EUAN: Outback Shifters #3

by Chant, Zoe

  Euan paused, and that same strange look came over his face. “No. The truth is, I –”

  “What’s all the yelling in here?”

  Whatever Euan had been about to say, he was cut off as yet more people entered the kitchen – this time a short, dark-haired woman, followed by a tall man with blue eyes and gray temples. It was the woman who’d spoken.

  They barely glanced at the enormous kangaroo taking up half the floor space, though the man said, “Trent, can you shift back please? It’s cramped enough in here as it is.”

  The woman smiled warmly at Delilah as she sat down across from her, next to Euan.

  “Hey. Nice to meet you – my name’s Brooke Saunders. I take it these guys have been taking good care of you?”

  Delilah could only nod. If introducing her to the new world of shifters counted as taking care of her, then yeah, she supposed they had been.

  Brooke must’ve noticed her slightly overwhelmed air though, because she grimaced, glancing at Euan.

  “Guys, if you wanted to give her a practical demonstration, you could’ve just called me. It probably would’ve been a little less confronting, yeah?”

  Euan’s frown deepened, but Delilah thought he looked at least a little sheepish. “I didn’t know you were here.”

  “I turn into a skink,” Brooke said, turning her smile back on Delilah. She held her forefinger and thumb about ten centimeters apart. “About that big. Not like these guys. Sorry you got thrown in at the deep end.”

  “No, no, maybe it was better this way. Rip the Band-Aid off all in one go, so to speak,” Delilah replied, which made Brooke laugh, deep and hearty, and Delilah couldn’t help but kind of like her.

  “All right, well, I’m the medic in the office at the moment, so we thought it’d be best if I took a quick look at you – if you don’t mind, that is,” Brooke said. “Do you have any pains anywhere?”

  Delilah shook her head. “No – nothing like that.” Now that she thought about it, she realized she felt better than ever. Despite everything she’d been through this evening, she felt energetic, light on her feet, and somehow as if she could have run a mile if she’d needed to.

  Maybe it’s just the adrenaline of it all? she thought, as Brooke checked her pulse.

  “Sorry, I haven’t introduced myself yet.” The man who came in with Brooke held out his hand for her to shake, leaning over slightly from where he stood next to the table. Delilah wasn’t sure why, but she detected an air of authority from him that went beyond the fact he was obviously older than the other people here. “Robb Lockwood. It seems like there’s been a little excitement here tonight. I trust Euan and the others have filled you in on who we are and what we do here?”

  Delilah nodded. “Well – mostly. It’s a lot to get my head around.”

  “I suppose it must be.” Robb glanced at Euan, who was sitting silently. “I’d ask for a report, Euan, but perhaps it’d be better if I got it straight from the source?”

  Delilah’s heart sank a little at the thought of repeating herself yet again, but nonetheless, she tried not to let her frustration show as she went through the story – the gelati, the man in the alley and his disappearance, the flash of light from her fingers, running into Euan, and the strange, urgent sense of danger that had led him to bring her here – once again, as Brooke performed various minor medical checks on her.

  “Hmmm.” Robb’s face was grave as he thought. “Did you see any of this, Euan?”

  “No, sir,” Euan said. “But I believe every word she says.”

  Delilah wasn’t sure why his words flooded her with warm relief, but they did. She glanced gratefully at him, but found his face grim.

  “I’m not too proud to admit I’ve never heard of anything like this before,” Robb said after a moment. “What about any of you? Have you ever come across anything like this on any field assignment you’ve been on?”

  Delilah glanced up hopefully at Hector, Rhys and Trent, but all of them were shaking their heads, frowning.

  “No, never,” Hector said. “And I’ve seen some weird stuff.”

  Delilah bit her lip. Okay, so not even the guys who turn into giant kangaroos and skinks and griffins and whatever else know what’s going on with me. That’s fantastic. Great.

  “And I take it you’ve never seen anything like this either,” Robb said, turning back to Delilah. “You’d never seen the man in the alley before?”

  Delilah shook her head. “No – I’d never seen him before. I swear, until about an hour and a half ago, I was just… living my life. Going to work. Hanging out with my nieces. I didn’t ask for any of this.”

  “So you couldn’t tell me at all what exactly this danger is that you said you felt?” Robb asked.

  Delilah swallowed, looking down. A shiver ran down her spine at the mere memory of that horrible feeling in her gut. “No. I – I don’t even know how to describe it. Just that I’d never felt anything like it before. And that even if it sounds stupid, I know it was real.”

  “No one thinks it sounds stupid, or anything like that.” Euan’s voice was low, but it was powerful.

  Delilah found herself raising her eyes to look at him again, and was captured by the steady look in his dark brown eyes.

  “No one’s doubting your word, Delilah,” he said after moment. “I couldn’t sense what you sensed, and I know it took me a while to work out what you were saying. But I saw the look in your eye when you said there was danger, and I believe you.”

  Delilah felt breathless as she stared at him. She was aware of some of the other people in the room speaking in low voices, but the sound of them talking seemed to drift to her from very far away, and in any case, she wasn’t really listening.

  She blinked, however, at the sound of her name – which Robb was saying as if this wasn’t the first time he’d tried to recall her to herself.

  “Delilah, given we don’t know what we’re dealing with here, I think what we need to think of first is your safety,” Robb said.

  Delilah looked at him, feeling cautious. “… Okay, I guess that makes sense.”

  “So my idea is this: while I send Hector, Trent, Rhys and Brooke out to investigate and see what they can find, you should stay here.”

  “Oh – like overnight, you mean?” Delilah asked.

  “No. I mean for the next few days,” Robb said. “At least. If you need to take time off work we can organize a doctor’s certificate. But until we know exactly what’s going on –”

  He cut himself off when he saw the way Delilah was shaking her head emphatically.

  “No – sorry, that’s not going to be possible,” she said. “Overnight, sure. That’s a good idea. But there’s no way I can stay here for days.”

  Emma’s birthday party was tomorrow. While Delilah was pretty sure she’d be able to convince Jenny that she couldn’t come – though she’d probably get a guilt-tripping phone call from their parents later – there was no way she’d be able to do the same thing with Rosie.

  It’d been clear that something was up with her niece when she’d spoken to her earlier today, and it was clear that Rosie felt like her mum wasn’t listening to her. And Delilah had promised her she’d be there. There was no way she was breaking her word because of some weird bullshit that no one seemed to know anything about.

  “If it’s a matter of work, like I said, we can smooth that over,” Robb said, narrowing his eyes.

  “No, it’s not a matter of work,” Delilah said. “It’s a matter of – of, uh, a promise I made. To my niece.”

  “A promise?” Robb looked blank.

  “I promised her I’d be at her sister’s birthday party tomorrow to keep her company,” Delilah said. “She’s having a tough time right now, and she – um, she needs an adult with a friendly ear, I think.”

  Speaking of ears, she could start to feel her own burning the more Robb stared at her as if she was mad.

  “You want to go to a birthday party?” he said slowly.

>   “It’s not about the birthday party!” Delilah said in exasperation. And truly, it wasn’t – though she had been looking forward to the party food, it really wasn’t the point. “It’s about helping Rosie, my niece! She’ll be really hurt if I don’t go, since I absolutely promised her I would. It doesn’t matter how good of a reason I have. She’s twelve – she won’t understand! She’ll be really hurt.”

  “Well, be that as it may,” Robb said after a slight pause, “your safety is a little more important than –”

  But Delilah was already shaking her head. Nope!

  She wasn’t having this. She might not have any kids of her own, but her nieces meant the world to her. She wasn’t about to leave Rosie feeling alone and abandoned, no matter what.

  “Sorry, but it’s just not going to happen,” she said flatly. “I realize to you it might sound silly, but to me, a promise is a promise.” Even if it was made to a slightly moody twelve-year-old.

  Robb’s frown deepened as if he were perplexed, but he said nothing.

  “I’m pretty sure I’m right in saying you can’t keep me here unless I’m under arrest, right?” Delilah continued. Oh God, does that work with secretive spy organizations as well as the regular cops? And if I just leave, is the giant kangaroo going to come after me?

  She swallowed down her fear of that particular scenario. That wouldn’t happen if they wanted to keep their Agency or whatever it was called a secret. There was no way Trent was going to shift into his giant kangaroo form and chase her around Darling Harbour in front of the evening diners-out.

  She thought.

  “You’re right,” Euan said quietly. “You’re free to go, if you want to. You haven’t done anything wrong. But I think –”

  Delilah stared at him, waiting for him to go on. Something about the way he looked at her made her heart pound in her chest.

  “I saw how frightened you were. I just think you should consider the offer – or at least the idea that there really is something dangerous out there.”

  Delilah wanted to tell him she was grateful to him for helping her out, but now it was time for her to go. But at his words, the memory of the fear she’d felt out on the street raced through her gut, as if it had been suddenly filled with ice-cold water. She swallowed.

  “Say – say I stayed here overnight,” she said slowly. “Just for tonight, and some of tomorrow. Would that be enough time for you to figure out what’s happening?”

  Robb shook his head, face grim. “Perhaps, but I doubt it. Not with something like this, where none of us have ever seen anything like it before. And besides which –” A vaguely uncomfortable expression flickered across his face “– you say you’re human, and you’ve never experienced anything like the flash of light you saw before. I’d like it if you were as close as possible to medical care, in case there’re any other… effects.”

  Delilah felt her gut twist, but she knew what Robb was saying made sense. She pulled in a deep breath.

  “Okay. Okay. I get it. So I stay here tonight. The party isn’t until two. Even if I have to go home first, I’ll still have plenty of time to get there. But there’s no way I’m missing it. You’ll have to find a way to make it work if you want me to stay here.”

  Delilah crossed her arms over her chest and sat back on the sofa, aware that she must look ridiculous to all these incredibly tall and improbably fit-looking people. But dammit, a promise was a promise!

  Robb glanced at Euan, before looking at Delilah again.

  “All right,” he said. “I can’t force you to stay. But if you go to your, uh, niece’s birthday party tomorrow, I’d like you to go with a bodyguard. Just in case.”

  Oh my God, like the Whitney Houston movie? was the first inane thought to flash through Delilah’s mind. The second one was, If I have to have a bodyguard, then I want it to be Euan.

  She couldn’t put her finger on exactly why she was so certain of that fact – except, perhaps, for the memory of how… safe she’d felt when she’d put her hand on his arm while they’d been fleeing from the danger she’d sensed.

  And now, the idea of feeling that sense of safety again – of spending more time with Euan just for its own sake, actually, if she was being honest – made her pulse race a little faster.

  “Okay,” she said, doing her best to keep her voice steady. “Sure. I agree. But can I choose who, uh, guards my body?”

  The ghost of a smile flickered across Robb’s face, even as Delilah felt her ears burning at her somewhat poor choice of words.

  “If it’s possible, yes.”

  That didn’t sound exactly like unqualified agreement, but Delilah figured it was the best she was going to get.

  “Euan,” she said, turning to look at him. “I think – I mean, you were the first one I ran into, and, uh –”

  Delilah stuttered to a halt, not sure what to say. She’d never had to ask a man to be her bodyguard before.

  And the stony expression on Euan’s face, as if there was nothing he’d rather do less, certainly wasn’t helping things.

  “I don’t think that’d be a very good idea,” he said, after a moment’s silence.

  Delilah couldn’t explain why his words made her feel like she’d swallowed a block of ice.

  “Oh,” she said. “I –”

  But before she could say anything else – not that she knew what to say – Hector spoke up.

  “Euan, don’t be so quick to say no. You’ve done this kind of work before. More than any of us. You’ve had more training and more experience.”

  Annoyance flashed in Euan’s eyes as he looked up at Hector.

  “I know,” he said, voice low but harsh. “But that was before.”

  Before what? Delilah thought, before it was apparently Trent’s turn to speak.

  “Euan, give it some thought, yeah? You’d be perfect.”

  He raised his eyebrows in a way Delilah wasn’t entirely sure she understood the meaning of.

  Whatever meaning it did have, it just seemed to make Euan even more annoyed.

  “No.” His voice was flat, and he wasn’t looking at Delilah. “Choose someone else. Rhys, you’ve done this before. Why can’t you do it?”

  Delilah blinked, and resisted the urge to bite her lip.

  Okay, this is… weird.

  Why was she feeling so… rejected about this? No matter how hot Euan might be, this was strictly professional. He wasn’t rejecting her personally, he just felt he wasn’t right for the job. For whatever reason.

  Somehow, reminding herself of that wasn’t making her feel any better, though.

  “No, it’s okay,” she said quickly, forcing the words out through her too-tight throat. “I get it. I just thought – I don’t have to –”

  Perhaps some of her mysteriously hurt feelings showed in her voice, because Euan turned his eyes to her, frowning.

  “It’s not that,” he said quietly. “It’s not you – it’s me.”

  Why do I feel like I’m being broken up with? Delilah thought in bewilderment.

  “But, if you have the training –” she said, the words spilling out before she could think.

  Euan shook his head, cutting off her words. “It’s not a matter of training, or anything else. It’s that I couldn’t protect you if anything happened.”

  “Euan –” Trent said, only to close his mouth when Euan glared at him.

  “That’s just a simple fact,” Euan said, his voice as flat as ever. “I’m not the right person for the job.”

  “Well, you’re certainly not being very personable at the moment, no,” Hector said, his tone edged with anger.

  “You know why I’m saying this,” Euan shot back. “You should be agreeing with me.”

  “Well, I don’t know the reason,” Delilah said, wanting to bite back the words as soon as she’d said them. The air was filled with enough tension as it was. But at the same time, she was a little curious – and a little tired of Euan being so mysterious about this.

&nbs
p; He turned his beautiful dark eyes back to her face, and again, she saw that strange, sad, haunted look deep within them. But this time, it was more than a flicker – and she felt a piercing pain within her chest, as if the pain she saw in his eyes had become her pain as well. Clearly, something was very wrong – and suddenly, Delilah regretted having asked.

  “Because,” Euan said, his voice soft, “I can’t shift. There’s absolutely no way I could protect you if another shifter came after you.”

  Delilah gasped. She couldn’t help it – it was as if the pain she heard throbbing through Euan’s voice was rippling through her own chest. She opened her mouth, not certain what to say. She’d only just found out what shifters were, but nonetheless, she could see by the pain in his eyes the enormity of what Euan had told her.

  Still grappling with the ache in her chest, the only thing Delilah could think of to say was, “Oh.”

  Chapter 4

  Euan forced himself to hold Delilah’s gaze as her eyes widened, staring at him.

  It had been hard to admit to her the truth about his situation. Trent, Hector, Rhys, Brooke and Robb already all knew about it, of course. He’d told Hector and Trent a couple of months ago, though even then only reluctantly. Robb, as his boss, had had to know as soon as it’d happened, and Brooke, the chief medico, had been the one to check him out and make sure he wasn’t suffering from any injuries, and sign off on his sick leave.

  It was still painful to have to talk about. As if he was admitting to a weakness, or that he hadn’t been able to measure up.

  The work psych he’d had to see as part of his recovery process had told him it wasn’t a weakness at all, but Euan couldn’t say he believed that.

  The first thing shifter children were taught – before they’d learned to shift their forms, even – was how to control the animal that lived inside them. How to live with it, how to come to terms with it as part of themselves. Shifters who couldn’t do that were doomed: they either had to suppress their animal side so thoroughly that it would never surface again, or they lost themselves to its ferocious, bestial instincts, and could never find their way back to humanity.