A mistake—a big mistake. Sean materialized out of the kitchen, holding a pancake turner. His eyes were Shifter white, focused on Ellison, the lion in him responding to a threat to his mate, his cub, his territory.

The Guardian was the last person a Shifter would ever see, the point of the Guardian’s sword sending the Shifter’s soul to the afterlife. Whatever else Sean might be—friend, mate, tracker—he was also death.

Ellison stepped back, hands up, trying to show Sean that he meant no harm—to Sean’s house, mate, cub, or pancakes.

“Why don’t you know where she is?” Ellison asked Andrea.

“She was gone when we woke up,” Andrea said. “Or at least when I checked on her. I was up early, with Kenny, and I heard the back door close.”

Which explained why Ellison hadn’t seen Maria go. Or else she’d left while Ellison had been in the shower. Shit.

“Did you call her?” Ellison demanded.

“Of course I did,” Andrea said. “No answer. Left a voice mail.”

Ellison didn’t need to ask Andrea for Maria’s number. He’d memorized it a while back. “And you don’t have any idea where she went?”

Sean stepped in front of Andrea, though the deadly look had faded from his eyes. “Come in and have pancakes, Ellison. I’ll make some with pecans. Your favorite.”

They were trying to placate him. Calm the wolf down.

Kenny was looking at Ellison with round gray eyes, his mouth working on one fist. Shifters of crossed species were born in human form and revealed their Shifter form when they were about two or three. Sean was Feline, Andrea Lupine—Kenny could go either way. From his eyes though, Ellison would bet wolf.

“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” Ellison said. “Where was Maria planning to go? She say anything to you last night?”

“We don’t keep her prisoner,” Andrea returned, irritated. “She comes and goes when she wants, wherever she wants. She doesn’t have to check with us.”

The reasonable part of Ellison knew Andrea was right, but the Shifter part of him didn’t give a crap.

“She needs to check in when Shifters are threatening to start their own personal breeding projects with her. Tell you what—she can come and live in my house. I’ll look out for her better.”

Sean’s expression hardened. “Not gonna happen.”

Liam’s stipulation when Maria had come to Shiftertown was that, while she could take a room with whomever she chose, she couldn’t live in the house of an unmated male, for obvious reasons. She’d lived for a time in Liam’s house with Connor there, because he hadn’t made his Transition yet, and the mating need hadn’t yet manifested in him.

But once Tiger had moved in last November, Maria had to vacate. She’d moved in with Andrea and Sean, Dylan and Glory without fuss, understanding, she said.

That Andrea didn’t know where she’d gone bothered Ellison a lot.

“She needs looking after,” Ellison growled. “If y’all can’t do it, we need to find someone who can.”

He swung around and walked off the porch, not slowing down. “Where are you going?” Andrea called worriedly behind him.

“To look for her. Where’d you think?”

The scenario in his head went like this—Maria gets up early, deciding to find Connor and study for her SATs with him. She walks out the back door, and Broderick is lying in wait. Ellison is in the shower, and Broderick drags her off.

Anything human in Ellison disappeared. He’d already claimed Maria, in his head and in his heart. He’d held off, because Dylan had explained exactly what had happened to her down in Mexico. Give her time, Dylan had said. Liam, Sean, and I will protect her until she’s ready.

Ellison was ready. He’d kill Broderick and bounce his head down the sidewalk if the Lupine had touched Maria. Ellison’s Collar sparked with his adrenaline, warning him to calm down, but Ellison told his Collar to take a flying leap.

Broderick lived two blocks over and two blocks down. A short distance for wolves who were used to patrolling vast tracts of territory.

Ellison approached the two-story bungalow that housed Broderick, his mother, aunt, and three brothers. Youngest brother was on the porch shoveling food from a plate into his mouth but was on his feet by the time Ellison reached the front steps.

“Stay right there, wolf,” the brother, Mason, said.

“Get Broderick out here so I can rip his head off.”

Mason set down his plate of eggs and Texas toast and stood up squarely. He was the youngest brother, but he was bigger than any of the others in Broderick’s house, probably why they had him stand guard.

“Brod!” Mason yelled over his shoulder. “That dumb-ass Lupine is here.”

“I heard him.” Broderick came out the door to flank his brother. He folded his arms, the pair of them glaring down at Ellison with identical stares. “What? It’s early. Why aren’t you holed up with your crazy sister?”

“Where is she?”

Broderick didn’t move. “You mean Maria? Not here. Why?”

Ellison leaned toward Broderick and inhaled, too far gone in rage to care that it wasn’t good Shifter etiquette to obviously check someone’s scent to determine whether he was lying. Especially not on that rival Shifter’s territory with his little brother ready to rub Ellison’s face into the sidewalk.

Ellison didn’t smell a lie on Broderick, but he didn’t smell Maria on him either. He caught the brief scent of her from last night, when Broderick had tried to mark her and claim her, but nothing more than that. Scents had layers, fading with time and how many showers the Shifter had taken. Broderick hadn’t bathed since last night, but his clothes were clean and contained no scent of Maria.

“What did you do, lose her?” Broderick asked. “Doesn’t she live across the street from you?”

“Screw you.” Maria wasn’t here. If she had been, even if they’d locked her in the most protected part of their basement, Ellison would have scented her and found her.

Ellison spun away from the porch and started down the street again, worry piling on worry. The sky was blue, the sun bright, another beautiful day in Austin. The sunlight would sparkle in Maria’s dark hair, dance on her smile.

Footsteps sounded beside him, and then Ellison got a full dose of Broderick’s unwashed scent. “So where is she?”