Page 31 of Pretty Kitten

“You definitely have a backbone,” she told her. “Knowing I can kill you without breaking a sweat, and yet standing your ground. It’s not something I see often. They should train you.”

Clari froze as the woman advanced towards her. But, when she reached her, she just offered her hand.

“Demetria Winters. I go by Tria.”

Her jaw practically hit the floor.

“You made me squirm on purpose.”

She shrugged.

“Just a little. No better way to get to know people. You’re the recently turned shifter.”

That made her stop; had Niamh shared that already?

Catching her glance, Tria just smiled indulgently.

“Information is my currency of choice. I have my ways. Earlier, your cat wanted out. You want to give in when she does, especially at first. It makes the transition easier with time, and it also means she’ll give in quicker, letting you shift back to your human form when you ask for it, rather than resisting. They should have told you that. Although, I’m sure your pride is currently occupied… Where’s Niamh?”

The woman spoke at a thousand miles an hour, changing subjects so quickly Clari’s head practically spun.

“Sorry,” she grimaced. “I don’t socialize much.”

Suddenly, rather than noticing the fact that she was too perfect, moved too quietly, too fluidly, and had eyes that seemed to see right into her soul, Clari saw Tria and wondered if she was much older than her.

“Cool about the information; not cool that it’s out there. Thanks for the tip about my cat. And yes, they’re busy, but mostly, they don’t really know what to tell me, because the shifter thing is normal to them. They never needed to adapt. As for Niamh- she’s upstairs. I’d better call Ace and let her know you’re here so you don’t rip each other to shreds. She’ll attack if you just turn up.”

Tria shrugged indifferently.

“She’d try.”

Chapter 20

Tria

Tria owned any room she entered without even trying, and the same could be said for Ace, so thrusting them in the same room was the equivalent of throwing a lightning bolt at a laser beam to see which one would explode first. After a staring contest that may have lasted until the end of time if Clari hadn’t cleared her throat, the two females nodded, silently acknowledging each other’s badass level.

After the proverbial game of mine is bigger than yours, Tria opened her arms, and Niamh jumped right in for a hug.

“I didn’t think you’d gotten my message at first.”

“I did. But I wagered you wouldn’t contact me on my emergency line for a matter that could be sorted on Skype, so I had to wait until I could get away unwatched.”

“And did you?” Ace asked. “Get away unwatched?”

Tria rolled her eyes. “I’m going to try not to take that as an insult. Right, so, you have a Turner issue with one of these delightful little people,” she said, waving towards the kids. “And everyone wants to kill you.”

“Well, we know the Council and a pack who’s wanted to get at us for a while are coming…”

“No, trust me. Everyone is on this, worldwide. You’re the first things shifters agree on since they chose a full moon as a mascot in the dark ages.”

Great. Just what they wanted to hear. It wasn’t hundreds of shifters who wanted her and Zack dead; it was hundreds of thousands.

“But you can help, right?” Niamh asked, half frantic. “You can stop it. Hsu saw your mist; she saw your signature in her vision. That means you’ll help us, right?”

How she clung to that hope; Clari would have loved to have that faith.

But, every passing day, she’d come closer to realizing and accepting the truth. Her restlessness, her frustration, her anger. She’d tried to displace it, but it was rooted in the fact that she knew her days were numbered. If all these people came to hurt her, she wouldn’t let the entire pride suffer for her. She’d go meet them head on.

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