As usual, she had a point. “Yes, I do. But I can’t risk the council—or Drew—finding out about Justus before I find him.” Yet her skepticism remained. “If they know about him, they’ll hunt him. They’ll take him into custody—or execute him on the spot—and there’ll be nothing I can do for him. I have to protect him, Robyn. I’m the only family he has.”

Finally, she nodded. “Okay. Then we better find him.”

The guest bedroom door squealed open, and Leland Blum stepped into the living room in his boxer shorts. “Find who? Justus?”

“Yeah.” I waved at the bag on the kitchen counter. “We have breakfast burritos and coffee. And I’ll grab your clothes from the dryer.” I gave Robyn a reluctant smile. “Yours too.” Though I was seriously considering giving her another of my shirts to wear, just so I could smell our combined scents all day.

Blum stopped on the way to the kitchen, inhaling in Robyn’s direction. Then he sniffed in mine. “Why do you guys smell like each…” His brows rose when comprehension came. Then he looked sad, and I remembered that his girlfriend had just died. And I felt like a total ass. “No such thing as a secret among shifters, I guess?”

Robyn shrugged, and she looked as guilt-ridden as I felt. “Not for long, anyway.”

Fortunately, Blum wasn’t yet in contact with any other shifters, so we wouldn’t have to make the moment even more awkward by asking him to keep the news to himself.

Half an hour later, we were all fed and dressed.

“Robyn and I have to run some errands,” I told Blum, as I slid my brother’s laptop into his satchel. “I’m not going to ask you to tag along, but I can’t leave you here, either, in case he comes home. I could get you a hotel room…?”

“Or I could go to my dorm,” Blum suggested.

“Do you have a roommate?” Robyn asked.

“No, I’m in a single.”

“Okay, if you’re comfortable staying there for a while, we’ll meet up with you later.” I opened the front door and held it for them both as they headed into the hallway. “I suggest you order in lunch. You’ve been through something truly traumatic, obviously, and that probably hasn’t sunk in yet. And you haven’t had a chance to learn to control your feline impulses, so you probably shouldn’t try to go to class or anything just yet.”

Blum nodded. He was surprisingly calm and agreeable for a newly infected stray.

“Would you like a ride?” Robyn asked him.

“Yeah, thanks.”

We dropped Blum off at his dorm—room 204—then headed to the nearest department store, where Robyn chafed at the idea of letting me buy her clothes, until I pointed out that she was the closest thing I had to an enforcer at the moment, and a clothing allowance is typically provided for enforcers as part of the salary.

Afterward, as we headed for the closest coffee shop, her phone rang. “It’s Spencer.”

I pulled into the nearest lot and shifted my SUV into park. “Put him on speaker.” Robyn answered her phone with a tap on the screen. “Spencer?” I said.

“Yeah. I got what you wanted, but I only have a couple of minutes.”

“Do you have a break coming up?” I asked.

“Yeah. Meet me at the water fountain behind the hospital in ten minutes.”

Nine minutes later, we found Spencer on a bench in front of the fountain. “We brought you a latte.” Robyn handed him one of the cups she carried, then shoved her hand into the pocket of her new down jacket to shield it from the rare, truly cold Mississippi day.

“Thanks.” Spencer scooted to make room for us on the bench, angling to face us both. “Your brother’s bill says he was here on a Sunday morning, but that’s just when he was released. He actually came in the night before, with wounds consistent with an animal attack and a fever.” He opened the lid to let his coffee cool, and steam rose from the paper cup. “The attending thought the two were unrelated, because it was too soon after the attack for his wound to be infected, and it wasn’t yet inflamed or warmer than the surrounding skin. They stitched him up, prescribed some ibuprofen and an antibiotic just in case, and sent him home with an order to stay hydrated.”

“Did he say what had happened?” Robyn asked, her cheeks red from the cold.

“That’s the thing.” Spencer blew into his cup, and more steam rose from it. “Justus said he was at a party on the lake. He went into the woods to pee and something pounced on him. Knocked him flat on his face. He couldn’t see the animal, but it ripped up his shirt and his back, then it took off into the woods.”

“Like it got spooked?” I asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Spencer cleared his throat, and I knew what was coming. “Titus, is your brother infected?”

Robyn leaned back on the bench so she could see me. I raised one brow, silently asking for her opinion, and she nodded. She trusted Spencer.

“Yeah,” I said at last. “We think he is.”

“Shit, man.” Spence was quiet for a moment. “You didn’t infect Morris, did you? It was Justus?”

“You can’t tell anyone,” Robyn said, before I could formulate a reply. I’d known there was a possibility that he’d figure it out, and I’d had no choice but to take that chance.

“You can’t keep this secret forever,” Spencer insisted. “People will know as soon as they smell him.”

“Which is why we have to find him first.”

“How weird that he was infected at a party.” Robyn took a sip of her cappuccino, staring into the fountain. “Especially considering that Corey Morris and—”

I coughed, cutting her off before she could mention Ivy Lowe or Leland Blum.

“Considering that Morris was infected right after a party,” she finished instead.

“It gets weirder than that,” Spencer said. “We got another one late last night. Elliott Belcher. Twenty-year-old sophomore at Millsaps, attacked by an animal at a party.”

“In the woods?”

“No, at a museum, after hours. He said he went out for some fresh air—”

“Or for some pot-scented air…” Robyn interjected.

“—and found a great big cat in the alley.”