Page 2
“I bet it was owie when it happened.”
“Yeah.”
She peered at it. “It looks like the crack in the pavement Mr. Girling is always going to report. I like that crack because it’s shaped like a cat and it reminds me of Marmalade.”
Marmalade was Miles’s cat. Miles being the human who mated Indigo's bear shifter father.
She took a sip of her juice. “Dad's got a scar on his shoulder from a fence, and he says scars mean you did something interesting or brave. Which was it for you?”
“I tussled with a dragon who was trying to steal or destroy another dragon’s eggs.”
Indigo’s mouth gaped, and she slapped a hand over it. “Oh, so you were brave.” She held her palm up for a high five, and I gave it to her.
She strode toward the door but said over her shoulder, “I’ll see you at Sunday dinner.”
“Indigo.”
“You don’t have to talk to anyone. You can sit with me and Marmalade and you can tell me what you've added to the shelf since I saw you.” She was already halfway out the door. “I’ll tell Dad you’re coming. Bye, Radley.”
I stood in the doorway for a while. My dragon was rustling around inside, something he always did after a visit from Indigo. Her talking about his hoard, the scar, and the incident that led to it had my beast asking me to sit in the nest, which I did. I lay back and closed my eyes, wishing my drago and I didn’t carry this burden.
Later, I took the letter downstairs to the recycling bin. Reading it was just reinforcing that I no longer belonged to my flight. But I met Rudy, the elderly wolf from the first floor. He was walking slowly and using his stick.
“Radley.” He glanced at the crest on what I was holding and then back up at me. “Are you eating with us on Sunday?”
“I don’t know.”
“Indigo wants you to, and she’ll pester you if you don’t. She’s on a mission, and you won’t be able to talk her out of it.”
I told him I’d think about it and offered to help him to his door, but he waved me away, saying he could do it. After dropping the unopened letter in the recycling, I stood looking out at the road and the dusk that was creeping over the horizon.
On the way back to the third floor, I stopped outside Miles’s old place which was empty now that he’d mated Stellan. The brass number on the door was still crooked. Jon, the building manager, had been meaning to fix it but kept putting it off because the apartment was vacant.
I’d heard rumblings that it needed renovating, and Jon was under strict instructions to make sure the next tenant was a shifter. Not that we had any beef with humans—we lived, worked, and played with them—but we could be ourselves here without worrying we’d say or do something that outed us as shifters.
It didn’t bother me who the new person was because I doubted I’d interact with them, and they were on a different floor. The most I’d see them would be when taking the garbage out or at the building barbecues of which I’d attended one and scuttled off before eating anything.
Going up to my shelf, I ran a hand over the collection.
Maybe you can buy a trinket at the gas station tomorrow. My beast was eager to add to his hoard.
Sure, why not.
2
SHERIDAN
I got out of work earlier than normal and was dreading going home. I already knew it was gonna be a mess. I cleaned it last night, and it was already pretty shitty this morning. My roommates were hardly what anyone would call considerate.
Jason was going to be home. It was his day off, and that usually meant walking back into the apartment filled with his gamer friends, all drunk, getting pissy that they weren’t winning whatever their game of the day was. I had plans later to meet up with one of my coworkers for dinner, so at least I wouldn’t be trapped there all night long with them.
I heard them before I got to the door. Just as I’d predicted, they were arguing over a stupid game. They were full-grown adults acting like teenagers.
My attempts to bypass them on my way to my room without being noticed failed.
“Why you home?” Jason barked.
“Live here,” I snapped back. Normally, I tried to play nice, but I was so not in the mood for that today.
