Dana Bell: Cynful

Tabby squeaked and sat up. “It is not flabby!”

Cyn cocked her hip and smirked at her apprentice. “Honey, I’ve seen you naked.”

“Ooh!” Tabby jumped to her feet and grabbed the papers from Cyn’s hand. “I’ll show you flabby!” She started chasing Cyn around the tattoo parlor, waving the paper and giving a rebel yell that hurt Julian’s ears. Glory collapsed into one of the chairs by the window, seriously out of breath from laughing. Tears streamed down her face.

Julian just shook his head. He leaned back on his elbows and crossed his ankles, careful to hold still when the ladies hopped over his legs. “Welcome to the jungle.”

Julian blinked as the image of a girly bedroom superimposed itself over the tattoo parlor. He tried to clench his left hand, sighing when it wouldn’t close all the way. Damn it, Chloe was looking through his eyes again.

The spiritual connection he’d established with the Fox when he’d saved her life was much stronger than he’d first thought it would be, and this was the result. Ryan’s little sister had nearly died when she was attacked and left for dead in the middle of the road.

They still hadn’t caught the ones who’d hurt her.

“Chloe?”

“Hmm? Oh! Shit. I’m sorry, Julian. Am I doing it again? I thought I was gleaming.”

Julian ground his teeth together. “Dreaming, sweetie. And no, you’re not. Could you pull back? Remind me when I visit tomorrow, we need to work on your control some more.”

The problems with her hand and taking over his sight were the least of his concerns. Chloe kept confusing words, often with hysterical—or disastrous—results. The other day she’d told her physical therapist not to let the floor blob hit him in the ass on the way out. It had taken them five minutes to figure out she’d meant doorknob .

For someone who’d worked damn hard to earn a degree in veterinary medicine, the fact that she couldn’t keep her words straight or use her left hand properly meant her career was dead before it even started. Not one of the doctors knew if the damage was permanent.

Julian did, and the knowledge hurt both of them, because, due to their bond, Chloe knew too.

“Julian!”

He snapped his attention back to Cyn, his double vision fading as Chloe left him. He grinned weakly up at his mate. “Hey.”

She was tapping her foot. Not a good sign. “Are you ready to go?”

He got to his feet and wiped his pants off in quick, jerky movements. Please, let Chloe keep her thoughts to herself while I drive. “Whenever you are.”

She held up her purse as if that said it all.

Julian, not being an idiot, held open the door for his future mate and prayed his dinner for two didn’t get crashed by a needy, unhappy Fox.

Cyn studied Julian out of the corner of her eye as he maneuvered the quiet, dark streets of Halle. Something about the way he’d zoned out in her shop had her worried. It was like he wasn’t there anymore; his dark brown eyes had taken on that gray-speckled look; his hair had grown a thin, white strip near his face. He was using his freaky-ass powers, but doing what she had no clue.

They pulled up outside Frank’s Diner and Cyn grinned. “Oh God. How did you guess I’d kill for a burger tonight?”

Julian’s stomach grumbled loud enough to startle a laugh out of her. “I could eat a cow or two myself.” He grinned sheepishly and got out of the car.

Not waiting for him to open her door she hopped out too, smirking when he rolled his eyes. “You hungry?”

“I’ve got two words for you. Star. Ving.” He managed to open the diner’s front door before she could get to it.

She shook her head and headed into her favorite burger joint. Frank’s had the best damn burgers in the whole damn town, possibly the whole damn state. She snagged a booth and settled in, waving hello to several people she recognized.

Julian was also exchanging greetings, but his were a little more personal. Cyn hid her grin behind a plastic-coated menu as the entire Bunsun-Williams family descended on her date en masse . For once, Julian looked like the hunted instead of the hunter, surrounded by a family chock full of Grizzlies and Foxes.

“Hey.”

Cyn smiled a greeting at the shy Fox female who plunked herself into the booth across from her. The eighteen-year-old had made it a point to seek Cyn out whenever they were in the same place. “Hey yourself.”

Heather Allen, Ryan and Alex’s youngest cousin, bit her plump bottom lip and stared at Cyn’s hair like a starving kitten. She twirled a lock of her own bright red hair between her fingers. “You changed it.”

Cyn preened. She’d done the dye job just two days ago, and she loved it. “You like?”

Heather nodded so vigorously Cyn was afraid she’d snap her own neck. “I like the blend of blonde, black and pink.”

Cyn pushed her hair back over her shoulders. The hair on top was white-blonde, the middle layer cotton-candy pink and the bottom layer that rested on her shoulders was midnight black. It was striking, and she got looks everywhere she went. Cyn gave a mental finger to everyone who disapproved and smiled at everyone who did. “Thanks. Want me to do yours sometime?”

“No, she doesn’t.” Eric, Alex’s little brother, plucked the girl from the booth and scowled at Cyn. “She likes her hair red, thank you.”

Cyn’s brows rose. As much as she loved Alex she’d come to despise his high-handed brother. “I think that’s her decision to make.”

He actually shook his finger at her. “You keep your paws off my cousin, got it?”

Heather pulled free of his grip and shrank in on herself. Damn it. Getting that poor girl to open up had been one of Cyn’s favorite things lately. Too bad Eric liked to interrupt. Heather closed right back up around him. “I can dye my hair if I want.”

Shit. Heather was speaking in that little mousy voice again. If Cyn didn’t know better she’d think Eric abused the poor kid. But Eric would sooner cut off his foot than hurt the girl.

“My baby cousin isn’t going to look like some freak.” Eric’s nose wrinkled.

A low growl filled the air. Cyn, wide-eyed, stared over at Julian.

That white streak was back in his hair, thicker now. The gray in his eyes had almost completely obliterated the brown. “Stand down, Eric.”

The scary part wasn’t how quickly Eric obeyed Julian. It was Julian’s quietly furious tone that had Cyn stiffening her spine. She didn’t need Julian to protect her from bigots.

Eric’s lip curled back. His huge fangs were displayed for a split second before his father, William Bunsun, slapped a hand over his mouth and began yelling at him for being a rude dumbass. Cyn tried to blink away the image of those fangs, but it wasn’t working.

Okay. Maybe she could admit she needed protection from bigoted Grizzlies.

Julian slid into Heather’s vacated seat and winked, the silver streak already faded from his hair. “So much for a quiet meal.”

Cyn snorted. “In this town?” She waved over their waitress, who deftly side-stepped the feuding shifters. Thank goodness they remembered they were in a human establishment or Cyn had the feeling fur would be flying. “Two burgers, the works, extra ketchup, make them moo.”

“And two chocolate shakes.” A baseball hat landed on their table and Julian tossed it back into the fray. William had Eric in a headlock. He was giving his son a noogie and demanding his immediate surrender.

Thank God she wasn’t mating into that family. She’d go insane inside a week. Every single one of them was nuts.

Julian grinned weakly as the waitress side-stepped one of the fleeing Foxes. Cyn was ready to follow the poor girl right out the door. “Can you make that to go?”