“I’m just trying to protect you,” I protested.
Jenna picked up her drink, her face lost in thought before she drained it and rose. “You remember when you first came back and I tried to bridge the distance between us. How I’d come over to cook you dinner and buy you groceries. Do you remember what you told me?”
I flinched away from her, guilt and shame an ugly knot in my chest. “You know why I did that.”
“Yes, I do.Now, I know,” Jenna stressed. “But back then I had no clue. My big sister, the woman I looked up to more than any other, told me to butt out of her life and stay out of her business. I forgive you for being so mean. I know you thought you had to. But that memory still hurts.”
Caroline and Drake leaned back in their chairs, doing everything they could to pretend that they were anywhere but here. Anton was nosier, making no attempt to disguise his interest in our argument.
“I’m returning those words to you now,” Jenna continued. “I’m an adult, and I don’t need your approval.”
“Jenna—” I broke off, clamping my mouth shut to take a deep breath.
The temptation to point out how dumb she was being was undeniable. She had no idea how dangerous this world could get. I did. She’d barely glossed over the surface. Vampires. Werewolves. There was so much more. All of which could get her killed.
I wanted to encase her in bubble wrap and make it so all this madness never encroached on her world.
You could compel her,my mind whispered.
She was human. Without any of the training a hunter received. It would be easy. A flex of my power and she would forget all this. She’d never even have to know.
I could keep her safe.
“Funny, isn’t it? You two are definitely sisters. How many times did you make the same argument with Liam and Thomas?” Anton observed.
The trace of mockery in his expression as he looked over at me had a sick feeling dangerously close to shame forming in my stomach. He knew, or at least had guessed, where my mind had gone in that brief span.
Compulsion. Really, Aileen? That’s how we’re solving our problems these days?
The hypocrisy.
While I was lost in my self-recrimination, the air of the bar had changed. I came to my feet as magic barreled into me and past, carrying with it a low charge electric voltage that brought every hair on my body to attention.
Anton’s snarl and Caroline’s growl an instant later said they had felt it too.
Jenna ran her hands up and down the bare skin of her arms, trying to rid herself of the tingly sensation as she looked around in confusion. “What was that?”
For the moment, I decided to ignore her question, uncertain whether I should be worried that she could sense what just happened. I didn’t know if humans could feel the border between the Playground and reality the same way spooks could, but right now wasn’t the time to figure that out.
“Tell me that wasn’t the Playground’s boundary,” Caroline said, slowly coming to her feet.
I wished I could.
In my other sight, magic saturated the air, dampening the natural light to allow shadows to take up residence in the corners. Everything I was seeing suggested the boundary had changed to encompass the bar.
“Can it shift like that?” Caroline asked, seeing Anton and my grim looks.
“Apparently so.” Anton looked at me. “Coming here was a mistake.”
“I’m beginning to see that.”
Interrupting Jenna’s meeting with Dad’s family might have been the worst thing I could have done. If I’d remained upstairs, there would have been no reason for the Playground to draw new boundaries.
Of course, that only held true if my enemies were unaware of her connection to me.
“Would they really risk human exposure just to get at Aileen,” Caroline demanded.
Her wolf peered out of her eyes as she looked around uneasily.
