Page 6 of Shifters Unifying

“Back to his sassy, Callie-loving self. Sheila’s been around once or twice, but I get the feeling she wasn’t worried about Sully-Boy.”

“No, she was probably checking on me,” I agreed. Logan must have sent her.

Sully-Boy belonged to Callie, a ten-year-old girl who lived in Willow Creek. Sully-Boy was Callie’s heart-animal, and Sheila was Callie’s mother and Logan’s cousin. I’d saved Sully-Boy from death often enough that I felt like I knew Sheila pretty well, although that had been before I’d learned I could shift.

“Oh, some red-haired Irish man has been poking around here. He brought food for me and the kids. There was a gift card in there. Enough for a month of food. Can you believe that?”

I grinned. “Yeah, that’s Flynn. Doesn’t surprise me.”

“Want me to check on your mom?”

“No, she’s on my list of people to call today, and I’ll be back into Willow Creek as soon as I can.” My phone buzzed against my face, and I lowered it to see ’s number and face on my screen. I switched to speakerphone. ”Hey, Shannon, Riley’s calling me. I’m going to take that. Hugs to the kids.”

“Sounds good,” Shannon answered. “Take care of yourself, hon’.”

I answered Riley’s call. “Riley?” I asked, almost afraid to hear her voice. “How are you, sweetie?”

“I’ve had a killer migraine on and off,” she said, her voice devoid of her usual pep.

“Are those usually for you?”

“Not really. But it worked out with the time off, so no complaints, and my mom’s been taking care of me.”

“Can I send you anything?” I asked, missing bubbly, cheerful, match-making-for-her-boss Riley.

“No, I’m okay. How have you been? Shannon says you’ve got a lot going on in your life right now and needed some time.”

I didn’t really know how much of Riley’s memory had been corrected. At my say so, Torbin had delved and healed her mind to remove the trauma from Acheron’s torture of her, and I hadn’t seen her since. Did she recall seeing me shift in the parking lot behind my vet practice or any of her later kidnapping? Would she eventually remember?

“Oh, some guy left food outside our door. A big box. He had red hair, big beard with trinkets in it. He looked a little like a Viking. Did you have anything to do with that? I know you’ve done that for Shannon before.”

“That’s Flynn,” I said. “Next time you see him, tell him hi.”

“We didn’t really need any food,” she said. “My mom always makes too much anyway.”

I chuckled, glad for the Red Tail clan. It seemed to be true of shifters, in general; if they decided they were on a side, then they stuck to it. Ride or die style.

“I know, but you’ve been a great employee, and I like taking care of you.”And keeping you safe, Riley.“Your parents can enjoy the food, too.”

“Well, thanks. You’re probably the best boss I’ve ever heard of.” It was the first smile I’d heard in her voice since our conversation. “When are you coming back to work?”

“There have been some… developments I’m working on. It’ll be at least another month.”

She remained silent for a long moment. “Should I look for another job?”

“No, not yet. Just consider yourself on paid leave for a month.” I paused. “And enjoy it.”

She chuckled. “Once I get rid of these headaches, I plan to. Thanks, boss.”

“Welcome. We’ll talk soon.”

The call ended without goodbyes.

Riley wasn’t back to her normal self, but talking to her had eased more of my worry. The remainder of the worry boulder had my mom’s name on it. I thought about calling her, but she’d have way more questions than I had answers to give her. Listening to her trembling, emotional voice would put me over whatever edge I had, so for now, I decided to send her a text instead.

Maybe it was chicken shit of me, but keeping a tight rein on my feelings was the only thing anchoring me in reality. I could easily lose myself to endless mating with Logan or lose myself inprimal shifter magic next time I transformed or lose myself to Acheron.

I opened my text messaging app once more. Scrolling through all her messages without reading anything more than the preview didn’t help with my guilt. They probably all said the same thing.