The problem with Riley was, he didn't seem to have any give in him. She didn't want her only glimpses into his soul to be after the crushing darkness of nightmare. For her cat to trust him, he needed to trus -
"Hey." Bas squeezed her shoulder. "Where did you go?"
She glanced ahead to where Grey and Sage were strolling, checking out the window displays in the adjacent shops. "I'm dealing with stuff."
A silky pause. "What's his name?"
"As if I'd tell you."
"You chased off my last girlfriend."
"She was a hyena." Not literally, but in heart. "Wanted you for your money." Bas was smart, crazy smart. He made money on the stock market simply by breathing. Which was why he was in charge of DarkRiver's financial assets.
"My ego bleeds." A hand rubbing pitifully over his chest.
"We're going to be wiping up blood for weeks, it's so colossal."
He hugged her closer. "Come on, you can tell me. It'll be our secret."
"And you'll go hunting him the second I'm distracted. I don't think so." But she hugged him back. "So, no new hyena for me to chase off?"
"I'm still healing the scars from the last one." A piercing look. "I know who it is."
"No, you don't."
"Riley."
Her mouth fell open. She looked up. "What?"
"Jesus." He stopped walking. "It was a guess, but I'm right. You're . . . they're . . . he's a wolf!"
She snapped around to make sure the other two hadn't heard. "How did you even make that guess?"
He thrust a hand through his hair, almost making a woman on the other side of the street trip, she was looking at him so hard. "Only dominant male I could think of that you'd been reacting to lately. You bitch about him a lot."
She glanced again at her two younger brothers, currently distracted by a display of lanterns. "Don't tell them."
"Why the fuck not?"
"Because you know they'll do something stupid."
"So will I." He jerked his head and they started walking again. "I might not be a sentinel, but I'm your brother. And I know how to kick wolf ass."
"Bas."
"Don't 'Bas' me. You might be able to control Grey and Sage but don't even try it with me."
She glared at him. "This is my business." She trusted Riley not to hurt her brothers, but a lot could go wrong when men got stupid - especially when those men had claws and teeth meant for hunting prey.
"Should've thought of that before you told my ex-girlfriend I eat live kittens for breakfast."
A tiny twinge of guilt. Then the cat wondered what Riley would think of her last successful "shoo-away." "Who knew she'd believe me?"
"Oh no? When you 'accidentally' opened the cupboard to expose my 'kitten cage' full of the poor, sad kitties I was going to snack on?" A raised eyebrow. "Wasn't the cage next to my special 'kitten defurring' tools?"
"They were obviously fake."
Bas just stared at her.