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Authors: C.J. Barry

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“Well, humans aren’t as trustworthy as I thought they’d be,” he said. “You were right about that.”

“But some of them are loyal to the end,” she countered, nodding toward his wedding band.

They smiled at each other, and she said, “What a pair we are.”

He chuckled, and it was like they’d never been apart. She told him, “Thank you for finding us. You saved him.”

Thaniel shook his head. “I didn’t save him. You did. All I did was see you on the news and show up. You’re the one who never gave up.”

“You think I want to get stuck telling all those Shifter stories?” she said.

He laughed. “Me neither.” Then he sobered. “It was a great thing you did. For all of us. You could have died.”

And she would have if that’s what it took. “Someone had to protect our people.”

He nodded in quiet understanding. “What do you think is going to happen to us now?”

Cam drew a breath. “I don’t know, but we have everyone’s attention now. Harding did something truly horrific by any standards in an effort to get rid of us. The government is under a lot of pressure from the American public to make it right.”

“You really think they’ll give us citizenship?” he asked.

“Perhaps,” she said. “Anything’s possible.”

Cam checked Dewey’s vital signs on the monitors again. He was getting stronger, there was no doubt about that, but he was still slow to come around. Perhaps that was a good thing. He could concentrate on healing himself, fighting the unseen battle waging in his DNA.

“I think it’s my turn to take care of him,” Thaniel said.

She turned and blinked at him. “What? Why?”

He reached across their father and put his hand over hers. “I have a nice place to live. A woman who loves me. A good job. I want to take care of him. I owe him, and you, that much.”

Cam didn’t know what to say. She’d never considered leaving her father, not unless he left her first. But for some reason, she wasn’t afraid of that now. He would be okay, she knew it in her bones.

Thaniel removed his hand and leaned back in his chair with a deliberate smile. “Besides, I saw the way your XCEL agent looked at you.”

How did he look at her? She hadn’t noticed. It didn’t change things though. “He’s a Shifter hunter. He’ll always be that.”

“Didn’t he just arrest a bunch of humans too?” her brother asked. “I guess that makes him a bad-guy hunter.”

That was true, but he was still working for XCEL. They generally only hunted Shifters, and she doubted they would change, especially now in the midst of this mess. “We’re from different worlds.”

“Well, duh, aren’t we all? You just don’t want to get involved,” he said. “Still.”

Cam sighed. “You’re right.”

His eyebrows went up. “Wow.”

Her eyes narrowed at him. “Don’t start.”

He raised his hands. “Not a word. You’ve changed.”

“How?” she asked warily.

Thaniel tilted his head as he studied her Shifter form. “I don’t know, but you look different.”

She nodded. “My body feels different.”

“Have you talked to anyone about it?” he asked.

“I talked to Aristotle. He feels great. Stronger, and he can even shift again.”

“What about the others?”

“Same thing,” she said. “Every Shifter that survived the gas has become more powerful. I think the gas changed us a little. Made us stronger.”

Thaniel blew out a long breath. “That’s a scary thought. Just don’t grow a second head, okay? You’ll never get a man if you’ve got two heads.”

It was her turn to laugh. She’d missed her brother so much. “How do you think Harding will react when he finds out he only succeeded in making shapeshifters more powerful?”

“I hope it kills him.”

She did too.

“How’s the old man doing?” Ernest asked from behind her. She turned to find him looking more rested than he’d been in days. At least he was wearing clean clothes today. He walked over and shook her brother’s hand before moving beside her.

“He’s getting better with every passing hour,” she said and smiled at him. “How about you?”

He grinned. “Same here. This morning, Griffin and I finished up the last of the interrogations and gazillion questions. I got paperwork coming out my ass. I’m just waiting for someone to give me my computers back.”

She pressed her lips together. “Where’s Griffin now?”

Ernest stared down at his feet. “He left.”

Left?
“Do you know where he went?”

Ernest made a face. “He didn’t tell me. He just said he had something to take care of.”

Her mood sank as she absorbed the news. Did he go after Parker? On his own? He said he would. He could have gotten Parker’s location from Harding and set out to kill him once and for all. As if that could change the past. She should have known that he couldn’t let go of the anger and the injustice.

“However,” Ernest continued, rocking on his heels, “I did manage to get a line on his travel plans.”

“And?” she asked, almost afraid to. What would she do anyway? Follow him? He didn’t want her there.

“He got on a flight to Arizona,” Ernest said, grinning from ear to ear.

She shook her head, not getting it. “What’s in Arizona?”

“His family,” Ernest said.

And then it hit her.
Sani
. Sani was in Arizona. His family, his people. He’d gone home. Her heart swelled, feeling like it was filling her body. He didn’t go after Parker. He wasn’t seeking revenge.

The tears broke suddenly down her face, and she suddenly felt light as a feather. Free as a bird. Strong as the wind. Complete.

Thaniel looked at her, and then at Ernest, and said, “What the hell did I miss?”

Cam stood up and gave Ernest a hug. Then she looked at her brother. “I love you. Watch Dad. Call me the minute he wakes up.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

G
riffin stood in the desert and marveled at the beauty he’d never noticed before. Sand spread out like a red and ginger blanket between tufts of the mulish sage brush and boulders in Monument Valley. In the distance, he could see the silhouettes of towering variegated buttes against the blue sky. The sun still baked this earth as it had for thousands of years.

He loved it here. Loved the silence and the solitude, and the way the wind felt against his skin. The turmoil of city streets, loud machines, and dead concrete faded away like a ridge in the ever-moving sand. Perhaps one day he would learn to stand still long enough to hear the heartbeat of this timeless place. He’d never realized how incredibly precious it was.

And he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why he’d left.

Sani moved beside him, only the shuffle of pants legs giving him away. He stared over the land, blending in perfectly with his brown work pants and tan shirt. His white hair was a little longer. His face held a few more wrinkles. He looked like the earth itself—weathered and aged but full of wisdom.

They’d ridden the horses out here, and Griffin heard one of them whinny. He didn’t know how long he’d been standing there, absorbing the desert into his bones. Minutes, hours—they lost all meaning in this place. But he came here for a reason, and his journey was not over with this stop.

“I’m sorry I disrespected you,” he said. “And the land.”

Sani nodded slowly. “I know. I have heard your suffering.”

Griffin didn’t even ask how. But if Sani could hear him, maybe he could help him too. “I have had visions of my own. The Eagle died. I want to bring her back, but I don’t know how to save her.”

His grandfather kept his gaze on the distant rock formations. “You don’t need to save her. Only yourself.”

Griffin eyed him. “How will that save
her
?”

Sani smiled. “Does the mouse hate the wind for blocking its tunnels with sand?”

That made no sense at all. “I haven’t a clue.”

“The wind has a purpose. The sand has a purpose. The mouse has a purpose. None of them are right or wrong. They just are.”

Griffin closed his eyes and tried to follow Sani’s logic. “So the mouse isn’t angry.”

“No.”

It was the first time Sani had ever answered a direct question with a direct answer. And for the first time, Griffin understood. He heard it deep in his soul, past the place anger and injustice had taken root. There, he found his future waiting for him. It had been all along. He just couldn’t see it before.

“Now you can save her,” Sani said.

Griffin heard the Eagle cry and opened his eyes. He spun around in a circle, looking for her. The horses pawed the sand, kicking up a cloud of dust. It was swept away in the wind, and through the dust, a woman walked toward him.

Cam came out of the desert as if from the ancient land itself. The heat of the sun cast her in a mirage that shimmered. But she had changed. Her Shifter shadow was different, the single color mixed with another one.

Was that really her? Was she real? He couldn’t tell, but he walked to her anyway. She matched him step for step until they were mere feet away and he could see her face. It was everything he needed.

He reached for her, but she put her arm against his chest, stopping him. Her tone was firm and her expression just as unyielding as her arm. “That’s close enough, Mercer.”

So they were back to Mercer, and he remembered that he hadn’t exactly said good-bye when he left. Which meant she wasn’t pleased at the moment. He had his work cut out for him. Good thing he wasn’t going anywhere.

“I came to see Sani,” he said, blaming it on Grandfather. Sani would understand.

“Ah,” she said, playing surprised. “And where were you planning on going after that?”

“To kill Parker,” he said truthfully.

His words had more impact than he’d thought possible, and any playfulness in her retreated in a hurry. Griffin took a deep breath filled with earth and wind into his lungs. When he blew it out, all the anger he’d held on to for so long went with it. “But I decided he wasn’t worth it.”

Her hand dropped from his chest to her side as she studied him with all seriousness. “What about next week? Will he be worth it then?”

Griffin closed the unbearable space between them and wrapped her beautiful face in his hands so he could look into her eyes. “Not going to change my mind next week. Or the next. It’s done.”

She pulled a shuddering breath, and he felt her entire body tremble with it. “What about XCEL?”

Griffin was debating whether to start at her neck or just go for the lips. “XCEL can kiss my ass.”

She was stock-still, tension holding her like a prisoner. Softly, she asked, “And us?”

He ran his thumb over her smooth cheek, fascinated by everything about her. “I’ll go wherever you want. But it’s quiet here. We’ll be accepted, but not hounded. The climate would be good for your father. And it’s a great place to raise kids.”

She blinked at him in confusion. “What kids?”

He kissed her lips full on, unable to wait through all her questions. She tasted sweet and soft. He wanted that every day for the rest of his life. He just had to convince her. He broke off the kiss and pressed his forehead to hers. “Our kids.”

“But that can’t happen,” she said. “It’s not possible between humans and Shifters.”

Griffin watched the second color move in the belly of her Shifter shadow. Happiness flowed over him, pushing everything else aside. “Anything is possible.”

When he met her eyes again, they were full of tears. “I know what I want, Cam. I want you.”

She smiled through the tears and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I sure hope you’re ready for this, because it’s not going to be easy.”

Nothing worth having ever was. He kissed her to seal the deal.

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