Circle of Fire (Damask Circle 1)

She nodded and grabbed her old coat off the nearby sofa as she walked toward the door. Then she stopped and turned around, her amber eyes searching his. “You won’t leave me sitting there, will you?”

“No,” he said, and wondered who had.

She hesitated, her gaze still searching his. After a moment, she gave a small nod and continued on toward the door. He wondered what she’d seen in his eyes that made her trust him when she obviously trusted so very few.

He listened to the sound of her steps fading down the hall, then tugged his father’s ring from his finger once again and walked into the bathroom. He wished he could take it with him, but it was made of silver and wouldn’t change. In fact, silver in general could be dangerous to shifters, but he’d been wearing the ring for so long he’d developed some immunity to it. He placed it back behind the vent, then slid open the window. The wind whistled in, but he ignored its chill touch and leaned out. No one was near. Good.

He reached down, deep within his soul, and called to the wildness. It came in a rush of power that filled his vision with gold and dulled his senses as it shaped and changed his body. Then the freedom of the sky was his, and he leaped toward it on golden-brown wings.

MADDIE FROWNED AND GLANCED AT HER WATCH. JON WAS nearly an hour late—though why she was surprised, she wasn’t entirely sure.

She picked up her milkshake and idly pushed the straw back and forth across the caramel froth. She’d been an idiot yet again. She’d stared into Jon’s bright blue eyes and believed the truth she saw there.

Only the apparent truth always hid deceit. She’d learned that lesson the hard way during the six long years of her marriage. What on earth made her think Jon would keep his promise when it was so obvious he didn’t want her around?

A waitress brushed past her, bumping against her arm. As the woman apologized, Maddie glanced up and felt her heart almost jump into her mouth. Hank stood in the café’s entrance, looking around.

Had he followed her, or was it just coincidence that led them to the same place? She had no way of knowing and no way of finding out, short of asking him. And something told her that wouldn’t be a wise move.

He stepped forward and she ducked her head, praying he didn’t see her. After this morning, she wanted as little as possible to do with him. The man was spooky.

His footsteps moved away from her. She sipped her milkshake and glanced furtively sideways, trying to see where he went.

He stopped in front of a table on the far side of the small restaurant. She wished she could see whom he was meeting, but the width of his body blocked her view. It might be just a friend or a relation, but the way his shoulders were hunched and his head bowed told her this wasn’t so.

She could remember standing that way herself over the years. He spoke to someone he loved and yet feared.

Maddie frowned at the thought. Why did she keep thinking back to her marriage? The past was coming up too much lately; she was seeing reminders everywhere. Why couldn’t she just forget it and get on with her life?

Because the past has shaped my present, and given me no life at all. She closed her eyes against the sudden insight. While the life she’d been leading might hold no excitement, it was safe. It was all she could ask for these days. And all she deserved.

Hank looked like he was arguing with the person in the booth. He made a short, sharp gesture with his hand that spoke of denial, then he shifted slightly. For an instant, Maddie found herself staring into a woman’s eyes—eyes that were as dark as the sky at midnight.

Relief surged through her. For some odd reason, she’d half expected the woman to have the same chilling green gaze as the cat.

The woman rose, and Hank stepped back. Maddie was surprised to see that the woman was short. Somehow, Hank’s manner had made her expect someone much taller, someone with a more commanding presence. The woman walked toward the exit, and the provocative sway of her hips turned the head of every man in the café.

Would it have turned Jon’s? Maddie smiled at the thought. He might be a loner emotionally, but she didn’t see him as a loner physically. The man was too comfortable around women.

Hank followed the woman toward the door. Maddie ducked her head, hoping he would walk right on by.

But the sound of his footsteps hesitated, then headed in her direction. She took a deep, calming breath and glanced up.

Straight into Hank’s suspicious brown gaze.

JON SHIFTED SHAPE AS HE NEARED THE GROUND, BUT HIS legs were trembling with exhaustion and wouldn’t hold his weight. He stumbled forward, then collapsed, landing on his hands and knees. He stayed there, gulping in great gasps of air as sweat dripped from his forehead and pooled in the dirt near his fingers.

Maybe this was why he couldn’t remember much about last night. He’d blocked out the fact that it damn well hurt to shapeshift.

It was a good ten minutes before he felt strong enough to move. He climbed slowly to his feet and wiped the sweat from his face. Despite the morning’s late hour, the small park was quiet. From beyond the line of trees came the steady sound of traffic—it had to be the freeway that bypassed most of Taurin Bay; the traffic was too steady to be anything else. His destination lay to the left—Taurin Bay’s quiet heart.

He brushed the dirt from his hands and jeans, then walked through the cedars. Shops came into view, and outside one, a phone booth. It reminded him that he’d yet to call his boss. He dug several coins out of his pocket and crossed the road, heading toward it.

The phone was answered on the second ring. “About time you checked in, cowboy.”

The edge in her usually gentle voice told him she’d been worried. “Sorry, Seline. Someone in this town knew why I was here—they tried to get rid of me.”

“I did warn you that they might,” she replied, almost crossly.