Free Diaries of an Urban Panther by Amanda Arista Page B

on his face and the pain in my heart. Screw the mystical stuff. In my world, laughter is always the best medicine.
    “Well, I’d rather be able to find people than have the urge to rip apart a bunny.”
    The smallest curl of amusement played on his lips. “A bunny?”
    “Full on rabbit action during lunch the other day,” I assured.
    He chuckled. Job done, I pushed away from his car to face him.
    “I have so many questions,” I said putting my hands on my hips.
    “I gave you a book.”
    Ah, the book. I shook my head. “It wasn’t exactly an Idiot’s Guide to becoming a shapeshifter. Had some pretty wild stories in it. But nothing about the how, the why?”
    “At least you’re learning the language. And Iris, the shala, can explain our history better than I can.”
    I looked down my quiet little street in my quiet little suburb and sighed. Here was the big step. “I have a conference call until three p.m. tomorrow. Maybe after that?”
    Chaz looked up from his boots. He didn’t look overjoyed but something else was there, something deeper than just relief. I didn’t know what it was, but I was pretty sure that’s what made my skin prickle.
    “Why the sudden change of heart?”
    I licked my lips. I had been saving this story. It was my story. But this was the man who had saved my life. And after what I had just seen, he could use a happy story right now. “I went running the other day and I saved a little boy from getting hit by a car.”
    “What?” he turned to face me, leaning against his car, looking even broader as his arm tightened across his chest.
    “More accurately, I super-speeded across the street, picked the boy up, saving him from being hit by that sports car that’s been following me, and broke my ankle.”
    Chaz’s chin dropped and his lips parted. He looked down at my ankle and then back up at me. “But . . .”
    “Yeah, something like that.” I waited for the shock to subside as I looked at my house.
    Chaz snorted and turned back to face the house. “Same car?”
    I nodded. “I still couldn’t see the driver though.”
    He took in a deep breath. “The plates aren’t registered to a Texas address.”
    “So what does that mean?”
    “It means that I don’t know who’s after you,” he said before he turned towards me sharply with a finger in my face. “And that means you need to get someplace safe and fast.”
    It was my turn to furrow as I pushed his finger from my face. “Didn’t I just say I’d go see your shala or whatever? Don’t you think I know that something major is happening? I’m not an idiot, Mr. Garrett.”
    He backed away a little and the furrow softened.
    “I know something’s different now. I can feel it.” I put my hand over where I’d felt the flutter earlier and looked at the cement next to us. “It feels like something stirring.”
    “It probably is.”
    My eyes snapped to his eyes and I glared, hard.
    “What?” he smiled. “I’m being serious. And Iris . . .”
    “Yeah, I know ‘can guide me through all this.’ You’re like a broken record sometimes. I’ll call you after 5 tomorrow. You can take me to your leader, or whatever.”
    Chaz nodded and got into his car. From the driver’s seat, he looked up at me one last time and drove off, leaving me wondering what in the world I had just done.

 
    Chapter Eight
     
    I sat down in the soft hay of Iris’s barn and couldn’t believe this might actually happen.
    Chaz knelt down next to me and I tried to manage a smile, but when your heart is knocking around in your stomach like a shoe in the dryer, it’s hard even to fake a smile. He had followed me in from Dallas and sat through the big spiel Iris had given me. It was already nightfall by the time we’d gotten to her house and the moon was already out and proud by the time she finished her speech.
    To be honest, I heard only about half of it. Between the pounding heart, the sweating palms, and Chaz’s bouncing knee gently brushing