in a safe embrace, cradling her like a cub until she fell into limp, dreamless slumber.
When Andrea awoke in the morning, Sean was gone. She didn’t like the bite of disappointment that gave her.
Last night, Sean had held her like a mate would, kissing and cuddling, touching, nuzzling. Shifters did that in their animal forms, curving around each other and basking in the safe joy of being together. Her stepfather had done so when she was little, holding her after her mother died, the two of them united in grief.
She’d not had the comfort of such a thing in a long time. Sean was tearing down the walls Andrea had built against the world, and she wasn’t certain whether to embrace that or cower in terror.
Andrea showered, dressed, and went downstairs to find Dylan in the kitchen drinking coffee, alone. Cowering in terror started to sound good. Glory’s scent was all over Dylan, and from the way his eyes flicked to Shifter white and back to blue, Andrea knew that he could smell Sean’s scent all over her.
“Nothing happened,” she said as she moved to the coffeepot.
“Sean is almost at his century mark,” Dylan said in a dry voice. “He can sleep with whatever female he likes.”
Andrea poured herself coffee from an old-fashioned percolator pot, carried the cup to the table, and sat down across from Dylan, making herself face him. Andrea remembered how he’d looked at her the night Glory had brought her home, with a white-hot stare that Sean must have learned from him. Dylan had blue eyes, like his sons’, and a touch of gray in otherwise black hair, but he possessed a grim darkness that Liam and Sean both lacked. Dylan was a few centuries old, born long before the Shifters ever considered making themselves tame for humans. His eyes carried the weight of his years, and he hadn’t hidden the fact that a half-Fae Lupine was not someone he wanted living in the same house with him.
“You know, I didn’t come here to make trouble,” Andrea said. “Not between you and Sean, or you and Glory. Honestly. I just wanted somewhere to lick my wounds, somewhere to find my equilibrium.”
Dylan nodded, eyes settling again to human blue. “And this is a fine place to do it. You’re safe here, Andrea. I promise you.”
Andrea turned her coffee cup on the placemat, breathing the coffee smell to keep up her courage. Dylan might not be Shiftertown leader anymore, but that didn’t mean he’d run off with his tail between his legs. Slipping in the hierarchy meant that he was only a little less powerful than Liam.
She drew a breath. “Sean told me that if you hadn’t wanted me to come here, I wouldn’t have been allowed.”
“True.”
“Then what made you let me?” Andrea sipped the coffee, cool enough to drink now. It was rich and good; Glory’s coffee always was.
“Glory. She’s fond of you and thought it would be best if you came here. I trust her judgment.”
Oh really? “Then why did you take off the minute I walked into the house?” That still bothered her. “I didn’t even know you lived here. Glory sprang that on me when I was walking up the porch steps. ‘Oh, by the way, I’ve shacked up with the most powerful Feline in South Texas.’ ”
Dylan didn’t smile. “Liam is the most powerful Feline in South Texas. Sean and I are neck and neck for second, though Sean will pull ahead soon. He’s younger, and I’m tired of the game.”
Andrea traced the rim of her coffee cup and made herself look into his intense blue eyes. “You didn’t answer the question. Why did you leave the moment I arrived?”
“Clan business.” Dylan raised his cup, took a sip. “Nothing to do with you.”
“And it’s coincidence that this business happened the same night I got here?”
His smile was so quick she would have missed it if she hadn’t been looking hard at him. “Yes.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it.”
“You will, yes.”
Glory clicked down the stairs and into the kitchen at that moment, tall and slim and dressed from head to toe in hot pink. “Oh, good, you’re chatting. Sean went home?”
“Apparently,” Andrea said.
Glory smiled. “But you didn’t have any more nightmares, did you?”
“No.” Something tight loosened inside Andrea. “No, I didn’t.”
“Good. Dylan’s going to make breakfast, then we’re having a pride meeting at Liam’s bar. About the shootings.”
Andrea looked at her in surprise. “Do you want me there? I’m not part of