Shifting the Night Away (27 page)

Here’s where I come in,
Riker thought, all his muscles bulging in anticipation. Unlike Jonathan, he wasn’t going to need a jumpstart, not in his shifter form. He took a flying leap into open air and landed on the third floor balcony railing, his claws wrapped around it for purchase, his tail swishing in the air for balance.

“Wh—what was that?”

Riker released himself from Jonathan’s vision and leapt forward into the room. He padded carefully across the broken glass on the floor, his paws spread. A low growl emanated from his throat at the sight of the little punk who’d threatened his ma—
Mara.

“Your worst nightmare.” Johnathan’s voice was grim as he released Danny and stepped aside. “He could take care of you in a second. It would be messy, but hey—this is Belmont City. Stranger things have happened than an indoor animal attack.”

“You’re not saying that’s a…”

“Belmont panther?” There was glee in Jonathan’s voice—glee mirrored in Riker, as they could both smell Danny’s fear. “I’m sure you’ve heard the stories. Strange things happen here. Dangerous things. And there’s nothing more dangerous than a black Belmont panther.”

Close enough to almost touch Danny, Riker couldn’t help himself: he reared back on his hind legs and buried his claws into the wall beside the punk. Danny whimpered as he dragged his impressive claws down to the floor, creating inch deep gouges in the wall right next to him.

“Alright, call him off! What do you want? I’ll do anything, just—just get rid of the thing.”

Get him to leave town,
Riker telepathed to Jonathan, who subtly nodded in response.

“I wish I could say I control him, but…” Jonathan shrugged, like there was nothing he could do. “Well, I guess I
could
hold him back while you run away. That’s worked a few times in the past, but once he has a scent he’s pretty unstoppable. You’d have to get pretty far to shake him off your trail.”

Riker growled, deep and low, pacing in front of Danny’s terrified form.

“I’ll leave town. Is that what Pete wants? He can have his territory back—all of it! Just don’t kill me, please.”

“Suit yourself. Two hundred miles should do it.” Peeling himself off the wall, Jonathan paced back out to the balcony. Riker followed, sparing a few glances back in Danny’s direction. “I’ll keep him occupied while you pack.”

Disgruntled, Danny glared in their direction. “Whatever, man. Just give me ’til the morning.”

Useless ingrate.
With a roar, Riker pounced in his direction, landing on the bed. His claws tore up the comforter, the sound of his fury filling the whole room—and no doubt waking Danny’s neighbors.

Danny threw himself into the corner, his whole body shaking, eyes wide with fear. “Okay, I’ll leave now! Now!”

“Sounds good to me,” Jonathan said, leaping up onto the building.

“Hey—get this thing out of here before you leave!”

“Oh, he’s coming too.”
Get out of there, Riker, before you eviscerate him.

Want. To. Kill.
Riker snarled at the kid, his mind white with rage. The soothing balm of Jonathan’s mind in his was all that kept the panther from leaping forward and ending Danny forever.

With a snarl, he gathered himself together and rushed out onto the balcony, then flung himself over the side. For a moment he was almost flying, his legs extended as air coursed across his fur. Then he landed, the impact jarring but easily taken in his supernatural form.

A few seconds later Jonathan landed behind him, his boots soft on the grass. “That was close,” he said aloud, his voice just a little shaky. “I had no idea you’d become so… uncontrollable. You used to be the calmest of all of us.”

Riker snorted, casting his thoughts away from the past. He shook himself, then slowly changed back into his human, glad that—for them at least—the changing of forms didn’t require nudity.

“Some things change,” he muttered once he was human again. “Especially me.”

Jonathan was quiet after that, and they didn’t speak again, parting in the night like two strangers. Internally, Riker made a vow not to let the panther take over him ever again. He would rather give up shifting than face what it felt like to lose control.

Especially since the people he lost control with were often those he loved the most.

Chapter Fourteen

Anticipation

I was relieved when, upon walking into class the next day, Riker wasn’t there yet. It gave me some time to prepare for what I was going to say to him—if I got the nerve to even say it.

It’s just a date,
I reminded myself, trying to stay calm.
It doesn’t have to mean anything other than ‘Hey, maybe I want to learn more about you.’ It’s not going to ruin your life.
For a while, I busied myself with getting my things laid out.

“Wow.” Kayla joined me on the same side of the classroom as before, peeking over to look into my portfolio. Large, gold hoop earrings swung from her ears. “That’s a pretty great drawing. You even caught how sexy he is.”

Blushing, I zipped it closed. “It’s not done yet, really. I think I may have exaggerated a few things.”

As if on cue, Riker walked into the classroom. Kayla waggled her eyebrows at me and fanned herself. Her enthusiasm made me wonder how she’d react if she knew I’d slept with him—twice.

“I have to go ask him a question,” I mumbled, standing up. “It’s about the assignment.”

“Sure it is.” Kayla winked at me. “Go get ‘em. You’re braver than me.”

Sighing, I walked over to the front of the room, where Riker was putting his things away near the professor’s desk. “Can I talk to you?”

Turning towards me, he smirked. “This isn’t going to be another one of those stay-away-from-me-you-jerk speeches, is it?”

I could feel my cheeks heat up.
The jerk. I should just walk away now.
But some glint of humor in Riker’s eyes reassured me he was just teasing.

“Actually, about that…” Clearing my throat, I tried to calm the nervous quiver in my voice. “I, um, well. Do you like movies?”

For a moment, I thought I was going to die of sheer embarrassment.

“Princess,” Riker said, leaning in close to me, “are you asking me out on a date?”

Act casual. Be cool.
“Um, yes. If you were interested? I know we said just that time, again, but I thought maybe…” Trailing off, I stopped myself before I dissolved into further incoherency.

“I’m flattered.” There was amusement in Riker’s voice. The thought occurred to me that he could say no, embarrassing me forever.

“Just a thought.” I shrugged, trying to play it off, all too aware of how scarlet my cheeks had to be. “You know, if you want to.”

He grinned. “Aw, I can’t torture you like this anymore. Yes, I’ll go out on a date with you. Now get back to your seat before the professor shows up.”

“I’ll text you with the details later,” I said, spinning on my feet and walking back to my easel. My relief at his answer bubbled over, and I exchanged a happy little smile with Kayla, who threw me a thumbs up.

Maybe,
I thought, looking at Riker from my seat,
we wouldn’t be such a disaster together after all.
It turned out the bad boy had his charms.

Moments later, he walked around to my seat—casually, stopping at other students’ easels on the way—and leaned over my shoulder.

“Just so you know,” he said, bracing his hand on my easel, “I prefer comedies.”

“Really? Because I’m more of an action fan myself.” Glancing at his hand, I frowned.
Wasn’t that the one he injured?
It was perfectly healed, though, so it had to be my imagination.

“Maybe there’s a good comedic action flick we can check out.” His voice was warm and liquid, like honey. This close, I was drawn to the smell of his musky cologne and noticed the way the smoke dragon tattoo peered over his shoulder.

“I don’t think we’ll be paying attention to the movie,” I pointed out, and he smirked.

“Fair point. I gotta go, before anyone notices I’m giving you special attention.”

I watched him make a full circuit of the room, but my eyes were on his hands, not his face. Neither one of them was bandaged, and I couldn’t see any sign of the injury he’d gotten just the day before.

There was
definitely
something strange in the water in Belmont City. Curiosity had me wanting to figure out what it was.

***

I couldn’t keep in the giddy little smile I made every time I got his texts.

“Whatcha doin’?” Nora peered over my shoulder. “Oooh, texting when you should be paying attention to our chick flick of the week. Sisters before misters, remember?”

“Sorry.” I put my phone away and nestled back into the couch cushions. Nora and I had a weekly tradition we’d kept up since being assigned as roommates freshman year: we sat on the couch and watched one of the silliest, goofiest rom-coms we could find. They never held our attention for long, but movie night wasn’t about the movies.

“Now, how about instead of
texting
him, you talk to me
about
him.”

Nervously, I chewed on my lips. “We’re going out tomorrow.”

Nora squealed, clapping her hands. “That fast? He must
really
like you. I guess you’re not the only one who thought the sex was super hot.”

“It came as a surprise to me, too. Right now we’re debating what movie to go see.”

Snorting, Nora shook her head. “Who cares about the movie? We both know you won’t be watching it.” She elbowed me, grinning. “You must be really excited.”

“Yeah.” In truth, I was
very
excited. But my face fell when I thought about Riker’s undamaged hand. “There’s just one weird thing that’s bothering me about him. It’s probably nothing, but I can’t get it out of my head.”

Reaching forward, Nora paused the movie. “That sounds serious. What is it?”

I hesitated, trying to put my thoughts together. “Yesterday, I bandaged up his hand because he’d sliced it open on broken glass. Today, there was nothing there. No bandage. No wound. Like it didn’t even exist.”

“Whoa.” Frowning, Nora seemed to consider the issue before her. “You know, my friend Henna has lived here since she was a little girl. She said the reason why so many natives leave is because there’s—”

“Something strange about Belmont City. It’s a familiar phrase.”

“And it’s real. I don’t know what exactly
it
is, but this isn’t the first time I’ve heard about someone around here having unnatural abilities. Maybe he should switch to bottled water.”

I snorted incredulously, the sound indelicate. “Considering the fact that his eyes are
yellow,
I don’t think that’s going to do any good. I’m betting it’s too late for a water filter to change anything.”

“You sure do know how to pick them. Hey—maybe his sculpted abs are one of the side affects.”

“Maybe
we
should drink the tap water more often.”

We both looked at our margaritas, which were half finished and melting. “I think I’ll stick to alcohol, soda, and bottled water,” Nora said, reaching out to finish her drink.

“I just hope that whatever it is that’s weird about him, it doesn’t come with any other side effects.” The thought was enough to make me shudder. Urban legends around here weren’t exactly gentle.

“Unless you’ve seen any gills, I say just go for it. From what I’ve heard, healing abilities and yellow eyes are some pretty mild changes to go through.”

Belmont City was something else. “Remind me to move away as soon as we graduate.”

Picking up the remote, Nora restarted our cheesy movie of the week. “You and me both, babe.”

***

The next day went by in a blur of anxiety. Thankfully I didn’t see Riker in person, or he would’ve realized how much of a mess I was and run—not walked—in the opposite direction.

By the time my classes were over and I was home in the dorm room, a thousand reasons why I should cancel were running through my head. For one thing, Riker hadn’t struck me as boyfriend material from the very beginning, and what if I got too attached? For another thing, he had
horrible
taste in films. And finally, did I really have time for a boyfriend, with my class load?