Chapter 19

Jameson’s head snapped up as Shiloh burst into the meeting room, her platinum hair a mess, ripped biceps shiny with perspiration. “The switch bugged out.”

“She what?” Bryce’s disappointed words carried across the room. “Aw, man.”

Carick shouted in Shiloh’s direction. “Why did you not stop her?”

The meeting’s organizers whipped their heads around, distracted from packing up to leave. Jameson scowled at everyone and headed toward Shiloh at the door, motioning sharply at Carick to follow.

They headed straight for the parking lot where Shiloh said, “She was out the window before I had a chance to say a word.”

Jameson stared at the building. She went out the window? Had she known about the guards somehow?

Shiloh caught her breath. “I followed her but she’s fast.”

Jameson glanced at her. “Faster than you? But you run with Riot and the big boys.”

She smirked. “Yeah, faster than me. And them, for that matter. I barely cleared the building before she reached her car.”

Carick came running up behind them. “Keeper! Find her. Enlist her.”

Jameson stopped on a dime, turning to confront the other male. “‘Enlist her’? She’s not a soldier.”

Black eyes shimmered as Carick spoke. “That’s exactly what she is. You still don’t comprehend.”

Carick turned as if dismissing Jameson, but Jameson wasn’t done, he grabbed Carick’s arm. “She has a choice.”

“No, she doesn’t!” Carick’s ebony eyes were wild.

Jameson shook his head. This was what the Steward did? This is what they’d been missing? “You can’t bludgeon them into it! I will not be the leader of a forced army!”

Carick scowled, stepping closer. “Who said you were the leader?”

Jameson butted chests with him. Time to throw down with the ancient asshole. It had been brewing, and now they were no better than anyone else. “What good is their power if we don’t give a shit about their will?”

Carick went silent, the kinetic nature of his black irises slowing. When he spoke it was a quiet growl. “Their power is all I can hope to harness. I leave their will to you and your kind.”

Carick aimed for the road and the forest beyond, on foot, like he could make it back to Five Hills without a car. He tossed a last order over his shoulder. “Find the switch. You can’t protect her from her fate.”

Jameson snapped his fists closed. He turned to Shiloh. “She say anything? Do we know who she is?”

Shiloh grinned and held up her phone so he could see the screen. “This help at all?”

The photo was of Coralie’s car, the make and model as obvious as the letters and numbers of her license plate.

Her profile in the front seat called to him. Pert nose. Plump lips. Determined chin. Her wavy hair fanned across her shoulders, obscuring the lines of her neck, but Jameson’s imagination filled in every dark curve.

He gritted his teeth. “Send it to my number.” He’d have Cora’s address and phone numbers tomorrow, by lunchtime at the latest. The only question was what he’d do with them. He nodded at Shiloh. “Good job.”

Then Jameson set off across the parking lot, away from her. Away from Carick. Away to get his thoughts of Coralie under control. Her lips called forth fantasies of words he’d long since accepted he would never hear from anyone, least of all a woman who fired his blood like she did.

But she was a switch. And her life would forever be in danger.

Mortal danger. Jameson had seen more switch bodies litter the forest floor than any living being. Even Carick. How could he claim to have feelings for Coralie and then ask that of her? Yet it was his duty and his burden. Unless there was a way to protect her.

Jameson bit off a curse, raking his hands through his hair as the true weight of his duty fell on his shoulders for the first time.

Shiloh caught up with him and fell into step beside him. He didn’t want the company, but he wouldn’t order her away.

“He’s right, you know.” The female’s matter-of-fact tone cut into Jameson’s distress, her lack of sympathy somehow comforting. She spoke again. “You can’t protect her. Not in the way you want.”

Jameson knew full well he wanted to protect Cora more than was appropriate given their circumstances, but dammit, he resented that his feelings were on display for anyone else to see. “What are you talking about? Why do you say that?”

Shiloh rolled her eyes as if she could hear his thoughts. “Because you’re a man, J. An old-fashioned one, at that. And she looks light and soft and pretty and all that other stupid shit.”

Jameson was surprised at Shiloh’s words, though there was no bitterness in her voice. “How can you have such a low opinion of someone you don’t even know? Five minutes ago you were impressed at how she gave you the slip.”

The young female turned ninety degrees and crossed her arms, her body squared-off with his. “I don’t have a low opinion of her at all. I have a problem with you trying to limit her to what you think she is. I have a problem with you thinking you can somehow save her from herself.

She moved her hands to her hips. “She’s a switch, Jameson. We all saw it. If Carick’s right, then sooner or later she’s going to cross a vamp’s path and go rabid.”

Jameson flinched. From what Coralie said before she bolted, it had already happened. The fear and worry in her voice had tugged at him, burned him from the inside out.

Shiloh went on. “When that happens do you think she’ll be better off on her own, ignorant, with nobody to help her through the aftermath? Or trained, informed, capable of fulfilling a destiny she can’t avoid? You wanna protect her? Help her get ready for what’s coming after her. Fast.”

Jameson didn’t speak for a long time. They strode through the empty field next to the library, neither saying a word. But when Shiloh angled back toward the library, Jameson followed.

***

Back at the library. Shiloh went in first, then Jameson.

Bryce stood up. “Hey, Shiloh, you bring me back my date?”

Date?

Flint popped him on the shoulder. “Seriously? You got a date?”

Bryce nodded, excitement in his eyes. “Fuck yeah, I did. Dinner and a movie with the first switch anyone’s seen in a hundred years. Maybe we’ll pop some vampires while we’re out.”

Flint shook his head. “She’s not your type, Bryce. You always go for the freaky misfits; she doesn’t even have a nose ring.”

Bryce blew his brother off with a wave of his hand. “Who gives a shit about that stuff? She’s a switch, bro. Tattoos and body piercing can come later.”

Jameson whirled around and headed to his truck. The switch was found. Carick had taken off. There wasn’t shit he could do at that moment. He was out.

He had a job to do and he would do it. As long as it didn’t clash with his personal beliefs.

The reassuring weight of that job - getting Cora back, protecting her if she wanted to fight, preparing her, all those things Shiloh had said - landed squarely on Jameson’s shoulders.

Time to get to work.