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“He’s going to rat us out,” I heard her sister’s voice on the other side of a door at the back of the restaurant. I froze and listened intently. “I don’t care how wide, innocent, and bedazzled those insane eyes of his are as they follow you around, he can’t be trusted.”

“Don’t worry about him,” responded Jillian calmly. “He’s harmless.”

Lynn was laughing as she said, “Harmless? Harmless as a loose tiger with a headache. Tread carefully. Jesus, are you even serious? Harmless! He’s young, but I’d wager that’s the most powerful druid we’ve ever seen. That eye… that wolf eye is something—I don’t even know what—but it’s not just there to enhance his looks. He’s so dangerous. I know you see what I see.”

“I’ll grant you, he is dangerous. What I’m telling you is he’s not dangerous to us. You don’t have to trust him, just trust me. That boy will never betray us.”

“You trust him?” said Lynn. She paused. “You don’t trust anyone but me. Not even yourself usually,” she added dryly.

There was a long pause, and I could hear my heartbeat so loud I thought they might hear it through the door.

“I do,” Jillian said. “I don’t think we can stay here much longer either way, but it won’t be because of betrayal from him. He’s loyal to a fault. I’m certain of it.”

“I’m not doubting that. But you think that loyalty is for you? Druids only care about their own, as we both well know.”

Unfortunately she didn’t answer that directly.

My hands were trembling I wanted so badly to hear her response to that.

“He’s going through a rough time, and he finds it peaceful here. Let him be,” said Jillian.

“Fine. Your call, but if it all goes to hell I get to say I told you so.”

“You certainly do,” Jillian agreed.

They were silent for a spell, and I went back to my table swiftly, not wanting to be caught.

I’d gleaned one important thing from that conversation. Even though it went against her very nature, Jillian trusted me.

CHAPTER NINE

ZEN AF

I was shaky when I rejoined the guys by the pool.

The huge bite marks had healed almost instantly, all evidence of my strange encounter erased. Well, on the outside at least. Inside, I was pretty messed up about it for all kinds of reasons.

Christian was chatting with Corbin about his Illuminati theories rather enthusiastically as I sat down, and they barely glanced at me as I rejoined them.

Caleb was another matter. He was in his default form again. Nondescript male. Until you looked at his eyes. Then he was nondescript scary guy. He looked at me, did a double take, then sat straight up, his intense gaze boring into mine.

“What on earth would make you bargain with it?” he asked, his voice quiet, intense and accusatory all at once.

It was a minute before my mind caught onto the implication. I looked at him. Stared his psychotic alien ass down.

“What did you just say?” I asked softly. How could he know?

“I know. Not the why, but the what. How about you tell me the why?”

“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

Christian had overheard and his curiosity was piqued by then. “What in bloody hell is he going on about, Jillian?”

Caleb kept staring at me coldly. “Don’t bother lying to me about it. Save the lies for your lover. He can’t know it’s gotten ahold of you. He’d never allow it.”

“Tell me what you know,” I said quietly, a bit scared to even speak about it openly.

“I know that look,” he replied just as quietly, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Actually something much, much worse than a ghost. I know about the thing.”