Laurie smiled and nodded, though Briana didn't know him at all. Laurie murmured, "He goes by Giovanni at the Faire, he's one of the Italian explorer re-enactors. The one with the really good hat," and Briana suddenly knew who he was after all: a kind man in his sixties who wore an excellent velvet 'muffin' hat—the kind with lots of fabric that could be flopped rakishly to the side and show off the padded roll brim or a feather. She nodded in recognition, and Shel nodded, too.
"He had surgery for his shoulder, some kind of bad break, but he's going to be okay too. And everybody else…"
Everyone else had taken only minor injuries, or died. Briana knew they were lucky to have had so few deaths, given the extent of the destruction, but it still hurt to even think about. It would for a long time. She and Laurie both nodded, and then he took up the conversation again. "I thought I might talk to the Faire organizers and see if they needed people to get involved with the rebuilding effort. Are any of them around?"
Shel pressed her palm against her forehead, then turned and pointed. "I think a couple of them are in the offices. That would be great," she added in a voice that sounded genuinely relieved."Your family's been so involved in the Faire since it started. I think it'd make everybody feel better to have a Torben on the board right now."
He gave Shel a startled smile. "Thanks. I hope so. Good luck with the fundraisers, okay? I'll see if I can get some swag from the pub to add to it."
The artist nodded and went back to her booth and Briana couldn't help murmuring, "See, I told you," as they headed in the direction Shel had indicated. "People will be glad you're involved."
Laurie repeated, "I hope so," then stopped short as a small woman with a set jaw and anger in her eyes stepped in front of them and hissed, "Freaks!"
Briana's heart missed a beat, then twisted and sank, all of it making her suddenly cold and sick to her stomach. She tried to say literally anything—a protest, a laugh, a dismissal,anythings—but nothing came out as the woman, still with her voice dropped low, snarled, "I know what you are! Isawyou."
Laurie moved his weight a little, then held himself still, and Briana realized he was making an effort tonotput her behind himself protectively. He was right in thinking that she wouldn't really appreciate it, but given that she couldn't come up with any kind of response at all, she was astonished he could think clearly enough to make that decision.
She was even more astonished when he said, "You saw us?" in a kind of politely puzzled tone, making no effort to keep as quiet as the woman was.
"Yeah, I saw you! I saw you changing intoanimalsyesterday!" The woman, who looked vaguely familiar but Briana couldn’t put a name to, took a challenging step forward, though she didn't raise her voice at all.
"Then why are you being so quiet about it?" Laurie asked, as if genuinely bewildered. "Don't you want everybody to know?"
Fury deepened the thin lines around the woman's eyes and she hissed, "You know no one will believe me! I tried, but I couldn't take pictures of you people!"
Laurie shot Briana a glance as if checking in with her to see ifshebelieved this conversation. She gave him a tense shrug, her heart beating too fast as he then half-smiled at their accuser. "Want to try to take a picture of us now? Just to make sure we're not…what…vampires? No, you said animals, didn't you." He continued to speak in a perfectly normal tone, not loudly, but the woman's intensity and Laurie's polite bafflement was starting to draw attention.
She noticed it, too. Ugly color rushed up her face and she turned, looking for supporters in the people glancing their way. Briana had the sudden, sickening realization that they were essentially in the middle of what could be a mob, and felt her goat bracing to do whatever was necessary to escape as the woman shouted, "Didn'tanyof you see them? I know some people did! I talked to other people yesterday! People who saw them changing, like monsters! Changing into bears and wolves!"
A young man who was visibly bruised, maybe someone who'd been pulled out of the rubble yesterday, said, "Yeah, I saw them," and the woman had a moment of furious relief before he added, "They were some of the people helping yesterday, that's what I saw. That's Laurie Torben. Him and his brother were there, and a bunch of others. I'd be dead if they hadn't gotten me out."
Murmurs of agreement went up. Briana's heart was still beating hard, but hope shivered through her. Someone, very kindly, said, "There was a lot going on yesterday, Kay. We were all really stressed out and imagining things."
"I didn't imagine it! I didn't imagine anything! I saw them! I saw them turning into monsters! And you know it, you all know it! You're protecting them! Why are you protecting them?" Her voice rose and rose as the expressions around them becameconcerned, sympathetic, and uncomfortable at her passion. Another man about her own age lumbered in and put his arm around her shoulders, mumbling to her, and her face flashed with fury again.
"No! No I won't pretend I didn't see it! I know I did! I know I'm not crazy! I know—" The man guided her away, and for a long moment everybody just watched them leave.
Then, slowly, the gathering began to turn back toward Briana and Laurie. Her heart seized up again, breath going shallow. There were other shifters in the crowd; she knew they had nothing to fear from them, and indeed, most of them shrugged or shook their heads and turned away, going back to what they'd been doing before the confrontation. Briana could tell they were working hard to look casual, but beneath it were on as high an alert as she was.
Their apparent lack of interest, though, helped dissipate some of the tension, and other people began turning back to what they'd been doing, too. A handful more, including the young man who's spoken, held Briana's eyes a moment, and he, at least gave her a little nod. She gave him a quick smile in return, and realized that a few of the others must also have seen them shift, but were holding their tongues. Relief swept her, and bit by bit, the crowd returned to their previous tasks.
This time Laurie tookherhand, and didn't let it go until they'd worked their way through the impromptu fundraiser in the parking lot. He was obviously trying not to move too fast, trying to look like they were just going along casually like they'd been before rather than trying to escape. They stopped and spoke to a couple of people, even, before finally making it into the city government building where, without asking, Laurie pulled her a few steps to the side, out of everyone's line of sight, and wrapped his arms around her.
Briana's knees just about stopped working and she leaned against him, her arms going around his waist in turn. For several long seconds neither of them spoke, just breathed together, deep and shaky, until finally the worst of it passed. Then, against the breadth of his chest, Briana whispered, "That was incredibly quick thinking. I had no idea what to do."
Laurie made a high-pitched sound above her head, a noise that could have been mistaken for a laugh. "I've been wondering since yesterday afternoon what I would do if somebody confronted us and I didn't think I'd had any ideas. Apparently I did."
"It was smart. It was really smart, Laurie. We need to get in touch with people, tell them to take that tack if anybody comes after them. You didn't call her a liar. You just…that was really smart," Briana said again. She tilted her head up, trying to gauge his emotional state, then, to her own surprise, stood on her toes and kissed his cheek.
Chapter 18
All the stress and nerves Laurie had had over confronting the bigoted, frightened woman in the parking lot fled as Briana Gilson's lips touched his cheek. The gesture was so much more than he could have hoped for, given that he was a?—
—Wastrel,his bear supplied helpfully.But I knew our mate would like us. She smells good.
Laurie muttered,Gee, thanks,to the bear, but he couldn't disagree with the last part. Briana had mostly sort of smelled like sweat, rain, or dirt in the days of their acquaintance so far, which were all perfectly normal things to smell like at Faire. But today she was showered and scented of some kind of apple-y shampoo and a fairly neutral deodorant, and of the outdoors, with that faint rich musk that was part of many shifters' base scents. He thought he could stand there breathing in that scent forever and be happy about it.
Briana settled back on her feet and didn't keep kissing his cheek forever, though. She looked faintly embarrassed and surprised at herself, which meant Laurie probably shouldn't make a big deal of the little kiss. He also couldn't help smiling at her, a smile that felt lopsided even to him. Lopsided and a bitsoppy, honestly. He was maybe a little emotionally overwrought, himself. "Thanks. About. I mean. The quick thinking. Not the kiss. I mean. Also the kiss!"
