“I’ll do as much resting as I can in the next couple of days. Does that sound fair?” I try to compromise.
“Fine.” She crosses her arms in front of her chest.
In case she’s cold and not just guarding herself against the bad things I told her, I turn up the heat.
We’re finally out of the city and nearing the highway exit to turn home when, with the smallest voice, Leticia asks, “Do you think Toni had something to do with the coup, and that’s why she isn’t texting me back?”
“Antonella didn’t have anything to do with the coup.” I confirm, hoping she hears how serious I am.But the coup had everything to do with why she’s not texting you back.
“So is her phone damaged too, or is it something else?” Leticia is so brilliant and curious that if I wasn’t on the business end of keeping secrets, I’d be much happier about this.
“There are some security concerns with phones right now. It’ll make more sense when we get to the house and I can explain.” I chew on my bottom lip for a second. “I promise, it’ll get more confusing and then it will all start making sense, and I’ll answer every single question until you run out of them.”
“You’re making a lot of promises,” Leticia says like a warning, looking over at me. “You’re sure you can keep all of them?”
“I’ll never lie to you.” I stop myself from saying ‘I promise,’ but I’ll keep every one I can. I meanit wholeheartedly.
Finally we get to Valor’s front gate.
“Oh, we’re going to Valor and Toni’s?” She peers through the windshield.
“Yeah, Kerrianne is with my mom and dad. It’ll be quieter here.” I don’t elaborate that it’s because no one is here and that the guards know not to let her out if I’m not with her.
I roll down the window when we approach the guard shack. The guard is one of Valor’s most trusted, and he looks at Leticia and me for almost a whole minute before nodding and letting us through the gate. Probably committing her scent to memory if something goes sideways.
Nothing bad will happen.My wolf sighs and rolls his eyes.You’re so dramatic.
27
LETICIA
WEREWOLVES OR WOLF SHIFTERS?
At the frontof the house, Royal presses a button in the car for the garage door and pulls into a spacious garage.
The door slides closed behind us, and when I get out of the car, I note that the space is heated. The air is a little chilled from the garage door opening, but still rather warm and comfortable.
Inside, the house is exactly as I remember it, with the exception of how quiet it is. I can tell no one is here. The home feels stark and cold. Despite the cozy elements, it feels barren of life.
“I think it’s best if I just show you what we’re dealing with rather than try to dance around the subject. And then when you know what’s going on, we can talk about the specifics,” Royal says from where he’s walked ahead of me toward the back of the house.
“Oh, okay.” I follow him through the kitchen to the gorgeous sunny living room.
He opens one of the French doors to the backyard and starts pulling off his coat.
“Royal, it’s freezing. What are you doing?” I zip my heavy peacoat up in demonstration against the cold, then close the door to the house behind me.
“I’m sure it feels really cold to you, but honestly, it’s not that bad. Especially not compared to a couple of days ago. This is nice.” He laughs, and it’s not his usual laugh; this is almost a wounded sound, one that doesn’t actually feel like humor.
He tosses his coat onto some patio furniture and then pulls his sweater off over the top of his head.
“Royal, you’re acting really weird.” I use that voice Antonella uses when she cautions younger cousins against doing something dumb.
I must get it wrong, though, because Royal moves on to unbuttoning his dress shirt. This is why Berto kept telling Dad I should know how to use a gun. But I don’t really believe that thought holds merit because I don’t think Royal intends to hurt me.
“I promise you it’s going to get a whole lot weirder.” He shrugs his shirt off his shoulders.
“Well, you could make it less weird,” I say with the hope that maybe whatever this is doesn’t have to happen.
