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He glanced up and something shifted in his eyes before a highly attractive smile curled his lips. The fox spotted me, too, and loped off into the trees, her cubs following. Ren stood. “Hey.”

“You’re still here.” I walked over to him.

“I said I’d keep them safe,” he said, searching my face. “How you doing, Jaz?”

A zip of electricity shot through my belly, then slipped lower. Not good, not at all. “Thank you, for doing this. Knowing you were here last night, it helped a lot. And I’ll be okay.”

“I’m glad.

“So what species is your new friend?” he asked, motioning to my shoulder.

“He’s a comma butterfly, smaller than the mourning cloaks but, sadly, he’ll only be around for a couple more weeks, a little longer if I’m lucky, then he’ll go off to hibernate.” Sympathy filled his pretty eyes, and I looked away. “Usually I can handle their loss a lot better. Yesterday was…a shock. It wasn’t the end of their life cycle. Someone had cut it short.”

“I spent the night doing research on my phone. I know who owns the field. I’ll make sure no one comes back and sprays poison here.”

“How?” I scanned the wide field. When the street was subdivided, this large field had been bought but never developed. It bordered the forest and now felt like it was part of it.

He crossed his muscled arms. “I’ll talk to him.”

“You’ll talk to him?”

His lips quirked up on one side. “I can be persuasive.”

He was smiling more. Did he realize that? And they weren’t fake smiles clouded by shadows, they reached his eyes. “You think just talking to him will work?”

“Trust me. In the meantime, I called Ronan. He’s on his way. He’s gonna block the trees they sleep in. By the time he’s finished, whoever sprayed poison won’t be able to see them. It’ll be like they’re not there.”

I smiled, huge, and had to fight the sudden urge to throw my arms around him. “Thank you, Ren. Seriously. Thank you so much.”

His gaze fell to my lips, and he pulled in a shaky breath. “Anything for you, butterfly.”

There went those damn zaps in my belly again, accompanied by a warm, soft feeling in the center of my chest. It was gratitude, that’s all. He was being kind, and I appreciated it. One friend appreciating another. Then why the hell was I blushing? I hadn’t blushed around him since before I went to Xavier for help.

“So what time are we going to the Sapphire tonight? I mean, if you still want to help me.” Had Xavier messed up somehow? Had he, like, left a crack in one of the walls he’d built or something, because there were feelings, definite feelings starting to brew inside me. Not the same as before, nowhere near what they were before, but there was something there.

“I’ll come by around nine and pick you up.”

I stuffed those feelings down deep. “Sounds good.”

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Chapter 25

Jasmine

* * *

The Sapphire Cabaret was a lot busier than it had been the night before. There was a group of guys here for a bachelor party and several other groups of guys in suits dotted around the room, while big burly males stood by the doors, scanning the crowd and making sure no one misbehaved.

“Stay close,” Ren said as we headed for a booth across from the all-you-can-eat buffet, putting a whole room between us and it.

I slid in first, and Ren followed.

No one was eating, but going by the steaming hot food, the buffet had just been replenished.

“He’ll be here soon,” Ren said.

My gaze slid to the door. “Get it while it’s hot.”