Page 57 of The Reluctant Alpha

I glanced at Bayer for an explanation. “The few seconds when we shift are when we’re most vulnerable,” Bayer said. Which made sense.

“No warning?” Phoenix asked.

“I was…distracted,” Kaylan admitted. He sighed and scrubbed his face.

“You went to town?” Phoenix pushed.

I felt Bayer stiffen slightly as Phoenix asked. Kaylan accepted the water I passed him with a soft smile but then huffed. “I was visiting the trailer park out past the market.”

Phoenix frowned. “Do you mean the one where Isla and Matthew got Callie from?”

I kept quiet, but I knew Ben had been bullied by the man he thought was his father into joining the crazy gun-running scheme last year that Bayer’s dad had also been involved in. Ben had just been desperate to protect his baby sister. When Phoenix found out about Callie, he’d sent Isla, Bayer’s sister, to go rescue her.

Kaylan shook his head. “There’s an older park just beyond that. The trailers are nicer, but the residents are older. They’re all at risk from the idiots in the other park, and the cops aren’t helping.”

Phoenix frowned. “I get that, but why—”

“This is because of that guy from the bar,” Bayer interrupted. “Jaxson.”

Kaylan met Bayer’s gaze and a look of understanding passed between them.

“Who’s Jaxson?” Phoenix asked just as Em walked in with Tia.

“Jaxson Conner,” Kaylan replied. “Bayer and I met him a week ago when we went into Minton. He’s human,” Kaylan said. “Looks after his grandad, who has cancer. Works at one of those cafes on Main Street. He's a really nice guy," Kaylan continued, wincing as he got down from the table. "He doesn’t know I’ve been there. I keep an eye out at night, and I’ve been doing repairs, that sort of thing. Met the old guy a few times. He thinks I work for the trailer park company."

Emery raised an eyebrow, bouncing Tia on his hip. "So that’s three for three, then."

"Three what?” Phoenix asked in confusion.

Em rolled his eyes. “Kaylan is a good guy, but he’s not traveling over a hundred miles a day because of that. Jaxson must be his mate.”

Kaylan groaned. “I don’t know. I haven’t been close to him in my cat form.” I frowned and looked at Bayer again.

"Cats need to be in their animal form to recognize their mate," Bayer said softly, but he didn't take his eyes from Kaylan.

"And does this Jaxson know what you are?" Phoenix asked, his tone carefully neutral but with an undercurrent of concern.

Kaylan shook his head. "No. Of course not."

I felt a twinge of sympathy.

"Back to the attack," Bayer prompted, his hand warm on my lower back. "What happened exactly?"

Kaylan took another sip of water. "I was heading back through the woods. I'd caught a scent—something odd...not quite normal. I started to shift to track it better, and that's when it hit me." His face darkened with the memory. "It was fast. Impossibly fast. I couldn't even see it clearly—just a blur of gray and then pain."

"How did you get away?" Emery asked, voicing the question on all our minds.

"I didn't," Kaylan said grimly. "It let me go. Said I was a message, not a meal." He looked up at Phoenix. "It could have killed me. It chose not to."

"To send a message?" Bayer clarified, his expression grim.

"And to prove it could breach our defenses," Phoenix added. "It attacked Kaylan on our territory. Inside the barrier."

That revelation sent a chill through the room. The barrier was supposed to keep us safe. If the revenant could cross it at will...

Esther nodded. "But if it's already been invited in somehow..."

"What do you mean, 'invited in'?" I asked “Wait, is this like the movies? Like vampires can’t cross someone’s doorway unless they’re invited in?” I glanced at Em and clicked my fingers. “The Vampire Diaries.”