Page 26 of Cast in Shadow
He stayed as he was for a beat, agitating Bridget’s wolf and putting Naomi on edge, before he finally dropped to all fours and stomped back into the trees.
A second later, his human voice carried over the tense silence. “I don’t have any clothes.”
Right. I hadn’t considered that. And here I thought he’d been trying to challenge me, since he’d been staring at me during his display of burly bearishness.
Bridget, to her credit, shifted into her human form and strolled up to her porch as if walking around nude in the woods was the most natural thing in the world. For her, it probably was.
She disappeared inside and re-emerged a couple of minutes later in jeans and a well-worn black leather jacket, holding a towel in one hand. “I don’t care that he’s naked. It comes with the territory,” she said, tipping her head toward him. “But if this makes you more comfortable, have at it.” She tossed the towel to me, and I handed it off to Nguyen.
He and I both knew nudity was part of being a shifter, but since Lexa was made up of all kinds of creatures—human, shifter, fae, and just about everything in between—a little modesty went a long way.
In a situation like this? It didn’t matter as much.
I pressed my finger to my comm. “Dennis, where are we at with the cleanup crew?”
His voice rang through. “They’re there now, assessing the situation.”
“Good. Patch me through to Lonny.”
A few short clicks later, the other agent’s voice filled my ear. “Shit, Senna, it’s bad out here.”
We all knew that. There was no need to say it over the radio. Not that I didn’t understand where they were coming from. That much senseless blood and death would be a difficult thing to process for just about anyone.
“Leave them to it then,” I said. “Nguyen ditched his clothes a little way to the southeast of where we are now. I need you to gather them up, grab the Jeep, and come pick us up. Have Dennis give you the details on how to get here.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.
I turned to where Bridget was sitting on her porch with her arm wrapped around her granddaughter’s slender shoulders. “Is that your Chief?” I tipped my head to the flat black Indian motorcycle parked next to the cabin.
“It is.” She gave me a skeptical look. “You know bikes?”
“Just enough to make idle conversation.”
Hers was a striking example of what happened when someone who didn’t care about keeping something “original” restored a decades-old piece of machinery. It was clean, but everything about it was low key. There was no flashy emblem or shiny paint job. The whole thing was understated, which gave it a kind of badass elegance.
“It’s gorgeous,” I admitted. “But I’m thinking you might be better off leaving it behind.”
She glanced at the bike and flicked the tip of her canine with her tongue. “Fresh start?”
“That’s what we’re hoping for, right?”
She gave the motorcycle another longing look. Then she gave the girl a little squeeze and stood. Nguyen came to stand beside me, keeping a respectable distance. The towel was a kind gesture, but it was barely big enough for him to hold both ends when it was wrapped around his waist.
Despite her nonchalance about the nudity issue, before Bridget turned and headed back into the cabin, she eyed Nguyen’s muscled form with open appreciation.
Was my brain broken?
Nguyen was physically attractive. Big, strong, dependable. He checked all the right boxes, but I’d never felt anything more than a platonic kind of kinship for the man. Certainly nothing like what I’d felt when Emerson was in my head the night before.
Damn him.
Just the thought of him made my heart ache, along with other parts of my body.
Could I have chosen a more inappropriate time to think about something like that? Granted, he was part of the problem. He’d always had a lasting effect on me, like a siren song that got stuck in a sailor’s head.
It wasn’t just that he could turn me on, he couldkeepme on, even when he was nowhere to be seen.
I shook my head, trying to dislodge those utterly unhelpful thoughts, and turned my attention to the girl. “How are you holding up?”
