long because I have places to be, but for a day at least.”
Rael liked this new Vic. He’d gone from being a menacing, brooding figure to an eager man, excited to learn more. Despite his actual age, Vic gave the impression of being younger.
Rael smiled. Well, Crank did say Vic is a baby for his species.
It was as if Crank read his mind. “Hey, wait a minute, Mr. Oral Historian. All that guff about how it’s your shark that keeps you looking so young? That shit don’t add up.”
Vic arched his eyebrows and folded his arms. “Oh?”
Crank pointed at Horvan. “After he told us about shifters, I got curious. I went online and looked up bears and lions. Bears only live about twenty-five years. Lions don’t even live that long. So by your reckoning, they should already be dead.”
Vic chuckled. “You’re applying human logic and human rules here? Well, I got news for you. Human rules don’t apply when you’re talking about the paranormal. And no, I can’t explain why shark shifters live as long as we do, because every other shifter I know lives a normal human life span. Is it because oral historians have always been sharks? Who knows? We don’t know everything about shifters.” His face darkened. “I can only say living a long time isn’t as hot as you might think. I don’t make friends, for one thing.”
“Why not?” Rael asked, struck by the sadness he saw in Vic’s eyes.
“Because I don’t want to be the one watching my friends die hundreds of years before I do. Not that you’d care,” he added, glaring at Crank. “You don’t give a shit about me.”
Crank opened and shut his mouth, his eyes wide. Then he sighed. “You’re wrong. About me caring.” He glanced around the table. “My buddies are The. Fucking. Best. Thing in my life. I wouldn’t be without them. And what you just described sounds like an incredibly lonely existence.” He locked gazes with Vic. “I apologize.”
Vic blinked. His expression softened. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”
“And I had a thought….”
Hashtag bit his lip. “Did it hurt?”
Crank fired him a warning look before giving Vic his full attention. “I don’t think sharks live long because they’re historians. I think they’re historians because they—you—live long. You’ll know things long after generations have turned to dust.”
Everyone around the table stared at him.
“What?”
Roadkill shook his head. “That was pretty damn eloquent. After all these years, you still manage to surprise me.”
Vic smiled. “I was thinking the same thing.” He shook his head. “The thing you have to remember about shifters is, there are no rules. For every fact we think we know, we discover contradictions to that fact. Like my species, for example. But there are other things. Like why a two-hundred-pound human can become a four-hundred-pound bear, and others turn into six-ounce mice.” He laughed softly. “It makes my head spin.”
“I hear ya on that one,” Crank remarked. “My head’s been spinning ever since Horvan shifted into a teddy bear.” He grinned.
“Or should that be a Mama Bear?” Roadkill added, his eyes glinting with mischief.
Rael loved the low growl that rumbled in Horvan’s throat.
Vic’s gaze alighted on the whiskey bottle. “Is that really all you’ve got?”
Roadkill chuckled. “I said all we’ve got is whiskey. What I didn’t say is how much of it we have.” He refilled Vic’s glass, then poured one for himself. He raised his glass. “Glad to have you here, Vic.”
Vic stilled for a moment, then raised his own, clinking it against Roadkill’s. “Glad to be here.”
“You might not say that after you’ve put up with a night of Crank snoring,” Hashtag muttered, helping himself to whiskey.
Vic smiled. “I think I can cope.”
Rael couldn’t dismiss the thought that their little band had just gotten bigger.
RAEL WAS about to call it a night when Vic yawned. “Is it that time?”
Hashtag laughed. “I’m not surprised you’re tired. You haven’t stopped talking all day.”
Vic flushed. “Sorry.” He peered at Rael, who was sitting on the couch with Dellan. “Did I ask too many questions?”
“Not at all,” Rael assured him. “I hope our answers helped.” Not that they’d been able to share all that much. Vic had wanted to hear about the first time Dellan had spoken to Rael, his dreams, and how the three of them communicated in both forms.
“There were a couple of questions I didn’t get around to,” Vic confessed. “Not because we ran out of time, but because they were, shall we say, a bit… personal.” He