Scarlet cleared her throat. “At any rate, snakes don’t eat shrubbery, so we can also eliminate him.” She put a neat line through his name.
From the remaining names, they discussed the most likely candidates—the humorless cigarette-smoking man from Lydia’s flight, a bruiser with a Russian accent who professed to be a saber-toothed cat, and a black-haired woman who was built slightly but had a quick slyness that everyone agreed was a little suspicious and snake-like.
“A mink would be,” Scarlet said, consulting her notes, but she left the star by the woman’s name.
“Keep your eyes on these characters in particular,” Scarlet told them as the meeting broke up. “Stay in touch with each other, and be smart. Let’s go get some work done.”
As Wrench went to leave with Lydia beside him, Scarlet paused with them for a moment.
“I will understand if you don’t wish to leave your mate’s side until this is resolved,” she said in a tone that could have been tolerant or just disgusted. “But I do have a request for Lydia alone. Gizelle has been in her gazelle form since the earthquake, and I was hoping that I could have your help trying to get through to her. Jenny’s had no luck.”
“Of course,” Lydia said immediately.
Gizelle had always been shy and skittish. When the Shifting Sands staff had rescued her from a madman’s shifter collection, she had refused to shift to human form for months. She still tended to revert to her gazelle shape whenever she was startled or frightened, which was often. With no memories of anyone or anywhere before her captivity, no one was sure how old she was, or where she’d come from before her imprisonment. She was innocent and childlike at times, but her seriousness and the white that streaked her hair sometimes made her seem ancient.
“I’ll move the meditation class to the lawn outside the event hall,” Lydia suggested. “Gizelle would sometimes join us, and I can stay after class and see if she’ll approach me.”
Scarlet nodded briskly and left them.
“You know I’m comin’ with you,” Wrench growled from her side.
“If you do, I expect you to meditate quietly with the rest of us,” Lydia teased.
Wrench looked stoic. “Fine.”
Lydia almost took his hand, then reconsidered, walking beside him as they went back up to her room to check on Ally. She was startled and delighted when Wrench took her hand of his own volition.
She twined her fingers into his and felt a moment of deep contentment and peace.
Chapter 37
Wrench tried to decide if meditation class was better or worse than salsa dancing.
One the one hand, he didn’t have to watch his feet for fear of crushing one Lydia’s unfortunate toes.
On the other, it was every bit as boring and infuriating as he’d feared.
He opened an eye a crack, surveying the others in the group.
“A deep breath in, all the way to the bottom of your lungs. Feel your ribcage stretch. Let your shoulders relax as you breath out again.”
The old woman with the unfortunate luggage had her legs twisted into a remarkably flexible pose, back ramrod straight as she followed along with the guided breathing that Lydia was calling out in her calmest voice. She’d been the most surprised of the group to see Wrench join the meditation, and Wrench couldn’t decide if she was most put off by the scars and tattoos, the fact that a lowly member of the staff was joining the class, or that he was a man. Whatever the reason, his presence was obviously highly displeasing to her behind a mask of false friendliness.
“Focus on filling your lungs, breathe in.”
Beyond the old woman was the cold blonde, looking colder than ever. Her heels and expensive purse were beside her on the grass.
“Breathe all the way out and empty your mind.”
The dark-haired supposedly-mink shifter was next in the circle, her long hair pulled back in a sinuous ponytail. Wrench was glad he had joined the class; it would have been laughably easy for one of them to catch Lydia off guard as she sat with her eyes closed.
“As thoughts intrude, let them pass without challenge.”
The small group was completed by the bookworm in glasses. It was odd to see her without a book, her eyes closed behind her thick glasses.
“Concentrate on your breathing, evenly out, evenly in.”
Beyond them, at the far edge of the lawn, a dainty gazelle was grazing studiously, her big ears flicking back and forth.