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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

emma

H ow many had there been?

How many?

I zoomed to one end of the alley then the other.

When I leaped onto the fire escape of the next building over, a woman screamed from inside an apartment, and my plan to search from above would be detrimental.

Instead, I decided to let the other attackers escape, and I returned to the parking area where Riley and Shannon stood in the middle of the gravel, shocked and overwhelmed.

When I dropped down from the fire escape, they both screamed and clung to each other, whimpering as I sauntered to my vehicle and changed from a big cat into myself. Weakly, I climbed to my feet and leaned heavily on the side of my car.

“Emma, is that you?” Shannon whispered haltingly. “You’re nude, and you… weren’t… you. ”

“I can’t believe any of this is real,” Riley sobbed. “What is even happening? My boss is completely naked, and her clothes are all over the ground. Don’t even talk to me about bear and fox and… and… What the hell are you?”

“It’s me,” I panted. “Don’t be afraid of me. I would never hurt you two.”

Together, they whispered to one another, pulling away from me, each wiping tears from their cheeks while I tried to catch my breath. I caught something about being naked, and I stifled a wry grin.

Logan had said something about my problem with being naked in front of strangers, hadn’t he?

Today, it had been the farthest thing from my mind, but for Shannon and Riley, it’d been a hell of an introduction to the existence of shifters.

Would it be like this for everyone in my life now?

How could I do that to the people I loved?

Clothing needed to happen since my other getup was in shreds on the gravel, and I stumbled down to my vehicle and peered into the windows. In the back seat of my car, I found a long coat, slipped into it, and zipped it up. It wasn’t a whole outfit, but it was enough to make me less naked.

And more exhausted.

My legs burned, and my mind spun as spots danced in my vision. Based on how my stomach growled, each change had burned through hundreds of calories. Three morphs so close together …

I had to learn how to do that without feeling like I was going to die afterward. Training wasn’t optional anymore. Getting back to Six-Mile had to happen as soon as possible. Olivia had more to teach me.

Shannon inched a little closer, looking me up and down as though she expected me to sprout another head. Hell, maybe that would become a part of my shifting too.

“It’s okay,” I said, keeping my voice low.

“What happened to you?” she rasped. “What was that?”

I waved to Riley and gestured for her to come closer. She shook her head from side to side, clearly terrified to get any closer to me.

“It’s a thing I can do now. A big important thing. But don’t tell anyone what you’ve seen.”

“I don’t think anybody would believe us,” Riley wailed. “Who would possibly believe us? This is insane.” She waved her arm around. “The whole world has gone insane.”

“Riley, give her a chance to explain,” Shannon added.

But I couldn’t respond to either of them as trying to figure out how long I could stay conscious kept my focus. Collapsing here wasn’t an option. I didn’t want to do that to my nursing assistants.

From the far side of the parking area, a friendly ginger face appeared. He raised a hand. “I see ye’ve had some trouble. Do I detect a bit of foxy in the air? And something else? ”

Jasper! Oh, thank god. His friendly, unflappable smile brought a wave of relief so strong my knees nearly buckled.

I groped at my car to keep from slipping to the ground. “You might have,” I rasped.

Riley and Shannon whirled toward the sound of his voice. Riley scratched at the air, trying to look fierce, and Shannon lifted her umbrella to her shoulder like at bat.

Jasper chuckled at them. “Don’t ye two worry yer pretty little heads none.

I’m here to help Emma.” He studied the two shifters on the ground.

“Though, it seems she’s quite capable on her own.

” His gaze cut to me. “I’ll get somebody here to clean up so the authorities don’t start poking around.

In the meantime, we need to get ye out of here. ”

“Are you one of those shapeshifters, too?” Shannon demanded, a fierce look plastered on her face, even though I could smell her suspicion.

Which meant Jasper could too.

“So I am,” he said. “One of the good ones.” He looked down at me. “I believe ye have something to explain to me, then,” he said, crossing his arms.

My ragged sigh left my body in stuttering bursts. “I’m sure you can guess.”

His face clouded. “The prophecy, then?”

“That’s what they tell me.”

“Explains why they were trying to keep ye so secret,” he said, “and it also means we have to get ye out of here.”

I waved toward Shannon and Riley. “Get out of here, you two. Clear my week of appointments. Text me if there’s an emergency, and I’ll do what I can.

” Then I pointed at each of them. “You two can’t tell anybody about what happened.

If you do, you’ll be in danger. For now, you don’t know anything about this. ”

“But, but, but…” Riley whimpered, rubbing her eyes. “How are we supposed to just not talk about what happened?”

“It’s just safer that way,” I said. “I don’t want you to get hurt because of what you know, Riley.” I needed her to understand.

Shannon’s mouth pressed into a line, and she thought for a long moment. Finally, she said, “I won’t say anything.”

Riley whirled. “How can you say that?”

“Because I trust Emma,” she said, “and I have kids to keep safe.”

“That’s a smart one,” Jasper said, pointing to Shannon. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket, punched a couple of buttons, and pressed it to his ear.

I gave Riley a sad smile. “You must keep it quiet. This new development is the whole reason I was late getting back from camping yesterday. I promise I’ll explain it all to you both… eventually. When it’s safe for you to know. Just trust me, and get out of here. I’m fine. I promise.”

Silently, Shannon climbed into her car and left the parking area, and Riley followed. Maybe they would say something, or maybe they wouldn’t. Worrying about their necessary silence wasn’t something I could do right now. After their cars disappeared around the corner, I glanced at Jasper.

“Ye ready to get out of here?” he asked, smoothing his beard. “Ye shouldn’t stick around for much longer, waiting for another attack. Can you shift?”

“I can’t… I’m sorry.” Then I collapsed on the ground, hoping the coat kept me covered at least a little. A hysterical giggle escaped. I’d nearly been kidnapped or murdered, and I was worried about flashing Jasper.

Jasper made no comment. Gently, he scooped me into his arms, carried me around to the passenger side of my vehicle, and tucked me inside. Then he settled in the driver’s seat. “I’m taking ye into fox territory, and since ye can’t shift, we’ll use yer car.”

“What about the…” I cringed at the word. “…dead shifters in my parking lot? I can’t leave them for someone to find or for my nursing assistants to deal with.”

“I made a phone call to my brother, Flynn, and they’ll have it cleaned up in no time. He owes me a favor. Plus, we have an interest in keeping ye safe and keeping our existence quiet, so they’re on their way now. In the meantime, we’ve got to go.”

“Where?”

“I’m taking ye to a safehouse in fox territory.”

“Not sure Logan will appreciate that,” I said as I leaned over and searched for the seat controls. When my finger caught it, I eased the seat back, already fighting a wave of unconsciousness.

“Well, Logan can’t keep from spiting his face sometimes,” Jasper said .

“You won’t get any argument out of me. This time,” I murmured.

If Logan had been the one to show up, I would have agreed to anything he said.

Shifters had attacked me at my place of work.

Defense had been hard to conjure, and the shifts I’d managed to do had drained me.

If the enemy sorcerer had appeared, with as weak as I was, he would have chewed me up and spat me out. Prophecies had nothing to do with it.

“How far to the safehouse?” I asked.

“No more than an hour,” he said. “In the meantime, lass, ye can sleep, and I’ll get us there safe and sound.”

T he earth quaked beneath me, and I tried to scream to warn Logan to run, but my throat made no sound. As the ground fell away from beneath him, he turned to me, his face awash in a soul-crushing pain. His roar blared through my brain.

I’d failed him. I failed them all.

They needed me. My training should have come first, and it hadn’t. How had we gotten here? Confusion muddled my thoughts.

Another quake rolled through me, and a loud beeping echoed. An alarm clock? Sleep rushed out of my brain like a receding tide, and the earth felt more like the passenger seat in my car. What was I doing in my car?

“Hey, Emma, wake up,” someone whispered close to my ear. “We’re here. It’s time to get out. ”

This time, the voice wasn’t Logan beside me in my bed. It was…

“Jasper,” I rasped, peeling my eyes open. “Guess I fell asleep on the way here?”

He patted my leg. “The minute we got onto the freeway.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t worry yer head about that, but ye do have a problem.”

“What’s that?” I asked, straightening in the seat and scanning the surroundings. The terrain resembled the state park, wooded and probably marshy in low spots.

He gave me a sidelong glance. “I brought ye here, but the governing council wants to meet ye before they approve your asylum.”

“Why? You told them about me, right? I won’t take up that much food from your people.”

He scrunched his nose, all jovialness gone.

“Even so, lass, ye’ve got to convince them to let ye stay, and if ye have the strength to multi-shift again, they’ll want to see it.

My clan is always dubious of any strangers.

For all they know, ye could be meant to help take over their territories.

” He studied me. “Maybe I should be suspicious of ye, too, but I saw what happened in the parking area.”

“What happens if I suck at convincing them and I can’t shift on command?”

My simple life was no longer simple. Shifter intrigue and all the posturing…. Ugh. I didn’t want them to help keep me safe, but I needed them. No matter how much I didn’t want to need them.

Jasper shrugged. “Well, they might kill you to keep ye from talking about our clan and our defenses,” he said, “or they might kill ye for posing as the multimorph. Whatever they do, they would do without a second thought, Emma.”

“But they know I’m important,” I said.

“But they have to believe it,” he countered. “Our alpha can agree to ye’re being here, but not everyone on the council will agree with the idea that ye’re the multimorph or that ye should take refuge at Red Tail.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Nevertheless, if ye can’t shift on command, then ye must use persuasion.”

“I don’t think I have that as a special skill.”

He snorted a laugh. “Nay, not many do. Ready to meet the council?”

“No, of course not.”

Shit.

This morning, I hadn’t spent any time thinking about how to plead for protection so I could recuperate from an attack at the end of the day. No, my first thought had been how to get five gallons of coffee into my body and get through a normal Monday.

But normal wasn’t possible anymore, was it?

I was completely unprepared to persuade anybody of anything.

Now it felt like I wasn’t any safer than I’d been before.

I had to admit what I was and ask for help.

They could reject my request for protection, and I couldn’t go home.

Whoever had attacked me at work probably also knew where I lived, and I wouldn’t risk anyone I knew or loved in this giant muddle of prophecy and destiny.

Fuck.

It was as though I’d jumped straight from the frying pan into the fire.