Brannon slowed his car and pulled to the side of the parking lot as he watched Kasey and her friend in the front row outside the building. He knew he was being stupid. She was going to the baby shower, but he couldn’t help himself. He was worried about her. If he could figure out what was going on, then maybe he could help her.

“You know, you were invited, too, you don’t have to hide out here in the car,” Garrett called through the open window of Brannon’s car.

“Why are we going to this thing again? Isn’t it a female thing?” Brannon grumbled as he climbed out of the car.

“Garrett complained until they gave in and agreed to let men come, too,” Bastien supplied with a roll of his eyes. “He felt left out apparently.”

“That has nothing to do with it and you know it,” Garrett fumed. “I was out of town for the last few days and I missed my mate.”

“How did that go by the way? Get another distributor lined up?” Luke asked as he walked up behind the group of guys.

Garrett beamed with satisfaction and pride. “Yeah, starting to expand all over the country now. Before long, I’ll be global with any luck.”

“You boys going to stay out there all day or get your cute asses in here and help us celebrate?” Luna hollered from the entrance of the small reception space they’d rented for the day. “I promise this won’t hurt much.”

“Luke, Bastien, I feel for you, my brothers,” Brannon whispered as he gazed at the woman in wide-eyed fear.

“Luke grew up with her crazy-ass ways—feel for him,” Bastian said as he headed toward his mother-in-law. “She’s still so excited to have Carly alive and now a grandbaby, too. She’s been a godsend.”

“That’s the truth,” Luke seconded. “Addy started teething and Luna has been invaluable. Hell, she spent many a night with us taking care of her, so we could actually get some sleep.”

Bastien gaped at his friend. “Dude, seriously? I’ve got to tell Carly that.”

Everyone laughed at his relieved tone as they cautiously opened the door and entered what they’d privately deemed the estrogen zone.

“Good. You boys finally manned up enough to come inside.” Luna rolled her eyes and began issuing orders. “Bastien, Luke, go find your mates and take the little ones so they can help get set up. They are trying to do both and it’s not working. Garrett, go make your mate sit down before she pops. Her feet are like balloons. She needs to get off them.”

Brannon watched his friends race off to do as they were instructed. He caught sight of Kasey on the other side of the room scowling at him. He winked and then laughed as she rolled her eyes and stormed off.

“Still impressing the ladies, I see,” Luna replied with a cocked eyebrow. “What did you do to piss her off?”

He shrugged. He really didn’t want to get into things with Luna right now. “Just being my usual charming self.”

“Sure. Don’t tell me. That’s fine. Why don’t you help put up some decorations? Be of use before the party starts and everyone shows up.”

Brannon nodded and glanced around with a frown. “Who’s decorating?”

Luna smiled wickedly. “Kasey, isn’t that just your luck?”

He leaned forward and kissed Luna’s cheek before heading toward the last place he’d seen his mate. When he rounded the corner, he stopped abruptly at seeing Kasey in a heated glare off with her friend. He wasn’t sure if he should intervene or back away. Before he could make up his mind, the stranger saw him and smiled.

“Hi, you must be Brannon. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“You have? How did you know it was me?” he asked in confusion, “And who are you exactly?”

“I’m Kasey’s cousin, Layla. You’re Brannon because she got all bristly and defensive the minute she made eye contact with you. If you were Caelan, she’d have reacted differently.”

“Why?”

“Cause she’s mad at you and not him,” Layla said with a roll of her eyes.

Brannon didn’t know how to respond. He stared between the two women and prayed for divine intervention. “You’re her cousin? I didn’t know she had a cousin.”

“I just moved to town,” Layla responded at the same time Kasey bit her lip.

“That’s really not your business.”

“I was sent by Luna to help with decorations.” Brannon glanced around and waited for one of them to take the bait. If he had any luck at all, Layla would step up and help him, so he could interrogate her for information.

“Oh, that would be perfect. Come on. I’ll show you what we’ve got planned,” Layla responded quickly.

“Layla,” Kasey gave her a pointed look. Brannon just watched, intrigued as Layla nodded. “I know. Calm down and relax.”

He followed Layla out of the small alcove and back to the main room as he tried to dissect what that little scene had been all about. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear that Kasey was afraid of Layla spending any time with him. Was she afraid of what her cousin would let slip?

“Should I be flattered that your cousin spoke to you of me?”

Layla laughed. “Not at all. She was telling me about everyone who’d be here today. Stuff like that. She actually didn’t mention you but in passing.”

Brannon smiled as he smelled the lie. So Kasey either hadn’t warned her about that little fact about shifters or Kasey herself didn’t know.

“You’re the wolf, right?”

“Yes. Does that bother you?”

“No, well, I don’t think so. I’ve never met a shifter before, that’s all. I was curious. You seem normal.”

Brannon couldn’t help his laugh as she blushed as soon as she realized what she’d said. “Most of us are quite normal. We have jobs, families, dreams, and desires, same as you. Only difference is we can shift from human to an animal. Well, we also have some heightened abilities, too.”

“What do you do for a living then? If you don’t mind if I ask questions as we decorate. I confess to being very curious.”

This is going to be too easy, Brannon thought. “Not at all, as long as you don’t mind if I reciprocate. It’s always fun to be the one with the inside knowledge for once. It’ll make the women jealous if I know things they don’t.”

“Not much to tell, but sure,” Layla said as she grabbed a couple bags filled to the brim with shades of pink. “Here, take these.”

“Sure, what is all this and what are we doing with it?” Brannon gazed dubiously at the bags in his hands. “It looks like a bottle of Pepto blew up.”

Layla laughed and rolled her eyes. “Just follow me and answer my questions. We’re not paying you to judge the decorations, only to help put them up.”

“I’m getting paid? And what did you ask again?”

“Yup, with cake, and really delicious cake at that, plus my company, which should be reward enough, I’d think. But to my question, I asked what you did for a living.”

“I own and run a string of bars, nightclub type places. What about you?”

“I’m unemployed. What’s the name of the clubs? Isn’t Raging Falls a bit small to have multiple nightclubs?”

Brannon chuckled at her rapid-fire questions. “I own one small bar and one nightclub here in town. But I have about fifteen different clubs around the country. As to their names, here in town I have the bar Midnight Howl. The club is called Alpha.”

Layla stopped, cocked her head in thought and then gasped. “Wait. Are you talking about the really high-end clubs that are named with the Greek letters? The ones where all the celebrities and those types of people are always being photographed?”

This was the part Brannon hated the most. He hadn’t started his clubs with the intentions of catering to the upper crust and celebrities—it’d just happened. What most people didn’t realize was that all of his clubs were run and staffed by shifters and other paranormals. They were meant to be a sanctuary of sorts. A place they could be free to be themselves. On any given night, you could find a celebrity there. Yes, he wasn’t going to turn away business, but each of his clubs allowed any paranormal to enter without issue. It was their club after all.

He was saved from responding when he saw the two men approaching. “Jeff, Chris. How’d you guys get roped into coming to this?”

“Curiosity mostly. Never been to one and when we got the invite, we figured why not check it out,” Jeff replied with a curious glance at Layla standing beside Brannon.

“Layla, I’d like you to meet Jeff Wilcox and his partner, Chris Grant. Guys, this is Layla…” Brannon trailed off as he realized he had no idea what her last name was.

“Ramirez, I’m Layla Ramirez.”

Brannon frowned at her sudden change of personality. Gone was the friendly, confident woman he’d been talking to. Now instead, he saw a shy introvert who wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes and who barely spoke above a whisper.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Ramirez,” Jeff replied kindly. “I’ve not seen you around before. How do you fit in with this motley group?”

“She’s Kasey’s cousin,” Brannon answered when it seemed she wasn’t going to.

“Ah, Kasey. The only one of the gang we haven't met in person. Seen her from afar and heard a lot about her, though. I’m assuming she’s here, too?” Jeff inquired with a glance around the room.

“Afar?” Layla asked tentatively.

Jeff and Brannon chuckled at her question. “We spent a fair bit of time watching everyone before we eventually became friends. Chris and I work for the FBI.”

He wasn’t sure how, but he was sure Layla’s face grew even paler at the other man’s words. He glanced to Jeff and Chris and caught their shared look of interest at her reaction, too. Shit, this wasn’t good. He needed to get her away from them quickly and find out what in the hell was going on. “Layla, why don’t you go find Kasey and tell her the boys would like to meet her. In the meantime, we’ll start putting up the decorations.”

Layla nodded and bolted from the room leaving all three men in stunned amazement. “What just happened?” Chris asked into the silence.

Brannon shrugged. “I have no idea.”