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“I’ll find work.I’ll figure it out, okay? But tell me, did you get rid of everything? All ourtools?”

“Don’t worry,”she said, wiping her face. “It’s allgone.”

“Good,good. We’ll be okay. I’m going to figure shit out. It’s back to a legit job forme.”

“But,Mason. Legit work won’t pay enough. That’s why we stole in the firstplace.”

“Hey,I’m trying to be optimistic, here,” I said, pushing her shoulder. “You don’t have to remindme.”

That night,I found myself unable to fall asleep despite the amazing comfort of being back home in my own bed. I’d come so close to the edge, to a fate that would’ve destroyed my family. I was ashamed of myself, and it wasn’t because I’d gotten caught. I should never have taken those risks. Jennifer and I should never have started stealing to beginwith.

But if we hadn’t,where would we be now? On the street? Would we have been able to take care ofMom?

Tears welledup in my eyes, and I turned my face into the pillow to silencethem.

AndI never would’ve met Christophe. Though that probably wouldn’t have been such a bad thing. As much as I was grateful to him, the guy still pissed me off. And as much as he pissed me off, I couldn’t deny that I was equally attracted tohim.

My right handstarted to throb, and I gingerly rested it on the pillow. I couldn’t wait to take these damn bandages off. They were starting to itch, and I’d need full use of my body if I was going to find work. Nobody would hire a shifter who couldn’t walk on theirpaw.

Whenever I closed my eyes,I found myself thinking of him, and that pissed me off even more. He was just a pretty face. That was stupidly gorgeous. That I wanted tokiss.

Shit.

Ifeltlike there had to be something wrong with me. The way that he’d made me feel, it just didn’t makesense.

But I’d never seehim again. I should’ve been relieved—he was my judge, jury, and executioner, after all. But I wasn’t. I was actually disappointed. I wished that I could see him one more time, and maybeactuallyget to speak to him, to get to know who he was. But that was ridiculous. It’d never happen, and for that I should’ve beenthankful.

* * *

The insideof the fridge was nearly as barren as our bank account. After making a mental note of what we had, I pulled out a mostly empty carton of eggs and a small package of pork belly and set to making breakfast for the three of us. I was in a bind, and needed to start pulling in money soon. Jennifer had been helping Mom get washed up, and she came into the kitchen and leaned against the sink as I cracked the eggs into apan.

“She’s getting worse,”Jennifer said quietly. “I think it’s spreading further from herlegs.”

“We’ll be fine,”I said, not wanting to look at her. I didn’t want her to see how scared Iwas.

“Ican drop out of pre-academy,”she said. “I can worktoo.”

“No,no. You gotta stay in school, Jennifer. I’ll findsomething.”

Iracked my brain,trying to think of options. The problem was that I’d done this so many times before, and always in the end the answer was clear: whatever I was qualified for was not enough to support us. It always circled back to the sameoption.

I’d gotten my warning.To ignore it would be to condemn myself, for sure. But what else wasthere…?

“Good morning,you two! That smells wonderful, Mason.” Mom wheeled herself to the dining table. “Thank you for cooking.” I could see that Jennifer was right, her movements looked even more locked thanbefore.

“No problem, Mom,”I said, throwing down the slices of pork belly onto theskillet.

No,I couldn’t go back tostealing.

The doorbell rang,and Jennifer went to openit.

“Let me get it,”Mom said. “Help your brother with the breakfast.” Jennifer started to protest, but Mom put her hand up and wheeled herself over to the frontdoor.

“Get me the plates, Jennifer,”I said, turning off thestove.

“Can I help you?”Mom said at the frontdoor.

“Is this the Arkentooth residence?”came a voice that sent a bolt of electricity through mybody.