I turned to Misha. He wiped some of the muck off the back of my hand and kissed the tips of my knuckles. “Chang hopes that you will stay. I hope that as well. Now, if you will excuse me, I must take my Metamucil.”

As I watched Misha march through the mounds of destroyed landscaping, I wondered if I should just leave. I’d already hurt him once. And I knew more pain was yet to come. I just didn’t know I’d receive the brunt of it.

CHAPTER 21

“Shit. You’re staying?” Taran asked.

I dodged the electrically charged balls Kuan Jang Nim Chang launched at me, shifting right, then left, then dropping into a split. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what to do.”

Shayna’s sleek black ponytail whipped back and forth as she watched Chang and his bouncing balls. “Dude, what the heck are those things anyway? They look like they have little lightning bolts in them.”

“Oh!” my sisters yelled when one hit me.

A shock ran up my spine and my hair sizzled. I hadn’t rolled fast enough. Damn it. I groaned and flopped into a kneeling position. “As a matter of fact, they do have little lightning bolts in them.”

Kuan Jang Nim Chang fired a string of rapid Korean before laughing hysterically.

My eyes narrowed. “I am so trying!”

“You understood what he said?” Emme asked.

“Not a word.” I stood and tried to beat down my hair. It didn’t work. “He laughs more when I mess up. I think it’s his way of saying, ‘If you’d try harder, you wouldn’t get hurt.’”

“Do you think the little man will mind if I try?”

I couldn’t face Shayna directly. Chang continued to fling his balls, all the while inspiring me with comments like, “Tribe coming. Faster. They eat you. They kill you. You die like dog not tigress.”

Heaven forbid he stop his oh-so-fun training session just so I could engage in conversation with my sisters. “Shayna, that’s not a good idea. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“No worries. I have werewolf blood pumping through my veins.” She flexed her string bean arms. “See? I’m just as tough as you are now.”

That made me smile. “Is that right?”

“I sure am! Plus, it looks like fun.”

Was she kidding? “Fun? Did you say ‘fun’? Okay, Shayna, be my guest.”

“Um, I don’t think you should let her do this,” Emme warned.

Taran flashed a wicked grin. “Aw, hell. I think you should. It might knock her off that high horse she’s been straddling.”

• • •

It took us less than seven minutes to return to the guesthouse. Shayna zinged, zapped, and pa-chinged the entire walk back. Snot ran down her nose like a leaky faucet and her once pin-straight black hair stood out like a large Afro. “Whaaaat the heckkkkk isss wrrrronng with that maaann?” she asked.

Taran and I led her to the kitchen using the rubber gloves Hank had scrounged up. He assured us Shayna would be fine in another hour or so. His reassurance did little to ease my guilt. I never should have turned her over to Kuan Jang Nim Chang’s evil clutches.

“. . . and then heeeeeee jjjjussst laughed annnddd pppointed.”

“I know, Shayna. I know. I’m so sorry.”

“So what the hell are you going to do about the whole Misha situation?” Taran asked.

I shrugged. “Part of me wants to move back home and just commute to train.”

“So, damn it, why don’t you? Gemini texted me earlier to say Aric’s calling in a favor. The local witch bitches are supposed to place a new ward around our house in case anything nasty shows up. I think it’s similar to the one Ying-Ying put on your car—strong enough to keep things out until help arrives.”

Emme shook her head. “What if help is delayed like last time? Celia can’t take on a Tribemaster by herself.”

Taran rammed her fists on her hips. “She doesn’t have to, Emme. We’ll stay there with her and keep each other safe.”

“Wwweeee can’t—the wolves wannnt usss to stay at the Dennnn.”

Taran huffed. “Damn it, Shayna. I hate the Den. It’s not our home. The only reason I’m there is to be with Gemini, but now he’s gone. We’re not under the Elders’ rule. They can’t make us stay.”

I thought about it. “Why don’t we compromise? While the wolves are away, we’ll stay at the house. When they’re back, you guys return with them to the Den and I’ll stay with Misha.”

“Or Aric?” Taran asked smiling. “I bet that’s another reason he had Genevieve ward the house. So you two can have your own safe little love nest.”

I bit my bottom lip nervously. “So long as we don’t get caught.”

Taran’s smile turned wickedly curious. She circled me, very much in the way I did a steak. “Speaking of getting caught, where were you exactly when you got it on with him?”

I averted my eyes. “You know where we were. We were at the Den.”

Taran arched a brow. “Celia. You’ve been away from that wolf for months. Don’t play off your hot and beastly hump-hump like some kind of cute romantic interlude. Tell us exactly what happened!”

My cheeks instantly heated. “Taran, I told you what happened. I was upset and Aric found me. We kissed and got a little carried away.”

Taran smirked. “That’s not good enough. Spill deets, Celia.”

My jaw dropped open. “And why exactly should I do that?”

“Cannnnn IIIIII hhhhhhavvve ssssommme wa-water?”

“No, you’ll just electrocute yourself,” Taran said, then turned back to me. “Shit, Celia. You don’t know what you and Aric have put us through. The least you can do is give us a little dirt.”

“Celia doesn’t have to tell us anything,” Emme said quietly.

Although Emme had insinuated my privacy should be respected, the anticipation brightening her green irises and the flush to her fair skin told me she was dying to hear every last little detail. I groaned. “What do you want to know?”

Taran grabbed my arm and shook it. “For one, where the hell were you? Did you go back to his quarters?”

“Um, no. His dates were there.”

“Were yyyyouuu innnn his cccarrrr?”