“Why not?”
“Look at his eyes.”
The man flashed them a look, and the headlights of Torren’s Camaro shone strangely in his eyes. They reflected like an animal’s.
“Shit,” she whispered. “Shifter. What does that mean?”
“Let’s go find out.” Torren threw the car into park on the circle drive. “Stay there.”
She’d learned from last time he wouldn’t make her stay out of this. But he liked to open doors for her. The man didn’t have money for fancy gifts, but he took care of her in the ways he could. In the ways that mattered. He made her feel like the queen he said she was.
He pulled open her door and offered his hand just like last time. Then he pulled her to his side and they walked across the snow-covered yard to face whatever was happening. Together.
Vyr looked pissed, his face strained and his eyes burning silver with elongated pupils. He was looking everywhere but at Candace, but she didn’t understand. Was his anger for her?
“What’s going on?” Torren asked in that growly voice that said HavoK was drawn up and ready to beat his chest and charge.
“Once upon a time,” Nox started, crossing his arms over his bare chest as he glared at the shifter cop, “a meteor blasted through the wall of Horace’s room and woke the whole house with the billowing smoke. And these fart nuggets came to investigate. On private land. When we didn’t call them for help.”
“First off,” the shifter cop growled. “I can hear all your lies. We know that’s Vyr Daye, and there was no meteor. The Red Dragon blasted a fireball through the wall of his own bedroom.”
“Hi, Sheriff Thompson,” Candace said sweetly. “Everything is fine, really. The boys will get a tarp over the hole and we’ll get to work on fixing it tomorrow. I’m sorry you had to come out here, but we’re all fine, as you can see.” Except where the hell was Nevada? Nox didn’t look worried so she forced herself not to worry either.
“Cinnamon—”
“Candace, please. I’m off work and ready to go to bed. It’s been a long night.”
Sheriff Thompson smiled understandingly. “I’m Officer Thompson now, and this is the new Sheriff of Foxburg, Sheriff—”
“Sheriff Hank Butts,” Nox interrupted. “I’ve nicknamed him Hanky Panky. You’re all welcome.”
Officer Thompson sighed and closed his eyes. He looked exhausted. “This is Hank Butte. He is the new Sheriff of Foxburg.”
“Wait, you were demoted?” Candace asked. She made an apologetic gesture to the giant shifter, who reeked of dominance and fur. Grizzly maybe? Big cat? “I mean, I’m sure you are good at this job, but Sheriff Thompson has been in charge of this town for a long time, and he’s very good.”
“Not good enough,” the shifter said rudely.
“Here’s what I think,” Vyr said in a voice as cold and smooth as whiskey on the rocks.
“Horace,” Torren warned, not giving up his real name.
“I think you’re here for me,” Vyr said, ignoring Torren. “I think they brought in a specialist when people figured out I was here. Am I right? Something’s building? I can feel it. My crew can feel it. I burned some of the woods and people saw the dragon, but it’s been quiet since then. Silent. Doesn’t make sense. But you,” Vyr growled, angling his head. “You make more sense. Polar bear. You’ve had quite the career.”
“Careful, dragon.”
“Kicked off force after force…for excessive force. And then you disappeared for the last five years. Where’d you go, Hank Butte? Did you go get yourself some special training somewhere? Training that made you the man for this job?”
Sheriff Butte gave him a toothy, feral smile. “I’ll see you soon, Vyr. Enjoy your night.” He nodded once and then sauntered off to his cruiser. The way he’d said that, he might as well have been saying “Enjoy your freedom while you can.”
Candace felt sick as she watched the police cruisers pull out of the clearing and disappear into Vyr’s woods.
When Candace couldn’t even hear the rumble of the car engines anymore, Vyr rounded on her. “You called to me. I was asleep and I had a dream, and in that dream, it was just a voice. Your voice. Calling me to you. You said Torren needed me. I woke up choking on fire.”
“Oh, shit,” Torren growled, pulling Candace behind him. “Vyr, this is on me. She was scared and saw me getting hurt.”
“It was all I could do not to Change and burn this damn town to the ground looking for you.”
Nox lifted his hand like he was in grade school. “Actually, I can take some of the credit for stopping the Change.”
“You tried to piss on me!” Vyr roared. “You missed, and now I have to change my bed sheets because they have urine on them. I’m so fucking sick of people pissing on me!”
“Well, it worked when Nevada did it! I didn’t know what else to do. And P. S.,” Nox yelled, “You could say ‘Thank you, Nox, for stopping my Change because Torren wasn’t here.’ I went charging into your bedroom worried because there was a damn fire. You were terrifying and I still tried to stop you! I am the fucking MVP of tonight.” Nox bent, picked up a handful of snow, and chucked it at Vyr’s face. “You suck and you make a terrible dragon and I’m glad I pissed in your bed.” As he walked away, he muttered. “And P. P. S. I’m gonna pee on your fuckin’ sheets every time you piss me off, you scaly-lizard-dick-turd-flake.” He tossed a middle finger over his shoulder and disappeared into the smoking hole in the wall instead of using the front door.
Vyr stood frozen, his cherry-red face speckled with snow and his silver dragon eyes wide.
Torren cleared his throat. “I think I should take this opportunity to tell you I got in a fight with a couple of silverbacks tonight. It went bad and one of them drove a Ford Mustang through the front wall of the sawmill. And I bit Candace, and she bit me back, soooo…I think we’ll go inside now and let you process this. You know…having a new crew member.”
Torren made his way to the hole in the wall while Candace stood there with her face all scrunched up, wishing she had a way with words that would make Vyr look less enraged. “Can I get you a beer? Or…something? Alpha?”
A dinosaur rumble emanated from him as he glared at her. Vyr was terrifying.
“Right. I’ll just be inside if you need anything. Sorry about calling you in my head, and the…” She waved her hand at the charred hole in his bedroom wall. A flame blazed up and then died in a bout of bad timing. “Goodnight, Vyr.”
And then she followed the boys through the hole and ignored the scent of smoke and Nox’s piss that filled Vyr’s room.
It hit her as Torren and Nox came back into the room dragging a massive, blue tarp and a long length of rope—she was a part of this. She was welcomed. Invited in. A member. One of them.
The boys worked in silence to get the hole covered, and Nevada came to stand beside her. “I didn’t want to talk to the police,” she said softly. “I don’t like talking to anyone but the boys. And you. You’re okay, too.”