“I am. Listen, kid, I take my business very serious. Even if someone was nosing around for real, they couldn’t trace it back to me. I hardly ever do business from this podunk little town for one. And I got some protections in place. That’s all you need to know.”

I took a sip of soda, ignoring his insult to my town. “You deal with me here.”

“I make exceptions,” he replied with his mousy little smile. “I can’t have my top suppliers showing up at my place in the city where the competition can see them.”

Is that what I was – a top supplier? I guessed it made sense considering what I’d sold him a few weeks ago. That explained why Malloy had agreed to meet me in person today. He’d said he could let me know what he found out by phone but I wasn’t taking any chances. I’d wanted to see his face to make sure he was being truthful with me.

“That’s good to hear,” I said in a calm voice that belied the storm of emotions inside me. I had been a bundle of nerves ever since I saw that posting last night.

Malloy took another bite of pizza and washed it down with a gulp of beer. He leaned across the table toward me. “Since I’m here, I wanted to ask if you think you’ll be needing my services again anytime soon. With your currency, I can get you anything you want.”

I crumpled my napkin and threw it on top of my leftover pizza. “Probably not for a while. I’m kinda broke right now.”

“Ah.” He winked at me. “Well if you come into more money, let me know.”

“You’ll be the first to know.” The truth was this whole thing had scared the crap out of me and made me remember that this was not a game. It was a false alarm this time, but next time we might not be so lucky. I had to tell Remy we couldn’t use bile again. It was just too dangerous.

Malloy finished his pizza. “You know this place ain’t so bad. I’ll have to remember it next time I’m in town.” He guzzled the last of his beer and stood. “See ya around, kid.”

“Sara?”

I almost jumped out of my seat at Roland’s voice behind me. Cringing inwardly, I turned to look at him and noticed how his eyes swept suspiciously over Malloy. The last thing I needed was for my friends to find out about my illicit dealings. That would open up a whole other can of worms that I was not ready to deal with yet.

“Hey,” I said, scrambling for an explanation about why I was eating with a strange man almost old enough to be my father.

Roland stepped closer. “Is this guy bothering you?”

I laughed, hoping I didn’t sound as guilty as I felt. “Roland, this is Tom Malloy. He’s… Greg’s uncle.”

“Greg’s uncle? The biker uncle?” Roland’s expression was dubious with good reason. I looked like more of a biker than Malloy.

Malloy laughed and waved his hands up and down his short frame. “Only bike I can fit on is one of them scooters and that don’t seem too manly, if you know what I mean.” He adjusted his coat and tucked his hands in his front pockets. “Better be off. The missus is probably wondering where I am.”

Roland frowned as I stood up. “I don’t like the looks of him. He looks like a drug dealer or something. What did he want?”

“He didn’t want anything. He just stopped to chat.”

“What are you doing here by yourself anyway?”

I shrugged. “Craving some Gino’s.” That part was true anyway. “You too?”

Roland grinned and held up a large pizza box. “Dinner. Mom’s on night shift.” Judith was a nurse over at St. Anne’s nursing home and her shifts rotated every two days. Not that Roland needed an excuse to eat pizza.

“Come on. I’ll give you a ride home.”

Walking to his truck, my eyes fell on a blond man sitting alone at a table outside the coffee shop across the street. Our eyes met briefly before he looked away and I had the strangest feeling I knew him from somewhere. Doubtful. Even from here I could tell he was hot and I would not forget someone that gorgeous…

“No way!”

“What’s wrong?” Roland asked but I was already crossing the street, striding toward the blond man who watched me approach with a mild interest.

“I thought I made it clear that I didn’t want anything to do with you people.”

He peered up at me with the most striking bottle green eyes I’d ever seen. “Excuse me?”

“Please don’t insult my intelligence,” I scoffed at his innocent smile. “Chris, right?” His face barely betrayed his surprise. I’d only seen him for less than a minute that night at the Attic but I have a good memory. And who would forget a face like his?

“Where is he?” I scanned the street. “Obviously, I wasn’t clear enough and we need to get a few things straight.”

“Sara, who is this?” asked Roland from behind me.

“Probably one of my long lost cousins or something,” I said hotly, my eyes never leaving the blond Mohiri. I saw the blonde’s lip curl slightly and heard Roland’s sharp intake of breath but I had bigger things to deal with than some ancient feud between werewolves and Mohiri.

“Miss Grey, there is no need to –”

“Don’t ‘Miss Grey’ me. Is he even here or did he send you to spy on me?” I crossed my arms and glared down at him. He probably didn’t deserve my ire but the person I was really mad at wasn’t here to yell at. I’d just made it through one of the worst weeks of my life and things were finally starting to look up again. No way was I letting these people come back and ruin things for me.