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On the subject of Rasmus, Ma had so remained completely silent, which I admit had kept me awake a night or two. Either she had nothing to say about my guardian lover or she didn’t deem him to be a problem. I didn’t know her reasons for keeping quiet but I appreciated her restraint.

So what kind of empathy could I feel about Mulan’s ungrateful parents? It wasn’t my fault that I had won the good parents lottery and Mulan was emotionally bankrupt with hers.

I rubbed a hand over my face to erase the last of my amusement before I switched to glaring.

“If ya intend to suffer their abuse while they’re staying under my roof, ya’ll have to do so when I’m not around to see it happening. I’ll spell yer parents in a heartbeat, Mulan. Rather than us destroying our property with some mega-bitch fight, ya should give Henry and Gale a chance to help. Conn’s parentswantto help ya. Ya should let them try before ya prostrate yerself.”

Mulan grunted in open disgust. “Why do you mention man’s body part? Youalwaysconfuse me.”

“No, that’s aprostate. When I saidprostrate, I meant lie down at yer parents’s feet so they can walk all over ya. It’s sort of a metaphor.”

Mulan lifted a hand. “Then why did you not say that?”

I sighed and closed my eyes. “Do ya want me to tell Henry ya’re good with them staying at the big house or not?”

Walking back to the table, Mulan slumped into a chair. “Why do you bother to help me?Myparents aremyproblem—not yours.”

I blew out a breath. “Look, I’m trying to be a supportive friend, ya dozy cow. So let me be one. My house is like a hotel anyway. It won’t hurt me to use it as one while yer parents are here. It was part of my deal with Conn’s parents.”

“What deal? Did they ask for soul as payment?”

I rolled my eyes at her mistrust of Conn’s parents. Head shrinkers had a term for what she was doing but I couldn’t think of the word. That was just as well because I would have had to explain to Mulan anyway.

“I made a deal I’ll share with ya once ya agree to let Henry and Gale help. We’ve wasted twenty minutes now on a no-brainer decision, Mighty Wu. Get over yerself. No one’s soul is at risk and everyone needs help now and again.”

After spending an hour talking Mulan into going along, I finally returned to the house and snuck to my room before anyone could stop me. Someone had started removing furniture and curtains from both rooms but the bed and my make-shift moving box side tables remained.

I slipped off my shoes and crawled on top of the covers.

Sleep came quickly which just proved how exhausted I was.

The nap didme good and my headache was gone.

The urge to find Hisser before he did something terrible returned along with the realization that finding him might require me to take special measures.

Conn tracked me down on my walk to visit the demon wolves. We stood watching them play for a while. I wanted the wolves to have complete run of the paddock. I’d also had Conn set a boundary around it that they couldn’t cross without him knowing.

Surprising us both, they hadn’t even tried.

Henry had assigned a young demon male the task of watching over them. I’d caught him throwing a frisbee for them to chase and the sight of the three of them playing made me smile.

That was probably the first time I’d felt happy about having all this space. It had also made me homesick for Grandma Murieann’s farm. I hoped the family living there was building the same wonderful memories that I carried in my heart.

Conn leaned one arm on the paddock fence as we talked. “Maybe you should use your white feather and get a real answer.”

I shook my head. “No, I’d rather not call Orlin unless there’s no other option. Every time I involve him, my life gets worse, not better.”

Sure, it had crossed my mind the second day Rasmus was gone to sound an alarm that I knew Orlin would answer. But Rasmus had plainly said he lacked any way to communicate with me when he was with his fellow guardians.

He’d been gone a week now without being in touch. I could have died in that time and he wouldn’t have known it until he returned. Orlin said no others were watching me now and I believed him.

With so much happening, I had no energy left over to miss the guardian anyway. Like every time Rasmus had been gone, I quickly got used to sleeping alone, having no sex, and not having anyone to talk to about my day.

Goddess, I’d be very glad when Fiona returned. Helping her settle into her quaint yellow cottage would give me someone to talk to at least. Maybe I should call her. But as quickly as the idea occurred to me, I remembered the last time I tried to call. It had taken six hours to even get a text reply.

So no... I’d best wait for her to check in with me. Fiona said she’d get in touch when she could, and I had to trust that she meant it. Her excuses about not communicating weren’t any less believable than Rasmus and his “time is different there” nonsense.

I was sitting on my bed feeling sorry for myself when Henry came to collect me for dinner. He’d insisted all of us eat together in the dining room this evening.