Conrad’s expression was very still, which Mira was beginning to learn meant he was doing a lot of thinking as quickly as he could. Finally, he explained that only wolves and dragons lived in his particular part of the world, then turned to look out of the window with an air of finality that made Mira a little worried that they’d managed, somehow, to offend him. Vee looked thoughtful when Mira translated his final comments.
“I mean, I know there are a few all-wolf settlements around the place, usually up in the mountains where the humans still can’t find them. But I’ve never heard of wolves and dragons sharing a place—outside of human cities, of course.”
Humancities, Mira thought faintly, feeling that same ominous sense of unreality creeping into her mind. There really was a whole hidden subculture interwoven into the very fabric of the world she’d thought, until recently, that she knew pretty well. “How many people—humans,” she corrected herself quickly, “know about shifters?”
Vee tilted her head thoughtfully. “You know, I’ve never really thought about it. A bunch, probably, these days. It’s harder to keep secrets with the Internet and everything.”
“I’ll say,” Mira said, grimacing at the memory of her most recent Internet-related altercation.
“Was it easier, before all that stuff? Before Internet and phones and electricity and stuff?”
Mira laughed, about to rebuke the young woman for the barb—but the look on her face didn’t suggest she was joking. “Do I really look old enough to predateelectricity?”
“Well, no, youlooklike… twenty-five, maybe. But dragons never look their age, right? Or are you a young one?”
“Vee,” Ren said, not taking his eyes off the road. “Don’t be rude.”
“Sorry if that’s rude,” Vee said promptly. “Just curious. Like I said, we don’t meet many dragons.”
“Oh, I’m not—” Mira glanced sidelong at Conrad, who was still staring out the window, clearly not even trying to follow the conversation anymore. “He’s a dragon. I’m not.”
“Huh. You smell like a dragon,” Ren said from behind the wheel. Vee’s hand lashed out, lightning fast, and smacked him hard on the shoulder.
“Vee! Now, who’s being rude?”
“It’s true!”
“You smell great,” Vee reassured her firmly. “Ignore him. He means—he just means that sense shifters get about each other. We thought you two were both… but I guess we were wrong?” She kept glancing sidelong at Ren as if for help, but the young man seemed to be sulking, massaging his arm where his sister had struck him. “Like I said, we don’t meet many dragons. Sorry.”
“No need to be sorry,” Mira shrugged. It was a compliment, wasn’t it? Or were there strange politics here that she was yet to get her head around?
“If you’re a human, how come the weird army guys are trying to kidnap you?” Ren asked—and this time when Vee lashed out to hit him, he intercepted her hand instead, seizing her hard by the wrist. “They’ve only ever grabbed shifters before.”
“That weknowof,” Vee said, grimacing as she yanked her hand free of his grip. “They might be after humans, too.”
“They must be, if they’re the same group that came after my family when I was a kid.” Vee’s eyes widened a little, and Mira realized she hadn’t told that whole story yet. Conrad knew it, she remembered, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. She’d talked about a lot of things with him, before she’d realized his existence wasn’t limited to her dreams… and though she generally avoided talking about her mother with just about anyone who wasn’t close family, she was surprised by how much she didn’t mind knowing that Conrad had heard all the details. Again, that troubling question: why did she trust him so completely?
She cleared her throat as she turned back to find Vee looking at her intently, a cryptic little half-smile on her lips that she quickly cleared away. “You were saying these guys came after your family when you were a kid?”
They were only just reaching the foothills, Mira reflected, hearing the truck’s engine begin to whine as the slope increased. There were still a few hours to go before they reached her aunt’s remote little farm up in the hills. What better way to pass the time than by sharing a story she’d only ever told a handful of people in her life? And so, as the highway disappeared and was replaced by a road that wound and undulated through the hills, Mira told the attentive wolf in the front seat the whole story. Their sudden flight in the middle of the night, the mystery of what had happened to her mother. She and her dad relocating to a whole new city, after staying with her aunt for a few months. And then, just when she thought she’d put the worst of the trauma behind her, she realized just how sick her father was.
“How old were you?” Vee asked in a whisper, her silver eyes huge. Despite her tough appearance, the young wolf was an empathic and attentive listener—Mira was surprised by how easy it was to open up to her. Her brother in the driver’s seat might have seemed surly by contrast, but he chimed in a few times with questions that proved he was paying close attention, too. “When you lost him?”
“It was just after I turned fifteen,” she said, feeling the familiar pang of grief in her chest. “I moved back in with my aunt after that. Stayed with her until I was old enough to get my own place. We’re still very close.” She sighed, fidgeting with the phone in her lap. Heather had ordered her to take the battery out, so it was about as useful as a rock would have been, but she still felt the need to hold it. “I just hope she’s okay. I don’t think I could lose anyone else.”
Vee lunged awkwardly across the space between the seats to grab her hand and squeeze it, a clumsy gesture of comfort that nevertheless made her smile. Conrad, on the other hand, was suddenly on high alert, his head snapping around and his blue eyes full of a cold, intimidating expression she recognized from the confrontation with Eddie. Seemingly instinctively, Vee shrank back, pulling her hand away from Mira’s with a murmured apology.
“No need,” Mira reassured Vee, then turned to Conrad, trying to keep her expression and tone neutral as she changed language. “What’s the matter with you? You looked like you were about to attack her.”
“The sudden movement startled me,” Conrad said stiffly. “My apologies.” The overly formal choice of words made Mira’s eyes narrow. It felt disingenuous.
“They’re doing us a favor. They’re our friends.”
“We just met them.”
“I just metyou,” she pointed out… then immediately regretted it as she saw the flash of real hurt in his eyes, covered over just as quickly by that cool, blank wall of politeness.
“Apologies,” he said again, then turned back to the window. Mira felt odd like she’d done something wrong, but she was still too caught up in her lingering annoyance with him for snapping at Vee to care. Instead, she turned back to the wolves. Vee was fiddling with the stereo, adjusting the volume as the rattling of the engine seemed to be getting louder.