Impulse: Southern Arcana, Book 5 Read Online Free PDF Page B

rice, then.”
    Teri scribbled the order on her pad. “Sera?”
    Sera didn’t even look at the menu before pushing it toward Teri. “The usual. How busy has it been? Do you think John’s going to need me tonight?”
    “He could,” she admitted. “New ad’s running in the visitors’ guide. Lots of tourists finding their way in.”
    Thursdays weren’t usually busy, but Teri was new, one of the lion pride who’d taken time settling in New Orleans before finding a job. “If it gets bad, shout for me. I’m done with classes for the summer.”
    “Yeah?” She grinned as she tucked her pen behind her ear. “I might take you up on that.”
    Teri left with both menus, and Sera glanced at Lily. “You’re not going to lecture me about working too much, are you?”
    “Honey, that’d make me the biggest hypocrite in town. I put in insane hours and still take work home with me.”
    “I know.” Someday, she might even think about her father the surgeon and his girlfriend the assistant district attorney without feeling like a complete loser. “Maybe I’ll talk to Dad when he gets back about letting him pick up some of the slack in the fall. The sooner I finish school, the better off I’ll be, right?”
    Lily smiled gently. “The sooner you finish, the sooner you can do what you really want to do.”
    Somehow, Lily understood. That finishing school and starting a catering business wasn’t the dream, it was the goal. The dream was independence.
    For a submissive shapeshifter, sometimes it never got to be more than a dream.

Chapter Three
    Julio stared at Callum, the empath who had become his therapist.
    Callum stared back.
    Callum always did that, even when Julio dedicated himself to avoiding eye contact. It was impossible not to feel the appraising weight of the man’s gaze, the prickling sensation that said you were being catalogued. Studied.
    Julio shifted in the plush chair and looked away. “Have you figured me out yet, Dr. Tyler?”
    “Do you think that’s what I’m here to do?” came the infuriatingly calm response. “Figure you out?”
    “Isn’t it?”
    Callum’s mouth twitched. “No. If I had any particular need to figure you out, Mr. Mendoza, I’d unshield and find out what makes you tick. It wouldn’t take long, but it also wouldn’t do you much good. You need to figure yourself out.”
    “What if I don’t want to?” It was the first honest thing he’d said in a long time, and as soon as it slipped out he wanted to call it back.
    “That’s worth figuring out too.”
    Julio focused his attention on a Rubik’s Cube perched on the edge of Callum’s desk. “Maybe I need a vacation.”
    Callum sat back and folded his hands together, his body language precise and casual. “When’s the last time you took a holiday?”
    “I don’t know. When I lived in Charleston, I guess.” He stared at a green square. “I came down to New Orleans and helped Miguel move from the dorms to his apartment.”
    “Mmm.” Even without words, Callum always managed to sound like he’d had a minor revelation. “Well, if you could go on one now, what would you do?”
    That, at least, was easy to answer. “I’d go someplace where no one knows who I am.”
    “Among humans, then.” Callum’s smile held more than a little self-deprecation. “I understand how exhausting it can be to have one’s reputation precede oneself.”
    “It’s…work,” Julio corrected. “There’s always work.”
    “Yes.” Callum leaned forward and braced his elbows on his desk. “Work you didn’t ask for.”
    Work he didn’t really want. “Doesn’t matter, does it? It still has to get done.”
    “Yes,” the empath agreed readily. “But this is the problem with a city full of dominant shapeshifters. You take care of everyone else, but not each other. And no one takes care of you.”
    Julio stifled a laugh. “And here I thought the problem was more complicated than that.”
    “Oh, it always is.” Callum lifted one