Page 6

six

I waited twenty minutes at the rendezvous point for Sloane to return.

I chewed my thumbnail ragged worrying Tai had caught her, maybe hurt her.

And, though I wasn’t proud to admit it, I dreaded what she would tell him to explain leading him on a wild-goose chase through the neighborhood after verifying he was on solo guard duty. ..

Yeah.

The simple fact of how I was as afraid for myself as I was for her, when she had taken the biggest risks to help me, forced me to consider I might not only be friendless on principle.

Claws scrabbling on asphalt, heading my way, broke cold sweat down my spine.

Bracing to face Tai, expecting him to corner me and demand answers, I almost fell over when a light gray wolf skittered past me. Sloane gave a single huff, jerking her head, and I gathered her clothes and ran after her as she retraced my path through the neighbors’ yards until we reached mine.

Breathless from the jangling nerves more than the mild exertion, I had to swallow a laugh of triumph.

Sure, the vampire was MIA, but that was a good thing. What had I been thinking? I had been crazy to risk my neck for someone I didn’t know. We escaped undetected, though. I was calling it a win.

I let us in through the back door, Sloane’s claws tapping on the hardwood, and Myrtle cracked open a judgmental eye before falling back asleep in her nest of blankets.

“Huh.” I hadn’t clocked it before, but it hit me when she didn’t blink at the wolf. “She’s not afraid.”

Sloane rumbled agreement, padding closer to Myrtle, who ignored her in favor of beauty sleep.

Definitely not afraid, which meant Myrtle was probably owned by a shifter to act so blasé about one.

“Are you hungry?” I backed toward the kitchen. “Dad’s always ravenous after a run.”

That was under normal conditions, not a magically induced burnout.

Ears perking at the offer, Sloane trailed me into the bright yellow room.

“I have raw steak, of course, but also saganaki and dolmades I made yesterday.”

Wolves tended to prefer meat, the bloodier the better, so I wasn’t surprised when she opted for steak. As I retrieved the bundle wrapped in butcher’s paper, she nosed the fragrant container of saganaki.

“I dredge halloumi in flour then fry it up and top it with local honey and nuts.”

A low whine had me pulling it—and the dolmades—out too.

“You want to try some?” I chuckled at her exuberant nod. “The dolmades are rice, veggies, and a minced halibut with a lemon vinaigrette.” I watched drool slide along her jaw. “Here.” I tossed her the grape leaf-wrapped halibut. “What do you think?”

Sloane swallowed it whole then flopped onto the floor, sticking her legs up in the air like a dead bug.

“Tell me my cooking is to die for when you’re not about to pass out from exertion.”

The wolf rolled over as I set the plate with her dinner before her with a gooey saganaki on top.

While she gorged herself, saving the cheese for last, as was proper, I switched on the stove to reheat my leftovers. I checked on the food and water situation for Myrtle, unsurprised to find both bowls full.

A lot of pets struggled to eat or drink while separated from their people.

Especially pets experiencing the stress of a new environment and new caregivers for the first time.

Most of them snapped out of it in a day or two, but I would have to keep an eye on Myrtle.

As far as I could tell, she seemed like an old pro at this.

That or she was very chill by nature. Still.

I didn’t want to risk her making herself sick.

“Do you want to crash here tonight?” I arranged my food in the hot sauté pan. “I have a spare…”

Oh.

Well.

That answered that.

With the vent blowing over the stove, I hadn’t noticed part of the noise came from Sloane. She had fallen asleep with her chin resting on her plate, sucking in great snorts of air that whistled past her lips.

There was no moving an unconscious wolf, not unless I wanted a hernia for my trouble.

A yawn caught me by surprise, adrenaline fading to exhaustion, and I switched off the stove. I put up the food for tomorrow, figuring Sloane could help me eat it. I padded to the hall closet, took a blanket off the stack, and tossed it over the wolf.

Nice. This was nice. Having company.

With a bag of sweet-chili-flavored edamame and a smile, I went to bed.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

For a blurry second, as sleep evaporated, I couldn’t figure out what had woken me.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Then the events of last night rushed back to me, and I shot upright in bed, whipping my head toward the wolf at the door pounding a hole in it with the side of their fist. A wolf, it was safe to assume, because it must be a sentinel.

This had to be about the vampire. I was shocked they hadn’t barged in yet.

“Sloane,” I whisper-screamed. “Are you still here?”

No answer.

I moved to throw back the covers and found red fingerprints on the duvet from the freeze-dried snack that I had decided would make a good meal. Dinner for one sometimes took a grim, and spicy, turn for the worst.

“Sloane,” I tried again, soft but urgent, sliding my legs over the edge of the mattress.

Nothing.

Had it all been one big preservative-fueled dream after a long day of work and a longer night alone?

The naked dog on my couch? The vampire in the potting shed? The wolf sleeping in my kitchen?

Had any of it been real? There was only one way to find out, and it required getting my butt in gear.

Ignoring the banging noises, I hustled into the living room, caught a whiff of urine, spotted the used pee pad, and wrinkled my nose. I took that to mean Myrtle was real, but I didn’t stop to toss the couch for confirmation.

On socked feet, I skidded into the kitchen. There was no sign of Sloane, woman or wolf. But there was a clean dish in the sink and a folded blanket on the counter. Those two things proved last night happened as I remembered it.

Which meant there really and truly had been a vampire bleeding out in the potting shed.

And I, the poster child for daddy issues, had covered for him.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Stuffing the panic down deep, I jogged to the front door and swung it open. “Morning.”

Dad stood front and center, his nostrils flaring. Fatherly visits twice in two days? Oh yeah. This was about the vampire. No other explanation fit him rearranging his schedule. Mercer was behind him. Then Zoe. And then Tai. No Bowie, so yesterday must have been an all-paws-on-deck situation.

“What took so long to answer the door?” Dad leaned in, sniffing the air. “You were bouncing around like a pinball in a machine.” He scanned the room behind me. “Do you have company?”

“Yes.” I posted up on the threshold. “As a matter of fact, I do.”

“Then I can’t wait to meet them.” He lifted me up and set me aside, inviting himself in. “We have to talk. There was another incident at GSG last night.”

Mercer stood on the doormat, waiting for me to wave him in, but I didn’t see the point when he and the others would only give me until the count of ten before welcoming themselves into my home.

Even here they worried assassins would leap out of my cabinets or climb out of the sink drains to reach Dad.

“Careful.” I rushed ahead of Dad. “Myrtle spent the night.” I dug around in the blanket on the couch, but I couldn’t find her. “She’s in here somewhere.”

“Myrtle?” Dad turned a slow circle. “Who’s that?”

“The dog.” I heard crunching and darted into the kitchen to find her eating. “From yesterday?”

“You brought that thing home with you?” He stepped into the entryway. “What were you thinking?”

“That I wasn’t going to toss an innocent animal out on the street to fend for itself?

Her toenails are pink, for pity’s sake. This is someone’s pampered pet.

We’re booked solid at GSG, so she had nowhere else to go.

” I shooed him out before his aggression spooked her away from her meal. “Did you find her owner?”

“We have reason to believe he returned to GSG last night.”

“Oh?”

With a flick of Dad’s wrist, Mercer claimed the floor, reading stats off his tablet.

“Around eight o’clock, about an hour after you left for the night, Tai startled a gray wolf while he was on patrol. He pursued it on two legs while calling in the incident. It was too fast for him to catch, and it kept to the shadows to make identifying any markings on its coat impossible.”

“What about their scent?” Knees wobbling, I sank on the couch. “Can you tell which pack they’re from?”

“The only scent in the area belonged to Sloane.” Muscles twitched in Tai’s jaw. “She texted me she forgot her keys, so she circled back to GSG for them. I never saw her, but she must have come by while I was chasing the wolf a few blocks away.”

“She’s okay?” I dragged a pillow onto my lap. “She wasn’t hurt?”

“I interviewed her this morning.” Mercer dug in his pocket and produced a lollipop for me. “She’s fine.”

Since there was no escaping it, I accepted the treat, hating how he trivialized my feelings by acting like a disc of flavored sugar fixed everything. “Did she see anything unusual?”

“No.” Tai growled, his hands tight at his sides. “Nothing.”

Thank God. “Then what did you want to talk about, Dad?”

“For your safety, we should close GSG for the next week.” He sat beside me, reaching for my hand. “The dog appearing in a kennel was one thing, but a strange wolf prowling the streets?”

Oh, no. No, no, no. Last night was coming back to bite me in record time.

“I have clients.” I kept my hands in my lap so he wouldn’t feel them tremble. “I have responsibilities.”

“You’re being unreasonable, Peanut.” He pulled a hurt face. “I’m only trying to protect you.”

“You’ve always been a helicopter parent, but this is a lot even for you.” I did what few would dare to do. I locked gazes with him. “What’s going on?” I watched him for any tells. “What are you hiding from me?”

The best defense is a good offense, right?

“Maybe we should tell her—” Mercer began.