Jace sat, blinking, even his leopard realizing the enormity of it. Now, if he could shift back to human, find his way home, and try to figure out exactly how it had happened, all Shifters would benefit.
Or he could stay in the wild. For the first time in twenty years, Jace was free. No more Collar, no more rules, no Shiftertowns, just wind, earth, sky, and small-brained predators.
Free, he repeated.
The only thing that kept his triumphant wildcat from taking over and erasing his human thoughts completely was one word: Deni.
Jace would find her and free her too. Then he’d live out his life with her, the mate of his heart. No one in this wide wilderness would be able to prevail against a wolf and a snow leopard. He and Deni would be free to be alone together, mates in the wild, as Shifters were meant to be.
Even in this vast place, someone would have reported a crashing plane by now. The humans would be coming. Jace didn’t intend to let them find him here.
He grabbed Marlo by the shirt, dragged him closer to the burning wreckage, which would keep the scavengers away for a while, then turned and loped off into the tall Texas grasses. His paw still hurt him, but that was a minor inconvenience.
* * *
Eric hadn’t heard from his son all day, he told Deni, and Jace likely had his cell phone off. Eric was worried too, but Marlo’s plane was old and slow. It wouldn’t land in Las Vegas until late in the evening, but Eric would keep his ear out. He sounded plenty anxious, but tried to calm Deni’s fears, as a good Shifter alpha should.
Liam too reassured her. Flying under the radar took time, Marlo often stopped to refuel or lie low for a few hours. Marlo had a cell phone, but he wasn’t answering either, and he didn’t always.
After Liam left to open the bar in the afternoon, Deni paced, snapped at everyone, and got nothing done. Any pats on the back or calming words only irritated her. Eric and Liam were probably right—but Tiger’s words about seeing something wrong with the mate bond, plus the tightness in Deni’s chest made her half crazy.
Ellison left for the bar after Liam, telling Deni and his mate that Liam had called a tracker meeting. That meant trackers only—the Shifters who worked for Liam as bodyguards, investigators, or peacekeepers as need be. Ronan, Ellison, Spike, Sean, Tiger, and Dylan made their way there, leaving Deni restless and barely in control of herself.
At five, she couldn’t stand it anymore. Deni walked out of the house and down the block, making her way to the bar on the edge of Shiftertown.
The parking lot was already full. This bar was a popular stop on the way home from work for humans who liked Shifters. Groupies were already there, lounging about suggestively, waiting for Shifters to come looking. With the fight club shut down for a while, the groupies had decided to pile on here, it seemed.The human bartender shot Deni a sharp look when she walked in. The other Shifters already there were cagey, but when Deni asked why, they didn’t have an answer. They knew something was up, but they didn’t know what. The trackers had gone into Liam’s office and shut the door, they told her, then all except Liam and Dylan had come out and left the bar. Where the trackers, including Ellison, had gone, no one knew.
Deni had no business confronting Liam, who wasn’t in her family and held plenty of rank over her. His tracker meeting might have nothing to do with her or Jace, or the police. Shit involving Shifters and Shiftertown happened all the time.
One of the groupie girls sat in a booth by herself, talking on her phone. And talking and talking. She’d look around, and then start talking again. If she wasn’t talking, she was texting.
The young woman didn’t look much different from the other groupies. She wore a short, skintight pink dress with mile-high black heels, had short dyed-black hair that had been cut into cute wisps, and she’d painted her face with cat’s eyes and whiskers. Her outfit shouted, Come and get me, Shifter, I like to purr, but her looks and actions spoke of extreme nerves.
After Deni had watched her covertly for a time, she realized another thing that made this woman different. The other groupies were eyeing Shifters hungrily, or sashaying up to them without shame. Most groupies were female, as many of the Shifters here were male, but some young male groupies were eyeing the male Shifters—and Deni—with the same kind of interest.
The young woman in the booth was doing her best not to catch any Shifter’s attention. Which made no sense if she dressed like a groupie and hung out in a Shifter bar.
Deni picked up the bottle of beer the bartender had slid to her and carried it with her to the booth. Deni plunked the bottle onto the table and sat down opposite the young woman.
The young woman jumped as though struck by sparks. Deni held her gaze, the girl trying to evade her eyes.
“That Shifter over there.” Deni pointed. “Broderick. He’s looking for some action.”
Whether Broderick was or not, Deni didn’t know, but the young woman’s reaction was telling. She flinched and didn’t look where Deni indicated. In fact, she moved a little so Deni would block Broderick’s line of sight from her.
“I’m waiting for someone,” the young woman mumbled. “Leave me alone, Shifter.”
“Yeah? Who are you waiting for?”
The woman stared at her. She had light blue eyes and smelled strongly of fear, and even more of anger.
“None of your business.” She had defiance her words and eyes, but her voice shook.
“Interesting,” Deni said. She snatched the woman’s cell phone from her hand and stood up.