Chapter Four

"Now look what you did," Rachel griped from behind him.

Pissed off at himself, Tyler turned to see what she was talking about. A huge crow was taking flight. He locked his legs and tracked the path of the crow. It was much larger than any one he'd ever seen. Its wings were outstretched so gracefully as it caught the wind currents and pushed upward until it skimmed the tops of the trees and disappeared in the distance.

"Was that…"

"Judging from the pile of her clothes, I'm going to go out on a limb and say yeah. Congratulations, Tyler. You got Demi so upset she Changed in public." Rachel shoved him in the arm, but he barely felt it. He was busy staring off where the crow had disappeared.

If that was her animal, she was gorgeous in both forms.

He frowned at himself. A crow was gorgeous? What was wrong with him?

"She's the one with the problem," he muttered, and kept walking. He'd parked his work truck way in the back of the gravel lot, because it was close to Halloween and the pumpkin patch was slammed today.

"Dad's going to kill you," she said.

"He'll be fine."

"Yeah, but when I asked him about helping Demi, he was really adamant about not doing business with her, or any of the Darkes, or anyone in Demi's entire Murder of crows for that matter. And now you're giving her quotes on Dad's company letterhead? He's going to see what you're doing as a direct push-back to what he wants."

"If Dad has a problem with helping out a woman who can provide a contract and drum up business, that's his problem, not mine."

Rachel sighed. "That's not how it works around here, Tyler. What he says goes. It's his company."

"I'll handle him." And he would. He'd stopped being scared of his dad at eighteen. "That was really Demi's crow?"

"Yeah. Congratulations. You saw her. Demi tries really hard to hide her from the world and just be normal. Five minutes with you, and now she has a crowd talking about her." Rachel pointed, and sure enough, there was a huge group of onlookers gathering around Demi's pile of clothes and pointing to the sky. Some had their cameras up, taking video.

A churning sensation filled his gut and made him feel sick. He hadn't thought about that part of her life. It couldn't be easy being a shifter.

"When did she tell you what she was?" he asked.

"When we were kids. Maybe nine years old. Did she tell you?"

"No. We aren't friends like you are. We were never close. Why aren't you at work?"

"Because Halloween is the greatest time of year."

"What? No it isn't. There's Thanksgiving, where you just hang out with family and watch football and eat all day. And Christmas has more traditions surrounding the holiday. Halloween is third at best."

"Mmm, for you. You've probably forgotten how important Halloween is to this town. You've been away for a long time, Tyler. Look around. Everyone within five counties is coming here to hang. It's full of good mojo and fun, and that's because of what Demi and her parents do here. It's their effort. It gets bigger every year, and the community responds. This is the hangout. You can eat all day long with your family on Thanksgiving, sure, but here? You can eat all day long with your community for the entire month of October. There are a dozen places here for people to connect. If you don't like Halloween, hang out here a few times. You'll change your mind."

And he kind of got it. Looking around, this place was a totally different world than he was used to in the city. Demi and her family had grown this place, and the friendly culture, so much in the years he'd been away.

She was something else.

"Where are you going?" Rachel called from behind him as he headed for the exit.

"To go try to convince our father to work with Demi. She's not going to work with me, and if she's actually asking for help, she's desperate."

"Dad's going to say no again. Doesn't matter what you say, he doesn't trust the shifters. That's barking up the wrong tree, in the wrong forest, on the wrong planet, in the wrong universe."

He turned and held his hands out, palms up. He grinned, walking backward. "Everyone can change. I don't have to be the same person tomorrow that I am today. Maybe Dad just needs a different perspective."

Oh, he knew trying to convince his Dad to work with a shifter was like trying to convince a grizzly bear to give up his salmon dinner, but he had to try. He'd seen the hurt look on her face as he'd done what he knew how to do so well—burned her. He felt awful, but he was going to help her.

Even if it was from afar, he would figure out a way.

Why? Because he was admittedly selfish by nature. He wanted to feel better about this gnawing guilt that he'd hurt someone he really cared about. Did anyone know he cared about Demi Rhone Darke? Hell no, and they wouldn't. Ever. Her included. But he could secretly make her life easier, and that would make the guilt go away.