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“I am,it was just jarring. I didn’t know shifters could be so,” she paused.
“Shiftery?” Bloom said, giving Dax a wry look.
“Crazy,” Tam said. “Or erratic, I guess.”
“What you are describing is not normal shifter behavior,” Clint interjected quickly.
“Regardless, shifters are different from Fae,” Bloom said, before quickly adding, “They aren’t all bad. They can just take a little getting used to.”
Dax felt his dragon stiffen.
“Well, we do have our uses, I suppose. Like rescuing damsels in distress,” he said with a wink.
“The man speaks the truth,” she replied with a smile.
“But this is not normal shifter behavior. I know Fae tend to think of us as little more than instinct driven beasts,” he said, looking at Bloom, “but our kind have to adhere to a very, very strict code. So strict it is never even mentioned. Without it, we would never have survived among humans. So, to see it broken so flagrantly is disturbing, to say the least.”
“Of course,” Bloom said as she came around the counter to give him another hug. “I’m sorry, babe,” she said in front of them all. Then she added in a whisper into his ear. “You know I love your dragon. Can’t get enough of him, really.”
“You’re forgiven,” he said with a kiss on her cheek.
Addressing his pack, he said, “We should go see about this ‘bobcat.’”
Clint gave Tam another comforting pat on the arm before the three shifters headed toward the door.
Just before they left, Dax’s gut told him to stop. “Hey, Tam, was there anything else you can tell us about this guy? Did anything else stand out?”
She grew quiet for a moment, thinking. “Well, he was sweating, like a lot,” she said. “He looked really…I don’t know, strung out, almost… Oh! And he had this really bright, weird red blotch right in the middle of his forehead.” She put her finger right to the middle of her own. Like a red star.”
Dax and Jack exchanged a look.
“And I thought things were calming down,” Dax said.
CHAPTER17
Afew days had passed since the events at Curiouser and Curiouser, and Bloom was back at the Tree wiping down the bar as she got the place ready before the evening crowd began to appear.
“I thought you were going to set Kim and Chris up with Etta and the witches over at Curiouser?” Mack was saying as he eyed the daughter sweeping across the room at the back.
“That’s still the plan, but seems a little on hold at the moment. They got wind of what happened at the shop and it kinda got them all keyed up again,” she replied.
“But as far as they know it was just an animal thing, right?”
“Well sort of. Dax was talking about the red blotch thing on the guy afterward and they heard, and I guess it was enough to get Chris all riled up again. It just re-traumatized them I think. ”
“I see. But Dax and Jack found the cougar shifter dead out toward the swamp, didn’t they?”
“Yeah, but that didn’t seem to make Chris any happier.”
“I’m not following.”
“All she knows is that a guy who had the red spot died, so she knows the drug is still hurting people. Really the question, for us and I imagine for them, is if this is just a lingering effect, or if the baddies are still active.”
“Well, I think they know more than they are saying,” Mack said, wiping his hands on his rag.
“Agreed, but Etta has advised we don’t push too hard. Let’s give them some time, Mack. It’s only been a few weeks.”
“Far be it from me to question the most fashionable witch this side of the Mississippi,” he sniped.
