The guy looked like he’d bitten off more than he could chew, so after Denver shoved him back a step, he reluctantly headed out the main door.

“That’s why I love the hell out of that kid,” Reno said, rising to his feet. “I’ll look into your missing friend and let you know what I find. My questions are rapid-fire, so you might want to warn the girls ahead of time.”

I stood up and lowered my voice. “Maybe I should mention something else.”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“I don’t think Skye was the first. Another girl went missing, although none of us saw it. Do you think it’s related?”

He touched a scar on his lip and my eyes roamed down to the bulge beneath his button-up shirt. Leave it to Reno to come to a birthday party armed. “That could be problematic. Someone selling to the black market wouldn’t be dumb enough to strike the same place twice. Give me a call if you find out anything else. Got it?”

“Absolutely.”

“Maizy, it’s time to go!” Lexi called out.

Maizy appeared from the right side of the room and ran toward Denver. “Just one more game!”

She approached the machine and looked at it, but she’d given all her money to the jerk.

Denver stepped up behind her, pumped in a few coins, and planted his hands on either side of the machine, becoming a shield while she played her last game. He turned his head, glancing toward the door where the man had gone. I could tell he was itching to go after him, but a good watchdog didn’t leave the woman or child they were guarding to act out a boyish impulse.

While he might have had the maturity of a teenager, Denver was no boy.

Chapter 4

That evening at the club, my panther was scratching to get out. Being a Shifter in the city wasn’t easy when your animal required freedom several times a week. Years ago, I lived in northern Canada. Lots of space for my animal to run, privacy, and yet there was no way for me to earn a good living. There had been times when I had no food to eat for months, but as long as my panther could hunt, her meals would provide for the both of us. I’d reached a point where I had to choose a life for either my panther or myself—there was no happy medium. Either I could live in a shack in the woods—isolated from civilization—or I could move to a city with more Breeds and make a solid income to give myself financial comfort in the years to come.

After I made my decision, I realized it came with sacrifice. It became too dangerous for me to shift anywhere outside my residence. Occasionally I would take an excursion to the rural areas of Texas and let her out for a day or two, just to give her a chance to run hard and get it out of her system, but I couldn’t do that all the time. My boss didn’t give me many consecutive days off, so that left me with shifting in my apartment. A Shifter’s animal respects those that the human half loves, so nothing ever happened between my panther and Misha. But an apartment was a tight fit, and there was always a risk of a human hearing her growl and calling the police. On rare occasions, I’d find scratches on the wall or other signs of restless behavior. I’m sure the music didn’t help calm her, but I kept it on to drown out any sounds she might make.