Synjon had been conscious for more than an hour, but he hadn't moved a muscle. Not outside his body at any rate. Inside, he was working his bloody ass off, running facts in his head, posing questions and possible outcomes, trying to reason his way out of the medical facility without drawing attention to himself and subsequently spilling any more blood they he needed to.

As he plotted, he woke each muscle, made sure every bone was strong and intact, and followed the flow of the blood running through his veins. His blood mixed with just a hint of hers. Petra. His fangs twitched beneath his lips. The pain in his face, though not gone entirely, had subsided, and it was due to that female's blood.

Her rich, powerful, and deliciously pure veana's blood.

He wanted more.

If he was going to leave this place, truly hunt the paven who had murdered his love and ruined his existence, he needed more.

He needed her.

For a solid five minutes, Synjon allowed his ears to work. He had superb hearing, and it traveled the clinic searching for sound-Shifter sound-all the while keeping himself calm, keeping himself still, as though the medicine that shite doctor had given him was still working. But though his nose still picked up the male's scent, his ears captured nothing more than the low-level drone of a few insects.

Doctor Brodan, it seemed, was elsewhere.

Syn opened his eyes, and with deft fingers quickly removed anything that was attached to his body. The room was pleasingly dark except for the machinery he'd been hooked up to and two small disk lights on the walls bracketing the door. The exit.

Time to take a walk, follow his nose, and see how much blood he had to get through before he found the one he needed.

She'd lied about the blood, used the oldest trick in the book and blamed her period. There was nothing that shut down Shifter males quicker than talking about the monthly curse, and she was pretty sure if she tried to go with a cut or something like that Sasha and Valentin would ask not only to see it, but for the details on how she got it.

Nobody was asking anything now. In fact, they seemed to be avoiding eye contact all together.

Pussy cats.

She grinned at them. Sasha and Valentin were sitting side by side across the table from her, the furs of their ancestors who had died in their animal states, on the walls behind them.

"Sandra's avoiding you because she's not interested in a mate right now," their mother was telling Valentin, who looked as though he'd rather be anywhere else. "Her mother told me. It's not that she doesn't find you attractive."

Sasha burst out laughing. "No, Val, you're very attractive."

"He is!" Wen said, touching her son's arm.

"Okay, please stop," Valentin ground out, grabbing another venison chop from the middle of the table. "I'm not even into that female. She's a friend."

"Right." Still laughing, Sasha reached for his own chop. "Friends is code for 'I tried and was totally shot down.'"

Valentin ripped a piece of meat from the bone. "You would know, Whiskers," he uttered, invoking Sasha's dreaded cub nickname. "Rejection has become your middle name this year."

"Boys, that's not nice," Wen said, giving each of them a pointed glare. "You're family."

"That's right," Petra remarked. "And the family that gets dumped together stays together."

"You're next, Pets," Sasha growled playfully.

"Seriously." Valentin grinned, his mouth stuffed with food. "That bear Shifter doctor friend of yours isn't going to wait around forever."

Petra rolled her eyes as she popped a grape in her mouth. Unlike the rest of her family, she consumed fruit, grains, and seeds-not raw meat.

"Watch it, Pets," Sasha said. "Or your eyeballs'll stay like that."

"In a state of perpetual annoyance, you mean?" She snorted. "Sounds about right."

Wen laughed, then jumped in to quickly break up a fight as the boys reached for the same chop and ended up in a shoving match.

"Don't go back to your office tonight, Petra dear," her mother said wistfully, sitting back down. "Take the night off."

"Yeah, sis," Sasha said, giving his brother one last shove as he did as his mother asked and relinquished the chop. "You can have my pallet."

"He'll wash the night drool off it first," Valentin said before taking an enormous bite of the raw meat.

Sasha flipped him off. "No, that's your bed, asshole."

"Enough," their mother warned.

But Val wasn't listening. "Oh, right. I'm the drooler and you're the snorer."

Petra put her hand on her mother's arm. "I can't. I never got to check in on Malen, plus the Avians want to discuss a dual transition they believe is coming at the end of the week. I need to prepare."

"Malen," Wen said thoughtfully. "That's the young wolf Shifter female."

"Out by the caves, right?" Sasha added, his verbal sparring match with Val all but forgotten now.

"Near there, yes." The secretive edge to her voice was obvious. She needed to watch that.

Glancing up from his thoroughly cleaned chop, Val said, "I heard there was some issue out there a few days ago."

"What?" Petra blanched, but forced herself to remain calm, cool. "What did you hear?"

He shrugged. "A small brush fire or something."

Relief moved through her and she forced her expression to calm. Everything was fine. Small brush fires happened from time to time, and if they thought that was what went down out there, she wasn't going to correct them.

Petra turned, noticed her mother staring at her.

"You're not eating?" Wen said, her eyes concerned. "Are you ill?"

"No. Just a little tired."

"Then stay home, rest your body. Work can wait."

To some, the henpecking and overly concerned ways of a parent might irritate at times, but Petra never felt like that. In fact, she felt quite the opposite. She adored her mother's care and concern because it meant she was loved. Never once had any of them acted as though she wasn't a part of their family, Shifter born or not.

She leaned in and kissed the female on the cheek. "All is well, Mom. I love you."

The female's eyes grew bright with adoration and warmth. "Love you, my pet."

Petra stood and grabbed her plate.

"What about us?" Valentin said, looking ridiculously morose.

"Yeah, Pets," Sasha said, sticking out his bottom lip. "You don't love us?

"Awww, boys," she began. "I always have love for the pathetic."

They grinned and Val turned to Sasha. "She was totally talking about you."

Laughing, Petra went into the kitchen and placed her plate in the tub sink-the same sink that had been in their home since before she could remember, and had been used by their mother to bathe each one of them. She was just turning off the water when she heard the sound of wings beating against the breeze outside.

"My ride's here," she called, heading for the hallway and her bag. "I'll see you all tomorrow!"

"Petra?"

She turned to see her mother standing in the kitchen now. "Yes?"

The female glanced behind her, then turned back and asked, concerned, "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Of course."

Her voice dropped. "I know it's not your monthly time."

It was all her mother said-all she needed to say. The female knew Petra had lied to her brothers. Petra's gut clenched and for a moment she just stared at Wen.

She couldn't tell her, not now. Not yet.

"Tomorrow," Petra said.

The female nodded, but her eyes glittered with worry.

She granted her mother one final smile she didn't feel and walked out the door into the night air and toward the massive hawk Shifter, who was waiting on the front lawn to take Petra to her office.