“Are there many out in these parts?” Connor asked but, given his tone, just for form. “Rogue shifters?”
“Few here and there. They aren’t part of the community. They don’t reach out much.”
Connor made a noncommittal sound. He walked to the window, looked out over the dark resort. “You heard about the issues en route?”
Cash went to a couch, took a seat, and spread his arms alongthe back. He was showing arrogance, that he had nothing to hide. But there was a tightness around his eyes.
“To Alaska?” he asked as if he had no interest in the answer.
Connor glanced back at him. “The Pack’s return home. No one from the resort joined the caravan.”
“Look out the window,” Cash said, turning his gaze to it. “We don’t need to go anywhere to recharge. We have everything we need right here.”
“Recharging isn’t about woods. It’s about Aurora, as I’m sure you know.”
“Whatever. No one told me leaving was obligatory, so we didn’t leave. If you had issues, not our doing.”
“And I take it you don’t think there’s anything to these beast rumors?” Connor asked.
Cash rolled his eyes. “Trouble-mongering and wild imaginations.”
Connor watched him for a minute. “Okay,” he said. “I appreciate the time and the talk. We’ll see you at the initiation.”
“We?” Cash asked.
“Me and Elisa,” Connor said, voice dry because the answer was obvious, and Cash certainly knew that plan ahead of time.
All eyes in the room shifted to me. “No vampire is attending an initiation,” Cash said, leaning forward.
“I was invited,” Connor said mildly. “She’s my plus-one.”
“No fucking way.” The shifter who said it was older, probably Cash’s age, with a barrel chest and silver hair and beard. His skin was suntanned, his eyes blue and hard. He wore jeans, a button-down shirt with sleeves rolled up at the wrists, and dark motorcycle boots with chains across the instep.
“Everett,” Cash said in warning.
Everett’s lips compressed into a thin, unhappy line, but he held his peace.
“As you were informed before we made this trip,” Connor said,“we’ll be attending together, and with Georgia’s and the Apex’s blessings. If you’ve got a problem with that, you’re welcome to take it up with the Apex. Or, if you’re not interested in a trip to Chicago, with me. Now.”
Tension and magic rose in the room, swirled in invisible eddies.
Cash sat back again. “I don’t know you or your old man like some of the others do. Not like your aunt does. You’re Pack, and that gives you a right to be here and an invitation. We aren’t looking for trouble. We’re looking to be left alone, to live our lives. We have nothing to hide here.”
“Including from humans?” I wondered.
Cash looked at me, jaw tight. “What we do in our territory is no business of humans.”Or of vampireswas his silent addition.
Connor let those words hang, apparently didn’t feel it necessary to respond to them. “We appreciate your hospitality. If you want to talk to me about anything else, we’ll be here for at least a few days.”
That was a longer trip than we’d discussed, so I guessed from Connor’s expression he was testing the clan, watching their reactions to the possibility we’d be around for a while.
“You’re staying past the initiation,” Cash said.
“I don’t see that we need to be in a hurry,” Connor began, shifting his gaze back to the windows. “Like you said, you have everything a shifter needs right here.”
SEVEN
We’ll take the bike,” Connor said, then glanced at me. “Unless you prefer a vehicle to protect your...” He circled a finger over his head.