“Where were you?” she cried, wrapping her arms around him.

“I had a family thing, back in New York,” he said casually, patting her back. “I had to keep it quiet because . . . you know. It’s a vampire town.” I just kept staring at him, speechless. What an awesome cover story. Why hadn’t I thought of that a week ago? “Sorry I couldn’t say anything. What’s all the fuss?”

Lydia sobbed into his neck, telling him about Ana’s death.

I glanced at Will, who seemed to have adjusted to Eli’s second change a lot faster than I had. Too fast, actually. I wheeled on him. “You?” I whispered. “You did this?”

He nodded. “Sorry I couldn’t tell you,” he murmured. “We weren’t sure if it would work. I was afraid his body might reject it the second time, and he said if you knew, you’d try to stop it.”

“I fucking . . . you’re damn right I . . . ,” I sputtered. He grinned at me. Then he moved toward Lydia and Eli.

“Come on, Lyddie, let’s give these two a chance to talk. You’ll run with me tonight, and when we get back, we’ll talk about a memorial for Ana,” he said soothingly. She nodded, still crying, and rose to her feet, allowing Will to lead her outside my radius for the change.

And then it was just Eli and me.

“Hi,” he said softly, smiling up at me.

“No,” I mumbled. I swayed once, and Eli barely had time to look alarmed before I fell, sideways, landing on my left. He scrambled across the ground toward me. By then I was shaking, and tears had come. “No,” I wept. “No, no, no, this can’t be happening.”

“Shh,” he whispered. “Shh, it’s okay, I wanted to.”

“You did not!” I wailed, trying to control my breathing. “You did not, and don’t say that you did. You were happy . . .”

“I’m happy with you,” he insisted. I started shaking my head, and he took my face between his hands, gently forcing me to look at him. “Listen, listen. That morning, I followed you and Lydia to the diner.” I froze, my sobs hiccupping to a stop. “I heard what she said to you. I knew she would never give up until she saw me.”

“I could have changed her,” I hissed. “I could have fixed it somehow, or talked her out of it . . .”

“No, you couldn’t,” he contended. “You were right, I could never stay in LA unless I was a werewolf. And this is my home. You’re my home,” he said simply.

I stared at him through my tears. It was like the fucking “Gift of the Magi.” I’d thought I was fixing his whole life by changing him into a human again, and so he tried to fix my whole life by changing himself back. I let out a half-hiccup, half-laugh. Men.

“I love you too, you moron,” I said, smiling at Eli through my tears. “I can’t believe you turned yourself into a werewolf just to be with me.”

“Well, I was gonna buy flowers, but then I thought . . . ,” he joked, and pulled me close. I threw my arms around him. “What do you say?” he said, returning the hug. “Can we do this for real?” I could hear the smile in his voice. “I mean, we can keep it quiet, if you want,” he added. “If you’re worried that—”

I pulled back just far enough to put my mouth over his. “No,” I said after I kissed him. “No hiding. No pretending.” I kissed him again. “Take me home.”

Chapter 50

Eli and I spent the whole next day in bed at his Santa Monica apartment. We talked a lot, and watched a couple of movies, and Eli insisted on elevating my knee and putting ice on it at intervals. He’d been a paramedic in another life, and old habits really do die hard.

We ordered pizza for supper, and then I told Eli I needed to go back to Molly’s for a few things. He offered to come with me, but I wanted to go by myself so I could clear the air with Molly. I needed her to know we could still be friends even though I was looking for another place to live.

The sun had been down for an hour when I hobbled down the outdoor stairs at his apartment and made my way toward my van.

Hayne was leaning against the driver’s side door. “Scarlett,” he said, grinning.

“Teddy,” I retorted. “You could have just come and knocked, you know.”

Ignoring this, he stepped back and opened the car door. “He wants to see you.”

“Now?” I complained. But I didn’t really have a good reason to blow off my boss, aside from a slightly less than professional but I don’t wanna.

Hayne nodded, unaffected by my whine. “Fine,” I sighed.

Half an hour later, I stalked into Dashiell’s office. Well, as much as one can stalk with a cane. I saw Dashiell behind his desk, staring at my approach with a completely unreadable expression. My steps faltered, however, when I entered the doorway and saw Will sitting in front of Dashiell’s desk—with the bargest.

“Shadow,” I said in surprise, feeling all of them in my radius. The bargest trotted over and pushed her nose into my hand, wagging her strange club tail. I petted her head, which I could do without needing to bend. I looked up at Will, puzzled. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going to put her down?”

“I was,” Will grinned. “But we came to a different arrangement instead.”

I hobbled over to the second visitor’s chair in front of Dashiell’s desk and sat down. “What arrangement?”