“No!” Deni whispered. She grabbed Jace by the jacket and shook him. “Get down there.”
Jace swung around and gave her a startled look, as though he’d had no idea he’d gone into his protective stance. His eyes were the light green again, his Shifter rage apparent.
Deni knew he didn’t want to go down the stairs without her, to leave her vulnerable. But this wasn’t the wild. This was the human world, and at the moment, she and Jace had to play by their rules, or risk everything.
“Down,” Deni whispered again.
Jace finally nodded, let her push him to the first stair, and held her gaze as she shut the door on him. Deni had the false panel back in place and was walking out toward the living room by the time two police officers, one armed with a tranq rifle, strode in and demanded to see her and Ellison’s IDs.
* * *
Jace remained in the stairwell, pressing his fists to the stone wall, dragging in deep breaths. He knew he couldn’t risk the police finding him, but the need to keep them away from Deni had risen swiftly, his primal fear for her driving away common sense.
He could hear the police through the thin paneling, talking to Ellison and Deni, asking where Maria was, and about Deni’s sons. Human hearing wasn’t as good as Shifters’, but Jace knew they might be able to hear any noise he made if he wasn’t careful.
In silence, he walked the rest of the way down the stairs, his Feline eyes letting him see in the dark. At the bottom was a door, unlocked. Jace opened it as noiselessly as he could, slipped inside the basement room, and closed the door behind him.
Only then did he flip one of the switches beside the door, only one. A single light came on in the middle of the room.
Jace looked around. Nice. The main room held soft-looking furniture and opened to a kitchen larger than the one upstairs, with more upscale appliances. The refrigerator was stocked, he saw when he opened it. A Shifter could live down here comfortably for weeks.
A flat screen TV had been mounted to a wall, and a game console and controls sat under it. Jace smiled. Will and Jackson must have fun down here. Probably Ellison too. Jace thought about Cassidy at his house, and her prowess at the pool table. Deni likely held her own. Why Shifters liked to play RPGs, Jace had never figured out—they were shapeshifters and fighters in real life—but given the opportunity to take a new identity and kick a troll’s ass, they couldn’t resist.
Games were off-limits right now. Jace couldn’t risk that the humans upstairs wouldn’t hear. Shifter spaces were usually soundproofed, but soundproofing was only so good.Jace figured Ellison would want Jace to stand with his eyes closed in the middle of the room and not smell, see, or touch anything. And then somehow wipe his memory of everything the moment he left. He had to smile.
In any other situation, Jace might try to keep clear of the Rowe family’s secrets. But this was Deni’s place. It held the essence of her, even more than the house upstairs did.
Jace couldn’t resist stopping by the tall cabinet that held books and a collection of framed photographs. Family photos. A tall couple Jace didn’t recognize must be Ellison and Deni’s parents. The photo was old, but kept with care.
Another older photo showed Deni, much younger, probably just past her Transition, with a male Shifter. The Shifter male, who had black hair and gray eyes, was a Lupine, big and rawboned, like most of the wolves. Deni leaned against him, a smile on her face, looking happy. Deni’s name was still Rowe, though, Jason mused. She hadn’t taken her mate’s family’s name, which meant her mate had been of lesser dominance than her, probably much less. These days, it was a female’s choice which name to take, but in the past, that choice had been made for her by whichever family was dominant. Even now, more dominant families would fight to keep their daughters under their name. Deni had been mated long ago enough that she’d likely gone along with the tradition.
Another picture of Deni showed her holding two wolf cubs, the pair bright-eyed. Will and Jackson, as pups. Deni’s mate must have taken the photo, because Deni smiled out of the picture at him, her eyes full of love.
More recent photos showed Deni with Will and Jackson as tall young men, all of them wearing Collars. Then one of Ellison cuddling the small human woman, Maria, both grinning. Ellison wore a more relaxed expression than Jace had ever seen on him.
Another was of Deni alone. The river was in the background, Deni in a bathing suit and wrap, her hair wet, the gold bracelet she liked to wear on her wrist. She smiled with all the animation she’d showed when she’d held her cubs. This was Deni happy, without the haunted look in her eyes. Before the accident, Jace figured.
A sudden savage fury rose up in him, filling his throat with growls. She’d been deliberately run down by a human trying to kidnap her. Though the man had been killed, Jace wanted the culprit in front of him, so he could have the pleasure of ripping his head off.
His rage rose so quickly that he started to shift. Then his Collar shocked him.
The pain was fierce. Jace dug his fist into his mouth to cut off the scream that had welled up, ready to burst out.
Son of a bitch. He closed his eyes, trying to breathe, rapidly repeating the meditation mantra to calm the Collar. The Collar shocked him again, and he balled his hands in agony.
What the f**k?
Jace found himself on the floor, arms curled around his legs as he rocked in pain. Flashes of rage went through him, followed by just as intense flashes of need. Need for Deni.
He needed her touch, her kiss, to breathe her scent. Her body against his. Another time of passion with her, another time when he’d bury himself inside her and be, for once in his life, complete.