His look clearly suggested he knew she wasn’t being entirely truthful, but screw him. She didn’t owe him an explanation for her sadness, and it wasn’t her fault his stupid shifter abilities gave him access to her every damn feeling.
“Fine, whatever,” he said. “I’m still not shifting for you.”
Her depression was chased away by annoyance. “You made that clear last night.”
She opened the door and climbed out, walking quickly across the parking lot, but Briggs caught up to her in seconds thanks to his stupid long legs.
“The odds of someone attacking you in the grocery store are slim,” he said, “but you stay by my side the entire time. If I tell you to get down or to get behind me, you do it immediately, no arguing. Are we clear?”
She nodded, and he scowled at her. “I’m serious, little witch.”
“I won’t leave your side or argue,” she said snottily.
He made a low growl that she ignored. Still annoyed, she grabbed a grocery cart and pushed it into the produce section. Her food budget was tight, and she had to be careful about what she bought. She hoped Briggs was good with cheap meals that relied more on beans for protein than meat.
She dropped some bananas into the cart and moved on to the apples. She was tired of eating the cheapest fruits and veggies, but if she ever wanted to get the damn furnace replaced, she needed to cut costs wherever possible.
She placed a few apples into a bag, remembered she needed to feed Briggs, too, and added another two. She turned back to the cart, staring in surprise at the plums, nectarines, oranges, and containers of berries that sat in it. Briggs added a cantaloupe before raising an eyebrow at her. “What?”
“That’s a lot of fruit,” she said.
“I eat a lot,” he said with a shrug. He took the end of the shopping cart and pulled it toward the vegetables. She watched him load the cart with a variety of fresh veggies, mentally calculating how much it would cost as he tossed stuff in willy-nilly.
A man with thinning white hair and a cane in his hand thumped to a stop beside her. He smiled at her, but before she could return it, Briggs stood beside her. He glared at the man. “Back the fuck up.”
“Excuse me?” the man said.
“You’re standing too close to her,” Briggs growled.
“Briggs, stop,” she said.
He ignored her as the man gave them a huffy look. “I have every right to be in this grocery store, and if you think growling at me will scare me, you have something to learn, bear shifter. I might be old, but my lion can still teach you a lesson.”
He bared thick yellow fangs at Briggs, who growled again. “I said move back, old man. I won’t ask again.”
“I need potatoes, and she’s standing in my way!” The lion shifter was puffing up a bit and, oh shit, golden brown fur was starting to fill in the bald spot on the top of his head.
“I’m so sorry,” Cece said, moving away from the potatoes.
Briggs was still scowling at the man, and Cece tapped his shin with her boot. “Briggs, knock it off.”
“You need to learn better control,” the lion shifter said with a growl before he grabbed his potatoes and limped away.
“What the hell was that about?” Cece asked.
“He could have been a danger,” Briggs snapped. “And you let him walk right up to you.”
“He was an eighty-year-old man,” she said. “I think I can handle an eighty-year-old.”
“He was a shifter, and he could have torn your throat out with his fangs in less than five seconds,” Briggs said heatedly. “You have to be more careful, little witch.”
She took a good look at him. His blue eyes had turned a dark brown, and white hair was mixed with the usual dark scruff on his jaw. He looked even bigger than normal, and a woman with a toddler in her arms gave him an uneasy look before hurrying out of the produce section.
Holy shit, he was about to shift.
A tiny part of her, okay, a pretty big part of her, wanted to step back and watch it happen. But she had an idea that shifting in public like this would humiliate Briggs, and wanting to save him from that easily outweighed her desire to see him in his polar bear form.
“Briggs, hey, I’m good,” Cece said softly. She reached toward his chest, stopping just short of touching him. “I’m fine. You’re here, right? You’ll keep me safe.”
