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He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. He ripped the ponytail holder out, threw it on the floor, ran his hands through the shoulder-length curls, over and over, as if he’d been wanting to do it all night. The movement was harsh, frantic with tension.

He looked down at me, dark brown hair in disarray around his face, eyes gleaming. In an instant he went from being this nice, attractive man to something feral and alien. It wasn’t just the hair or the kitty-cat eyes. His beast bubbled against my skin like boiling water. I’d felt his power, but not like this, almost hot enough to scald. Then I realized that I could see that heat, see it. It flowed over him, invisible, but almost not, like something half-seen out of the corner of your eye. I could almost see the shape of something monstrous looming around him, like heat rising off of summer pavement, a rippling thing. I’d been around shapeshifters for years and never seen anything like it.

Merle appeared in the doorway. “Nimir-Raj, is anything wrong?”

Micah turned, and I got a swimming afterimage, as if something large and almost invisible moved around and just above his body. His voice came out low and growling. “Wrong, what could possibly be wrong?”

Gina pushed past Merle. “We’ve got to go, Micah.”

Micah put his hands up, and the afterimage moved with him. I couldn’t actually see claws and fur, just hints of it, swimming around him. He covered his eyes with his hands, and I saw those ghostly claws go through, into, past his face. Watching it made me dizzy, and I looked down at the tabletop to steady myself and reality.

I’d heard Marianne say she could see auras of power around people and lycanthropes, but I’d never been able to see one before.

I felt his power folding away, the heat, the skin-ruffling sensation pulling away, like the ocean going back from the shore. I raised my face to see, and that seen-not-seen shape was gone, swallowed back into his body.

He stared down at me. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“You’re closer than you think,” I said.

“She’s afraid of your power,” Gina said, and there was scorn in her voice.

I looked up at her. “I saw his aura, saw it like a white phantom around his body.”

“You say that like you’ve never seen it before,” Micah said.

“I haven’t, not a visual.”

Gina took his arm, gently but firmly, and tried pulling him towards the door. He just looked at her, and I felt his presence, his personality, for lack of a better word, like something almost touchable. She dropped to the floor, gripping his hand, rubbing her cheek against it. “I meant no offense, Micah.”

The look on his face was cold. His power, his force began to trickle through the room again.

“Nimir-Raj,” Merle said, “if you are going, then you must go. If you are not going . . .” His voice was careful, almost gentle, a pitying tone of voice, and I didn’t understand why.

Micah growled at Merle, I think. Then his voice came out normal, human. “I know my duty as Nimir-Raj, Merle.”

“I would never presume to tell you the duties of a Nimir-Raj, Micah,” he said.

Micah suddenly looked tired again, all that energy draining away. He helped Gina to her feet, though it looked awkward since she was more than a head taller. “Let’s go.”

They all turned towards the door. “I hope your leopard is alright,” I said.

Micah glanced back. “Would Nathaniel be, if he’d called for help?”

I shook my head. “No.”

He nodded and turned back for the door. “Mine either.” He hesitated and said without turning around, “I’ll take Noah and Gina with me, but if it’s alright I’ll leave Merle and Caleb here?”

“Won’t you need them with you?”

He looked back, smiling. “I just need to pick up Violet. I don’t need muscle for that, and you might want some extra muscle.”

“You mean in case Jacob’s people get pesky?”

His smile widened. “Pesky, yeah, in case they get pesky.”

Then they were gone into the other room, and I was left alone at the table. Lillian came back in, her eyes narrowed.

“What?” I asked.

She just shook her head. “None of my business.”

“That’s right,” I said.