“He doesn’t need help being scary, and you and I need to start planning your trip to the Emerald Isle.”

   Sin came back while the others started toward the far tunnel entrance. “My mouth isn’t too sore for a kiss,” he said.

   I frowned at him.

   “Stop being a hard-ass and just kiss me.”

   The comment made me smile, and just like that all my grumpy street cred went out the window. “Hold on for just another minute, Edward.”

   “Who’s asking for a kiss? I don’t recognize the voice.”

   “Cynric,” I said.

   “My, my, he sounds all grown up.”

   “I’m putting you on hold, just so you know.”

   “I wasn’t going to critique the kiss over the phone, Anita.”

   “Putting you on hold now, Edward.” I turned back to Sin, standing so tall, and older just like the deeper voice that had made Edward not recognize him over the phone.

   Magda called to him from the hallway. “Nicky says if you’re late we start the intimidation without you.”

   “I’m coming,” Sin called back. He turned to me and leaned down for his kiss. I went up on tiptoe to meet all that six-foot-plus height halfway. His lips were soft, gentle, but his hands where he gripped my arms weren’t. He squeezed just enough for me to feel the strength in his hands, which could throw a football far enough and well enough for colleges to scout him. Some combination of his hands and the kiss made me a little breathless as he pulled away. He grinned at the look on my face, and he knew he’d made my pulse speed up. He was a weretiger; he could taste my heartbeat on his tongue.

   He jogged off after the others. He didn’t want to miss learning to be scarier.

19

   “YOU BETTER TAKE Edward off hold,” Nathaniel said.

   “Oh, right.”

   Nathaniel grinned. “I like that little brother can make you forget yourself like that.”

   “You calling him little brother doesn’t help me with the age gap issues, Nathaniel. Just saying. But let’s go into the break room for the call, in case someone wants to use the gym.”

   “He is my brother of choice, and he is younger,” Nathaniel said as he walked toward the small room that Nicky and Jake had come out of less than an hour ago. It had been a busy hour.

   “He’s your brother-husband. There’s a difference,” I said.

   He held the door for me as I hit the button to take Edward off hold.

   “I said kiss the boy, not make out with him,” Edward said.

   “I’m frowning at the phone, just so you know.”

   He chuckled; I think I was one of five people on the planet who got to hear that sound from him. “I’m putting you on speakerphone, Edward,” I said. I sat down at the four-seater table so we could lay the phone on the table and both of us sit near the phone.

   “Who’s listening with you?” he asked.

   “Nathaniel.”

   “Since when do you include him on our phone calls?”

   I had a moment of not knowing what to say, but Nathaniel leaned into the phone and said, “Are you still wanting Damian to come to Ireland to help you?”

   “Yes,” Edward said, and that one word was very clipped and not exactly friendly.

   “He’s still out for the day, so I’m listening for his benefit, so he can make an informed decision.”

   “Don’t you trust me to tell Damian the truth?” I asked.

   “You’ll tell him your truth, the cop truth. I love you, Anita, but you’ll have solving the case as your primary focus.”

   “Are you saying I’d manipulate Damian to get him to come to Ireland just so I could solve the case?”

   “Not in the front of your head, but in the back of your head, yes.”

   “You’re saying I value the case over Damian’s well-being?”

   “If you can convince yourself that he won’t be in that much danger, or that it would be good for him to confront his fears and he can help you stop the killings in Ireland, yes, absolutely.”

   Edward laughed, and it was a real laugh, the one that said he was truly amused.

   “Et tu, Edward?” I said.

   His voice still held an edge of laughter as he said, “We’re both good at finding reasons to make people do what we want them to do, Anita. He’s right on that.”

   “Maybe. Are you okay with him listening in?”

   “If you are,” he said, and him taking it so calmly surprised me.

   “Yeah, I’m okay with it.”

   “Fine. Then I’ll talk to you like Nathaniel isn’t standing right there, and he can interject.”

   “Interject?” I said.

   “I’ve been helping Peter fill out applications for college,” he said.

   “So he’s not going into the military right away?”

   “His mother and I persuaded him to try a year of college. If he doesn’t like it he can still join up.”

   I was pretty sure that Donna had done more of the persuading than Edward had, but I let that go. I actually agreed with Donna on this one. “I’m glad to hear that. It’s easier to try college and then sign up for the military than the other way around.”

   “Which is one of the reasons I sided with Donna on this.” Something about the way he said it made me let the topic drop.

   “Have you done any college visits? We did some with Sin,” Nathaniel said. He didn’t know Edward’s tone of voice the way I did, so he’d missed the “this topic is closed” inflection.

   “A few, but let’s save Old Home Week for later,” Edward said.

   Nathaniel started to say something, but I shook my head at him. He took the hint and let it go.

   “You said something about getting me and my preternatural friends into Ireland; what did you mean by that?” I asked.

   “You can bring your deputies like you did on the case in Washington state.”

   I said, “Outside of special circumstances, in the Preternatural Branch of the U.S. Marshals Service I can’t even deputize civilians in the country. How the hell did you get it to work in Ireland?”

   “You can’t call them deputies here, but you can still bring them.”

   “To Ireland?”

   “Yes.”