Taken at Dusk (Shadow Falls #3)(32)

Before they'd hung up, she had asked if she could share their conversation with Burnett. When Holiday had wavered, Kylie asked her how she'd feel if Burnett disappeared on "an emergency" and didn't explain himself.

"Fine," Holiday said.

Although she hadn't sounded happy about it.

* * *

A few minutes later, Kylie started out of the cabin, tripped, and landed half on and half off the huge black Lab that was curled up on the welcome rug in front of the door.

"What the heck?" Stunned, she scrambled to get up and, in the process, stepped on the canine's tail. The dog yelped as if in pain, and guilt filled Kylie's lungs. "Sorry."

Was the animal hurt? Once an injured dog had shown up at her doorstep when she'd been a kid. Her mom had her dad take it to the vet and they'd ended up having to put it down.

Kylie had cried and blamed her mom for killing the dog. With the emotional footprints of that memory tugging at her heartstrings, Kylie crouched down.

"Sorry," she told the dog again, and let it sniff her hand before she gave it a gentle pat. "Are you hurt? You get hit by a car or something?"

"No. You stepped on my tail, and of course it hurt," the dog said.

Kylie, still down on her haunches, fell back on her butt and glared at the talking canine.

"What?" the dog asked.

"Don't do that!"

"Do what?"

"Talk!"

Okay, the sparkles now popping all over the place and the changing eye color told her it was Perry, but seeing a dog talk still freaked her out.

She jumped to her feet and continued to scowl at the animal. Basically, she needed a kick-dog to target her frustration, and she'd just found one. A black Lab that at this moment was changing forms.

She waited until Perry was transformed. "Why the hell is your canine butt sleeping on my porch?"

"I was afraid Miranda would come out, and if she knew it was me, she'd wiggle her little pinky at me and give me zits or something."

"Okay." She tightened her gaze. "But that doesn't explain what you're doing on my porch."

"Duh, I was waiting for you," he said matter-of-factly. "I'm your shadow for the day."

"Oh, crap. I forgot about ... that." She took a deep breath and tried to resign herself to having a tag-along following her around like a ... lost puppy.

He studied her with his gold eyes. "You're mad at me, aren't you."

"No," she said, biting back her frustration. "You're right. Miranda would have zapped you with zits or something. But you just blow my mind when you're an animal and you talk." She put a hand on each side of her head. "It hurts my brain."

"No, I meant mad about the shit that happened yesterday."

Kylie just stared at him. "You're gonna have to be more specific. Because a lot of shit happened yesterday."

He grinned, but the smile faded quickly. "I mean how I lost track of the old couple who were pretending to be your grandparents." A sincere apology filled his eyes. "I failed."

"That wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was. Who else are you going to blame it on? I was the one supposed to follow them."

"How about we not blame it on anyone?" She started walking down the path toward the office.

He fell into step beside her. "Sounds good."

They walked a few minutes in silence. Kylie noticed the sky was painted with clouds, the big white fluffy kind, and tried not to think about the elderly couple Perry had followed or exactly what it meant when they went poof.

"Do you think they're dead?" she asked.

"Who's dead?"

"The elderly couple."

His features tightened. "I really don't know. I've never seen humans disappear like that."

They both got quiet again. The morning temperature hadn't risen to the uncomfortable level yet, but she could feel it climbing.

Perry tossed his own question next. "Do you think Miranda is ever going to accept my apology?"

Kylie looked at him. "Did you apologize?"

He looked honestly perplexed. "I spoke to her. That's the same thing."

Kylie shook her head. "Oh no, it's not. Speaking to someone is not an apology, Perry. What you did-kissing her like that, then blowing her off-that was mean."

He frowned and kicked a rock. "She kissed Kevin. I was mad."

"I get that," Kylie said, and remembered seeing the picture of Derek kissing Ellie. "And I know it hurts, but it was really Kevin who kissed her. But even still, two wrongs don't make a right."

She caught him checking out her brain pattern, and she frowned. He continued walking but shifted his gaze to the ground. They didn't talk for a bit, and then Kylie just blurted it out. "Everyone says my pattern moves around like a shape-shifter now. Is it true?"

"Yeah," he said. "But ours only move when we're shifting."

She stopped walking and faced him. "Is there anything else about my pattern that looks like a shape-shifter? I mean, do you see any sign that I might be one?"

He smiled. "You want to be a shape-shifter?"

"No." Hell, no! "I mean, not necessarily. I just want to figure out what I am." She bit down on her lip and decided to plunge right into the subject. "How old were you when you started shifting?"