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  She cleared her throat, willing to go along with the charade for now. “Ready?” she asked. When Dimitri and then Casey nodded, Jaycee lifted her hand and brought it down. “Fight.”

  Dimitri went instantly into a half crouch. He began moving in a slow circle, fists quiet, scrutinizing his target. Casey did the same, analyzing Dimitri’s fighting stance, looking for weaknesses.

  Dimitri, as usual, waited for his opponent to make the first move. Frustrated Jaycee when he did, but Dimitri said fighters often gave themselves away in the first few seconds of the bout. After that, it was just cleanup.

  Casey lunged, shifting to his half beast to strike.

  Dimitri spun out of his way, shifting fully as he went. He came down as a thick-furred red wolf and met Casey’s attack.

  The contrast between the two wolves was marked. Casey was a gray, the muzzle of his half beast showing white mottling in gray fur. Dimitri’s fur was red fading to tawny at his chest, his tail tipped with black.

  The difference between them didn’t stop at fur color. Dimitri’s ears were more rounded, his muzzle sharper than that of a gray or black wolf. His physique was why other Lupines mockingly called him coyote, but red wolves weren’t coyotes at all. Jaycee had looked that up a long time ago. They were rare, however, especially among Shifters.

  Casey closed on Dimitri, claws lashing. His Collar sparked, but he’d spoken the truth when he’d said he could ignore it. Electricity bit into Casey’s neck but he never flinched as he dug huge paws into Dimitri and tried to yank him off his feet.

  Shifters were extremely strong in their half-man, half-beast forms, usually stronger than their full animals. Why Dimitri was remaining in his wolf form while Casey fought as half beast, Jaycee didn’t understand.

  Wait, yes, she did. Dimitri had reasoned that being Collar-free gave him an edge, and he was trying to compensate to keep the fight even. He was playing fair. Dimitri did things like that, which made Jaycee want to yell at him. He could get himself killed playing fair.

  Dimitri leapt at Casey, didn’t matter that Casey was busy trying to pound him into the dirt. Dimitri dodged under the half beast’s longer reach, slammed his body into Casey’s chest, and then pushed off him, raking all four claws into Casey’s torso as he went. Gray fur flew, but no blood appeared.

  Casey’s Collar sparked still more as he leapt in retaliation at Dimitri. Dimitri spun in a fury of dust and red fur, aimed beneath Casey’s reach again, and launched himself into the other man’s body. This time Dimitri closed his teeth around the loose wolf skin between Casey’s chest and throat.

  Casey howled and shook himself. Dimitri’s body flopped as Casey’s strength flung him around until Dimitri, pried loose, tumbled away. Dimitri came up with a mouthful of wolf hair, his muzzle stained with Casey’s blood.

  Blood flowed from the wound Dimitri had left, but Casey didn’t halt. He roared in rage and lunged for Dimitri.

  Jaycee slammed herself in front of Casey. He was a nightmare beast, half shifted, his eyes red with rage, but Jaycee stood her ground.

  “First blood,” she shouted up at him. “Fight’s over.”

  Casey started for her, ready to battle Jaycee if she didn’t get out of his way. Jaycee didn’t move. She’d stared down plenty of out-of-control pissed-off Shifters in her time—stared them down and won. She’d perfected the don’t-mess-with-me-you-shithead glare, and she used it now.

  Casey was fairly dominant, she could see, but not as dominant as Jaycee. He snarled at her but halted his attack. After a moment under her steady gaze the crazed fury left his eyes, and then he shifted to human and took a long breath.

  Dimitri hadn’t moved from where he’d taken up his stance as the victor of the fight. He hadn’t come forward to defend Jaycee but he’d watched every movement Casey made, every twitch of his muscle.

  Jaycee knew Dimitri would have been on Casey in an instant if he’d attacked her. Dimitri let Jaycee hold her own, but he was always there to back her up the moment she needed it. The feeling of being guarded warmed her.

  Dimitri, still in wolf form, walked to Jaycee’s side and sat down, his fur warm against her legs.

  “Good fight,” Casey said, breathing hard.

  Dimitri gave him a conceding growl; then he let his tongue loll out as he began to pant.

  “Dimitri agrees,” Jaycee said. She wasn’t quite sure how to continue the conversation by herself, but Dimitri apparently was going to stay wolf a while.

  But, oh well, they weren’t out here to be social. If Casey was a villain, he’d reveal himself sooner or later. If not, then they’d go back to the bar, have more beer, and the two guys would relive every move of the fight, ad nauseam, as males were wont to do. Jaycee would listen until she rolled her eyes and then went back out to dance.

  Casey glanced at the moon, which had risen higher as they’d sparred. “We should give thanks to the Goddess,” he said. “Well fought, no injuries.”

  Dimitri didn’t move, didn’t blink. Casey switched his gaze to Jaycee, waiting for her to answer.

  Jaycee wondered if this was a test of some kind—if the way she responded would decide whether Casey would open up with all kinds of information about Shifters who worked with the Fae. Or, again, he might simply be a normal Shifter, one who liked to show respect for the Goddess.

  “Sure,” Jaycee said uncertainly. All Shifters performed rituals to the Goddess, from private meditation and prayer to big public ceremonies such as matings or send-offs for the dead. Some Shifters were more devout than others, but all shared faith. “Nothing wrong with honoring the Goddess.”

  Casey relaxed, and Jaycee congratulated herself on saying the right thing. Casey reached for her and took her hand, not in an intrusive or suggestive way, but as though they were friends, Shifters together under the sky. Didn’t matter that he was stark naked and Jaycee fully clothed—their natural forms were nothing to be ashamed of. For Shifters, being nude didn’t automatically equate to a need for sex.

  Casey apparently had nothing sexual in mind as he led Jaycee to the top of the bluff overlooking the river. The Colorado narrowed here, glittering under the moonlight in its long journey from West Texas to the Gulf.

  Dimitri walked close to Jaycee’s other side, his wolf body in contact with hers, his strength easing her worries.

  Formal prayers to the Goddess usually involved fire—Shifters connected with the Goddess through her gift of warmth and light in the night. As far as Jaycee knew, Dimitri hadn’t packed a brazier in his new truck. Starting a fire on the ground would attract attention, and could easily become an uncontrollable wildfire through the dry Texas lands. Even a lighter or a candle would show in the clear air for miles, so they’d be doing this prayer in the dark.

  The lack of fire didn’t seem to bother Casey. He simply looked out over the river, his hand in Jaycee’s, while Jaycee rested her palm on Dimitri’s furry head.

  Casey abruptly raised his and Jaycee’s joined hands high. “Goddess, we thank thee for the beauty of the earth and your light to guide us in the darkness,” he proclaimed to the sky. “And for the strength of the Shifters, so that we may survive to enjoy your world.”

  Dimitri moved against Jaycee’s side and shot her a glance. Casey’s wasn’t a highly unusual prayer, though most Shifters kept prayers focused on friends and family.

  Casey lowered their hands. The three stood in silence, watching the night. Stars glittered, and the moon bathed them in cool light.

  A meteor streaked across the sky, a brief shaft of light that quickly died. Another followed, and one more. Then darkness descended again.

  Casey let out a breath. “Did you see that? The Goddess blesses us.”

  Dimitri sat down on his haunches, his huff faint, but Jaycee heard it. It was a snort of derision, Dimitri’s opinion on Shifters who believed the Goddess controlled every tiny detail of the entire uni
verse. Casey didn’t seem to notice, his face turned up to the stars.

  After a time, Casey released Jaycee’s hand and faced Dimitri, relaxed and calm. “Good fight,” he said again. His chest bore faint red gouges from Dimitri’s teeth, but the wound was fading and closing. Dimitri hadn’t bitten him very deeply, and Shifters healed quickly. Casey gave him a rueful look. “Guess I got too cocky.”

  Under Jaycee’s hand the red wolf began to move and change, big ears receding, muzzle shortening, tail disappearing. Cartilage cracked, and after a few moments, Dimitri the man stood at Jaycee’s side in a body that made her mouth dry.

  Dimitri smoothed his short red hair with one hand and gave Casey a grin. “We all d-do.”

  Casey frowned at him. “It’s unusual to find a Shifter with any imperfection. No offense,” he added quickly.

  “You mean my st-stammer?” Dimitri shrugged. “Only in English, and only when I’m h-human. I d-don’t think of it as an . . . im-imp—” He shook his head, unable to spit out the word.

  “I know someone who might be able to help you,” Casey said. “Well, I don’t know if he can. If the Goddess has decided you should stutter, maybe there’s a reason for it. But if it’s only a problem with English or a confidence thing, I think this guy can help.”

  “What guy?” Jaycee asked sharply. She didn’t like other people talking about Dimitri and his stammer, especially when they looked at him as though he were a lab experiment. “A Shifter?”

  “Yes, a Shifter.” Casey gave her a reassuring nod. “You won’t know him. He’s not from around here.”

  Hmm. You are exactly the sort of Shifters a splinter group would want, Dylan had instructed Jaycee and Dimitri. So find one. Join them. And tell me what they’re up to.

  Following up on Casey and his friend not from around here was exactly the task she and Dimitri had been charged to do. If they had to pretend Dimitri was worried about his stutter, then they did, as much as Jaycee disliked others discussing it. There was nothing wrong with Dimitri—he was fine the way he was.

  “What Sh-Shiftertown are you f-from?” Dimitri asked Casey.

  “New Orleans.” Casey saw how closely they were watching him and gave a short laugh. “You don’t trust me, and I don’t blame you. We’re Shifters. We don’t trust easily. But the human woman called Bree Fayette—she came to Austin and mated with one of your friends. Seamus, right? She knows me from New Orleans. Ask her about me.”

  Seamus, who was one higher in the hierarchy than Dimitri, had recently mated with a human woman who’d once been a Shifter groupie. Bree, when she’d lived in New Orleans, had put on makeup and fake cat’s ears and gone to Shifter bars to be around Shifters. She’d given all that up to settle down with Seamus, but Bree retained a vast store of knowledge about Shifters, more than some Shifters knew themselves.

  Jaycee liked Bree, who was fun and funny, who’d been through a lot but had compassion by the ton. She made a great mate for Seamus, who’d always been a bit of a loner.

  Jaycee had never had much use for human women before, but in the past six months, she’d become good friends with two of them—Bree and Addison. Funny how life could change so swiftly.

  She gave Casey a nod. “All right, I’ll talk to her. What about this other Shifter you mentioned? Is he from New Orleans too?”

  Casey hesitated, looking uncomfortable. “I won’t say right now. He’s a good person, but . . .” He fell silent, obviously choosing his words. “I can’t ask you to trust me yet. You ask Bree about me, then if you want to talk to me again, you call me. I’m heading back to New Orleans tonight. Call me there, and we’ll get together again.”

  Dimitri gave him a clear-eyed look, as though he didn’t have a suspicious thought in his head. “S-sounds good to m-me.”

  “I swear he can fix that.” Casey waved in the general direction of Dimitri’s mouth. “If you want him to.”

  Dimitri’s smile flared. “S-so I can say sweet n-nothings to my girl?”

  “Thanks a lot,” Jaycee said to Casey in a dry voice. “He talks too much as it is.”

  Casey’s worried look evaporated. “You know, I like you two. I hope we can meet again.” He stepped to Dimitri and spread his arms. Dimitri went to him, and the two closed into a hug.

  It wasn’t bad watching two very hot, well-muscled, bare male Shifters pull each other close. Casey wasn’t feigning—he held Dimitri tightly, soaking in Dimitri’s strength, one Shifter drawing comfort from another. Dimitri hugged him as firmly, rubbing Casey’s back with his fist.

  When they broke the embrace, Casey took a step back and squeezed Dimitri’s shoulders. He looked more at ease now, Dimitri’s dominance helping to calm him.

  He turned to Jaycee. “Mind?” he asked Dimitri.

  “Up t-to her.” Dimitri shrugged. “I better warn you, she might k-kill you.”

  “Shut up,” Jaycee said. She didn’t really want to hug Casey, but she went to him without hesitation and stepped into his embrace.

  Casey was a good hugger—Jaycee had to give him that. His body was hot against the cooling night, his hold strong but not sexual. Jaycee found herself unwinding, the thought forming that maybe they really had made a friend. Shifters didn’t trust easily, as Casey had indicated, but Casey had a quality that said he only wanted to make everything better for the world.

  Jaycee didn’t pull away until Casey released her. Dimitri was watching closely, his eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. If jealousy stirred inside him, he hid it well.

  They walked together back to the site of the fight, where the two males dressed. It was a shame to cover such male goodness, Jaycee thought, watching Dimitri settle his jeans over his fine backside, but they didn’t have much choice.

  When they reached the truck, Casey pulled out a scrap of paper and wrote his phone number on it. “Drop me anywhere,” he said as he handed the number to Jaycee. “No need to go out of your way. I can walk back to the roadhouse.”

  “Nah,” Dimitri said. “I g-gotcha.”

  The three didn’t speak much as they drove the winding roads back through the outlying towns, Jaycee sitting against Dimitri again, Casey on her other side. The traffic, even in Austin, had thinned this late, and it didn’t take Dimitri long to make it through the city and down the Bastrop highway to the roadhouse. Casey pointed out a black Harley with polished chrome in the roadhouse parking lot, and Dimitri pulled to a halt beside it.

  Casey said good night, squeezing both Jaycee’s and Dimitri’s hands before he climbed out of the truck and mounted the bike. Jaycee watched as Casey started up and rolled out, lifting his hand to them in a parting wave.

  She let out her breath. “Damn it, I can’t tell if he’s an evil mastermind or just a nice guy.”

  “Or a serial k-killer,” Dimitri said. “I hear they’re n-nice.”

  Jaycee gave him a look of exasperation. “What do we tell Kendrick? That we got to know a Shifter who likes to fight and then pray to the Goddess? Who might know a Shifter who’s good at speech therapy? I think we wasted the evening.”

  “N-night’s not over yet.” Dimitri slanted Jaycee a glance that made her shiver. “Come in and dance with me.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Music crashed into Dimitri’s senses, too loud to make much sense of the melody or lyrics. Didn’t matter. The beat beneath it, thumping through the club, was what the dancers came for.

  Like primal beasts, he thought as he seized Jaycee’s hand and pulled her against him. Pounding drums in the night caught the need to pulse with the rhythm. Both humans and Shifters responded to it.

  Makes us think of another rhythm, Dimitri’s thoughts went on as Jaycee began to move against him. It’s why males and females go into bars separately and leave together.

  Fighting Casey had fired Dimitri’s blood. They’d broken off long before a fight would end at the fight club, and his body hadn�
�t had time to cool. Having Jaycee squashed next to him in the truck driving back hadn’t helped.

  Dimitri tugged her close as she tried to whirl away. Jaycee glanced up at him, startled, then smiled and laced her arms around his neck.

  Growls welled in Dimitri’s throat. The truncated fight and Jaycee near was enough to trigger the frenzy that told him to take her somewhere private and not come out for days. Shifter instinct. A bitch to fight.

  So why did they bother holding back? Cubs who came to mate-claimed mates, even before they were officially joined in the sun and moon ceremonies, were accepted. None of the human born-out-of-wedlock constraint. All cubs were welcome anytime—no shame was attached. Why were cubs to blame if their parents were impatient?

  Jaycee didn’t look particularly interested in doing anything but dancing. She swayed against Dimitri, her breasts cushioned on his chest. Did she do it to drive him crazy? Or was she simply enjoying the music?

  A Shifter groupie—a male—spun slowly up to them. He was dressed as a wolf enthusiast, with a headband with fake wolf’s ears, yellow contacts in his eyes, and his face painted with gray and white markings and whiskers. Jaycee turned, releasing Dimitri, and undulated her hips toward him. The man moved his leather-clad body in near-perfect imitation.

  A few seconds later, the groupie was right against Jaycee, dancing body to body with her. Dimitri lunged at the man, letting out a fierce wolf snarl. Back off.

  Instead of looking scared or angry, the groupie grinned with delight—happy a Shifter had acted like a Shifter. He beamed at Dimitri, gave him a thumbs-up, and danced away.

  Jaycee turned to Dimitri, shaking with laughter. “Silly red wolf. He wasn’t interested in me.”

  Dimitri felt a moment’s surprise that all beings with testosterone wouldn’t crave Jaycee, and then he shrugged. He pulled Jaycee against him again, his momentary rage having done nothing to sate his hunger.