Lorenzo finally did turn up. Though he didn’t come into the house, merely sat outside on the stoop staring at nothing.
“How long have you been here?” grumbled Sadie, stepping outside into the cool night.
Lorenzo looked up at her, and the pain on his face hit her like a thunderbolt.
“Not long,” he murmured.
“I was worried sick,” she chastised, dropping down to sit beside him.
He looked at her with interest. “You were?”
“Of course I was, I’m not made of stone for heaven’s sake!” Jeez, he was worse than her pre-pubescent daughter when it came to his safety. “Were you hurt? I tried talking to Diego, but I couldn’t get anything out of him.”
She grilled him for about ten minutes, but he spent the whole time giggling with Laurel, and he was next to useless.
“No.”
“Did you find out who was shooting at the compound?”
He tensed. “No.”
Sadie wished she had a cigarette – or something to calm her nerves at least. She placed a hand on his arm, and he seemed to tense, even more, something she wouldn’t have thought possible given that he was stiffer than an especially stiff rock.
“You weren’t hurt, but are you okay?”
He seemed even terser than usual – again something she wouldn’t have really thought possible, but…
“I’m fine,” he muttered.
Sadie gave him a searching look. “You’re sure? You’re sure it’s got nothing to do with the fact that everyone thinks it was a hunter that was shooting at the compound? You sure it’s got nothing to do with this?” She ran a finger over one of the scars on his arm.
Lorenzo flinched, and his eyes shimmered to gold. “Diego…”
“Told me nothing,” she said soothingly. “I put two and two together.”
She had to given that Mandy never liked to admit what was upsetting her. Like when her best friend gossiped about her behind her back. Or when the new girl said she was a teacher’s pet. Sadie could read hurt in the people she cared about, and yeah, Lorenzo was starting to fall into that category.
Lorenzo breathed in and out, grunting and growling, and Sadie patiently waited for him to stop.
“It’s not important.”
“Clearly, it is to you.”
Lorenzo shook his head, and for a moment, she thought he wasn’t going to tell her, but she was glad she was wrong.
“When I was a kid, when I first started shifting, we went out for this family picnic. My dad and brothers shifted and went off hunting, leaving my mom and me. I was just learning to shift, and I turned into my jaguar and kind of got distracted. I wandered away from my mom, and some hunters picked me up.”
Lorenzo swallowed, and Sadie shuffled a little closer to him, leaning her head on his shoulder.
“I don’t think they realized I was a shifter, and I was so new at shifting, I was too scared to turn back. They put me in a cage and…”
His eyes closed in remembered pain, and Sadie murmured in soothing support.
“My dad and Roberto found me. I don’t know what they did to the hunters, but they made it clear they weren’t going to hurt another cub.”
Good, she thought. She knew she shouldn’t think like that, but if it had been Mandy, she was sure she wouldn’t be able to hold back either. It certainly explained why he was so angry and scared of hunters.
“I was just too young, too new at shifting to heal myself completely,” he said, his voice almost breaking.
Sadie squeezed his arm. “I wish there was something I could do to help you.”
Lorenzo cleared his throat. “You don’t have to do anything,” he said gruffly.
“I want to, though.”
He thought about that for a few moments. “Thank you.” Lorenzo cleared his throat. “It’s late; you should get some rest.”
Gently, he lifted her away from him.
Sadie smiled. “I do need my beauty sleep.”
“You’re already beautiful,” he breathed, staring into her eyes.
“Thank you.”
His eyes ducked from hers, and if she didn’t know any better, she would swear he was blushing.
“I’m going to be around – on patrol. Just ah, scream if you need anything.”
Sadie smiled, “Sure thing.”
He grasped her hand and pulled her to her feet. He opened the door and carefully propelled her through it.
“Good night,” she whispered.
He grunted in return and closed the door. She leaned against it and breathed in and out; her heart rattled in her chest. Oh, her poor, wonderful Lorenzo. She wanted to curl him into her arms and hug his pain away. She felt momentary elation and a warmth of affection, but that was just as quickly replaced by sadness.
Oh, this was just going to make it harder on both of them when she eventually managed to get away.