Lethal Engagement (An Unbounded Novella) by Teyla Branton Page B

the one you’re wearing now is fabulous,” she said, eyeing the off-white material.
    “Thank you.” I would have preferred red or purple. Anything but blah. Unfortunately, the woman who’d helped us at the boutique had seemed to paint everything with the same brush. If it hadn’t been for the red hair, I might have revolted.
    “So, Marianne, how long have you known your partner? Or worked with him, rather.”
    “Call me Mari.” I knew they picked the name Marianne because it was similar to my own, but the entire thing sounded like far too much effort. Like walking instead of shifting.
    “Okay, Mari. So how long?”
    “Four months.”
    She nodded, a shy smile curving her lips. “He’s cute.”
    I blinked at her. She was checking Keene out? Then it dawned on me that she meant he was cute for me. I laughed. I was definitely warming up to this woman who seemed more like a reclusive princess than anything else. “Yeah, I guess.”
    She laughed. “You know you have it bad for him, don’t you?”
    “Let’s hope the media doesn’t think so.”
    “They won’t. It’s just a look I saw between you two, earlier. So am I right?”
    I’d thought so, but his secret might have destroyed that forever. “I really don’t know.”
    She shrugged. “Give it time.”
    Thinking of Keene made my anger come rushing back. He’d hidden so much of himself these past months. I’d thought the feelings between us in Venezuela had been real, but maybe it had all been in my head. Regardless, we were in the same Renegade cell. We were friends. That he hadn’t told me hurt more than I cared to admit.
    I glanced through my bedroom to the sitting room where Patrick sat on an uncomfortable-looking wooden chair, bent over papers he’d spread out on a round table. A phone pressed to his ear, and he was saying something I couldn’t quite hear. “We have half an hour before we leave for the school,” I said to Lucinda. “I need to talk to my partner about security.”
    Lucinda’s pale eyes widened. “Okay, I’ll finish here for you.” Her voice lowered as her gaze also strayed to Patrick. “But you should really think about letting him know how you feel.”
    Oh, yeah. I was going to let him know exactly how I felt.
    Excusing myself, I marched through the suite, nodding at Patrick as I passed him, wishing I could simply shift. It would have made for a much better scene, appearing before Keene had his defenses up, but for now I would respect his privacy. A Secret Service agent was seated in a chair near the window in the hallway. He studiously averted his gaze as I crossed the hall and rapped on Keene’s door.

AT HIS INVITATION TO ENTER , I walked into Keene’s sitting room where the double doors to his bedroom stood wide open. Like me, he had boxes with tissue paper and several suitcases. I did shift now, appearing an arm’s length away from him. “So,” I said, hands pressed on my hips.
    He removed a shirt and shook it out, laying it on the bed before grabbing another. “What?”
    “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    His eyes shut and opened slowly, sending unwanted heat coiling through my belly. “Tell you what?”
    I yanked the shirt from his hand. “You Changed. ”
    “You say that like an accusation.”
    “Does everyone know? Am I the last to find out?”
    His jaw worked. “Yes.”
    “Why? This is good news, isn’t it? Or do you really hate us?”
    “No. I wanted to be Unbounded. All my life.” There was a curl to his lip that hinted of self-loathing. “I wanted it too much. When I hit thirty-six, I realized it wasn’t going to happen. I’ve never personally known anyone who Changed that late. The worst of it was the disappointment in my father’s eyes.” His voice sounded empty, as if all his hope had been consumed by that man I’d never met but detested. A little of my own anger died in that moment.
    “But you did Change! How?”
    He shrugged. “I’d been doing gene therapy with Cort and Dimitri, but if