Family was important, but her income was also tied up in Apex. I’d done a bit of research on the company, inspired by Charmaine, and I was sitting with pretty important people tonight.
“You okay if I go and dance?” Wes asked me.
I nodded at Wes. He was right — we were pretty much done here now. Patrick had invited us, but now he was no longer here, and it was an awkward position to be in — still at the party when the host had left or gone to bed for the night.
“I might go and dance, too.” I nodded at Charmaine as well, then waved to Jackson, who waved back as he and Davina continued discussing something that clearly didn’t concern me. I’d taken the car here, but I’d probably had enough to drink that it wasn’t wise to try to drive home.
I’d be okay, though. I wasn’t even that far away from my brownstone. My home wasn’t big — nothing like the palatial penthouse Patrick lived in, but my spare bedroom was a library, so that was a pretty big win for me. Still, it would have been pretty cool to have a pool to call my own.
I grinned at my tiny flare of envy. If Jackson was right, and I shouldn’t give up, perhaps I’d get to swim in that pool again.
I stepped outside and the darkness closed in on me, heavy and pervasive. Immediately, I returned to the interior of Clover’s. Something about the night felt dangerous.
I’d still be leaving my car here in the parking lot, but calling a cab would be way safer. I scrolled through my phone contacts for the number of my usual firm.
I used them quite a lot, so they were familiar with where to drop me so I could make it safely home.
I relaxed once I was inside the cab, watching the usual Carwyn City scenery roll by. Soon, we arrived at the side street where I always had the drivers leave me, and I paid for my ride, offering the cabbie a smile before I climbed out.
His red tail lights disappeared down the street, and I started my short walk. My wolf growled low inside me and each tiny hair on my body lifted. I glanced over my shoulder. Someone was there.
Only there was no one.
I was alone, but someone was watching. I sped up, my steps growing noisier, keeping time with my pulse.
Something skittered behind me, just a small stone shooting past my foot, but I whipped around, releasing a snarl from my chest as I did. The sound was inhuman, the noise of my wolf, and the men who were now behind me should have been freaked out, but the two of them just stood there, silent and menacing.
My wolf had acted instinctively, and I was glad. I was more aware of her presence since the run with Wes, but she still stayed fairly quiet most of the time.
I watched the men, suddenly falling back into a very human response of freezing at the moment of danger.
They were huge, but what did they want?
I had nothing to defend myself, not even mace, because we’d left from Mom’s in such a hurry.
I growled again, and my wolf nudged at me. Of course I had a defense. I always had a defense. I wasmy owndefense.
I reached for her, drawing her up and through me, and it was easier than it had been before. Smoother and quicker as joints and muscles clicked into place. This felt natural.
And thankfully, I’d never stopped wearing the onyx earrings Dad had given me on my sixteenth birthday. The jewelry made it possible for shifters to regain our human forms completely clothed, sparing unnecessary blushes. It had been an uneasy few years before the onyx started being sold outside of specialist dealers, but now it was common.
I looked up at the men from a different vantage point now, and I snarled, baring my teeth in a display of fear-turned-into-anger that I hadn’t allowed myself to feel in a very long time. As before, a sense of something wild ran through me.
If I’d expected the sight of my wolf — or even a human becoming a wolf — to make the men turn and run, I was wrong. Instead, they shifted as well, their transition almost nothing more than a ripple of cascading fur, their wolves equally as large, silent, and menacing as their human forms.
Of coursethey were shifters. Why would my bad luck improve now?
I bared my teeth again and released another loud snarl, but neither wolf backed down. But why would they? They were huge, I was outnumbered, and we all knew it.
My mind ran wild. I’d never been attacked or accosted in the city before, not even by a human chancing their luck — and certainly not like this.
This kind of shit showed that any leaning toward love or even trusting new people too much was a mistake. Ever since I’d met Patrick, he took up most of my thoughts, and all I smelled was him. He’d invaded all my senses. My ability to get the scent of my environment was already jaded by my wolf being so quiet. I’d barely been aware of these two assholes following me, and I’d allowed them to get far too close.
Maybe I’d endangered myself by not being vigilant enough, by not relying on my natural senses and instincts, because I was distracted and off my game. I should have been reacquainting myself with my wolf after our run.
But my head was full of Patrick.
It was exactly why I couldn’t allow him to be in my head, why starting to trust other people was dangerous. It was a distraction I didn’t need.