The Skin She's In by Margo Collins (online e book reader .txt) 📕

heads hung down as they looked at me—at all of us—gave it away.

I wasn’t certain if they even knew I was the lamia they were looking for. After all, I had moved through human society in Texas for my entire life without ever having been picked up on by a shifter—right up until the day I walked into Kade Nevala in his emergency room with a patient.

Since then, several shifters had been able to sniff me out. It was almost like that part of myself had come to life in a way that it hadn’t been before.

No one seem to have any idea why, least of all me.

With this group, I couldn’t tell if they were belligerent because they knew who I was, or because they were talking to Janice, or if that was their normal, standard behavior.

“We are here to let you know that we’re calling for a National Council quorum,” Frank said. His nostrils flared as he spoke, possibly in anger, but my bet was on his trying to sniff me out.

“That’s unusual.” Tilting her head, Janice crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

Frank’s dismissive shrug made me irrationally angry.

“It seems the only appropriate response to your own Council’s move of taking in a lamia and harboring it.” His raised eyebrows suggested he believed he just scored a point.

I felt my own eyes starting to shift, everything around me going gray. I was exhausted, but apparently not too exhausted to be pushed into a shifting rage by some asshole werewolf.

“You used a key word there,” Janice said. “It was, indeed, my Council’s decision. We followed pack, and shifter, and Council law on all levels when we voted to make a lamia one of our own. It has nothing to do with you.”

“That’s where you’re wrong—and why we called for a national quorum,” the werewolf said. “Anything having to do with the lamias has to do with all of us.”

I had to concentrate to control myself, to keep from lashing out at this man. It was all I could do to refrain from dropping into my serpent shape and striking.

But as I changed, ever so slowly, forcing myself to maintain most of my human attributes, I allowed the heat-sensing pits of a viper to form on my cheeks, alongside my nose. Instantly, the room sprang into view in my other sense, something that my mind insisted on translating as almost visual, like infrared or heat-seeking technology.

It wasn’t quite like that of course, though the pits could sense minuscule differences in temperature.

The extrasensory input had proven to be very useful several times in the past few months.

Right now, what it told me was that the werewolves were anxious.

Or ... they were putting off lots of extra heat, anyway, so they were at least experiencing some kind of heightened emotion.

I had to remember to avoid putting my own spin on what I saw.

At any rate, the wolves were more agitated than Janice’s shifters.

At the moment, Janice and Frank were having a bit of a staring contest.

I hoped Janice would kick his ass.

We all waited, until finally, Janice said, “Will there be anything else?”

Frank smiled slightly, as if he had scored a second point. “I will let you know when the National Council plans to meet here.”

“Please do,” Janice said. “You may leave now.” She flicked her fingers in a small dismissive gesture, and I almost laughed aloud. Somehow, with that one movement, Janice had turned Frank from an aggressor into some kind of supplicant—as if he had approached her to beg a favor rather than announce his intention to attack her politically.

The wolf glared at her for just a moment, but then nodded curtly and spun around to leave. The four wolves with him turned to do the same, except the woman. She stayed glued to the spot, her eyes narrowing as she gazed directly at me. I wondered if perhaps I was showing a little too much... snakiness. But in the end, I didn’t really care—they were going to figure out who I was eventually, anyway—so as soon as I was certain no one else was looking, I flicked my forked tongue at her, using it to taste the molecules of the air surrounding her.

She blinked, startled—whatever she might’ve suspected, I don’t think she expected to have it confirmed right then and there.

The air around her tasted like anger with an undertone of fear. It sizzled down the back of my throat, and I tried to parse out any other information.

But there wasn’t really much else to be had. She tasted like wolf. Like mammal. Like a strange mix of predator and prey.

When she turned to scurry after her colleagues, it was all I could do not to give chase.

Probably not surprising—wolves were usually big enough to prey on snakes. But I could outsize a wolf, even a werewolf, any day.

No, Lindi, you have more important things to do here.

Like find out what Janice knew.

Not to mention get to the room where Evangeline was giving birth to the babies who would join Serena under my protection.

Chapter 27

ONCE THE WEREWOLVES were out of hearing range, Kade leaned in close behind me and quietly said, “Eduardo left a message with the switchboard earlier. Serena’s safe.”

I blew out a thankful breath. “Good.”

“You can come up with me and see Evangeline, if you’d like,” Kade continued. “Just let me touch base with Tomás first.”

I nodded, and we waited until the wolves had walked out the door before moving toward Tomás and his driver, both of whom were still watching the wolves leaving.

They’re both carrying guns, too, I realized belatedly. I wasn’t used to shifters who relied on more than their own claws and teeth.

Then again, they did say they blew up a casino.

“They’ll both be okay,” Kade was saying as I joined them. “Jeff will take a little longer to heal, and it’ll be a few weeks—maybe a month—before Bron will be able to fly again. But she should regain full use