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The locals thought they were stupid since the current had put it in Lake Huron shortly after the truck hit
the water, and I thought they were stupid because the real artifact was hidden in Jenks s living room.
With their official stand being what it was, the I.S. couldn t lock me up, but with the added points after
the accident with Peter, theycould suspend my license. My choices were riding the bus for six months or
gritting my teeth and taking driver s ed. God no. I d be the oldest one in the class.
My mood tarnishing, I took the church s stairs two at a time, and felt my leg protest. I pulled the heavy
wooden door open, slipped inside and breathed deeply, relishing the scent of tomato paste and bacon.
The pizza dough was probably ready, and Kisten s sauce had been simmering for the better part of the
day. He had kept me company in the kitchen all afternoon while I finished restocking my charm
cupboard. Even helped me clean my mess.
I shut the door with hardly a thump. All the windows in the church were open to let in the moist night. I
couldn t wait to get into the garden tomorrow, and even had a few seeds I wanted to try out. Ivy was
laughing at me and the stack of seed catalogs that somehow found me despite my address change, but
I d caught her looking at one.
Tucking a stray curl behind my ear, I wondered if I might splurge for the ten-dollar-a-seed packet of
black orchids she d been eyeing. They were wickedly hard to get and even more difficult to grow, but
with Jenks s help, who knew?
Slipping off my wet boots and coat, I left them by the door and padded in my socks through the
peaceful sanctuary. The hush of a passing car came in through the high transom windows above the
stained-glass windows. The pixies had worked for hours chiseling the old paint off and oiling the hinges
so I could open them with the long pole I d found in the belfry stairway. There were no screens, which
was why the lights were off. There were no pixies either. My desk was again my desk.Thank all that was
holy.
My wandering attention touched on the potted plants Jenks had left behind on my desk, and I jerked to
a halt, seeing a pair of green eyes under the chair, catching the light. Slowly my breath slipped from me.
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Darn cat, I whispered, thinking Rex was going to scare the life out of me if she didn t break my heart
first. I crouched to try to coax her to me, but Rex didn t move, didn t blink, didn t even twitch her
beautiful tail.
Rex didn t like me much. She liked Ivy just fine. She loved the garden, the graveyard, and the pixies that
lived in it, but not me. The little ball of orange fluff would sleep on Ivy s bed, purr under her chair during
breakfast for tidbits, and sit on her lap, but she only stared at me with large, unblinking eyes. I couldn t
help but feel hurt. I think she was still waiting for me to turn back into a wolf. The sound of Kisten and
Ivy s voices intruded over the slow jazz. Hiking the canvas bag higher, I awkwardly inched closer to
Rex, hand held out.
Ivy and I had been home a week, and we were all still in emotional limbo. Three seconds after Ivy and I
walked in the door, Kisten looked at my dental floss stitches, breathed deeply, and knew what had
happened. In an instant, Ivy had gone from happy-to-be-home to depressed. Her face full of an aching
emptiness, she d dropped her bags and took off on her bike to get it checked over.
Just as well. Kisten and I had a long, painful discussion where he both sorrowed after and admired my
new scars. It felt good to confess to someone that Ivy had scared the crap out of me, and even better
when he agreed that in time she might forget her own fear and try to find a blood balance with me.
Since then he d been his usual self. Almost. There was a sly hesitancy in his touch now, as if he was
holding himself to a limit of action to see if I would change it. The unhappy result was the mix of danger
and security that I loved in him was gone. Not wanting to interfere in anything Ivy and I might find, he had
put me in charge of moving our relationship forward.
I didn t like being in charge. I liked the heart pounding rush of being lured into making decisions that
might turn bad on me. Realizing as much was depressing. It seemed that Ivy and Jenks were right that not
only was I an adrenaline junkie, but I needed a sensation of danger to get turned on.
Thinking about it now, my mood thoroughly soured, I crouched beside my desk, arm extended to try to
get the stupid cat to like me. Her neck stretched out and she sniffed my fingers, but wouldn t bump her
head under my hand as she would Ivy s. Giving up, I stood and headed for the back of the church,
following the sound of Kisten s masculine rumble. I took a breath to call out and tell them I was there,
but my feet stilled when I realized they were talking about me.
Well, you did bite her, Kisten said, his voice both lightly accusing and coaxing.
I bit her, Ivy admitted, her voice a whisper.
And you didn t bind her, he prompted.
No. I heard the creak of her chair as she repositioned herself, guilt making her shift.
She wants to know what comes next, Kisten said with a rude laugh. Hell, I want to know myself.
Nothing, Ivy said shortly. It s not going to happen again.
I licked my lips, thinking I should back out of the hallway and come in making more noise, but I couldn t
move, staring at the worn wood by the archway to the living room.
Kisten sighed. That s not fair. You strung her along until she called your bluff, and now you won t go
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