“Seriously, why are you all looking at me like that?” she asked.
“You look like you’re thinking something,” Xavier said and it took her a minute to realize he was talking to her. “You’re staring at us and then back at the bar like it means something.”
“Two things,” she said. “One, for a pack of shifters, your Spidey-senses are lacking if you can’t sense the tension between you all out here and the people inside.”
“What kind of tension?” Nash asked, cocking his head as if testing the air.
“The kind where you’ve been getting dirty looks all night from the four men at the booth by the window. And everyone who walks in or out glances over here like you’re all wearing scarlet letters on your foreheads.” She set her beer down and leaned forward. “How do you not notice this?”
“We’re used to it, I guess. They think we’re fun to look at from a distance but they won’t get too close. Like the zoo,” Nash said with a shrug and Harley snorted.
“That’s Lyle Abrams. He’s a real piece of work,” Jake muttered.
Xavier frowned in the direction of the four men, but then immediately brightened as his eyes landed on something else. Footsteps sounded over the wooden deck and Delilah turned to find a pretty brunette in a tailored suit approaching fast. She smiled and her eyes lit as she reached Xavier. She dipped low, planting a smacking kiss on the alpha’s lips before sliding into the empty seat beside him.
The rest of the crew called out hellos and she saw a warmth pass between them that made her feel suddenly outside of it all somehow. A streak of jealousy shot through her.
Xavier motioned between the women and Delilah did her best to cover her own longing. “Laurel, this is Delilah, the PI Jake mentioned. Delilah, Laurel, my mate.”
“Hi there,” Laurel said with a smile. “I hope these guys haven’t given you too much crap. Harley’s a teddy bear, really.”
Nash laughed and Harley glared, then spit over the side of the deck.
“More like a Chucky Doll,” Jake said and Nash high-fived him.
Delilah snuck a glance at Lucas. He sat off to the side, watching it all. She wondered exactly what he saw and why he never engaged. Maybe it was her. The human thing again.
“Nah, they’re behaving,” Delilah told her. “Much better than those guys inside the pub anyway.” Laurel followed her head-nod to the four men still at the booth by the window. She inhaled sharply.
“You know those guys?” Delilah asked.
“The one on the left,” Laurel said, her brows wrinkling. “He was in the office the other day. I’ve never met him. He came out of Gerald’s office.”
“Gerald is…?” Delilah prompted.
“Her boss,” Xavier explained. “Head of DOT in Blue Hole.”
“Do you know the guy Laurel saw?” Delilah asked.
Xavier shook his head. “Never seen him before.”
The others muttered the same thing, all of them now glaring at Lyle Abrams and his mystery bunch.
“If that guy came out of the DOT office, I’d like to meet him. And your boss,” Delilah said, jotting down notes on the pad in front of her on the table. She dropped her pen and grabbed her beer. “That’s handy, you working there,” she said absently and Laurel sighed.
“I’d like to think so but so far, nothing’s come of it,” Laurel said. “Even after they found out I was a shifter, no one’s said a word sideways about it.”
“You’re a shifter?” Delilah looked up, excited. “What kind? Oh, is that rude? Sorry, I don’t know the rules about this stuff. It’s just—that’s cool.”
Laurel smiled and Delilah was surprised to see a flush creep into the woman’s cheeks. Was she embarrassed? About being a shifter? “I’m a red fox,” she said.