I was too distracted by the litany of thoughts racing through my mind to dwell on the sting in my shins.
I didn’t bother getting up. There was no way to run from the truth. My grandfather Russ had been a werewolf. My mother must have been one. And my parents fled Magic Side to hide me from Grandfather LaSalle.
I could still feel the hatred in the ghost’s words.
“Savannah!” A distant but familiar voice broke through the din of my churning thoughts.
Strong hands gripped my shoulders, and when I blinked away the tears streaming from my eyes, I recognized the face staring back at me. “Tony?”
“What happened? Are you hurt?” he asked, lifting me to my feet and inspecting my body for injuries. The two other shifters who’d come with him prowled the street, looking around confusedly.
I shrugged out of Tony’s grasp and wiped my face with my shaking hands. “I’m fine. Nothing happened. I just had a bad dream.”
If only that were true.
“You’re a bad liar,” Tony said darkly. “You’re in your same clothes.”
“Hey!” My cousin’s voice echoed down the street.
“Oh, no,” I muttered, and turned in time to see Casey leap over the deck railing of Laurel and Pete’s house.
“Get the fuck away from her, you ass turds!” he yelled. Summoning a ball of fire in his palm, he sprinted toward us.
“Casey, stop!” I stepped forward with arms raised. “It’s just a misunderstanding.”
Tony gave a brusque laugh and shook his head but motioned to the other two shifters and began walking back to his Jeep.
Casey watched them go with a scowl, then slung an arm around my shoulder. “What the hell was that? Did those dogs jump you?”
I rubbed my forehead, which was beginning to throb. “No. They’re just here watching my back. Just in case the bikers show up. Everything is fine, I just—”
What could I tell Casey? That I’d raided his mother’s office? That I’d seen the ghost of our grandfather? That I was one of those dogs.
I shuddered. “Panic attack. I had a rough day. Let’s go inside.”
Casey was watching me a little too closely with an expression I couldn’t quite read, but he didn’t say anything. He just squeezed my shoulder and led me home.
The second we stepped inside, my phone lit up and began buzzing. Jaxson.
Casey glanced at my phone as he strolled past me. “Deal with your business, but when that’s done, you and I need to talk.”
I shook my head as I stared down at my buzzing phone. I really didn’t want to answer, but I knew that if I didn’t, Jaxson would break the front door down in ten minutes.
Could this day get any worse?
I sucked in a shaky breath and tapped the screen.
“What’s going on?” Jaxson all but shouted.
“Nothing, actually. I stepped out for some fresh air and…well, it was all a misunderstanding.” Damn it, I was such a bad liar.
“Cut the bullshit. I’m five minutes away, and unless you want me showing up on your aunt’s doorstep, you’d better tell me what happened.”
“No! Don’t do that!” My head was really throbbing now, and my cheeks burned with embarrassment. “It was really nothing, Jaxson. I just had a little panic attack. I’m okay now, though, I promise.”
Understatement of the century. But I needed time to process, and the last thing I needed was Jaxson breathing down my neck.
“A panic attack? Why?” His voice hardened with concern. I was sure he’d gotten a play-by-play from his goons, and after humiliating myself in front of them on the neighbors’ lawn, I didn’t want to replay it over again to Jaxson.
I turned my back to Casey, who was grabbing a beer in the kitchen and without a doubt eavesdropping.
“I found some old photos of my parents, and then I lost it. I just need some time to process—it’s been a rough day.”
He was silent, and I wasn’t sure if he was still on the line.
“Jaxson?”
He grumbled, “Okay, fine. But hand me off to Casey.”
“You don’t need—”
“I’ll call him myself. My people are parked out front and not going away. I need shit to be crystal clear with your cousin,” Jaxson growled with irritation.
I sighed and headed into the kitchen. “He wants to talk to you.”
With an exasperated sigh, my cousin took the phone. “Yeah?” He frowned and nodded a few times, and then his eyes bugged out and locked on me. “Of course I’m not going to let her out of my sight. Yeah, yeah. Night, Laurent.”
Casey hung up and handed my phone back. “You want to talk about it?”
“No.”
The only people I wanted to talk to were long dead—my parents.