Page 27 of Shifter Situations

Jack shook his head. “What mountain lion?”

“The one in the tree…” I trailed off, searching my mind for the last time I’d seen the feline.

“I didn’t see one either,” Stone admitted.

“It was there,” I told them, pointing to the thick branch it had been standing on. “But I don’t recall seeing it at all after the fight started.”

“There are six in the pack here,” Dad muttered to himself, ticking his fingers down as he recalled their names.

Briggs glanced at me, then his brother. “We know one.”

“And I wouldn’t put this kind of shit past her,” Bay confessed.

6

Briggs

Wednesday, June 3rd

Late Afternoon

As soon as Charlie left, I stalked toward Sloane, intent on checking her for any lingering injuries that the fae hadn’t healed.

Images of her gunshot wounds haunted my memories. I couldn’t stand seeing her covered in blood any longer without knowing that she was okay.

I knew she didn’t need Vaughn’s assistance with healing, but we had all sensed his need to play the part of mother hen. His OCD tendencies would not stop until he knew he wasn’t needed anymore.

Sloane was right.

We’d all been together for so long that we knew what the others could and couldn’t do. We each had a role in our friendship, even if they overlapped.

Vaughn and I were both care-givers. We needed to know that the people we cared about were healthy and happy. I tried to stop us all from doing dumb shit, and the fae stepped in after we did it.

Palmer and I kept them fed while Stone and Novak were our foundation, constantly self-sacrificing to ensure we were safe. The vampire was more emotionally driven to protect than the logical demon.

And York would shove us all out of our comfort zones, pushing us to take risks and enjoy ourselves. He wouldn’t let us get too complacent or lazy. Between him and Palmer, we were basically forced to learn new shit against our will.

Not that I was complaining.

It was just hitting me all of a sudden.

Stone didn’t give a fuck about himself, especially if others were injured. He could have been holding his intestines in his hands, and he still would have waited. Everyone else had to be in perfect condition before he would allow anyone to help him.

Novak had fallen into the role of protector years ago, and he continued to get himself into trouble to save our asses. It wasn’t just with us either. He would go insane over Blaire in a heartbeat, and more recently, he’d pulled Sloane under that umbrella of protection.

Palmer knew everything about everyone under our roof. If one of us sneezed seven Thursdays ago, the mage could tell us exactly which room we were in and at what time it happened. He never missed a date that was important to one of us and would bust our balls if we weren’t punctual.

Vaughn would exhaust himself trying to keep us contained. He did all the important things that the rest of us barely thought about. He had the laundry sent out, groceries delivered, bills on auto-pay. And probably a hundred other things that we never noticed or fully appreciated.

I hadn’t washed clothes or physically signed into an account to pay anything in longer than I could remember.

York had picked up all the slack when he was with us. He’d been the peacemaker, instigator, comedic relief… The shot of honesty that we all needed, even if we didn’t want to hear it.

He had been a training partner for Stone, a study buddy for Palmer, the voice of reason for Novak, a boost of confidence for Vaughn. He’d been my test subject in the kitchen.

I knew all of these things, but Sloane didn’t.

The six of us were navigating new relationships with her while helping each other out. Maybe it wasn’t completely new for York, but I doubted she was the same person he knew before he was taken.