Cadence Daniels tightened her hands on the steering wheel, alarm filling her as her ancient Chevy shuddered and groaned.

“Shit, shit, shit, not now,” she muttered, trying to control the rising panic she felt.

According to her old-school map, she was out in the middle of nowhere, too far from Denver for her car to be acting up. The odds of finding a mechanic, or someone who could resurrect her car from the dead—which was what she suspected would need to happen—out here was nonexistent, and she didn’t have the cash to call someone in from the city. By her reckoning, she was at least an hour, if not more, away.

And she had to get off the road, needed to be holed up in some nondescript motel, hidden in a city. Not in the middle of nowhere, exposed, where anyone who happened by wouldn’t be able to help seeing her. Winston could find her easily, and she’d be a sitting duck. She knew he was somehow managing to find her. He could be on the road behind her this very second—

No. She covered her tracks well when she left Oklahoma, the last place she’d hidden and tried to make a life. He wouldn’t be able to find her again. But then, she wasn’t sure how he found her there, so she knew she wasn’t totally safe and free. Not like she so naively assumed when she settled in Tulsa.

Breathing deeply through her panic, she pulled over on the side of the road, shutting the engine down so it could cool off. It’d been overheating for the last two hundred miles or so, and no matter how much coolant she put in it, it kept getting too hot. It probably had a leak, and she planned on getting it checked in Denver, but she had to freakin’ make it there first.

Grabbing the map on the passenger seat, she gazed at it, trying to figure out where she was. She knew she had to be fairly close, but the road signs were few and far between out here, and the odometer in the car didn’t work anymore, so she had no way to check the mileage she’d driven today. She was hoping she’d find a town between here and Denver she could stop at, but there were none between the last place she stopped and Denver. Shit. She just might be screwed, maybe even for good this time.

Putting the map down, she tried to calm herself by looking at the scenery. Even in her panic, she noticed the beauty of her surroundings. Colorado was gorgeous, and part of her longed to stay here. But it was too close to Tulsa for her to ever feel safe. Her plan was to ultimately settle in Montana for now, close to the border. Hell, if her ID didn’t trip shit and make it obvious where she was, she’d go all the way into Canada. It wasn’t possible, though, so she planned to stay in Montana long enough to get a job and replenish her rapidly dwindling cash supply before moving on to Washington. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to settle anywhere permanently. Moving every few months seemed the wisest course of action.

The tension in her shoulders had eased minutely when she noticed how beautiful the sun was, slowly easing behind the mountain and casting a golden glow over the land. But that made her realize just how close night was to falling, and she tensed right back up, temples beginning to pound, as she fully realized her situation. She was very close to being stranded on the side of a wooded road, with no town in sight and no help showing up that she would ever trust, if help even came at all, in full darkness.

Her stomach cramped, but she wasn’t sure if it was from her emotions or hunger. When was the last time she ate? She couldn’t remember, and that wasn’t good. She was rationing her money and food, but she absolutely couldn’t forget to eat. Taking a protein bar out of the bag on the passenger seat, she munched the bland food, dusting her hands off before popping the hood. It seemed like enough time had gone past, so she’d top off the coolant and get back on the road, hopefully making it to Denver tonight.

Quickly doing what she needed, she got back in the car and sent a little prayer toward Heaven as she started it. Relief filled her as the engine reluctantly caught. It hadn’t wanted to turn over, like always, but it did, and seemed to run a little smoother than it had when she pulled over.

Taking a deep breath, she made sure no one was coming, but the road was as deserted as it had been for the last hour or so. Pulling out, she relaxed as much as she was able as she drove. This could work. The fates hadn’t been in her corner for longer than she cared to remember, but surely, she was due for some good fortune.

Ten minutes later, she was cursing a blue streak as the car began its shuddering and groaning routine again. Her fix hadn’t lasted long at all, and she definitely wasn’t much closer to Denver than she was when she pulled over on the side of the road. Shit, what was she going to do?

Knuckles white on the steering wheel, she thought hard. She’d find a side road and pull off, hidden from the main road. Maybe spend the night in the car, as antsy and terrified as the thought made her. But the car needed to completely cool off, and she didn’t want to risk thinking it had and driving again, only for it to do this again in complete darkness. Better to find a secluded spot to stop now, when it was still dusk and light enough to see.

After another nerve-wracking five minutes, she finally spotted a side road. Turning down it, she saw a bend in the road and drove toward it, thinking she’d park once she was past it, hopefully hiding her car further from the main road.

Rounding the bend, she slowed to a stop, confusion filling her. Squinting, she blinked hard, but it didn’t disappear. There was a town in front of her. Frowning, she saw a small sign that read Durga Valley, and she picked up her map, scouring for any hint of a town with that name. But it was the same as before. There was nothing on the map that indicated any towns at all, and the name was nowhere to be found.

Glancing back up, she took it in again. Oddly, there was a large double-sided gate, but it was open wide. She’d heard of gated communities, but never a gated town. Strange, that and the fact that it wasn’t on the map. But maybe it was newly built, established after the map was printed. She didn’t have an explanation for why it would have a gate, but after a moment’s thought, she decided it didn’t matter. She didn’t have many more options. No telling how much farther her car could go.

Putting her foot on the gas pedal, she eased forward. Normally, this wasn’t the kind of place she’d stop, but she didn’t have much choice at this point. It was twilight, her car was on the verge of giving up the ghost, and if she didn’t stop here, she’d end up going with her original plan and sleeping in the car on the side of the road. At least here, there was the possibility of a bed, and hopefully a mechanic.

And most importantly, she’d be surrounded by people. If, God forbid, Winston was on her trail and managed to catch up to her, she wouldn’t be such an easy target, not like she’d be alone, on a deserted road at night.

Her stomach cramped again, but even though she was still hungry, she knew that wasn’t the reason why this time.

Slowly driving through the quaint town, she glanced around, hoping to find a sign for a motel. Her frown grew, along with her confusion and uneasiness, as she looked around. Everyone was dressed oddly. The men wore tunic style shirts and linen pants, and the women were wearing—well, she didn’t know what they were wearing, but it looked like outfits she’d seen in Bollywood films. Indian outfits, with midriff baring tops, and long skirts with sashes thrown over their shoulders. All bright, colorful, and very pretty, if a little odd. Scratch little and make that very odd, for a small town in Colorado.

The buildings weren’t those of a typical town, either. The homes looked like cottages, and the businesses were all gray stone and unique, not like the normal, generic stores usually found in towns and cities.

Okay, clearly this was a different kind of place. Possibly a community of people from India. Maybe that’s why there were gates on the road leading in—to discourage outsiders from visiting. They’d been open, but still, maybe that was the purpose.

Sighing in frustration, she found a parking spot outside of a restaurant and pulled in. Clearly, she couldn’t stay here, and judging by some of the looks she was getting, some confused, some suspicious and borderline hostile, she wouldn’t be welcome. She’d give the car a few minutes to cool, add some more coolant, and then leave and follow through on her original plan. Find a side road, hide as best she could, and sleep in the car.

Turning off the engine, she watched as people walked by, eyes narrowed. From what little she could see, the men were arrogant and aloof, although it seemed strange to sense that with no interaction with them. But it was a vibe they were putting off that led her to that conclusion. And the women… well, they were for the most part quiet, and she’d barely seen one who was smiling or even talking. So weird, but she didn’t know their culture. Maybe this was normal.

She continued to study them for a few more minutes, the steady stream of foot traffic dwindling. She’d seen a few people in normal clothing, jeans and t-shirts, but not many. Deciding she’d waited long enough, and growing more uneasy with the encroaching darkness, Cadence popped the hood and shoved her creaky door open. She tried to shut it gently, but rust flakes still rained to the ground. Rolling her eyes, she got the coolant out of the backseat and sat it on the ground by the front bumper.

She’d just lifted the hood and uncapped the bottle when someone bumped into her from behind. Losing her grip on the bottle, she watched with dismay as it fell to the ground, its precious contents spilling out.

Cursing, she reached for it, but someone beat her to it. A woman with dark hair and beautiful caramel colored skin picked it up, an apologetic look on her face as she glanced at Cadence.

“I’m so, so sorry. I stumbled and fell into you on accident. I didn’t mean to, I swear.”

“It’s okay,” she replied with a forced smile as she accepted the jug. It felt incredibly light, and she glanced into the bottle, unable to help cursing again as she saw the contents. It had been half full when she dropped it, and now it had maybe a quarter of an inch in it. Not nearly as much as she needed. She doubted she could get a mile down the road on that with the way her car was acting.

Shoulders drooping, emotions bombarded her as she fought the urge to cry. This day, hell, the whole fucking year, could go to hell. What the hell was she going to do now?

“Hey,” the woman said softly, laying a gentle hand on Cadence’s arm. “Are you okay?”

Squaring her shoulders, she nodded. This wasn’t the end of the world, and hopefully she could fix it. And she refused to fall apart in front of a stranger. That was reserved for when she was alone, lying in bed at night.

“I’m fine. Do you have an auto parts store, or any store really, where I can get more coolant?”

The girl looked at her apologetically. “Everything’s closed for the night. We don’t have anything besides restaurants that stay open late, and even those are closing now.”

Even as she spoke, the lights turned off at the restaurant in front of them. Crap. There went the possibility of maybe finding a decent meal before she left, too. Turning her head, she eyed her car dubiously.

“All right. Maybe if I can get it started, it will run long enough to make it to the next town.”

Wincing, the woman shook her head. “The next closest place is Denver, and it’s over an hour away.” She studied her before holding out her hand. “I’m Tarun Campbell. You are…?”

Cadence’s mind blanked, and she almost gave her real name, which wouldn’t be smart. Thinking frantically, she shook her head helplessly as she blurted, “Cady Alexander.” Close enough to the truth that she wouldn’t trip up, not that she’d be here long enough for that to happen. A nickname from her childhood, and one of her foster parents’ last names.

“It’s nice to meet you, Cady. Do you think your car can make it to Denver? You seemed to need the liquid I spilled.”

“It might.” Pausing, she looked around, before speaking hesitantly. “Is there maybe a hotel I can stay at for the night?”

Tarun shook her head regretfully. “No, we don’t have one. We don’t get many visitors, not enough to need one. But when we do, they stay at my house. You’re welcome to spend the night there.”

“Oh, no,” she replied, shaking her head and resigning herself to attempting to drive farther. “I couldn’t impose. Maybe I can put water in it. It should work as well.”

“But it might not. And you don’t want to discover that down the road, when it’s dark outside. Come on, stay with me. It’s the least I can do, since this was my fault.”

Cadence hesitated, debating the wisdom of staying with someone she just met, in a strange town. It seemed an epically bad idea, all things considered. But really, was sleeping in her car on the side of the road any better? “Are you sure? This seems like a… well, a different kind of place,” she said, gesturing at Tarun in her Bollywood outfit.

Tarun glanced down in surprise before letting out a light laugh. “I forgot I was wearing a sari. I don’t wear them much anymore, but we had a ceremony tonight, and we all dress traditionally when we attend. Durga is steeped in Indian history, and a lot of the women do still wear them, but not all of us.”

So that’s what her outfit was called. “This is the first time I’ve seen one outside of a Bollywood movie.”

Tarun laughed again. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure the average American doesn’t see them often. So what do you say? You can stay the night, and my brother can look at your car in the morning. He’s good at that sort of thing. Surely there’s something more wrong if you need to keep adding liquids to it.”

“I don’t know,” she replied, still hesitating. Her stomach let out a loud growl, and she blushed as she put her hand over it.

“Okay, that settles it. You’re obviously hungry, and there’s nowhere to eat, or sleep, for miles. You can stay with us, I’ll feed you, and you can get a good night’s sleep. You look like you can use it.”

She definitely did. And she didn’t think Winston could find her here tonight. It was too far off the beaten path, and the fact that it wasn’t on a map was a huge bonus. He wouldn’t even know to look here. That, more than anything, was what made up her mind. “All right. If you’re sure it’s no imposition.”

“None at all. I owe you. Do you mind if I ride with you? That might be easier than me trying to give you directions.”

She hesitated for a moment, but hell, she was going to stay at Tarun’s house. Letting her in the car wasn’t a big deal at all compared to that. “Sure. It’s unlocked, so you can get in.”

Recapping the remaining coolant, Cadence put it in the backseat and climbed in. She turned the key, her cheeks heating as the engine groaned loudly to reluctant life. Following Tarun’s directions, she drove down a few different streets, watching as the cute cottages gave way to larger, more affluent homes. Lord, her old Cavalier looked completely out of place here.

Pulling into the driveway Tarun indicated was hers, she put the car in park just in time for the engine to give up and die. But she didn’t even care at that moment, too busy staring at the home in awe. It was large, with two stories, made up of the gray stone most of the buildings here seemed to be made of, with dark brown shutters adorning each big window. There was a winding stone path cutting through the green grass, snaking from the driveway to the bright red front door, and it was lined with flowers of all colors. And there was a large wooden fence, the dark brown matching the shutters, enclosing what looked like a huge backyard.

It was the kind of home she dreamed of living in, back when she was younger in foster care, when she was bounced from family to family, home to home, most of them small and dingy, some of them beyond dirty and virtually unlivable. The kind of home she gave up on ever even walking inside, much less owning, as an older teen, when she became wiser—and let’s face it, kind of jaded—to the world around her.

And now, not only did she get to walk inside one, but she got to spend the night. Wow. Trying to shake the awe off, she climbed out of the car and shut the door, cringing a little as the rust floated down and decorated the concrete of the driveway.

“You have a beautiful home,” she told Tarun softly as she joined her.

Tarun smiled. “Thanks. It’s been in my family for generations, so I can’t really take the credit. But it was nice, growing up here. Do you have any luggage?”

Pulling her gaze away from the house, she nodded. “A suitcase in the trunk.” With all her worldly belongings inside, apart from a couple of bags and a box in the backseat.

“Well, let’s get it and go inside. We’ll get you fed, and you can go rest and relax in the guestroom. My brother will probably be out late, but I’ll ask him to check your car out as soon as I see him.”

A sudden attack of nerves and fear paralyzed Cadence. She was going into a stranger’s house to spend the night. Anything could happen. Even seemingly nice girls could be serial killers. You’d think, after the life she led, especially this year, she’d be sufficiently wary enough to turn down an offer like Tarun’s. But maybe it was because she was exhausted from the mad dash to pack her stuff, buy that piece of shit car, and flee Tulsa, but she still felt like Tarun was genuine. This town was weird as hell, but Tarun seemed nice. And like she thought before—what other choice did she have?

She’d just lock the bedroom door—please, Jesus, let it have a lock—and pray she made it through the night, sleeping lightly. She still thought she’d fair better sleeping here than in her car on a strange road.

Squaring her shoulders, she plastered on a braver-than-she-felt smile and nodded at Tarun. “Lead the way.”

Jameson Campbell walked toward his home, unable to decide if he was more hungry or exhausted. It’d been a long day, starting with warrior training, followed by a town meeting and then the ceremony. He was head trainer of the War Cat warriors, a position he held highly and didn’t take lightly, but it was frustrating and exhausting at turns.

Karis was right, the new warriors were idiots who couldn’t fight their way through a bunch of humans. It’d been roughly four months since Karis said that, at the end of his rope as head warrior. Jameson told him to give it time, they’d improve. And they were, but it was far too slowly. Maybe, like Karis complained of back then, he was getting too old for this, or maybe he was looking back on previous generations with rose colored glasses and wasn’t remembering how bad they’d been in the beginning.

He didn’t think so, though. The little used cynic in him wondered if it was deliberate. If they were all so disgruntled with Kian, their alpha’s, new reign, and the rule changes, that they were pretending to be awful. He couldn’t imagine lowering himself to that, although he also couldn’t deny there were a lot in the tribe who would. If they thought they could prove Kian was an unfit leader, maybe get the tribe to revolt, then they’d do it.

Who knew what was the truth? He hated to think any of the tigers would be that deceitful, but they’d done worse. He tended to be a bit idealistic, admittedly, and it was hard to imagine they’d do something like that. And he couldn’t comprehend putting his pride so far aside as to pretend to be bad at something, but it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility they’d do it, if they thought it would accomplish what they wanted.

He’d clearly been born to the wrong tribe. This had to be the worst bunch of shifters he’d ever seen, and he was nothing like the majority of them. Even his closest friends, Karis, Kian and Zane, were different from him. He was just wasn’t hardwired the same.

The town meeting had been a little better. The tribe members voted down wholeheartedly putting their town on the map. Jameson couldn’t blame them, since he wasn’t a fan of doing so either. But they also didn’t like Kian’s decree that if and when they had visitors, there were rules and restrictions in place about hiding what they were. It was necessary, since the average human wasn’t aware of the existence of shifters. And with the gates open, a human could wander through at any time, although none had in the almost five months since Kian ordered them open. Training was also restricted to the arena only now, and only hand to hand combat was allowed if an uninitiated human was in Durga.

The ceremony had been beautiful, though. Karis and Arya had gotten married in the human tradition. Most of the tribe didn’t understand it at all. They claimed each other four months ago, and that was usually enough for most shifters. The exception was generally when a shifter mated a human, and the human wanted the marriage tradition. But Karis and Arya were both born tigers, and yet they’d wanted to tie themselves to each other in every way possible.

Unlike the others, Jameson understood that. If he had a mate, he’d want every tie and bond imaginable. Karis was fucking lucky as hell, Zane too. They’d both found what Jameson had been yearning for since he was twenty—a true mate. That was honestly way too young for a warrior, or any male, really, to begin to want a mate, but that didn’t change the fact that it was true. A mate, cubs, settling down—Jameson wanted it all. But here he was, twenty-nine years old, and it hadn’t happened for him yet.

Maybe it never would. True mates were rare, and that’s what he wanted. Not the forced matings so many in his tribe had, when the men decided they wanted a woman and the females were rounded up for inspection. It was more like a horse auction than choosing a mate. No fucking joke, he actually saw one of the warriors inspecting the women’s teeth once. Those women had had no say in their matings, forced to go along with it. Kian changed all that, but it had been that way for far too long before he became the alpha.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Jameson fought a shudder. No, thank you. He wanted a true mating, where the woman actually wanted to be with him. Shifters could love as many as they wanted, but there was only one person who was it for them. And though there was instant attraction between the two, it was the shifter’s animal who chose, knowing instinctively who their best match was.

Those matings were passionate and all consuming, and full of happiness. Full of love. That’s what he wanted, and he wouldn’t settle for less. He wasn’t sure he’d ever find it, though. He’d known every woman in this village practically since birth, and his tiger had never chosen one. He even sought each and every one of them out every year and tried to talk to them, crazy as it was, to give his tiger the chance to pick one. But he never had.

Karis teased him mercilessly about being more like a woman than a warrior, with his need to find a mate, but for the most part, Jameson didn’t mind. He was secure in himself. He was masculine enough, and he could battle with the best of them. Wanting a family didn’t take away from that. But Karis’ reaction was why he didn’t go around advertising his feelings, either. Teasing from his closest friend, he could accept and handle easily. Hearing it from the whole tribe, and constantly having to defend himself to the warriors, was a whole different story. Their teasing wouldn’t be friendly—it would be derisive and demeaning, done with the intent to tear him down.

So the ceremony, while beautiful, had been a little bittersweet, too. Because he wanted what they had, and it was getting harder to hold out hope that it would happen one day. Karis finding his mate had helped bolster that hope some. Most shifters found their mates by the time they were thirty, and Jameson was approaching it quickly. But Karis was thirty-five when it happened for him. It wasn’t too late for Jameson yet.

Exhaling forcefully, he tried to turn his thoughts away. He didn’t normally stew over it, although it was understandable why he was thinking about it so much tonight. Still, he was going to do his best to push it to the back of his mind again.

We’ll find her one day, his tiger said. And we’ll have the cubs we want. The wait will be worth it then.

I know.

Only he wasn’t sure he did anymore. His cat had been saying the same words, along with driving him insane with his desire for cubs, for years. Jameson always tried to stay positive about it happening to him, but it was getting harder with every passing day.

Glancing at his watch, his eyebrows rose as he saw it was almost one o’clock in the morning. The celebration lasted for a while, and then Jameson shifted to run the woods as his tiger, hoping to work through some of what he was feeling. He must have been in animal form longer than he thought. Picking up his pace, he walked briskly toward his house. He had a truck, but he rarely used it, like most of the tribe members. The village wasn’t large, and he enjoyed walking, but he was kind of wishing he drove to the ceremony now as a fresh wave of exhaustion crashed over him.

And hunger, too. It’d been hours since he ate.

Looking up as he neared his house, his steps slowed, and he frowned as he took in the old, beaten up car in his driveway. It was basically a rust bucket and banged all to hell. He’d never seen it before, and he knew virtually all the vehicles in Durga.

He circled it slowly, but there were no clues as to its owner. There were a couple of bags in the backseat along with a battered box, so maybe it belonged to an outsider. Why the hell they were at his house was beyond him, but maybe they were at a neighbor’s and parked in the wrong driveway, although that seemed unlikely.

Frowning harder, he walked to the front door and unlocked it, slipping inside. The house was dark and quiet, but he heard rustling on the couch and glanced over to see his sister sitting up, rubbing her eyes.

Tarun yawned sleepily. “Jameson, that you?”

He started to ask who else could it be, but he swallowed the words. There was a strange car in the driveway, so clearly, the instinctive sarcasm didn’t apply in this case.

“Yeah. What’s up with the hunk of junk in the driveway?”

“Shush,” she hissed, darting a look toward the stairs. “Don’t say that. And keep your voice down. You might wake her up, and she was really exhausted. She needs her sleep.”

Moving to sit on the couch, he looked at her, puzzled. “Her, who? I don’t recognize the car, and I have no idea who you’re talking about.”

She laughed softly. “Sorry, I guess I’m still more asleep than awake. Her name’s Cady. She showed up in town earlier, and she was parked in front of Khatari’s, and the hood of her car was open. She was about to put some kind of fluid in the engine, but Ben bumped into me and knocked me into her. The fluid spilled, and I got the impression her car needed it to run. She asked if we had a motel, but we don’t, so I offered for her to stay here.”

Shaking his head, he looked at Tarun incredulously. His sister was sweet as pie and helped anyone, whether they wanted it or not, but she was far too trusting. “You invited some strange woman to stay in our home? What if she murders us in our beds, or makes off with the silver?”

She rolled her eyes. “We’re pretty pathetic shifters if we let a human get the jump on us. And what silver? Despite the nice house, we have no money other than your salary, and we sold off the valuables long ago.” Pausing, she chewed on her lip, and when she looked back up at him, her blue eyes were troubled. “She was sad, Jamie. She hesitated to agree to spend the night here, and I know she only did because she didn’t think she had a choice. I think she was scared, too. I heard her lock her door when she went to bed. She’s not a threat. And I’m the reason she’s stuck here and had nowhere to go. How could I not offer?”

“Maybe you’re right, but I’m not sure how comfortable I am with a stranger staying here. You’re all the family I have left, Tarun. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Her eyes softened and she reached over, grasping his hand and giving it a squeeze. “It won’t. You know my gift is sensing threats, and I didn’t get a sliver of a warning about her.”

He searched her eyes, but shifters could hear lies, and there’d been nothing but truth in her voice. And gifts didn’t lie, either. All shifters had one, something that was special, or something they were good at. Some were mental and some were physical. He and Tarun both had mental gifts. She could sense a threat, although it was fairly limited. Sometimes she knew where, and who, the threat was coming from, but more often than not, she didn’t know what it was, just that there was one.

His was being able to sense a dark or troubled past. He generally kept his gift muted, because in a place like Durga, darkness and troubled pasts were everywhere. And it could get depressing, because it hurt to know so many of his people suffered under Kian’s father’s rule.

“Besides,” his sister continued, “I really don’t think she had any other options. She asked how far the nearest town was, and her shoulders just dropped like a thousand pounds settled on top of them when I said Denver was closest. She needed help.”

“And of course, you couldn’t resist.” He smiled as he spoke, affection welling up inside him.

She just shrugged unapologetically as she stood. “You know me. Besides, it really was my fault that she got stranded here. Least I could do was try to make up for it. Hey, could you look at her car in the morning? I don’t know what the fluid was she was trying to put in it, but she mentioned something about water working in its place. She didn’t seem very convinced about it, though.”

“It was probably coolant. Yeah, I’ll check it out. Go on up to bed. It’s late. I’m gonna grab something to eat, and then I’m going to bed, too.”

“All right. Be quiet, though, okay? Don’t wake Cady. She really did look exhausted.”

“I won’t.”

“Oh, and just in case, don’t mention that we never have guests. I fibbed and told her sometimes visitors stayed here. I was trying to make her feel a little more at ease about spending the night.”

His sister bent down, kissing his cheek, and he watched as she walked upstairs. A human woman, with mystery surrounding her. Mystery that wouldn’t be solved. He’d eat quickly and then crash, because he was going to get up early and see if he could fix her car. The War Cats had come around a bit since Kian took over, enough for Luke and Noah, the shifter Enforcers, to feel somewhat at ease about leaving when they were needed at home. But they still had a really long way to go, and they were all on alert, waiting for someone to try to take Kian and Zane out.

The tribe wasn’t at all the best place for a human woman to be right now.