thrown from the car. Our child died when there was no one there to help him come into the world.”
“I’m sorry.” Chris had heard it before. But he knew that Remy was sincere in his words. Only a man who had lost a child would understand how he really felt. “I truly am. But there is something about this woman that bothers you. What is it?”
“I don’t know. When I touched her, knocking her to the floor, my first thought was that she was with Benton. Not that she gave us any indication that she was, but it was...the fear factor, I guess, that made me think that. Then, as soon as I looked into her eyes, there was something so calming about her that I felt my cat relax. For the first time in ages. Then it felt as if she looked at him; not at me, but right at my cat.” Remy asked him what happened when he didn’t continue right away. “There was this connection. Like...I’m not sure. A connection that ran deep. Like she knew all there was to know about me and wasn’t really impressed by it. I’m not sure why that thought is there, but you asked.”
“Why don’t you sit down with her and talk? Maybe she can tell you why you connected.” Chris had thought of that and dismissed it. She wouldn’t give him any more than she had Remy, and he’d been using his mind control thing on her to no avail. He’d wanted to answer him when Remy had used it on her, and he’d not even been the target. “I don’t know how to help you. I suppose you could ask Skylar. She will more than likely know more than we would anyway. She’s had the most contact with her, not that there’s all that much going on verbally between them. Christ, I’ve never seen Skylar so frustrated with anyone before.”
“Have you ever heard of an elite shifter?” They both turned to Rick when he entered the room. Chris had hoped that Nate would be joining them, but the man stubbornly refused to have much of any kind of contact with them. He was there, and that was about all he could say about the man. “I heard from my friend, Janell. She said that there is a movement that is going on that Benton is behind. She said that he’s trying to get others to come here and get beyond our boundaries, and then do something to make it so he could enter here as well. I guess he’s figuring that once they’re in, they’ll be able to invite others in, like it’s some sort of human house that we can’t enter.”
“You mean that’s true, about you guys not being able to enter a house unless invited? I thought that was a myth or something.” Chris felt stupid the moment the question left his mouth. “I’m sorry. That was rude. And even though I am a fucking bastard most of the time, I didn’t mean to pry into your private business.”
“It’s fine, and true to a point. If a person invites us into their dwelling, be it home or cave, we can go in and be free to do anything and everything to them and their home. Entering a home without an invitation limits us by cutting off our ability to feed from those that live and work there. I have no idea why, but there has to be at least a little permission going down before we can have fun.” Rick laughed. “I was kidding, Chris, about the fun part. Believe it or not, we’re not all bad people, just that we were painted as monsters long before this shit started to happen.”
“Not according to some of the covers I’ve seen about you guys.” Remy asked Chris what he meant. “I heard them called bodice rippers. Or smut. You can call them a lot of names, I guess, but they’re read by women all over the world, and they paint vampires as this sex crazed beast that only feeds off helpless women when they’re in the middle of this sex orgy.”
“Some portray the women as the strong bossy type too. And it’s sort of a fun thing in these books to try and tame the woman, when it’s the man that usually gets his ass handed to him.” When Rick realized what he’d said, they all laughed. “Yes, I’ve