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“Lucy and I asked the same thing. Their fear is that if they do that, and there is blood spilled, that the war would spread beyond this place,” Micah explained.
“I don’t buy that. Most people just don’t care. They live in an ideology of ‘if it doesn’t affect me directly, then it’s not important.’ Besides, blood has already been spilled, on both sides, according to what you’ve told me.”
“It has been, and it will continue to be spilled if something isn’t done to stop it. However, it’s not our place to judge them or tell them what to do.”
Dean sighed.
“I will be on the lookout for hidden cameras and hunters,” Dean said. “I’m not going to start anything, but I’m sure as hell not going to run away if someone comes after me.”
Micah nodded and said, “I understand. Just be very careful.”
“I will,” Dean replied.
The more Micah thought about it, the more that he agreed with Dean. They were not a part of the war here.
The café wasn’t busy, and Lucy was wiping down tables.
“If your boss doesn’t need you this afternoon, do you want to go for a run on the mountains?” Micah asked.
Lucy bit her bottom lip and rubbed her eyebrow.
“Do you think that it is safe?” she asked, the uncertainty obvious in her voice.
“We’ll watch for cameras and hunters. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say,” Micah replied.
“I don’t know who ‘they’ are and whether ‘they’ are credible, but I guess it can’t be too dangerous if we are careful. Let me ask Clara if she can do without me for the afternoon.”
Clara groaned when Lucy asked her if she could take the afternoon off to go for a run.
“I don’t mind you taking the afternoon off, obviously, but I don’t think that going up in those mountains is a good idea,” Clara said. “I don’t want either of you to get hurt.”
“As Micah said, we’ll watch for the hunters and for the cameras,” Lucy promised. “We won’t shift if it isn’t safe.”
Lucy could tell that her words weren’t quelling Clara’s fears. Clara was truly terrified for the safety of her friend.
“Like I said, you are welcome to take the afternoon off. But I’m begging you, please, please, be careful. I couldn’t stand to lose another friend to this damned war.”
Lucy hugged Clara and said, “I promise that we will be very careful. Nothing is going to happen to us.”
Micah grimaced as Lucy joined him.
“Those people really do have this entire city terrified, don’t they?”
“Yes, they do, and I hate it. It’s not like we would go around advertising that we are shifters, even in Livingston, but we wouldn’t hide it, either,” Lucy said. “A lot of people that I’m friends with know that I’m a shifter and they don’t care. Actually, I think that a couple of them are jealous.”
“What’s not to be jealous of?” Micah asked.
Micah and Lucy hiked up the mountain until they were surrounded by a thick copse of trees. They cautiously inspected every tree and bush, making sure that there were no cameras hidden anywhere. They undressed and folded their clothes, carefully hiding them in the tree branches so that they couldn’t be seen.
“I’ll race you to that stand of trees down there,” Micah said. “Loser has to buy the winner dinner tonight.”
“You’re on,” Lucy said.
Micah held back a bit and let Lucy take the lead. Then, at the last minute, he put on a surge of speed, crossing the imaginary finish line first.”
“You beat me by a nose,” Lucy said, laughing. “I demand a rematch.”
“I think that it was by a whole head,” he said. “If I win, you have to buy me dessert, too.”
