She nodded again, and I smiled, trying to set her at ease as I crossed the room and opened the door just wide enough to slip through the crack, to keep from frightening her with the sight of several strange men. The guys were lined up against the opposite wall, Dr. Carver clutching his clean, bandaged arm to his chest.

Jace had joined them, and he looked irritated, probably because he’d woken up alone in an empty bed. I knew exactly how he felt. Usually I was the one left out of the action.

I closed the door behind myself as I stepped into the hall, and the eagerness in Jace’s eyes died with the click of the latch sliding into place, but Lucas looked annoyingly smug. He was tall enough to see easily over my head and had clearly gotten a glimpse of the tabby. Suddenly I was glad I’d covered her. Seeing her naked would mean nothing special to Lucas—his curiosity was completely innocent—but it would probably mortify her.

“She Shifted!” Lucas’s excitement was practically palpable, but Marc rolled his eyes. They already knew that, having heard every word we’d said for the last forty-five minutes or so.

“Yes.” I glanced from face to face, and my words came out rushed with my own excitement. “I need someone to go get clothes for her from my suitcase.” My gaze stopped on Marc first, because he knew where most of my stuff was and what I wouldn’t mind lending out. But the steel-edged glint in his eyes told me his answer. I should have known better. He wouldn’t go, not because he was worried about my safety—he trusted all the toms present—but because he wouldn’t risk running into my father and having to explain what we were doing.

We’d be in enough trouble once they found out on their own.

But Jace would go. He’d go because Marc would make him. And because I would ask nicely. “Please?” I pinned him with my eyes.

“What? You leave me out of all the fun and now you want me to fetch clothes for you like some kind of fucking gofer?”

“Please,” I repeated. “I’d do it myself, but I don’t want to leave her alone.”

“Whatever.” Jace huffed, his eyes never leaving mine. “What do you want?”

I smiled my thanks at him. “Um…my black pajama bottoms, I guess. The ones with the drawstring. And a black T-shirt. And that soft, cream-colored sweater. She’s in there shivering.”

“Socks?”