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Ryder’s Vampiric senses immediately zeroed in on that now familiar heartbeat of the young man with edges and wounded eyes. He was farther away from Ryder than Lawson, near the central fountain, but still within eyeshot. He was likely mixed in with the crowd though. One more human among the humans that Lawson shouldn’t give a damned about.

Ryder zeroed in on the beings surrounding Grayson. The heartbeat near the young man was strange. Slow. Very slow. Steady. Very steady. Not responding to the edge of excitement in the air. This person was very much completely in control of themselves. It had to be an Immortal or a very, very old Vampire. And there was the soft pitter pat of an animal’s heartbeat mixed in.

What was going on with Grayson?

Who had he found to keep company with?

Had he gotten himself into trouble already?

A bead of sweat ran down Ryder’s left temple. He could not look over his shoulder at where Grayson was, because Lawson was looking at him right now. He knew it. If he looked, Lawson would look, and their Master would know that something was different.

“What’s wrong?” Demos lightly touched his arm.

“Grayson. To our right,” Ryder muttered.

Demos glanced over casually and his eyebrows rose. “Good gods, he’s with Seeyr. And he has a… a cat with him.”

“A cat?!”

Ryder nearly shot around again, because he thought that Demos meant a Weryn Vampire, once of the big cat shifters. But no, the animal he was hearing was small. Too small. Not even his tiniest cat form was as small as this.

“It’s a… kitten,” Demos explained with a crack of amusement in his voice. “What has your boy been up to? Leave him for two seconds and he’s paling around with Immortals and kittens. Now that sounds like a good story.”

Ryder had been about to object, almost automatically, to Grayson being called his boy, but he stopped himself. Because he realized that he liked Grayson being referred to in this way. As if he was so connected to Grayson that it was something obvious to all. He then remembered he didn’t want everyone to know, because that meant Lawson would know.

“Why did Natasha bring Lawson here?” Ryder muttered.

“You know why. She wants him to cool down and think about what he’s doing,” Demos answered with a whistle of air through his teeth.

“She doesn’t want our traditions upended though.” Ryder frowned.

“No, but she’s not a fool either. Change is coming. Change is here. I think she believes that it’s just a matter of time before we all come around,” Demos answered.

Ryder looked at Demos sharply. “Do you want us to choose our fledglings from the school?”

Demos pursed his lips. “I don’t know. I don’t think we’ve had a chance to consider everything yet.”

“Things are moving fast,” Ryder agreed.

Ryder saw Natasha herself adjusting her own cloak among the other big cat shifters. She smiled and gave a wave. His smile was rather tighter and wave briefer. He was still internally cursing her for convincing a likely belligerent and angry Lawson out for this.

Slowly, Ryder turned to face Lawson. Their Master strode across the parade route, nearly barreling into other Vampires, a scowl on his handsome face. There were bared fangs from the Vampires he would have jostled, but for Vampire-quick reflexes and glares at the broad back. But Lawson ignored them and beelined to Ryder and Demos. Ryder realized how tense both of them became and how they both hid it with preternatural stillness.

You would have me hate him.

Would I? Or does part of you hate him already?

Ryder swallowed. He drew in a deep breath through his nose and slowly relieved it through his mouth, centering himself. By the thunderclouds that had already formed on their Master’s brow, what was coming was not going to be pleasant. Lawson came to a stop before the two of them. He gave a toothy grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes and he pounded both their backs with beefy hands.

“Do we have a float? Maybe for fireworks? Or are the Horys planning on doing that for their act?” Lawson asked with a slight snarl in his voice.

Lightning was in fact crackling behind some clouds that had newly formed above the city. It was all different colors from gold to purple to blue. And Ryder had to admit that it was both beautiful and impressive. He was certain that the Horys would put on quite a show.

“We’re going to shift in groups as we move all the route,” Ryder explained. “Shift and shift back. It will impress.”

He had already told Lawson this. He kept his tone neutral even as he wanted to snap. He breathed. In through his nose, out through his mouth.

“Why do we need to impress anyone?” Lawson really snarled this time.