s arms. Surely whatever magic Kass wanted from him couldn’t be worse than this. He swallowed.

The men would talk. Warn him. Remind him what he owed them. They’d make threats. Last time he’d been fifteen, and the cops had almost caught him. The men hadn’t just talked. They’d left Gran with a black eye, while he’d been untouched. He’d promised to do better so they wouldn’t hurt her again. What would they do tonight? He shouldn’t have taken off, but it was too late for regrets.

His jaw worked as he tried to figure out what he should say. Then he started up the concrete path to the front door.

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