“Why can’t you tell me now?”

“I just need a few days and then I swear I’ll tell you and Peter everything. Besides, we’ve had enough excitement today, don’t you think?”

“Alright,” he conceded reluctantly. “But we are going to have a serious talk very soon. You have to stop keeping stuff to yourself like you did about your dad. You know you can tell me anything.”

“I know.”

“And no more running off like this. It’s just too dangerous.”

I didn’t reply at first and his tone grew more serious. “Sara?”

“I promise I’ll be more careful.”

He made a sound like he did not believe me. Then he surprised me by chuckling. “And as for having enough excitement today, I think you forgot one thing.”

I shot him a sideways glance. “What?”

Roland smirked as he looked straight ahead. “Him.”

Chapter 14

I felt the Mohiri presence brush against my mind a second before I looked down the street to see Nikolas stalking toward us, his expression darker than the sky. Sucking up my courage, I braced myself for a lecture as we walked toward him. Whatever his honorable intentions, this was still my life. Eventually he would have to get that through his head – I hoped.

Whatever Nikolas planned to say was forgotten when he got close enough to take in our wet clothes and salty fishy odor. “What the hell happened this time?”

“We –”

“Nothing,” I said before Roland could answer.

Nikolas muttered something in another language that sounded like swearing. He shook his head then looked at Roland. “I’ll take her from here.”

“I don’t think so,” I sputtered and filled with dread at his look of determination.

Roland stepped forward. “I’m not sure that’s such a good –”

“Sara and I need to talk – just talk,” Nikolas told him, ignoring my protest. “And judging by the look on your face, I think you agree with me.”

I turned in disbelief to my friend. “Roland?”

Roland’s eyes were troubled when they met mine. “You won’t listen to me. Maybe it will be good for someone else to…”

“Traitor,” I accused, walking past them both. I couldn’t believe it; my best friend was siding with Nikolas – a werewolf siding with a Mohiri. If I wasn’t so upset I would have laughed at the absurdity of it all.

“Sara, wait…”

I ignored Roland’s plea. The rain began in earnest and the wind picked up as if the storm was tethered to my mood. I was drenched all over again by the time I reached my building.

Peter was there in his mother’s car waiting for us. “What happened?” he called.

“I’m sure Roland will tell you all about it,” I replied sourly, heading straight for the stairs.

I contemplated locking the door behind me as I flicked on the light in the hallway but I had a feeling that a deadbolt would be no deterrence to Nikolas in his present mood. For a moment, I held onto the faint hope that the troll ward would keep him out but that hope was dashed when the door opened as I was kicking off my ruined Vans. I dropped my coat to the floor with a loud plop and moved to the stairs without bothering to look at him. “Make yourself at home,” I said in a voice that was anything but welcome.

Upstairs the storm was louder as the wind groaned around the eaves and rain battered the windows. I cracked a window and whistled for Harper who sometimes liked to ride out bad weather inside. There was no sign of the crow and I soon had to close the window to keep the rain out.

I heard shuffling and turned as Daisy hopped over the top of the stairs. Storms did not bother her but she always turned to me for company when Nate was gone. I rubbed her head and she trailed after me when I went to the bathroom to start water running in the tub. Nikolas’s talk would have to wait until after I had that nice hot bath I’d promised myself. If he wanted to chat he’d just have to cool his heels downstairs until I was ready.

I wriggled out of my wet jeans and reached into the front pocket for the vial of Ptellon blood, cupping it in my hand reverently. Everything that went down at the marina was worth it to secure Nate’s safety. We might not be as close as either of us would have wanted, but I’d do almost anything to protect him from the danger I had brought into our lives. I opened the bottom drawer in my bathroom vanity and stuck the vial in the very back to keep it safe until Nate got home. I only had to slip three drops of the blood red liquid into his food or drink every month and the vial held enough to last for at least a year. Between the wards and the Ptellon, Nate should be safe from almost anything supernatural at least. The Ptellon blood did not repel humans but it wasn’t humans I was worried about.

A happy moan escaped me when I sank into the hot water. I laid my head against the bath pillow and closed my eyes as the steaming soapy water soaked the grit and stench from my pores. My mind raced from what had happened at the marina. The men chasing us had been frightening but it was the encounter with the rats that really shook me. I’d never felt anything like that thing in the rat’s mind and I shivered in spite of the hot water. How was I able to push it out of the rat and then have the strength to affect a whole pack of rats at once? Was my power getting stronger? Nikolas had said that the Mohiri powers grew as they reached maturity. Maybe that’s what was happening to me. There was so much about my power that was still a mystery to me and I wished I had someone to explain it all to me.