Caden dropped into his house cat form and hissed. He tended to shift when his emotions got the better of him. Complex feelings were easier to manage with a tiny walnut brain. He paw-slapped Seth’s leg and I scooped him up.

“Back off, babe.” I scratched behind his ears. “Seth, you can stay for tonight so we can figure things out. Caden, I need you to deal with it.”

He couldn’t quite pout in any of his cat forms, but his displeasure was clear as day.

Caden huffed and stood in my arms, rubbing his cheeks against mine while glaring at his brother.

I did my best not to giggle at him staking his territory in such an adorable way.

I might as well be wearing a neon sign that said Caden’s Human .

I snorted. At least he’s content with being a cuddlebug instead of trying to piss on me to keep his brother at bay.

“Thanks, Lo.” Seth offered me an apologetic smile. “I promise I’ll be out of your hair soon. Could I bother you for some snacks? It’s been a while since I’ve eaten.”

Caden growled in my arms, but I booped his nose to cut off his cranky sounds.

“There’s leftover lasagna in the fridge. Help yourself.”

Caden looked up at me with wide eyes. That’s mine .

“I’ll make you some fresh tomorrow. How’s that?” I kissed the top of his head. While Caden handled the vast majority of the cooking, lasagna was one of the few items I did well and made for him on occasion.

Acceptable . He purred too quietly to hear, but I could feel it against my hands.

I gave him some good scritches behind his ears and carted him into the kitchen. Seth was already microwaving the leftovers. Caden stood carefully, laying one cat paw on each of my shoulders before headbutting the underside of my chin.

Also mine .

I giggled and gave him a solid hug. Caden ran his cheek along mine, deliberately scenting me again in front of Seth.

“Oh my gods.” Seth drew out the last syllable. “I’m not trying to crawl up Logan’s ass like I did with Rachel. I just need a place to crash. I’m not going to take her.”

I froze and stared at Seth. Caden sat stiff as a board in my arms at Rachel’s mention.

I only had vague details about Caden’s ex-wife.

They’d been together only a few years in the early ’60s, and she’d disappeared—presumably died, since from the sounds of it, the shifter community had completely lost track of her—barely a year after she’d left Caden. Had Seth and Rachel…?

Focus, Logan. Something hunting shifters was more important right now.

I rubbed a soothing hand down Caden’s back, getting the spot he really liked at the base of his tail until he started to relax again.

“Seth, be nice or get the fuck out.”

Heat flickered in Seth’s gaze, but he didn’t challenge me.

That finally made Caden melt, and he settled properly against me. I was more than ready for bed now that sex was off the menu, but first we needed information. I sat down at the kitchen table and Caden got himself comfortable on my lap in a position where he could watch Seth over the edge.

“Tell us everything you know,” I said.

Seth sat down across from me with his steaming lasagna.

“I’d heard bits through the grapevine. A coven went radio silent.

A few lone shifters here and there disappearing without warning.

Seems like the nests are okay, at least. I never saw anything, just kept feeling that ‘predator is watching you’ kinda vibe ever since I was here last.

“I was at a bar in Rochester earlier tonight and felt it sweep through. Crowd parted like the fucking Red Sea, but I couldn’t see anything there.

A shifter we didn’t know got snatched up, the normies started freaking out, everyone was screaming.

So, we ran. The friend I was with decided to head to the New York nest, and I got him to drop me here on his way. ”

Can you grab my phone? Caden asked me. I carried him into the bedroom to get it and punched in the code for it, letting him paw swipe on the screen on the way to the kitchen. Here, see what the forums are saying.

I read over the most recent posts for our state.

Hundreds of messages from today were people panicking over the attack in Rochester.

“It doesn’t sound like anyone knows what the attacker was, only that the shifters who were targeted died before reaching the hospital.

The first was a Rochester local, owl shifter, one-hundred-and-sixty years old.

The second was a deer shifter passing through, aged thirty-nine.

” I scrolled further, seeing a familiar town mentioned.

“Another shifter was killed in Fairport about an hour afterward.”

“It’s heading this way,” said Seth. He squeezed the fork, his knuckles turning white. “Shit.”

We should be prepared to leave. We need a safe house if it shows up . Caden looked up at me, his claws digging into my thighs. I can’t protect you from something I can’t sense.

“What kind of safe house would protect from that, though?” I asked.

Seth shoveled lasagna into his mouth and chewed quietly.

I don’t know . Caden shivered, his fur poofing out. But it’s coming this direction and people have already died. We shouldn’t risk it. If it was tracking Seth, he could have led it here.

I absorbed his words. I didn’t want to go anywhere, but I also didn’t want to get eaten by some unknowable entity. “Where would we go?”

“You could take her to the nearest nest,” suggested Seth. “New York is the closest.”

Caden’s little body was like steel in my hands. I looked down at him, stroking a reassuring hand over his fur.

I hadn’t been anywhere near a nest for years. “I thought those were to get your documents and stuff to reintegrate into people-adjacent life.”

“They can help with that, but it’s not their main purpose,” said Seth. “They’re gathering places, and they have super strict hierarchies.”

They’re shifter strongholds , said Caden. Some are better than others, but they’re not usually pleasant places to dwell.

“Why do shifters stay there, then?” I asked.

Protection. The strong gather the weak. It’s an exchange of services. Those weaker provide whatever the strong require without question, and the strong protect them from the outside world.

“Well, that sounds like a barrel of laughs.” I held on to Caden tighter than necessary, and he let out a squeak.

“It sucks,” said Seth between bites. “I stayed at one in Orlando after I left here the first time. Can’t say I recommend the experience. But I guess it’s preferable to dying.”

Caden’s claws dug into me again. He guesses. Such a vote of confidence for his suggestion.

“Quit with your picky toes!” I detached his claws from my flesh and turned to Seth. “Is New York the best option?”

“Hard to say for sure,” Seth said. “Smaller ones move around and might be closer, more undetectable, but if you want a big one, they’re more permanent, and based around big cities. New York has strong Protectors.”

We can’t go to a nest, Caden insisted.

“Is it really that bad?” I asked, petting Caden to soothe myself as much as him.

“Entry into a nest is implicit consent,” Seth explained. “The Protectors could do anything they wanted to you and your only recourse is to leave.”

I swallowed hard. “When you say anything…”

“Well, they won’t kill you,” said Seth. “That would defeat the point of going, but they could feed off you, demand sex, separate you from Caden, make you lick the bathrooms clean. I dunno. Some of the Protectors are pretty sick fucks. Power goes to their heads. The nest I was in did exotic animal fights to fund things.”

“ What? ” I stared at Seth. “Were you involved?”

“I…unwillingly participated in a few.”

Gods. The thought of Seth in a bloody fight like that made me shudder, revulsion turning my stomach. I’d always wished he’d stayed with us, and now the guilt over not demanding he stay was a lead weight in my gut. “I’m so sorry.”

Seth shrugged, but he wouldn’t make eye contact with me. “I survived. Not every nest is bad, but it’s hard to know what it’s like until you’re in it. You’d want to lay low and not attract attention. Good fucking luck with that, though.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re human. And you smell like a snack.”

Caden hissed and leapt on the table, planting himself between Seth and me. Fuck off.

“I’m just saying .” Seth rolled his eyes at Caden. “You’d never hide her in a nest. The Protectors would know about her the second she walked through the doors.”

Caden growled.

“Oh, shush.” Seth turned to me. “In all likelihood, they’d take you as a pet. I’ve heard some of the Protectors are pretty nice to their pets. I don’t know what they’d do with us.”

She’s not a pet. Caden walked across the table and shoved the plate of remaining lasagna into his brother’s lap. Seth squawked and managed to save the plate before it clattered to the floor. The same couldn’t be said for his jeans, which now sported a smear of tomato sauce.

“Little shit,” Seth growled. He reached for Caden, but I shot out of my seat and scooped my boyfriend into my arms.

We were all exhausted, and it wouldn’t help anything to let Caden and Seth get snippy with each other.

“Seth, there’s blankets in the linen closet, and the couch is yours. Soap is above the washing machine, and I’ll set out a spare change of clothes for you.”

He gave me a tired smile. “Thanks, Lo.”

“We’ll see you in the morning.” I carried Caden into the bedroom, closing the door behind us, and sprawling out on the bed. Caden loafed on my chest.

“What are we going to do?”

We run. I’m not willing to take chances with your safety.

“Run where?”

I wish I had an answer.