“It’s a message,” Denver said. “A warning.”
Parked out front was Lorenzo, leaning against the grill of his truck with one hand tucked in his pocket and the other holding a cigarette. He took a long drag, watching me as I stood there in an ankle-length gown that belonged to my mom.
Austin growled when I got too close, but I knelt down and got a good look at one of the wolves. “It’s not a warning,” I said. “It’s an offering.” I didn’t know if Austin could understand me or not, but I turned and looked at him as if he could. “This was the dog that treed me in the cemetery. I don’t know who the other one is though. The warning is for Lorenzo’s pack, not yours. But this is a gift… for me.”
The message being that anyone who thought about hurting me would answer to him. I wondered who the second wolf was—maybe the one who was supposed to have been watching me that night. Lorenzo said he had a man following me at all times.
Somehow, a dead body was not a romantic gesture.
“Come away from there, Lexi,” Jericho said, stepping forward with his arm outstretched.
Austin snapped at him. Jericho turned his head and sighed through his nose in frustration. “Is he ever going to shift back?” he asked Denver. “’Cause that biting shit is starting to piss me off.”
“How long was I out? What time is it?”
“Two days,” Denver said. “Ivy and your mom took care of you; they were the only ones who could get near Austin.”
“He hasn’t shifted back?”
Denver strolled out of the room, hiking up his sweats. The motor fired up on Lorenzo’s truck and he slowly backed out.
“He’s been that way since he brought you in,” Jericho said, putting an unlit cigarette into his mouth. “All hell broke loose when your mom jumped on top of you. We tried to get her off and Austin suddenly shifted and guarded you two like his life depended on it. Between you and me, Austin’s wolf is one badass alpha.”
“Where’s Ivy?”
Jericho stuffed his hands in the pockets of his black jeans, shredded from thigh to knee, biting down on the cigarette as if he hadn’t decided whether to light it or not. “Helping your friend at the store.”
“Do what?”
“The power is on and the shipments are due to arrive today. The twins are unloading while the girls set up.”
I tucked my hands under my arms. “Lorenzo paid for all that?”
His brows knitted and he tucked the smoke behind his ear. “No. Austin did.”
I took a moment to process that, because I had never asked him for any help in that regard. It wasn’t even his problem, and yet he took money out of his own pocket to keep the store running. A store that only paid me a mediocre salary.
“I can’t believe it,” I whispered. Jericho shook his head a little to get his hair out of his eyes and I lowered my voice. “What happened to Beckett?”
Jericho made a slicing motion across his throat and I shuddered. “Austin took care of that problem, and your friend took care of his.”
“Which friend?”
The wolf’s toenails clicked on the tile as he turned in circles and sat in front of me.
Jericho combed his fingers through his hair. “Your neighbor. I guess she knows some cleaners and instead of waiting for the cops, she had the body removed like nothing had happened.”
“Are you sure you don’t mean Lorenzo?”
“Nope,” he said, shaking his head. “Shifters have connections, and I guess she’s got the hookup for taking care of dead bodies.”
“Naya is a Shifter?”
My legs weakened and I closed the door.
“Mmm. We went to check on things and she was in there picking up roses. Nice tits on that one.” Then he looked at the shock plastered across my face. “You didn’t know she was a Shifter? Our kind tends to gravitate toward one another, even if we don’t know it. We also look out for those we bond with, so if you two were tight, then that explains why she went the extra mile. Believe it or not, this city is teeming with Shifters. Not sure what her animal is, but I’d be willing to bet it’s a cat,” he said, rolling his tongue over his bottom lip. “Afraid I’m not into cats; too much maintenance. But they’re prettylicious to look at.”
“I think I’m going to throw up now,” I declared, walking around him and into the living room. Naya was a Shifter? It made sense, but I still couldn’t believe it. “Where’s Maizy?”
“Denver’s keeping an eye on her in the study across from the atrium. When I last checked, she was looking at the pictures in some old World Almanac we’ve had around for about fifty years. He took her outside to play ‘slay the dragon’ this morning. They were trying to kill the snake Reno saw under the house.”
“What?” My question was more of a declaration I would kill him if he was serious. “Can you trust him with her?”