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“And then she promptly shifted into a fox.”

Her mouth dropped into a silent O as every bit of ire drained from her. “There’s no way. The vet is the multimorph?! The same one you’ve had a long-distance crush on for the last six months?”

I ignored her jab. “Based on the amount of magic she wielded, she’ll be out for hours.”

“I don’t believe it.”

My chest swelled as I took a deep breath. “Olivia, I believe it because I saw it with my own eyes, and that’s why I brought her back here. We’ve got to keep her safe while she figures everything out. Maybe we can train her and teach her to harness her powers. Hopefully, we can keep her under wraps. If the rest of the clans discover her…”

My voice trailed away as the silence stretched between us, and the night sounds pressed closer. I’d had a couple hours to process what happened, so I gave Olivia time to work through what had to be her own racing thoughts.

Finally, Olivia shook her head and scrubbed her hand over her face. “If the rest of the shifter clans find out about the emergence of Emma as the multimorph, it’ll upend the delicate balance between us. So, maybe I forgive you for waking me up.”

“I thought you might.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. You didn’t give two shits.”

I moved to the rear of the car. “We need to get her into bed.”

“Which room?”

Mine! Put her in my bed!

Instead, I said, “Guest room at the top of the stairs.”

She peered at me, her eyes narrowed to slits. Shadows marred her expression, and I couldn’t read her mood by smell.

I didn’t ask for her thoughts. It wasn’t her business if I wanted to put Emma in my bed.

“Can you get the stretcher and a couple of others to help us?” I asked.

“Sure.”

Four other shifters soon made an appearance and gently transferred Emma to the stretcher. After we moved her into the bedroom, Olivia shooed us out. She let me back into the room when she’d finished changing Emma into her T-shirt and shorts.

Emma seemed so small and pale in the large bed and basic white sheets. Her rainbow hair stretched across the pillow underneath her head, and her rainbow tattoo peeked out from the upper edge of her shorts. Fuck if I didn’t want to kiss it.

“She’ll be out until sometime tomorrow, so I’ll take the first watch.” I settled in the love seat beside the bed, casually placing my leg along the length of it. “She’ll be famished when she regains consciousness.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Olivia shot a pointed look at my crotch. “Now don’t you think you shouldn’t be naked when Emma wakes up? She probably doesn’t want to see you freeballing the minute her eyes open.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “I don’t see why not. It’s nothing new.”

Olivia frowned and turned back slowly. “What do you mean?”

“Emma Carter has already seen me naked.”

“Shewhat?” Olivia’s shriek echoed through the house, accompanied by the bark of my laughter. It didn’tmatter that she’d only seen me naked after I shifted, when I found her at her campsite. For the moment, everything was right with the world.

No sense in worrying about hell descending on us until it showed up, and it would the minute the rest of the clans discovered the truth about Emma Carter.

No matter how hard we tried, secrets never stayed secret for long.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

emma

Naked.