Page 6

That wouldn’t have gone over well.

I was taking the trash out when I ran into the man from number six, who I’d met the first day. His name was Gary, and he was here trying to save money, hoping to eventually get to California to live with a relative. Some relative he still hadn’t found yet, but he knew was somewhere on the coast.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him California was a whole lot bigger than just wandering a beach looking for someone familiar. He’d figure that out soon enough.

He, too, was a shifter. Only his beast was an eagle and had feathers, not fur. I’d never met an eagle before.

It was impossible not to notice he went out every weekend. And when he came back, he smelled like booze and other shifters. More than once, he even brought one of them home with him.

Finally, I braved it and asked him where he was going when he went out.

He just said, “Animals,” like I was supposed to know what that was.

“Where?”

“It’s a nightclub.” He added, “For people like us.”

“Should I check it out? Is it all people like us? Is it expensive” gods, I was a man of a thousand questions.

“Probably worth a check. It’s mostly people like us and, if you stick with well drinks, it’s not bad.” Gary looked me up and down. “Why? You looking to shift?”

“How’d you know?”

“Your eyes,” he said simply. “Honestly, I don’t know how you made it this long.”

I hadn’t, not really. I’d shifted a few times in my room, but that wasn’t enough for my fox. He wanted to hunt.

“Bob tends to always be around.”

“Good old Bob,” he chuckled.

Sounded like a trip to Animals was in my future.

Chapter Five

Dimitri

Animals was everything I’d heard and more. Warren and Karma welcomed me and set me up in an apartment in the housing behind the club. They insisted I should stay as long as I liked, but of course I couldn’t stay forever.

Karma’s response to that was, “Then stay as long as you like.”

What was there to say to that but, “Thank you.”

“When you get up in the morning, just head on into the kitchen and tell the cooks that you’re Warren’s cousin, and they will make sure you get something to eat.”

“There is always something for staff and their families to eat,” Warren added, putting his arm around Karma’s waist. “Hungry now?”

“No, I ate at a place that had all sorts of deli meats and cheeses? Charcuterie I think it was called. Or something like that.”

“Oh we know them. It was good, wasn’t it?” Karma left her mate for long enough to give me a big, warm hug. “I can’t believe this is the first time you’re visiting us.” She spoke low, in my ear. “Warren is so excited. He’s going to want to show you all around.”

“I heard that, Karma.” Her mate, my cousin chuckled, though, taking now offense. “Of course I want to show him around. When he was a kid, he was one of my favorite little cousins, always following the big kids around and trying to growl like a bear.”

Karma returned to his side and gave him a stern look. “Don’t embarrass him. He’s not a kid anymore.”

“Get some rest, cousin.” Warren guided Karma toward the door, the two walking in step, bumping hips. They were the happiest couple I’d ever met, and it made me wonder if Fate would ever have a mate for me, too. Not everyone got one, and through the past ten years, while working my way up in a company that said goodbye to me without a second thought, I’d put off the thought of mating. He’d be there, my omega, when the time was right, I’d told myself.

But, watching the door close behind the pair, I asked myself if it was a matter of waiting for the right time or if, maybe it just wasn’t in the cards for me. I stripped down to my boxers, turned off the bedside lamp, and crawled under the duvet, only just noticing what lay right above my head.