“Who have you been speaking to about mating?” Ryder poked me in the arm as we walked side by side down the road that made up Leafside settlement.

“You sound paranoid.” I loved the curiosity burrowing behind his gaze. “I’ve heard you’ve been upsetting families by making promises to their daughters.” That part was a complete lie, but I enjoyed stirring him.

His mouth gaped open, then shut. “I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to find out if I’m dating anyone. Honey, just ask me straight out.”

“What?” I stiffened and rolled my eyes with exaggeration for effect. “Don’t kid yourself.”

He chuckled and bumped his shoulder against mine. “I saw the way you’ve checked me out today. Your hitched breathing when we’re close, the extra skip of your pulse whenever I touch you.”

And that was why being with shifters made hiding anything close to impossible. “You’re mistaking my reaction as an attraction, when in fact, it’s the opposite.” I offered him a curt grin and drove my hands into my pockets.

“Ouch.” He placed both palms over his heart and pouted. Always the flirt.

Except what was I doing? Did I want to lead him on and make him believe something between us was possible? Yesterday I wouldn’t have given him a second thought. But now being near him, I remembered why I enjoyed his company, why he made me laugh, why flirting came natural near him. Ryder was like chocolate. When I had it in the house, I couldn’t stop at one bite because I’d eat the entire damn box. And now with him back, I couldn’t concentrate beyond being with him. But then what? Doubt everything he ever does? Hell, why couldn’t it be simpler? Why couldn’t everyone only tell the truth and be loyal?

Halfway down the street, a young woman in a sandy-colored dress stepped out of a trailer and halted when she spotted us. She hugged her stomach and her eyes grew wide.

“Hello,” Ryder called out as he waved his hand in the air. “Do you know where we can find the head of Leafside?”

A leader was appointed to care for each shifters settlement and establish rules, such as contributing money to pay for amenities or offering different services, like medical or food gathering. Most trailers around us had solar panels angled on top of the roofs to collect energy, so they’d set themselves up since the cops had torn through here two months ago looking for Dana’s killer. Part of me wanted to apologize for the treatment they’d received. Did I mention I loathed the division in our city?

The woman lifted her chin and smelled the air, and her petite nose twitched, reminding me of a rabbit. Her gaze honed in on Ryder, her attention sliding up and down his body. I guessed she liked his scent, but when she stared at me, her soft expression morphed into a wry grin. Okay, no surprise that humans weren’t greeted with the red-carpet treatment.

She pointed to an oversized, brown trailer at the end of the road. “You’ll find him in there.” With that, she offered Ryder one flirtier look and vanished between two trailers, probably heading into the woods to gather food.

“Why didn’t you ask her if she saw a naked girl?” I asked.

“Rule number one of entering a settlement. Always seek permission from the leader first.”

I nodded. “I’m guessing there are a bunch more rules too?”

“Something like that. Now just follow me and let me do the talking.”

Sure, why would I complain if I intended to avoid getting tossed out or my ass kicked by a pack of whatever type of shifters lived here? Maybe bunnies because then I wouldn’t be so worried.

Ryder knocked on the door.

“Yeah!” a man answered from inside.

Ryder opened the door to the trailer for me, and I stepped into a dim room, the brown decor continuing inside. There was wooden paneling everywhere—the walls, the floor, and even across the counter. Alcohol filled the cabinets behind the bar, and my attention already landed on a bottle of golden whiskey.

To my left, I found five men sitting around a table, all eyes on the newcomers. Yay for us.

A man with a bushy beard and no hair stood up and sauntered behind the bar. He was about six-foot and built, and I suspected he had no problems fighting. “First drink’s on the house. What will you have?” He addressed Ryder, ignoring me completely.

“Glass of your finest whiskey for the lady, and for me, I’m looking for the town leader.”

Baldy’s gaze rolled toward me, his nostrils flaring, as a horse might do. But without a word, he poured a drink and placed it on the bar in front of Ryder. “We don’t serve humans or witches.”

Okay, so they smelled magic on me, many shifters did, but I was no witch. Yet that wasn’t a debate I was going to get into with these men.

“Hi, I’m Sephy,” I responded, offering my most beaming grin. “All we want is information, please.”

“Have you seen a young girl running through the woods, or perhaps someone took her in? She’s about eleven and yea-high.” Ryder placed his open palm next to his chest. “Long brown hair, and she was last seen naked.”

The man’s eyebrows climbed his forehead, and I butted in before he got the wrong impression. “She’s in trouble and possessed. We need to find her before she harms anyone or herself.”

“Possessed, you say?” He stroked his beard, and I picked up the drink, sipping the refreshing taste. The barman watched me but didn’t say a word. “And why would you think she’s in my home? Because apparently, we’re monsters?” He eyed my T-shirt printed with the words, Monsters are real and they look like people. I cringed at my terrible choice in tops today and resisted the urge to fold my arms over my T-shirt.

“Oh. I-I think you got my T-shirt message wrong,” I began and ran a palm across my chest to flatten out the wording, then realized both guys stared at me with starved eyes. I should have blushed but fuck them. I rubbed a palm over my breasts a few more times for luck and hoped the bastards would tell us what we needed to know. “Actually, it implies humans are the monsters.” I smirked, but he didn’t return the gesture, and Ryder was shaking his head, giving me a look that screamed, Shut the hell up, Sephy.

The man leaned over the bar, his arms folded in front of him. “So, lion-boy, you bring a human into my home and she insults me, yet you stand there, having forgotten your roots.” His voice darkened, yet his expression remained calm like he spoke about his favorite drink.

“Evidently—” I started

Ryder squeezed my arm, and I lost my words. “Sephy, how about you wait for me in the car?”

“Yes, a good idea!” Baldy added, and I stood there like a child who’d been reprimanded, anger boiling through my veins.

Ryder’s hand slid to mine and forced my fist to uncoil. “Sephy. Do this for me.” It wasn’t a question but a demand and reminded me of the times we got into arguments because he told me what to do rather than suggested or asked. But despite gritting my teeth, I wouldn’t achieve anything by digging my heels in here, and if Ryder could extract information I couldn’t, then shit yeah, I’d swallow my pride and choose my battles.

I bowed my head and turned around. Another man moved to the door and opened it. I hopped outside into the hot sun. Strolling down the long street, I stared back and found the guard still studying me. Goddamn asses, but then again, they dealt with this shit all their lives. So who was I to demand equality?

A cluster of voices reached me from my right. Exactly where that bunny woman had vanished. Curiosity poked a hole through me, so I looked over my shoulder. The door to the bar was shut.

In haste, I darted between two trailers. Someone gasped from behind a trailer I passed, and now I had to know what was going on.

But the moment I pushed my way past a clothesline lined with bedsheets, my breath caught in my chest.

A vegetable garden sat to my left and animal hatches to my right, but in the middle was a chicken slaughterhouse. Five butchered birds lay in a circle, joined by a line of blood. Their necks had been torn open, and I froze at first, unable to believe what I was looking at.

“A blood ritual,” I whispered, but the three women ahead of me snapped around in my direction in unison, startled.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” A woman who had to be in her forties frowned. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun at the back of her head.

Another with a blue dress stepped forward. “She’s here with a lion shifter, so the leader must have approved their stay.”

Not exactly, but considering no one had asked me that question, I kept my mouth shut on the topic.

“Did you create this blood circle?” I asked.

The older woman shook her head. “Why would we destroy our food source, stupid girl. Why are you trespassing on our land?”

Okay, someone had issues. “We’re here searching for a missing girl.”

The trio exchanged worried glances, and that told me everything. “Please. Where did you see her? How long ago? Is she still here?” I closed the distance between us and reached for the older woman’s hand, but she recoiled.

The blue-dressed lady ran her palms down her stomach in a nervous gesture.

I eyed them, and my attention landed on the farthest girl because she’d be sixteen at most, and she was staring at the dead chickens, her face paling. Did she take part in hunting down prey for their town’s meals? If so, then this grizzly scene wouldn’t scare her.

The older woman sniffed the air, leaning on her walking stick. “This intruder smells of fire kindling and electricity. Jess, get rid of her.”

“Grandma, let’s hear her out first.” Jess, the blue-dressed woman, took her arm, her eyes darting from the butchered birds to her grandma and me. “My daughter spotted a young girl behind our home about half an hour ago, running into the forest and wearing no clothes, blood streaking her face.”

My words rushed out. “Which direction did she go?”

Jess pointed back toward the freeway. “Okay, thanks. Now burn this circle because with the sacrificed animals, someone might have opened a portal to another dimension.” Meaning a spirit might have escaped already. My chest stung because what if a resident had already been targeted by a demonic hijacker?

The teen crouched near a chicken now, fingering the feathery carcass, and my stomach dropped at seeing her touching dangerous magic.

“Hey, don’t do that.” I tried to march over, but Grandma jabbed me in the gut with her stick. I pushed it aside.

“Get away from her,” she warned with her croaky voice.

“This circle is dangerous.” I stared at the girl, who studied her hand, the fingertips dipped in red. “Shit.” Rituals left behind residue, and if the demonic girl had created this, she might have released who-knew-what.

Murmurs buzzed in my ears, just as they had back in my bathroom. Or maybe I was going bat-shit crazy and hearing things because everyone else stared at me as I’d grown a second head.

When the teen stuck her fingers in her mouth, I my mouth dropped opened, unable to believe she would do such a thing. This wasn’t a buffet. “Don’t eat that!”

“Liana.” Jess whirled toward the girl and smacked her hand out of her mouth as a mother would do to a daughter. But Liana slapped her mother in the face, sending her reeling into a tree.

My heart struck the back of my throat, and without thinking, I tapped into the lava in my chest, already a fiery charge surging down my arms.

I lunged toward the teen, whose every moment became jerky, as if something inside her tested her body. I pressed my palms flat against her shoulders and drove her into a tree.

The familiar vibration of her body reacted to my touch—oh hell, we have a live one here. Goddamn demon.

The girl bellowed in agony and thrashed against me, beating her fists against my arms, those fists as hard as rocks. I whined but pushed past the stings of her blows.

Her hands clasped my neck, and I flinched as her fingers squeezed. I gritted my teeth, unable to breathe. So I did what anyone in my position would do. I kneed her in the privates. Her grip softened, and I slammed my power down my arms and into her.

A hum sounded in my ears, just as the earlier murmurs. I glanced around, but no one was humming. Damn, I better not be getting tinnitus.

Her eyes rolled back, and she slumped against me. Black wisps floated upward from her red and blistered shoulders.

The teen’s skin was clammy and cold beneath my touch, and a powdery barnyard smell with sulfur filled my nostrils. She was transforming, and shifters could be uncontrollable when in animal form.

A sudden whack to my head had me staggering sideways, and stars danced in my vision. “What the fuck?”

The teen fell face-first into the ground, her body convulsing and white fur sprouting across her shrinking body. Bones cracked, skin split, and it seemed intrusive to stare. Ryder had always told me it made him self-conscious when I watched his transformation.

I rubbed the bump on my head, glancing around to find Grandma with her stick raised in the air, and she struck me once more across the ribs.

“Stop that!” I sidestepped her, but my gaze fell on Ryder and Baldy from the bar. Behind them stood a horse, brown bear, and a raccoon.

Jess was by her daughter’s side and lifted her, now a cute rabbit, into her arms. Ha! I so called them being bunnies.

I lifted my arms to show the crowding shifters I had no weapons. “I was saving her from a possession.”

Baldy scanned the white bunny with black burn marks on her front legs, and his lips thinned to white lines.

“What kind of monster are you to attack a child?” he snarled.

“I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding.” Ryder recoiled toward me, blocking me from the leader’s wrath. “Sephy eliminates demons. Consider yourself lucky she was here.” He pointed to the butchered chickens. “Someone summoned a spirit. Plus, her magic only works on the possessed.”

Baldy shoved a hand against Ryder’s chest, but despite stumbling, he held his ground. This wasn’t about a show of who was the biggest alpha. These poor shifters lived in the woods because they were ostracized from the city, and I didn’t want to appear threatening to them.

I grabbed Ryder by the arm as he marched toward the leader and pulled him backward. My attention fell on Baldy. “We’re sorry for causing any trouble. We’ll leave.”

I met Jess’s gaze and tears rimmed her eyes. “Your daughter is safe now,” I said. “Burn the ritual circle.”

“Jon, she’s telling the truth.” Jess’s voice wavered.

The leader huffed, his face turning red as the vein in his neck throbbed. “I’ll show you the mercy your kind never gives us,” he hissed. “Get the fuck off our property before you join those chickens.” His twisted expression left me speechless. I loathed what the authorities had done to the shifters, driving them into the mountains. And now I felt like I was showing them I was no different by harming one of their kind. To them, it didn’t matter the reason, just that I’d used fire to harm her without explanation or permission.

“I’m sorry,” I offered, but Ryder took my hand and dragged me through the woods in a march.

“Well, I can cross this settlement off my list if I ever need a place to live,” he said. “Give me the keys. I’m driving; you’re too shaken.”

“I’m fine.” I pulled the keys from my pocket and studied the line of trailers behind us as additional shifters emerged from their home and headed to the commotion. Guilt pushed through me like an invisible storm at the trouble we’d caused. I prayed the bunny girl would be okay. And I made a mental note to visit more shifter locations and show them not all humans are assholes.

Ryder put his hand in mine and took the keys, then jumped into the driver’s seat. “Hurry up before they change their mind.”

Not bothered enough to argue over who drove, I climbed into the passenger side and in no time, we left behind the shifter’s home.

“The leader knew nothing, but he said shifters have seen dark shapes in the woods when they went hunting,” said Ryder. “But many believed they were humans spying on them. So I’m not sure that’s a lead for us.”

“The demonic girl was here.” I curled my hands into fists. “She created that freakin’ blood circle to release a demon. Then she headed toward the freeway. What is she doing? Opening portals near settlements?”

“Everything happened so fast.” I yearned to stay longer and explain to them about possessions and how to protect themselves. Now my limbs felt heavy and fear for those shifters looped in my head over and over. Maybe I’d return once the dust settled and teach them how to better protect themselves.

“Demon girl is likely still in the vicinity, so we’ll check the area.”

“The demon child’s human body would get exhausted, meaning the spirit would have to rest, get food perhaps. I might call the detective and let him know we saw her in these woods.” And I did just that, leaving a message for Dean, as he wasn’t at the station.

“I like this side of you,” Ryder said. “Determined and caring.”

“Haven’t I always been like this?”

“Yeah, and I missed it.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond when my mind tugged me in so many directions, from trepidation for the demon girl to guilt at not healing her when I’d had the chance, to the kindness Ryder showered on me.