Impulse: Southern Arcana, Book 5 Read Online Free PDF

for her father’s restraint. “I needed to take care of myself, but maybe I took it too far.”
    “If you’re ready to let him help out, just say the word.”
    “I’ll think about it.” Sera drew a sweeping circle around an introductory science class and tried to keep her voice casual. “Do you talk to Julio much?”
    “Carmen’s brother?” She shook her head. “Not often. Why?”
    Doodling on the edge of the catalog became very important. “I saw him the other day, and he seemed…tense. I worry about him. He got tortured , and everyone acts like he should be able to shrug it off.”
    “Not exactly. I mean, he’s seeing a therapist. He’s getting help.”
    Sera pressed her lips together and concentrated on the swirls of black ink spreading over the class description for microbiology. “I still worry.”
    “Hmm.” Lily closed the schedule booklet. “Are you worried because he’s not doing so well, or worried because you’d be thinking about him even if he was fine?”
    She’d never deluded herself into believing her stupid little crush had been subtle, but she wasn’t about to admit to it, either. “I’m worried because I saw him right after it happened. I know how hurt he was. I felt it, Lily.”
    “That was months ago, Sera.”
    Had it been? She could still remember parts of it with stark clarity. Not the rescue—everyone else had been busy rescuing Kat. But Julio had charged away from them, half-mad from the adrenaline high Kat had forced him into with the brutal application of empathy.
    Sera had been the one to soothe him. Her touch, her presence. She’d fumbled at first, tried too hard to do the right thing or say the right thing, and in the end all she’d needed to do was close her eyes and just…be.
    She’d never forget Julio’s fingers rasping over her hair, or the way he’d pulled her close and inhaled her scent. Not sexual, not even sensual. Primal and raw, shapeshifter magic at its most basic. An alpha’s desperate rage and a submissive’s quiet trust.
    “Sera?” Lily waved a hand in front of her face. “Have you tried asking Julio how he’s doing?”
    Sera started, hating the heat that rushed to her cheeks. “No. I mean, I can ask how he’s doing, but he’s not going to answer me. He’s alpha, and I’m…” Young. Damaged. They all thought it, even if most of them didn’t say it. “Julio Mendoza isn’t going to confide in me.”
    “But you want him to.”
    Lily’s stare had grown too interested. Sera resisted the urge to bare her teeth—not polite in public, or in the presence of the woman who would probably be her stepmother before long. “I’m worried about him, okay? And he’s your best friend’s brother, so I figured you might know. I’m worried about Patrick and Kat too.”
    Lily folded her napkin in her lap. “I don’t know if you realize it, but Julio might be more likely to be honest with you than with Carmen when it comes to how he’s feeling.”
    “Me? Or just anyone but Carmen?” The former made her heart skip, but the latter seemed more likely.
    The blonde shrugged, though the movement looked anything but nonchalant. “That’s another thing you’ll have to ask him.”
    She could ask if Lily knew something, but the very act would prove she cared far too much. She liked Lily, trusted her, but there were some things Sera didn’t want getting back to her father.
    So she mirrored the other woman’s shrug and lifted her sweet tea. “I’ll do that the next time I see him.”
    “Excellent.” Lily gestured to the menu. “How’s the cheesesteak?”
    “It’s good. Hell, everything’s good.” Sera lifted a hand and waved over the waitress on duty. “Teri, can you tell my friend the specials?”
    She leaned over to flip a page on the menu. “As long as a little spice is okay, it’s a travesty if you come to Dixie John’s and don’t do something Cajun.”
    Lily’s eyes lit up. “Give me the fried shrimp and a bowl of red beans and