I had no idea what they were yammering about. But as I reached the entrance to the hall, Kitani’s face—changed.
I froze. At first, I thought I was imagining things. Hallucinations seemed a natural progression from an alien attack, no sleep, strange dreams, and gorgeous six-foot guys bursting in on me to announce footprints in my garden.
But then, her jaws lengthened into a muzzle. Teeth as long as my fingers dropped from her gums, and her eyes flared gold from a face that sprouted fur...
Horrified, my gaze dropped to her hands. The fingers had broadened into digits with pads beneath, and wicked, curved claws extended from the tips.
I lost the ability to breathe, and my legs shook so hard I thought they’d collapse. Trix growled, her hackles standing on end as she backed against me.
We barely breathed as Kitani’s hands and face returned to human.
Cara hadn’t moved a muscle. “It’s okay, Anna. We won’t hurt you.”
I shot a panicked glance at her, and my heart started beating again. The woman was so calm. “W-what are you?”
Cara gestured to Kitani and Cody. “They are shapeshifters called Sabres. What attacked you was another kind of shifter called a Dire.” She waggled her eyebrows at me. “You might call him a werewolf.”
I swallowed as the words slid off my consciousness like water off a duck’s back. Her vivid-blue eyes reflected sympathy as I asked, “And you?”
“I’m something else.” She smiled.
“But not human?”
“No,” she said. “I’m not human. But I’ll let you in on a secret, Anna.”
Her smile broadened, and somehow, I knew what she was going to say before she said it.
“You’re not human, either.”
* * *
Kitani and Cody departed for my backyard—apparently to erase any signs of my visiting werewolf.
Werewolf.
Only they called themselves Dires. As in Dire wolf? And Sabres? The teeth I’d glimpsed dovetailed with the images I’d seen of sabre-toothed tigers.
Only they were extinct.
Supposedly.
I guess I’d better get the nomenclatures correct. They might object if I don’t. And getting snapped at by those jaws would leave marks.
I didn’t actually remember sitting down again. But here I was, perched in my cushy chair, staring at Cara as she explained how the last twenty-four hours of my life marked the end of existence as I’ve known it.
Dammit, I’d been down that life-erasing road before, and not that long ago, either. But I guessed once you’d killed a werewolf with your bare hands, you were no longer suitable to live unassisted among humans.
I made a desperate grab for reality as I’d come to know it. “I was just freaked out, and he hurt Trix,” I babbled. “Unless I get attacked by another crazy naked—whatever—in a cape, it won’t happen again.”
Her gaze remained steady. “Do you know how you did what you did?”
I shook my head. “I was just really angry.”
One corner of her lips twitched. “You tore his heart apart. Not a human ability, I’m afraid. Which makes sense, really.”
“So you said.” Did I want affirmation that I wasn’t human?
No. I so did not.
