Page 15 of Catnip

He tilted his head. “Still thinking aboutit.”

Ava laughed, shaking her head as she pulled the covers back. “You’re definitely aguy.”

He was. An interested guy. But she was wounded, and frightened, so, however much he wanted to say he was going to make her scream his name and claw at his back, hedidn’t.

“You think you’re up to getting out of there yet? I can bring some foodup…”

“But if you do, the rest of the pride will think I’m hiding.” She grimaced, making it clear that she didn’t like that. “I can getup.”

Coveney tilted his head,curious.

“You’re hard to place. You’re pretty shy, and could use a confidence boost, but I don’t read a clear submissive vibe from you. Plus, you’ve applied as a fighter, or you wouldn’t have been called a few weeksback.”

Rye had asked a bunch of candidates to join him; people with fighting skills. Expecting the battle that had taken place the previous day, he hadn’t wanted to involve more members who neededprotection.

“I’m dominant,” she nodded. “Just notverydominant. My animal makes up for it,though.”

“You let her do the fighting?” he asked, without judging her. A lot of shifters relied on theiranimal.

To his surprise, Ava shook her pretty head. “No, not often. She’s kick-ass, but in a one-on-one, I fight. I’m not that good. Never won against one of my siblings, not even once. But still, I was trained. Not too badly either, or I wouldn’t have made it out of Dalealive.”

Dale. One of the million bombs she’d launched at them over the lasthour.

“There’s really a whole place that looks like ancient Rome,then?”

She shrugged. “Not completely. Itisthe twenty-first century, you know. We even have Wi-Fi. But, yeah, the architecture is still intact, and we have plenty of relics. Except, they aren’t all dusty and ruined like those they keep in themuseums.”

Mindblowing.

“I’d like to see thatsomeday.”

She sighed. “I think some part of me would like to see it again. But even if they all stop actively trying to murder me, I’m never returning to the flock. Most of the members of my family died before my eyes. I’m done withDale.”

Breakfast

The house was lovely.Very modern, the polar opposite to the place where she’d grown up, but over the last few months she’d seen plenty of modern edifices, and she could recognize that this one was far superior to the norm. The curved staircases, carved ceilings, and the materials - metals and polished stone - made it obvious it had been designed to stand out. It was also large; she’d seen it from outside, but it was even more evident when seeing the indoors. Twisting her neck to see up the staircase, and looking down again, she commented, “this is a pretty bigplace.”

“We fit in nicely, and there’s fifteen of us. Eight adults, nine kids. The kids share - there are two of them per room, and Niamh, the oldest, stays by herself. We’ve added three newbies recently, so that leaves two guest rooms.” He frowned. “Rye said he plans to see more potential recruits soon, so we’re going to have to either expand, or see if any of us want to leave the mainhouse.”

Ava bit her lip. It didn’t sound like they had the capacity for too many new members. Would they let her stay? Doubtful, especially if Fenrir contradicted the old text. She’d still be wanted by her flock, who controlled every eagle out there. And it wasn’t like she was bringing a lot to the table. Richard, Aria, or Rupert would have been another story. Aria had been strong - so strong she could punch through walls. Rupert’s thing had been speed. Richard was the best of them, ateverything.She was the lesser Dale, the softer one,too.

She hadn’t lied to Coveney: she could take care of herself, but that was aboutit.

They arrived at the first floor; she could hear the buzz in the next room stop before they walked in. A dozen pairs of eyes were pinned on her when Coveney led her to the livingroom.

She recognized most of them. There were a couple of unfamiliar females sitting next to Ace, but she’d seen the others plenty oftimes.

Ava wasn’t surprised to find that most of the glances ranged from suspicious to downrighthostile.

She bit her lip. The second she did, an oh-so-familiar hand she shouldn’t already be used to circled her waist. “I sit over this way,” Coveney said. “It will be a squeeze. We need a biggertable.”

The shifters she hadn’t met yet all looked like their Head Enforcer had grown a tail and horns, staring at him inshock.

He pulled out a chair, and got her to sit at what was obviously his place, content to stand next toher.

“You’ve met Rye, Ace, Daunte, and Clari. This is Rain, the witch who made the salve that healedyou.”

She waved in the direction of the mocha-skinned beauty at Ace’s right, who smiled and waved back. “And Vivicia. She helped me track youdown.”

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