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hands through his disheveled white hair. Then he flinched as if
realizing something. If you re part of a founding family, then you d
be under the same scrutiny. Damn, this won t work then.
What won t work? I asked in frustration, ready to throttle the
cat. Spit out the problem and I ll try to help find a solution!
A Zane Po Boy 99
Okay, fair enough, he replied with a nod.
We ended up sitting by the table and grabbing a cup of coffee.
The food would keep a little while longer. I had a feeling whatever
was going on with Rory had been bothering him for a while and he
needed to get it off his chest before he blew.
When a shifter is exiled, either for being gay or whatever other
crime he committed in the eyes of the pack, they re left with nothing.
I barely had five minutes to stuff what I could into my backpack
before they literally tossed me out of the house where I was staying.
That s horrible, I whispered. Maybe me newfound intrigue in
shifters wasn t so interesting if this was how they treated their kin.
And it doesn t always take much to get thrown out. I was gay,
he fumed, shaking his head. I knew someone who got tossed because
he was getting too big and the Alpha basically realized the guy might
challenge him one day. So he was exiled. Rory looked at me with
pleading, tear-filled eyes. It wasn t so bad for me because my parents
were dead, but when a shifter is exiled, that s it. There s no going
back, no talking to your family unless they want the same fate, and no
hope.
Ya want to help in some way? I surmised, not against the idea
but not sure what to do either. How?
You re going to be growing a huge vineyard, and just from what
I ve seen you guys can do on the estate, you re going to need all the
help you can get. I can contract some help to fix the bunkhouse and
No, I get the logistics of how we can help them once they re
here, I said quickly, stopping him again. How do we get them here?
We can t just put out an ad in the paper. And how do we know the
ones who were exiled for bullshit reasons versus ones who aren t
good people? I won t bring risks or harm to me family by trying to
help shifters. Me words came out in a firm tone.
No, no, I get that. That s totally fair, Rory rambled, nodding in
agreement like an obedient puppy. Or cat, I guess. I m not saying we
open a halfway house or make it public knowledge. The shifter
100 Joyee Flynn
community is like high school, all gossip. When one of us gets exiled,
it s huge news we all talk about. And we all know why. The pack is
told the reasons.
Okay, but ya were exiled, right? I asked, pinching the bridge of
me nose. Something was missing in this picture. Rory gave a quick
nod, looking like even talking about it still felt like a kick in the nuts.
Then how do ya know about any exiled shifter? Shouldn t they all
not be talking to ya?
Oh yeah. They re totally not supposed to, but rules are made to
be broken, he answered with a giggle. My pack wouldn t want to
since that s where I was exiled from. But I know people from
different packs or species of shifter, and it s hard to keep track
sometimes of who s been exiled or not. I get e-mails from the few
friends I had, but it s not like I can just walk onto pack land and say
hi.
There we go, I sighed mentally, finally understanding. Okay,
how many are you talking about rescuing to start with?
I know two who have nowhere to go and are living on the streets.
Granted, they might not be in that area long, but I was just told about
them. Oh, and I found a wolf a few months ago.
Come again? I asked, me eyes going wide in response to his
nonchalant statement.
I found a wolf when I had to go into the city to meet with an art
dealer to look at some painting for the house and others we wanted to
sell off. He s a wolf shifter. I think he s stuck and can t change back
to human form.
That can happen? Okay, at this point, I felt like me eyes were
going to bug out of me head.
Rory nodded sadly, looking so forlorn. In cases of extreme
trauma. He s tame. He knows what s what, so he s not feral like he
lost a mate or anything. I think someone s hurt him bad.
Will he ever shift back? This was fascinating and creepy to me.
Being stuck in an animal form for the rest of me life sounded like hell.
A Zane Po Boy 101
No one can tell. I d take him to see Riley, but I don t think he
knows enough about shifters to help. And Riley s important, being the
Council s appointed doctor for the warriors. He d have to report the
wolf. What if the guy was abused and got away only so we would
hand him right back?
Aye, that would be bad, I agreed, rubbing the back of me neck
as the gravity of the situation sank in. Okay, let s go check out the
vineyard while Isaac and Zane be at work. We ll look everything
over, start making lists of what needs to be done, hopefully start
getting the greenhouse together. I paused, realizing something. Did
ya say you already bought it or were going to buy it for us if we
wanted it?
Oh, no, we bought it and put it in your names last week. Rory
chuckled, his light mood returning.
How did ya know we d I started to ask, but then realized I
didn t want to know. There s no way they really could have known
for sure, and Rory might take the next hour explaining his lucky guess
to me. Ya both took a big chance that we d stay.
We know, but it was worth it. Besides, the Council wanted one
of the vampire families to buy it since it abuts the warrior compound.
Isaac saw it as win-win. He paused, hope filling his face. And if we
can get more shifters here, maybe Riley can test their blood, too, and
it can help the warriors. Help keep our mates safe and strong.
Good deal. I chuckled. It was hard to keep up with Rory and
how vampires did things around here. But we would. So we figure
out what needs to be done and I ll talk to me mates. Also, if ya hear of
any shifters overseas that be needing help, me ma would welcome
them with open arms, and the farm can always use more help.
I don t know of any, but I ll keep my ears open. His smile was
so bright it made me glad I was giving our new friend hope. We both
stood and grabbed our loaded trays. And I ll fess up to Isaac what s
going on. I don t want to have Zane keeping secrets from his best
102 Joyee Flynn
friend. Hell, it s been killing me to hide the wolf. I just didn t want to
get him tangled up in anything because I wanted to help.
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