Grandmother Afina could be a ruthless fighter, and she was Shifter to the core, but she could also hold Kenzie until all the bad things went away.
After Kenzie had lost her immediate family, Afina had been the only person that had kept her going. Shifters could die of broken hearts or terrible grief. They stopped caring about eating or sleeping until either the wild animal in them went feral-pretty much forgetting about the human part of themselves and reverting to living on crazed instincts-or their neglected bodies simply ceased working. Kenzie, just a cub and wanting life, had nearly gone feral, but Grandmother Afina had pulled her back from that edge. Kenzie would always owe her for that.
She saw Cristian walk toward them from up the road, but he stopped at the edge of the snowy yard, not coming up the walk. This was Bowman's territory. While Afina had been coming here to check in on Kenzie from the moment she moved in, Cristian refused to stand anywhere so infused with Bowman's scent.
Kenzie and Afina left the house and crunched through the snow to talk to him. Ryan banged out after them, still wolf. He ran around and around the three adults, trapping them inside a furrow in the two-inch snowfall.
Cristian watched Ryan play for a moment, then raised a troubled gaze to Kenzie. "What was that stink out there? At that trailer house? Humans are crazy."
Kenzie folded her arms against the cold. "We're not sure, but we thought we smelled something Fae. Or Fae-born."
Cristian gave her a brief nod. "I smelled it too. We should investigate."
"I'm sure Bowman is already doing that."
Cristian's expression turned weary. "I know you think your mate is a superhero, but he can't be everywhere doing everything. He was caught off guard with that shooter and the man in the trailer, and so was I. We need to learn more."
"That's why he has trackers," Kenzie said, but without conviction.
Cristian gave her a sharp look. "Bowman cannot investigate the murder of the young woman, the monster and its death, the sniper, the odd professor, and whatever other things are going on all at the same time." His brows drew down over his wolf-gold eyes. "I want to discover who was shooting at me and almost hit me. And who was shooting at my niece. You are still Dimitru pack at heart, Kenzie, one of mine. I refuse to let this sniper get away with trying to kill you."
Kenzie raised her hands. "If you'll stop talking, I'll tell you I agree with you. We should check it out."
"Not we." Cristian pinned her with a stare as intense as Bowman's. "Me."
"Uncle, you can't go running around out there with a shooter on the loose. And you can't without talking to Bowman first-why don't you two work together? That was the whole point of my mating with him, wasn't it?"
Kenzie heard the rising pitch in her voice, and she tried to suppress it. She was running on lack of sleep, too much adrenaline, worry for Bowman, and irritation at Cristian for trying to use any excuse to undermine her mate.
Cristian stepped to her and laid his hands on her shoulders, his touch surprisingly gentle.
"Kenzie, child," he said, reverting to his native language. "When I was a young Shifter, my territory was caught between that of Ottoman Turks and the Austrian Empire. Trust me when I say that my life has calmed down a great deal since. Survival then meant to stay alive at any cost-here and now surviving is simply following a set of rules. Humans, especially in this country, are more-how do you say it in English?-touchy-feely. I can deal with one man and his rifle."
"Huh. Are you sure it was only one?"
"I think so. And it was not the man inside the cabin. Different scent."
Kenzie had decided that too. She also knew she had this snowfall's chance in hell of stopping Uncle Cristian doing whatever he wanted.
"If you go back out there, you be careful," Kenzie said sternly. "We don't need to be searching for your dead body on top of everything else."
Cristian gave her a smile that warmed his eyes. He could be a handsome man, when he let the ice crack. "Look at it this way-if I am shot, Bowman will have his victory. None of my nephews will be ready to fight for leadership for some time. Perhaps it would be better for everyone."
Afina scowled. She was half a head shorter than her son, but her glare could have knocked over a building. "Not better for me," she snapped. "I refuse to lose another child before I am old enough to call for the Guardian. This Shiftertown will not be better without you. If nothing else, your antagonism of Bowman helps him be a stronger leader. He'll do anything to keep you out of power."
Kenzie hid her smile. Cristian might rule the clan, but Afina never let him forget who'd raised him.
Cristian and his mother exchanged a long look before Cristian let out a sigh. He stepped away from both of them, pretending he hadn't just let his mother win another argument.
"Fine then," Cristian said to Afina. "You can come with me."
Afina blinked, surprised at the turn. "All right, I will," she said.
"I'm driving," Cristian said. "The Ottoman Turks were less frightening than you on a motorcycle."
Afina only smiled.
"Wait, now I have to worry about both of you?" Kenzie asked, annoyed. "This isn't trading up."
Cristian became serious again. "You worry about your mate, Kenzie-love. He is perhaps too furious, too obsessed with what is happening. One reason I did not oppose him taking you as mate is I knew you could keep him calm. That is what you must do, or Shiftertown will suffer."
Kenzie had known this for years, but Cristian's words gave her a qualm. "Sure. No pressure."
Cristian's smile made his eyes crinkle, and he pulled Kenzie to him for a hug.
Kenzie wrapped her arms around him, remembering how, when she'd been a child, his strength had bolstered her. Her uncle could be a total shit, but he'd also saved her life, time and again.
"Keep in touch," Kenzie said, releasing him. "I mean it."
"I will make him," Afina said. She also enfolded Kenzie in a hug, hers scented with woods, coffee, and cinnamon rolls. "You look after your mate. And your cub." She gave Kenzie a kiss on the cheek before letting her go. "And get some sleep, granddaughter. You look terrible."
"Aw, thanks."
Afina gave her a big smile, then turned and walked away with Cristian. They started arguing about something before they even hit the end of sidewalk, then they turned the corner, their voices fading.
Kenzie let Ryan play a little more before she called to him to return with her to the house. Once inside, he raced to his bedroom to shift and dress-he was getting too modest to shift to a naked human in front of his mother. Kenzie warmed up the cinnamon rolls Afina had made. The good kind-huge and dripping with icing.
She licked icing off her fingers, took out the new cell phone she'd picked up on the way home, and called Gil. She knew Bowman would probably have already talked to him, but Gil's warm voice when he answered lifted her spirits. Kenzie ran her finger through the bowl of icing and told Gil everything.
* * *
"Are you going to shut down the fight club?" Jamie asked.
He walked beside Bowman with his restless Feline energy, pissed off because he'd missed the excitement in the woods early this morning. Around them, Shifters were starting the day, sweeping snow from porches and driveways, the cubs playing in the winter wonderland.
Bowman pondered Jamie's question. "We might have to move it. The human cops are all over the place up there now, investigating Serena's murder. Poor woman." Death was a waste. Serena had annoyed and worried him, but she'd not deserved to be murdered.
"Yeah." Jamie whispered a brief prayer to the Goddess to look after Serena's soul. "So you think the sniper shooting at you and whoever got her are two different people?"
"Two different guns," Bowman said. "She was shot close range with a pistol. The sniper had a high-powered rifle that could pick us off from a long way away. Though it might have been the same person using a different weapon."
"Great. A killer is out there who could shoot us before he's in scent range, and he has no qualm pulling the trigger point-blank." Jamie glanced around, as though the sniper could be lurking behind any tree. "We should keep the cubs inside."
"Agree. That's why we're going to give the cops as much cooperation as they want."
"I hear you. How much will you bet that the cops try to accuse one of us?"