come to its senses.” He sat again, put his arms around me, drew me between his thighs. “We’ll figure out a way through it.”
I rested my head atop his, breathed in his cologne. Then glanced toward the sitting area, found it empty of shifter and sorceress. “Did you see?”
“Trouble on the horizon?” he asked. “Yes. Yes, I did.”
“I mean, they’re both free agents, right?”
Lulu padded in. Her bob of dark hair gleaming, her clothes paint-splattered but tidy. She held up a hand as she aimed for the coffee. “I don’t even want to discuss it.”
Connor snorted. “Who said we do?”
She just grunted, pulled off a lid, and drank, throat working. When she’d properly self-medicated, she put the cup down, looked up again. “We just fell asleep. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Okay,” I said, as casually as I could manage.
“We were watching this show about guys finding junk on old farms. And we fell asleep. That’s it.”
“Okay,” I said again. “You’re talking about this much more than we are.”
She narrowed her gaze at us. “Oh. You’d love that, wouldn’t you?”
“No,” Connor said. “We definitely wouldn’t. Is he upstairs?”
“How would I know?” she asked, a little too loud.
“Because you just came from upstairs,” I offered, feeling the need to defend him, “and it’s a finite space.” I drew a box with my index fingers. “So it’s not unreasonable that you’d be aware of another person in said space.”
She just growled at me. Maybe she was missing the cat.
“He goes with you to work,” Connor told her, sipping again.
“Oh, great. Another night with baggage.”
The baggage walked in. He’d paired jeans with a tight-fitting T-shirt that showed off his leanly muscled body.
Connor flicked my ear.
“Stop doing that,” I said, sticking a pointed finger in his face and trying hard not to laugh.
“Stop staring at my Packmate,” he said.
Alexei took the other coffee, looked at us, looked at Lulu, and rolled his eyes. “Ready?” he asked her. Lulu grunted and followed him out.
“Have a good night at work,” I called out, and they both ignored me. Which was probably for the best. I looked at Connor. “What’s on the prince’s agenda for the evening?”
“Helping my girlfriend escape the wrath of the AAM, probably.”
“Good call.”
A buzzer sounded. Doorbell, I assumed, and cast a wary glance back toward the stairs, hand on my dagger. “Expecting someone?”
“As a matter of fact,” Connor said, and I followed him to the front door. And found Petra and Theo smiling through the glass.
* * *
* * *
“Damn nice digs,” Theo said, glancing around as Connor gave them a quick tour. “You have good taste.”
“Thanks,” Connor said. “There’s no coffee left, but—”
“We’re fine,” Theo said, shifting his gaze to me, still full of apology, as we followed Connor into the dining room.
Not the sitting area or the kitchen island, where we’d talked with Alexei and Lulu. Because those were for family. And Petra and Theo weren’t. At least not right now. Not yet.
Petra and Theo exchanged a heavy glance, but pulled out the upholstered chairs around the burled oak table, took seats. They’d understood, too.
I wanted to comfort everyone, but there wasn’t time for it. Not now.
Connor and I sat on the other side of the table, hands linked. And I wondered how many nights we’d sit together and face worries and tragedies. Hopefully always on the same side.
“We found the vehicle used to hit Connor,” Theo said. “It was dumped in the North Branch of the Chicago River. Divers found it during the day.”
“That doesn’t sound like an accident,” I said and squeezed Connor’s hand. “In case we needed any proof this was intentional, we have it.”
Theo nodded. “They’re searching for evidence, fingerprints that weren’t ruined by the swim. The make and model are common, but it happens a vehicle matching the description was stolen from the Brass & Copper building. It belonged to a human found inside a janitorial closet off the building’s lobby. Car key taken, along with a pint of his blood. But he’s alive.”
“A little snack,” I said, fury now hot. “Confirming the person who stole the car—and made an attempt on Connor—was a vampire.” My anger rose again. I’d have preferred the stalker come after me, put me in his sights, instead of taking aim at innocents.
“And because the stalker already took credit for Blake’s death, confirming he was also killed by a vampire,” Theo said.
“Why kill a vampire, try to kill a shifter, and avoid killing a human?” Petra asked. “The human would be the