The Last Warrior (Shifters Unbound #13) - Jennifer Ashley Page 0,40

imagine doing anything to harm my own cub.”

A sudden longing flashed in her eyes. It couldn’t have been easy leaving baby Lucas behind to help out Ben, but Jaycee and Dimitri were trackers, having to obey their leader.

Dimitri puffed up with pride. “You should see Lucas already trying to get up and run. I bet he’ll turn out to be leopard.”

“Turn out to be leopard?” Rhianne asked in bafflement. “What does that mean?”

“Shifters from mixed heritage are born in human form,” Jaycee answered. “They don’t shift until they’re a few years old, so we don’t yet know if he’ll be wolf or leopard. Lucas has red hair, but his eyes are like mine.”

“And he can move,” Dimitri said. “He instantly grabs whatever he puts his eye on, never misses. He’s got deadly focus, like a cat. So I’m betting on leopard.”

“Could be.” Jaycee shrugged. “We’ll find out.”

She spoke casually, but Ben sensed her tension. She wanted to know, and he could tell she hoped wolf. Dimitri wanted leopard. The two of them were adorable.

Ben cut in before Rhianne could ask any more questions about the cub. Dimitri and Jaycee, like any proud parents, would go on about Lucas for hours. Ben didn’t blame them. He’d met the kid in his infrequent visits to Kendrick’s compound, and the little dude was cute.

“Anyway,” Ben said. “The best thing we can do is sit tight until we have more intel. Jaycee, since you’re so close to Lady Aisling, please try to get her to open up to you. That means tell her more,” he added for Rhianne’s benefit.

“Open up?” Rhianne widened her eyes. “My mother does not open up.”

“Doesn’t she? She talks to me a lot.” Jaycee caught Rhianne’s hurt glance, then added quickly, “Probably because she doesn’t see me as a threat.”

Ben watched Rhianne tamp down her sorrow. “My father has and always will be ambitious,” Rhianne said. “He uses anyone or anything to get what he wants. I imagine my mother is waiting for him to grow bored with whatever scheme he’s pursuing and turn to something else.” She sipped wine, brows furrowed. “How did he find me here? I doubt my mother let that slip—she’s much too careful.”

Ben shrugged. “There are many Fae spies in the human world. Even some Shifters are.”

“Liam or Dylan?” Rhianne asked in worry. Ben noted she didn’t name Tiger.

“No,” Ben answered quickly and Jaycee and Dimitri chorused the same. “Dylan loathes the Fae and he’d not give you up to a Tuil Erdannan working with one. Probably a human spy reported to his Fae master. Everyone knows me and where I hang out.”

“The psychic, Lily?” Rhianne’s expression told him he hoped not. “I gave her our names.”

“I didn’t sense treachery in her, and besides she didn’t realize what or who we were. She wouldn’t have been so shocked if she’d been on the lookout for us. No, I’m guessing someone who saw us in the restaurants, or the bakery, or the club, or on the street. Everyone knows me,” he finished glumly. He should have kept Rhianne at the house, but her longing to see this world and not be confined had touched him. He’d understood her feelings.

“I agree with Ben that we need more information,” Dimitri broke in. “I also think that we should sleep on it. Rhianne must be exhausted.”

Ben thought so too, but Rhianne showed no signs of drooping. A day and a night like she’d had would have wiped out a human, and likely a Shifter too, but Rhianne stirred restlessly.

Jaycee glanced at Dimitri. “I’m too riled up from the fight to go tamely to bed.”

Dimitri slid an arm around her. “I know what might calm you down.”

“Don’t you always? But I need a run. By myself—you know the kind where you won’t be able to keep up.”

“Nuh-uh. Too dangerous,” Dimitri said immediately.

“The crazed magic people are not after me, and I won’t go far. I run around here all the time. Walk out with me, Rhianne?”

Jaycee, always energetic, leapt to her feet. Rhianne rose quickly to join her. “I’d love to.”

“You will stay on the veranda,” Ben admonished Rhianne, his heart speeding in worry. “I don’t know how far the house’s protection extends.”

“Of course I will,” Rhianne said in annoyance. “I’m not a fool. My father is deadly.”

“Leave her alone, Ben.” Jaycee put her arm around Rhianne. “She needs to take a breath. And I seriously want a run.”

Without another word, Jaycee led Rhianne out of the kitchen. Rhianne glanced