Jack chuckled cockily. “Oh, they want to stay.” I was still snickering when Jack muttered, “Keep laughing it up, Lily. When you get back on the saddle, you’ll be dealing with this, too.”
My laughter died directly, and I choked a little, an unbidden blush rising to my cheeks.
“Really?” Ezra drawled, watching closely from his hiding spot. “When did this happen?”
“What?” Jack asked, not seeing me. “What happened?”
“It appears Lily’s already climbed back on the saddle.”
“Oh,” Jack breathed swiftly, banging against my seat as he almost rose, but quickly ducked once more. “Who was it?”
“Um,” I fumbled, debating internally before deciding to keep it simple, “Antonio said I needed to get back out there. Said me puttering around the house every night for months wasn’t healthy.” Tense throat-clearing. “So, I did. A few times.” I shrugged, playing it down.
“A few times?” Jack banged my seat again. “Alright, who are they?”
Okay, so it was possible I had gone a little crazy in the past two weeks trying to edge past the infinite pain of loss. It hadn’t exactly worked. I hadn’t forgotten Dominic, but oddly, Antonio had been right. It had reminded me I was still alive. That I was here, breathing, and in the land of the living, not the dead. That I wasn’t in the past.
Opening my mouth to tell them, since we were on that level now, I stalled when a knocking on my window startled me, and my head snapped to the outside interrupter. I blinked at the Shifter staring at me. Christ, he was my latest. Even more awful, he still wore the same expression he had when I had left him two nights ago. Like he was love-struck.
I smiled — kind of — and muttered without moving my lips, “Karma’s a bitch.” He knocked again, his brows rising, so I rolled my window down with resignation, but my tone was polite. “Hi, Jim.”
“Hey, you,” he said softly, reaching inside the car to brush a piece of my hair from my cheek. He smelled like his animal, bear. “I tried calling you last night.” Yeah, he had tried calling seven times. Before dinner. That didn’t include how many after. “I wanted to tell you a group of us are going ice fishing tonight.” Of course he was. He was a polar bear Shifter. “Want to come?” His lips lifted in a private smile. “There’s a cabin there perfect for two.”
Even while hearing Ezra chuckle quietly, I gently took Jim’s hand — it was still lingering on my hair — and placed it back outside my window, saying just as softly, “Jim, that’s very sweet of you, but I’m not interested.” I cleared my throat, trying to be nice, my tone respectful. “I told you I’m not looking for anything serious.” Uh…you don’t say.
Jim’s mouth opened, but he was shoved to the side by a hip covered in pink leather.
It was Elly, her lioness growling low before she muttered, “Get out of here, Jim.”
Through the front windshield, I could see her dad’s limo — he was some high-level Mys official — driving off, having dropped her off for school, but moreover, I saw Jim’s jaw clench before he nodded as he cast me a glance that meant to say he would talk to me later.
I barely kept my groan at bay.
As Jim ambled toward King Hall’s entrance, Elly took his place at my window with a toothy grin. “You can show your thanks tonight with a tub of rocky road ice-cream.”
“I’ll even add pink sprinkles,” I muttered, sighing. “We’re still on for veg night?”
She nodded once, but blinked, sniffing the air, then glanced over her shoulder. Her golden eyes quickly returning to mine, she whispered, “Tom’s on his way over. You want to see him?”
I stiffened. “Oh, hell no.” I ducked, sputtering, “He squawks.” He was a hawk Shifter.
Jack and Ezra instantly laughed at my words, even while Elly simply nodded. She started to turn to cut him off, but stopped. She was staring at my lap, so I peered down. Ezra still had his hand on my leg, gifting me gently with his power, the softest of tranquility past the chill.
I hadn’t even noticed. No wonder I hadn’t been cold. I had even forgotten to turn the heater up. To make matters worse, in Elly’s view, his hand had slipped under my dress when he had reclined his seat.
She bent halfway through the window, over me, asking softly, “What’cha think you’re doing with your hand up my Prodigy’s dress, Vampire?” Her lioness growled, and it was a fairly frightening sound, coming from a supposedly weak Shifter.
Ezra kept his hand where it was, grinning unrepentantly, not helping the situation any.
Taking a firm grip on her shoulder, I explained, “He’s only relaxing me.” Realizing that hadn’t come out right when Jack choked and Elly’s lioness growled louder, I added hurriedly, “Like, literally, relaxing me. With his power. I was freezing in this dress.” The growling died down, and I gently pushed her out the window when I smelled Tom on the wind. “I’ll see you tonight, Elly.”
She still glared at Ezra, but nodded, her nostrils flaring, and she quickly turned to stop Tom’s progress. Things had changed. I knew this as I rolled the window up. I wasn’t completely used to it — I probably never would be — but I knew why every Shifter treated me differently. I was their Prodigy. I had the power. It had altered my relationship with Elly. Not purposely, but it was undeniable. My mastery of being able to hide my Shifter power was even more important to me now, but it was still a work in progress.
Jack murmured, “Well, I do believe you have some clue what relations are going to be like from now on.” He chuckled, a few snorts categorical from the backseat.
Ezra slowly joined him, sputtering, “He squawks? Sweetheart, what were you thinking?”
I groaned, banging my head back against the headrest a few times. “I wasn’t.” I paused, and then added honestly, “I ended up wanting fowl for dinner. It was like he was prey.”
They thought that hilarious.
Arriving at the high-rise commercial building in downtown New York City, I parked in a parking garage a block away. Pearl was still laughing her butt off as we exited the Hummer, Jack and Ezra having a dandy time retelling what had happened. I took it like a champ, almost completely ignoring their ribbing. I shivered as I stepped into the frigid air, only then noticing Ezra must have gifted me with his power the entire drive there. Oddly, the others hadn’t complained about the chill.