Page 8

“Where are we going?” Booker leaned against the back of the elevator while I pummeled the button for the lobby.

“A quick shift. My beast needs out, and I have to escape from the office.”

Booker rubbed his jaw. “Oh, really? When was the last time we shifted together?”

I shrugged, but it had been months. No, years. Since before Dad died.

“You have an ulterior motive. Out with it.”

I jumped into the driver’s seat of my car while my brother leaned into the vehicle on the passenger side.

“Will you just get in?”

“Nah.” He drummed his fingers on the car roof, knowing how that annoyed me.

“You’re deliberately trying to sidetrack Joss so he can’t do the job I hired him for.”

“What?” Booker flounced into the passenger seat, and I reversed, though he hadn’t bothered to put his seat belt on. “I was being nice.”

“Ahhh!” My yell echoed around the car, and I slammed on the brakes, still in the parking garage, and pummeled the steering wheel. “Stop it, Booker. You forget, I know you better than anyone else on the planet, and I can see what you’re doing.”

He smirked but stared straight ahead, pointing out there was a line of cars behind me. Gods, he was so irritating.

“Explain it to me like I’m five. What am I doing that’s got you and your fox so pissed off?”

Oops! Me getting upset he’d understand, but my beast didn’t get involved in our sibling quarrels.

“He’s peeved about English idioms.” If I could have reversed time and taken that back I would have, especially as my brother’s beast thought of nothing except hunting and sleeping and occasionally being snarky.

“Seriously, bro, your fox needs to understand he’s a fox, not a scholar.”

We were getting off the point. So far off that I couldn’t even see that damned tip.

“Just do your work.” Booker accomplished plenty at the office, but he left at five on the dot. His deputy covered for him and did everything my brother didn’t get around to finishing. “And let Joss get on with helping me.”

I’d considered putting Joss into a small office, but I’d needed him close by at the time and had been thankful for that pane of glass. But I’d made a mistake and would rectify that when we returned.

“I don’t need to hamper your little consultant because the task is so overwhelming, I doubt he’ll make much headway.”

I pressed my foot on the gas, ignoring the speed limit as we sped out of town to the area owned by the den. After driving onto the den land, I was so furious with my brother, my hands were fisted, and not bothering to close the car door, I flung off my clothes as my beast took his fur.

Freedom!

I pulled back, deep inside my fox, and closed my eyes, ignoring the scent of a rabbit. Booker’s beast was close behind, but if he started a fight, I’d unleash my anger and wrestle him, biting him hard if I could.

How I wished Dad were here. He’d tell my brother to back off. Unlike Uncle Cyrus, Dad had been able to goad Booker into actually working rather than playing and pretending he was accomplishing anything. Perhaps if my brother met his mate, he wouldn’t be as much of an asshat.

But even if my brother’s temperament was softened, his beast wouldn’t change. He raced past us and snatched the rabbit my beast had been tracking.

Despite my earlier intention to have it out with Booker, I told my fox to ignore him and find more prey. I didn’t have the energy for a fight and needed to focus on a) the business and b) how I could introduce Joss to my beast without him running away. Or calling animal control.

My fox focused on a squirrel who’d left the safety of a nearby tree. Big mistake, squirrel, but know that your life wasn’t in vain.

We made our way back to the car, and I was dressed and checking my messages when Booker’s beast appeared.

“I was always faster than you and could sniff out a rabbit better than your fox. Superior scenting skills.” He made the chef’s kiss gesture where he kissed the tips of his fingers. Blech, I rued Uncle Cyrus teaching him that when we were kids.

We sat in silence on the drive back to the office. My mind was elsewhere, on Joss, and I’d said all I had to say to my brother. He may not take any notice of what I’d told him, and if he didn’t, I might have to lock Joss in a cupboard.