I grabbed the rake someone left propped against the house, unable to just sit around and watch as Talley once again began to rid the grass of all the treasures which found their way into the yard over the course of the winter. The boys, however, didn’t seem to have the same issues.

“So, since we’re without a real, logical explanation as to why a non-Shifter is Changing, we’re going to blame Fate?” My tone was a little nastier than I intended, but I couldn’t help it. Destiny. Fate. They were just stupid words people threw out when they didn’t want to take the time and effort to find the real cause of something.

“Maybe the old legends aren’t legends after all,” Charlie said, still lounging on the steps as Talley and I tried to work around Jase’s supine form. “Jase’s scratch —”

“Haven’t we already been over this at least a hundred times? I’m a coyote. Scout is a wolf. Contrary to uneducated belief, they are not the same animal.”

“Did A… Did another Shifter scratch or bite you?” Charlie asked the spot just over my left shoulder.

I tried to swallow around the lump in my throat. “No.”

“Are you sure?” Talley tapped her chin with the business end of a stick-cum-Slayer-stake. “That night was chaotic. It might have happened without you knowing it.”

“No.”

“But you don’t remember—”

“I remember everything.” At first it was only bits and pieces, but over the past month it all came back. I could remember every swipe of claws, every struggled breath. “Alex’s claws and teeth never came anywhere near me.” A half-truth, but they never broke the skin, which was all that mattered. No one else needed to know the details of the hours Alex and I spent together before all hell broke loose.

“What about the blood transfusion?” Talley asked. “Maybe the Shifter DNA had a viral effect of some sort.”

“That sounds very scientific and all, but I’m still a coyote.”

I stopped raking leaves out of Mom’s now mutilated flower bed. “What blood transfusion?” I received lots of blood while I was unconscious, but this was the first time I had heard about any of it coming from Jase.

“Lake County was the closest hospital,” Talley said, referring to the small rural hospital which had a grand total of four doctors and fifteen patient beds. “They had to stabilize you before transporting you down to Vandy, but they were low on blood because of a boating accident that afternoon. From the way everyone was acting, I’m thinking it was really against the rules, but Rebecca went all Tiger Mom and made them take some of Jase’s blood and give it to you on the spot.”

When Jase and I had to do blood typing our Junior year, we were delighted to discover we shared the rare AB- blood type. We joked about how it proved our status as twins. Of course, that was the same day we discovered Jase had an adverse reaction to needles. It took a solid week for people to stop offering to fetch him smelling salts.

“You gave me blood?” The last tendrils of betrayal loosened from my heart.

“Yes, I gave you blood. Coyote blood. If you need to write that down so you won’t forget again, it’s c-o-y-o-t-e.”

“You let them stick you with a needle? For me?”

Jase sat up the rest of the way. “No needles. Sexy vampire. She bit me, then made you suck on her wrist. It was all very sexy and disturbing, but it probably explains why you’re a Shifter now since one supernatural creature can create a totally different kind of supernatural creature and all.”

Conversations with Jase were like lessons in hyperbole and sarcasm, and I had missed them more than I thought possible.

“How long before you fainted this time? Did you make it a whole minute?”

He lunged at me, but this time the wolf stayed buried. Apparently she knew the difference between a threat and play. And Jase was definitely in a mood to play. Our injuries made it impossible to do anything too boisterous, but we still tumbled across the yard, skirting around trees and using Talley as a shield. I felt lighter than I had in forever, even with the knowledge that Charlie, who normally would have jumped into the melee, was keeping his distance.

Jase had me in a headlock when Angel bounded out the back door. “You better stop right now,” she said with a put-upon sigh. “You’re already in big trouble.”

Chapter 10

Angel wasn’t kidding. We were beyond trouble. Up until that June, my biggest punishment had been losing my phone and computer privileges for a week because I called Ashley Johnson, a friend turned reviled enemy, a name that rhymes with “cranky sassed witch” in front of my father and Miss Emily, my Sunday school teacher. Destroying the kitchen and almost killing your brother carries a much stiffer penalty.

Since the rest of the world thought I was still the not-so-proud possessor of a mutilated stomach, my parents decided it would be best for me to stay out of sight for the entire summer. Completely out of sight. As in, not leaving the house except for the nights my “condition” required it. And, as if being on house arrest wasn’t bad enough, Mrs. Matthews called to inform my parents that the pre-Olympic schedule of one of the world’s top costume designers simply didn’t allow enough time to watch Angel over the summer, leaving me with the responsibility.

“But you guys are finally getting along better,” Talley said as she attempted to mimic the stretching exercises I was showing her in the make-shift dojo Dad constructed in the loft over the garage. “It won’t be that bad.”

I twisted to the other side, laying my head on my knee. I got momentarily distracted by Jase and Charlie who skipped warm-up to mess around with the bokkens Toby would rarely let them use. They were mesmerizing to watch. Jase’s speed and energy reminded me of a rabid hummingbird, but Charlie was able to deflect him with a lethal grace I’d never noticed before. You could barely see one of the muscles fleck in his bare chest before his sword would magically appear between Jase’s blade and his flesh with an audible thwack.

“Angel is like a rich dessert,” I said, snapping myself out of my reverie. “In small doses, she’s wonderfully sweet, but get too much and you quickly get so sick of her you can’t see straight.”

“I don’t know what you’re whining about,” Jase grumbled as he ducked away from Charlie. “Not only am I grounded for a whole freaking month, but I have to miss summer session and get a job.” He accentuated each of his punishments with a bone-jarring swipe at Charlie.