Midnight Wolf (Shifters Unbound #11)(20)

Tamsin looked stricken. “I was there. But I promise you I didn’t kill those men, or tell anyone else to kill them. It was awful, and I took off.”

“Tell me what happened,” Angus commanded.

For a moment, he thought she’d refuse, then Tamsin sank to the desk chair and covered her face with her hands. “I was with this Shifter—Dion. I thought he had the same goals I did, which is to get Shifters free of Shiftertowns and Collars. He seemed reasonable when I first met him.”

She sighed. “But after a while it was clear he was just crazy. I planned to get away from him, but I was still with him when two men from Shifter Bureau found us. They tried to arrest us, but they didn’t call for backup. I guess they thought Shifters would be scared and contrite if we were threatened with tranqs, Tasers, and Collars. But Dion was out of his mind. He went into his half-beast form and attacked. I tried to stop him, tried to fight him away from them. But he killed them—I couldn’t do anything. I knew if I were found anywhere nearby, I’d be executed. So I ran.”

Her words grew more shaky as she spoke, and when she finished, her shoulders moved in silent sobs.

Damn it, now Angus wanted to hold her, hug her, soothe her. Tell her he felt sorry for her for taking up with a murdering Feline.

“What happened to this Dion?” he asked abruptly. “Did they catch him?”

“I don’t know. Probably not if you were sent to bring me in. They obviously knew I was at the scene.”

Tamsin remained hunkered over, her damp hair spreading across her shoulders in an orange-red wave.

Angus hid a growl, moved across the small room, and rested his hand on her back. She was warm through her shirt, her shaking coming to him.

He firmed his touch, his natural instinct to comfort taking over. Shifters helped one another with direct contact, which was why embracing perfect strangers and those of the same gender—for long, soul-healing hugs—wasn’t odd to them.

Tamsin’s horror was unfeigned. Angus imagined she’d have been happy taunting and evading the agents, as she had Angus, but she would not have wanted them dead. Whoever this Dion was, if he was still alive, Angus would catch up to him and explain a few things.

“I’ll help you tell them what happened,” Angus said. “If you weren’t responsible for the killings, I won’t let Shifter Bureau pin that on you.”

Tamsin raised her head. She sniffled, then dug into the pocket of her jeans for a tissue. “Wake up to reality. They won’t care if I didn’t actually commit the murders. I’m a Collarless Shifter. That’s enough to get me caged and terminated.”

She wasn’t wrong. When Collarless Shifters were found, many were simply forced into Collars and put into Shiftertowns, but if one was considered violent and dangerous, termination was the usual result.

“I know people,” Angus tried. “Powerful Shifters from Texas—both with Collars and without. They can help you. But I have to take you in first.”

Tamsin turned to look at him, but she didn’t try to dislodge his hand. He could tell his touch was helping, because her shaking had lessened and her voice no longer quavered. “I can’t make you understand, can I?”

Her face was slightly pointed, like her fox’s, her nose a little longer than most humans would find pretty. Angus thought it fit her perfectly. He also noted that the tips of her ears were very slightly pointed—her fox again. “I can’t let you go, Tamsin. I’m sorry.” He drew a breath. “They have my cub.”

Tamsin’s eyes widened. “What?” Her lips remained parted, moisture behind them.

“They’re making me choose between you and my cub, and I have to pick my cub. So I don’t have the option of letting you go. I’ve already taken too long, but you were hurt . . .”

Tamsin swallowed. Her breath touched his skin. “You should have told me.”

“Would it have made a difference?”

She nodded, her warm hair brushing his hand. “I would have tried harder to get away from you. Not your fault if you couldn’t catch me.”

Angus frowned. “You mean you weren’t trying hard to get away from me?”

“Not as hard as I could have. The house is starting to like me. It showed me this room—I knew there would be secret passages. It will let me go eventually if I can convince it that it’s in our best interests.”

“You don’t sound very worried that you’re inside a haunted house.”

“A sentient house,” Tamsin said. “There’s a difference. I’ve heard of them, though I’ve never seen one. Very, very rare. Have to be on a ley line, built by a person of certain magic, and then it needs to be given time.”

“And you know all this because . . .”

“I read books.” Tamsin’s impish look returned. “You know, they have covers with paper in between. Or they’re words that magically appear on your phone. At least my phone, since I have one made in this century. Or I did. Too risky to carry something around that always wants to know your location.”

Angus didn’t bother answering. He couldn’t seem to stand up either, to rise and walk away from her.

He’d pretty much shut down all interest in female Shifters since April had told him she’d always preferred Gavan and had only accepted Angus’s mate-claim to get close to his brother. He and April had never formed the mate bond, and he’d understood why the day she’d taken off with Gavan, leaving a note in case he worried about Ciaran. Angus had tracked her down—he was one of the best trackers in his Shiftertown, far better than Gavan had ever been—took Ciaran, and let her go.