But am I not allowed to stop the duel if he doesn’t play by the rules?
By the time you manage to stop the duel, it might be too late.
What do you mean too late?
Cassandra will have delivered a blow I won’t be able to recover from.
The skin beneath my fur broke out in goose bumps. How do I stop the fight?
You’d need to howl three times.
Liam, when we’re out there, don’t watch my back, okay? I can take care of myself.
He looked at me long and hard. You’re risking your life for mine, so don’t think for a single moment that I’ll let you out of my sight.
Liam-He cut my whine off with a sharp bark that made my muscles jam together.
We’re going to work on your defensive game. I’m going to come at you from all angles, and you’re going to have to get away. It’ll teach you to think fast and act faster. Ready?
I said yes, but that was before I got my ass handed to me. If I’d known I would be trampled and shoved and flattened against the jockstrap-smelling mats, I probably would’ve said no.
Then again, I didn’t want Liam to take it easy on me, because leniency wouldn’t serve me.
Two hours later, pancaked against the gym floor, Liam took pity on me and called it a day. Before leaving, I swallowed my first dose of Sillin, then entered a daily reminder into my phone.
“Dinner tomorrow night at Tracy’s?” Liam asked just before I pushed through the doors.
Lucas looked at Liam, then at me.
Before the invitation was misconstrued as a date, I said, “Can I invite Sarah?”
“I’m not sure that’s a great idea.”
“She’s not spying on us, Liam.”
“That’s not why. I just think it’s not a great idea for her. I’m not sure the Creeks would appreciate one of theirs sitting at a table of Boulders.”
“She’s not a Creek.”
Liam’s jaw twitched. “At the present moment, she is.”
“So, is that a no?” I asked.
He dragged his hand through his damp hair. “Fine. Bring her along.” He looked over his shoulder at Lucas. “Free for dinner tomorrow night, Lucas?”
Lucas’s frown grew. “Why are we all going to dinner?”
“Why, to bond obviously.” I shot Lucas a taunting smile. “The paintball arena was already booked.”
A corner of his lips sloped up. “I knew you’d enjoyed that activity.”
“Yeah. Top ten best moments of my life.”
That earned me a grin from Liam and a chuckle from Lucas.
“Who else will be at this dinner?” Lucas asked.
“Matt and Amanda.” Liam turned back toward me, the smile gone from his lips. “Did you want to bring anyone besides Sarah?”
What he was really asking me was if I planned on inviting August. “No.”
Liam’s umber eyes glittered like topaz in the sunlight streaming through the loft windows set high enough that no one could look into the gym, a good thing considering our morning activity.
Not August? he asked through the mind-link.
Before he could get his hopes up, I said, “He’s busy. Anyway, I need to go. Tomorrow, I’m running with Matt at six-thirty and then?”
“That’s it for tomorrow. Wouldn’t want to tire you too much before our big night out.”
Snorting, I waved and unbolted the heavy doors. Before heading to my car, I made a pit stop at the drug store on the corner. I grabbed a basket and went aisle to aisle, tossing in energy bars and ultra-moisturizing conditioners and lotions, because my skin and hair felt brittle from all my shifting. As I turned a corner, I bumped into someone I hadn’t seen in a long time.
Tamara let out a little oomph, and what she clutched fell on the ground. I crouched and picked it up. She snatched it from me, her cheeks going as red as her hair.
“It’s not for me,” she said.
I sniffed the air, remembering Sarah telling me shifters could scent pregnancies. My sense of smell was definitely not as sharp as Sarah’s or Lucas’s, and would probably dull further because of my Sillin intake, but over Tamara’s flowery scent, I smelled something else-loamy earth. Since I wasn’t standing in the gardening aisle of Home Depot, I assumed she was giving off that scent.
And there was this tiny fluttering vibration in the air between us.
A heartbeat?
Tamara was halfway down the aisle before I said, “It’s going to be positive.”
She froze and then slowly spun around, green feline eyes narrowing. “I told you, it’s not for me.”
As she whirled back around, wavy hair bouncing against her shoulders, the enormity of her news hit me. Even though I could be wrong-but I doubted it-Tamara was carrying a werewolf baby.
Liam’s.
After showering, I met Evelyn at The Silver Bowl where she was interviewing for the position of head cook. The establishment was extremely fancy, which intimidated Evelyn. Before she could choke herself from tightening the red silk scarf tied around her neck, I grabbed both her hands and towed them off the scarf Mom left her in the will she’d scrawled on a legal pad.
“You do realize you already have the job, don’t you?”
“If I had the job, I would not be passing an interview.”
I smiled. “This isn’t an interview. It’s a meeting to discuss your salary and hours.”
“I should have made them my polvorones,” she said, completely disregarding my comment. “Or my taquitos.”