Lynx Northern Shifters 3

the fact you’re a cat shifter?” He supposed if he’d been isolated from all shifters all his life, it might not be easy to believe.
“I’m a mutant .”
Trey lifted an eyebrow at that. “I doubt it.”
“Are there others?”
“Why don’t we have breakfast and then talk some more?”
“God, I can’t eat. I feel like I’m going to throw up.” He cast Trey a look, like he shouldn’t have admitted that weakness.
“I’m sorry. That’s not my usual effect on people, but I understand this meeting has been unusual.”
Jonah hunched, as if the joke was on him. “I’m not used to people being in my home.”
“I know,” Trey said quietly. “You told me.”
Again Jonah’s face flushed.
“That’s nothing to be embarrassed about. You’ve done amazingly well.”
“At what?” he demanded, for the first time sounding aggressive.
“Setting yourself up here.” Trey gestured to the hut and its furnishings.
“Don’t make fun of me,” Jonah said stiffly.
“No. I wouldn’t. I’m too impressed.”
It took Jonah about half a minute to decide that either Trey was sincere or it wasn’t worth challenging him on it. “If you shifted, you must be starving.”
“I am.”
Slowly Jonah slid off the bed, edged around Trey who remained low to the ground, and pulled on his winter coat. “I’ll make breakfast in a moment.”
Outside it was frigid. The storm was finally over and with the blue sky came plummeting temperatures. Jonah could only indulge in a few minutes away from the intruder before his skin started to freeze. Not that he was in any shape for an outing, not when he felt like he’d been run over by a Mack truck. Between flashing back to Aaron and coping with actually talking to someone and, most embarrassingly, fainting, Jonah was only going on nerves and leftover adrenaline.
He ducked back into the cave, though not into the house itself yet. Blowing on his hands, he tried to wrap his head around the astonishing events of this morning. He’d gone to bed with a wolf in his room and woken in the company of a strange man who claimed to be a shifter. Well, a werewolf.
Jonah believed in himself, because he had no choice, but it was hard to believe in another. His mother had claimed they were unique, her line of mutant lynx shifters. She’d claimed they had to hide from everyone.
Well, Jonah hadn’t quite succeeded and he wasn’t sure what he thought about it.
Okay, he’d longed for company, daydreamed about meeting a fellow hermit who wanted to befriend him, who could be trusted. The yearning had sometimes been intense but had not prepared him for the reality of this stranger. What was he supposed to do? Whether Jonah trusted the wolf or not was irrelevant. The man knew . On top of that, Jonah could barely think with another human in the room with him, watching him. It felt invasive and this situation had nothing to do with the affable fantasy companions of his imagination.
And yet, despite his intense discomfort, he had so many questions to ask. While Jonah didn’t want the man around, he dreaded the idea of Enigma or Trey actually leaving before Jonah had the chance to learn more about a fellow shifter. A window had opened up, an intense, uncomfortable window, but he didn’t want it closed yet. He’d thought he was completely alone in this dual world of his, and it looked like he’d been wrong.
If only he could get Aaron out of his head, it might be easier. He might not have freaked out to such an extent. That he’d thought Aaron had risen from the grave and found him was something else indeed.
Jonah let out a long, shuddery breath. Aaron was dead, he reminded himself. And who knew better than he. Six years ago, after his mother was gone, Jonah had turned lynx, stalked his mother’s ex-boyfriend and ripped out Aaron’s throat. Cold-blooded murder. Jonah didn’t regret the killing and never would.

Chapter Four
    Trey could hear Jonah pacing in the cave outside the door, but the lynx didn’t return to the warm inner room. Was he going to have to coax the cat back inside?
He counted to fifty then moved towards the door. Jonah probably heard his steps because the door swung inwards before Trey reached it.
They both froze. Trey because he didn’t wish to startle Jonah again, and Jonah because he appeared to regard Trey as the enemy. Trey backed up and once again lowered himself, this time next to the fire he’d started.
The cat shivered and slipped in, shutting the door behind him.
“Come