Head Hunter (City Shifters the Pack #3) - Layla Nash Page 0,103
me a little longer to parse their words when they threw out things like ‘lions’ and ‘territory’ so casually, as if everyone would understand the language the same way they did.
Meadow smiled and sipped the tea I’d managed to make. “It took me a while to learn how they describe things. Don’t feel bad. I had no idea any of this existed until about a year ago, so I know how you feel.”
Some of the tension in my chest eased. “Really? So you’re... you’re human too?”
It felt so damn weird to ask that question, and weirder still to expect a negative answer.
She smiled quickly and shook her head. “No. I’m related to Smith. We’re fae. Fairies. Not witches or shifters, but something different.”
I massaged my temples and tried to laugh. “I feel like I need to start taking notes and drawing wiring diagrams to figure out how this all fits together.”
“We can put you through a bootcamp,” Rafe said, his smile easy and surprisingly charming. If his girlfriend or wife or mate hadn’t been sitting right next to him, it might have even been flirtatious. “We don’t often have new humans to introduce to our world, but it’s been happening more frequently in recent months. Logan Chases’s wife is human. Even the bear’s mate is human. Well, they were human before their mates turned them.”
My head tilted and I tried to sort through the information he offered so casually. I’d almost forgotten about that conversation in the Korean restaurant, about how shifters were different in the mind depending on whether they were born or turned. “Wait. How does that…work? Exactly?”
Rafe’s expression grew a little guarded, as if he’d just realized he said something he shouldn’t have. He hemmed and hawed a little before he offered any more information. “Well, in extreme circumstances, a shifter could change a human. It’s usually to save the life of a loved one. It’s rare and there are consequences for turning a human without their consent, but it does happen. It’s usually by blood transfusion. Enough shifter blood overwhelms the human blood and replaces it, turns the recipient into a shifter. Same animal as the donor.”
To save the life of a loved one... It struck a chord with me and my thoughts drifted to when Dodge told me about his parents, how there hadn’t been time for his mother to save his father. Maybe that’s what she would have done: turned him into a shifter to save his life.
When I said nothing, Meadow picked up a cookie and nibbled on it. “You should come over for dinner, or we can bring something here. It might be good for you to get out, though. It seems like you’ve spent all your time cooped up inside.”
I wondered how they knew, whether the concierge was reporting on my movements – or lack thereof – to all the shifters who thought they had some kind of responsibility for me. I made a note to ask Deirdre or Mercy, just so I could be sure. There wasn’t any reason to live in a free apartment if it meant I’d be monitored like a naughty teenager. But I attempted a smile. “Thank you, that’s a kind offer. I haven’t left much because I still look a little like I got beat with a baseball bat.” I gestured self-consciously at my face to make sure they knew what I meant.
Rafe’s gaze drifted away, apparently unwilling to comment on my appearance, but Meadow’s attention never wavered. If anything, it got more intense. “You can’t even see anything anymore, Percy. And even if you could... It wasn’t your fault. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. If anyone gave you shit over it, then that’s their problem, not yours.”
I managed a half-hearted smile. “Doesn’t make it any easier to face the world, though.”
“It gets better,” she said quietly. She even reached across the coffee table to squeeze my hand. “I promise. I was in... a similar situation. Not exactly the same as yours, but close. Rafe saved me. But it took a long time to feel like myself again.”
“Let me clarify,” Rafe said, before I could ask anything or Meadow could go on. He played with a few of her curls and his entire demeanor softened. “Meadow rescued herself. She just let me carry her home.”
She laughed and smiled, and when they gazed at each other, I saw the same love and connection that Edgar and his wife shared. It turned my stomach even more,