again. I itched to pull a blade. I hadn’t brought my sword, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t carrying other sharp, shiny objects. The knife at my hip would work just fine.
He thought the gun was scary?
His throat worked as he glared at me, then he shot the girl behind me a dirty look. “Make it quick.” He bit off the words like they tasted bad, his face twisted in a tight, ugly scowl.
I kept him in my line of sight as I moved over to the table. She’d picked a four-top. Instead of taking the seat across from her, I took the one at her left hand, keeping the counter—and the man behind it— in my line of sight. My new friend was shooting daggers at me.
I waved at him before focusing back on the girl.
She feels kinda witchy . Now that I was closer to her, that was how she read to me. Kinda witchy .
There was an odd twinge of magic in her blood that just felt strange to me. And there was something else.
I could feel the buzz of her soul, batting against my mind.
But it was more than that. She was terrified of me, but I caught an odd sense of hunger. Need. It flickered in the back of her eyes and as I studied her face, she licked her lips and looked away. Her hands, small and delicate, were clenched into bloodless fists.
Her respirations were too fast.
So was her heart.
And that weird something—
“You’re pregnant,” I said as it clicked.
Her skin, a soft olive gold, flushed and she hunched her shoulders. “How did you know?”
“I’m just that good,” I snapped. It sounded better than I don’t know .
Groaning, I braced my elbows on the table and ground the heels of my hands against my eyes. “It’s a werecat’s kid, isn’t it?” No wonder she was so desperate to find him.
“Yes.” Her voice came in a broken little gasp and I lowered my hands, staring at her face as darkness roared in the back of my mind.
She was terrified .
“Did he hurt you?”
“ No !” Her dark eyes jerked my way and she shook her head. “He didn’t. We were...” She bit her lip and looked around before scooting in closer. “We were seeing each other but my dad didn’t know. Then we…uh…he stopped calling me a few months ago. I...I didn’t realize at first what was going on. But now I can’t get a hold of him and I need to let him know and I—”
“Slow down,” I said as the words came spilling out of her.
Pulling out the paper that held the number, I tapped it. “This is his number? Or was?”
She nodded. “But that number is dead. There’s no forwarding address or anything. He...well, sometimes he used to hang out at the rec club on Bart Street.”
Bart Street.
My brain filed that away even as I processed everything else. She was hiding something. I’d caught that little pause. A fight, maybe? Made sense. Everything else added up, even how she didn’t know she was pregnant. Shifters carried longer and if she was carrying a baby with shifter blood, she’d carry longer, too. Typical shifter pregnancies, if I remembered right, were thirteen months and she might not have even noticed for the first four or five months. And it was a damn good thing she had non-human blood in her, otherwise we’d have an entirely different set of problems to deal with.
Swiping a hand down my face, I studied her and then braced my elbows on the table. “So when you couldn’t get a hold of him, what did you do? Try to find him? Go to his house?”
“I tried to call. Well… um. Look, we had a fight.”
Bingo . I thought so.
She glanced around nervously and then gave me a sad, almost broken look. “I thought my dad knew about us and I was…I was scared. So I broke up with him. But when I found out about the baby, I tried to call.” She darted a look to the front of the coffee shop.
Fear spiked. Swelled.
Something lurked in the back of her eyes, a chained, caged beast looking out from behind her eyes. It wasn’t her… not entirely. But the baby inside her wasn’t human.
And it showed. In that
He thought the gun was scary?
His throat worked as he glared at me, then he shot the girl behind me a dirty look. “Make it quick.” He bit off the words like they tasted bad, his face twisted in a tight, ugly scowl.
I kept him in my line of sight as I moved over to the table. She’d picked a four-top. Instead of taking the seat across from her, I took the one at her left hand, keeping the counter—and the man behind it— in my line of sight. My new friend was shooting daggers at me.
I waved at him before focusing back on the girl.
She feels kinda witchy . Now that I was closer to her, that was how she read to me. Kinda witchy .
There was an odd twinge of magic in her blood that just felt strange to me. And there was something else.
I could feel the buzz of her soul, batting against my mind.
But it was more than that. She was terrified of me, but I caught an odd sense of hunger. Need. It flickered in the back of her eyes and as I studied her face, she licked her lips and looked away. Her hands, small and delicate, were clenched into bloodless fists.
Her respirations were too fast.
So was her heart.
And that weird something—
“You’re pregnant,” I said as it clicked.
Her skin, a soft olive gold, flushed and she hunched her shoulders. “How did you know?”
“I’m just that good,” I snapped. It sounded better than I don’t know .
Groaning, I braced my elbows on the table and ground the heels of my hands against my eyes. “It’s a werecat’s kid, isn’t it?” No wonder she was so desperate to find him.
“Yes.” Her voice came in a broken little gasp and I lowered my hands, staring at her face as darkness roared in the back of my mind.
She was terrified .
“Did he hurt you?”
“ No !” Her dark eyes jerked my way and she shook her head. “He didn’t. We were...” She bit her lip and looked around before scooting in closer. “We were seeing each other but my dad didn’t know. Then we…uh…he stopped calling me a few months ago. I...I didn’t realize at first what was going on. But now I can’t get a hold of him and I need to let him know and I—”
“Slow down,” I said as the words came spilling out of her.
Pulling out the paper that held the number, I tapped it. “This is his number? Or was?”
She nodded. “But that number is dead. There’s no forwarding address or anything. He...well, sometimes he used to hang out at the rec club on Bart Street.”
Bart Street.
My brain filed that away even as I processed everything else. She was hiding something. I’d caught that little pause. A fight, maybe? Made sense. Everything else added up, even how she didn’t know she was pregnant. Shifters carried longer and if she was carrying a baby with shifter blood, she’d carry longer, too. Typical shifter pregnancies, if I remembered right, were thirteen months and she might not have even noticed for the first four or five months. And it was a damn good thing she had non-human blood in her, otherwise we’d have an entirely different set of problems to deal with.
Swiping a hand down my face, I studied her and then braced my elbows on the table. “So when you couldn’t get a hold of him, what did you do? Try to find him? Go to his house?”
“I tried to call. Well… um. Look, we had a fight.”
Bingo . I thought so.
She glanced around nervously and then gave me a sad, almost broken look. “I thought my dad knew about us and I was…I was scared. So I broke up with him. But when I found out about the baby, I tried to call.” She darted a look to the front of the coffee shop.
Fear spiked. Swelled.
Something lurked in the back of her eyes, a chained, caged beast looking out from behind her eyes. It wasn’t her… not entirely. But the baby inside her wasn’t human.
And it showed. In that
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