Her car was in the driveway, right in front of the house, and the first thing she saw when Ian pushed the door open was her little cat meowing demandingly, like she hadn't been fed in centuries.

Ace had been true to her word and brought her in.

Cats were territorial and had a tendency to detest change of environment, so Tania expected her baby to be pissy, but the pet seemed relaxed.

"I'd better set up a litter box; hang on, I have to grab the stuff from my car."

"Don't worry about it. Plenty of litter boxes in the house. Ace's rescues occasionally come and go, so our cleaner keeps them clean."

"I should at least grab her food." 

"Cat food in the kitchen. Let me show you." 

After leading the way to the large modern kitchen and showing her the cat food, Ian gave her the grand tour of the immense plantation home.

Most of the bedrooms on the ground floor were dark and shut up, but when they reached the master bedroom on the second floor, it had been lit up, and there was a change of clothes at the foot of the bed.

"Ah, looks like Ace set you up in her old bedroom. Good. There'll be stuff in the bathroom. You're working tomorrow?"

Tania nodded, feeling incredibly self-conscious. When had strangers been quite so accommodating? Hell, she wouldn't have expected this from her closest friends.

"Yeah, until twelve."

He nodded. "Leaving you to it, then. We have three enforcers patrolling tonight, so you sleep tight. No one's getting to you."

Before she could thank him again, he was out the door.

She headed to the bathroom and, as promised, found it well stocked with bubble bath, moisturizers, even some makeup. She indulged in a long, calming bath before wrapping herself in thick, luxurious bedding and tried to sleep.

Operative word: tried.

The elegant lake house was too large, too unfamiliar, too quiet, and too noisy, all at once. Knowing that a trio of shifters she had yet to meet were watching it, from somewhere in the shadows, helped a bit, but there was little chance of her getting any rest in these conditions. God, what had she gotten herself into? 

 There were bags under her eyes and the woman looked so worried when she stepped out the door. Ian did enjoy the change in her expression when she saw him though. 

"Ian!" she beamed. "Your PA came through. No more insults or threats on my profile." 

He'd made poor Walter work through the night on this for him, instead of chilling on a Friday night. The guy probably deserved a bonus. 

"I know." 

He guessed she wanted news about her issue, so he explained, "We have a team assessing the situation. You didn't tag any of us and there aren't that many people on your profile. For everything to blow up so fast, someone who saw your post was an extremist. If we can pinpoint who it was, we can figure out where your information was posted and have it deleted." 

It wasn't that simple, of course. Unfortunately, Tania was too smart for her own good. 

"And then what? They could have taken screenshots; they might just repost my information again after it's gone." 

Ian winced. 

"Shall I drive you to work?" he offered, pointing to his truck. 

A poor attempt at a change of subject. 

"Thank you," she replied. He opened her door and she slid in the passenger seat. The moment he'd sat down behind the wheel, she was repeating, "So, what then?" 

Ian sighed. "There's a high probability that we'll have to use some violence. Shake them up a bit. At least, threaten them." 

Tania gasped. "I thought the law—"

"Yep," said Ian, interrupting her. 

The American government didn't presume to rule over sups, but it did forbid them from hurting regular humans. That was the very reason behind the existence of the Paranormal Investigation Agency. Never mind that their head office had been blown up and they'd barely acted over the last year or so.

"Let's hope it won't come to that," he said carefully, "but if it does, we'll let them come to us first, and record the whole thing to protect our asses. Anti-shifters are easily manipulated." 

To her credit, Tania swallowed that without any protest.

"You know, the more I think about it, the more I think my dad could have shared my post." She lowered her eyes to her hands. Shame.

Ian wouldn't have any of that.

"Chin up," he told her, letting go of the wheel with his right hand long enough to squeeze her fingers, folded on her lap.

There it was again. That strong electric current.

"We've already established that you're not the only person who has a shitty parent. We'll look into it."

Having a direction would speed up their investigation.

They arrived at the practice too quickly; Ian would never have guessed fifteen minutes had passed. Her smell was sweet and spicy, taking over the whole truck. He didn't want to let go.

"So, are you going to watch the practice?"

He nodded. "From a healthy distance, yes. Don't stress out. Just concentrate on work."

She chuckled. "Yeah, that's gonna be easy." 

On that note, Tania opened her door and slid out of his truck. 

“Don’t get too bored!” she called out.