Page 96 of Shifter Situations

“Where’s your brother? I haven’t seen him in ages.”

“Ask his mate. She’s right over there. But don’t leave until you tell me what you came to tell me.”

“Novak? Novak has a mate?”

Blaire snickered. “I said the same thing when I found out.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “I’m glad Novak is here because I have some news about his neighbor.”

That piqued my interest. But so did Tiago bouncing his eyes from Ripley to Dolyn and Ozlo.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I whispered to myself.

“Are they—” Briggs started before shaking his head. “I don’t—”

“I think that’s what’s happening,” I interrupted, nodding my head in. “They’re mates.”

“Which neighbor?” Stone questioned.

Tiago shrugged. “The fae-mage.”

Vaughn shook his head. “There’s no fae or fae hybrid in that building. I would know.”

“Yes, there is.”

“Who?”

“Annette Moore. Do you know her?”

Palmer narrowed his eyes, nodding. “Yeah... She’s the old lady who brings us cookies.”

“No. Her father is Alric Moore. She’s not an old woman at all. Well,” Tiago tilted his head in consideration. “She is very old, but she doesn’t normally look like that.”

My guys were stunned into silence.

I tipped my head back to laugh.

“Gods. Can this shit get any more twisted?”

“Don’t say that,” York warned quietly.

I glanced at Briggs, repeating the question he’d asked me Thursday night. “What changed between the beginning of May and the middle?”

“We all went out of town,” Stone answered. “Briggs was camping, Palmer went to Northern Ireland to visit his family, I was gone to a conference. Novak and Vaughn were home.”

“Not really,” Novak corrected. “I was in and out. Vaughn came with me to a couple of gigs on the weekends.”

Novak tilted his head, scrunching his brows together. “Except for the weekend we met Sloane. I left that Thursday night, and I wasn’t supposed to come back until that Sunday.”

“You all came home early,” Vaughn commented.

“What does that have to do with this Annette woman being a fae-mage?” Jack inquired.

Briggs turned to me. “You never felt anything?”

I shook my head. “Nothing. Not when we were in the same building and none of the times that I was in CBP.”

“None?” Palmer’s brow was creased with confusion. “How many times were ye at CBP before ya met Vaughn?”