He presses his nose to my cheek. My skin prickles at the contact, warmth flooding my chest and arms like a shot of espresso straight to the bloodstream. That’s new. Then again, I’m high on adrenaline, fear, and possibly inherited trauma.
With one foot in front of the other, I do what I should’ve done the second Iris opened her crypt-keeper mouth: I run for the hills.
Or at least the door.
Behind me, a roar rips through the air like a freaking monster movie sound effect. I flinch mid-sprint.Holy hell, did Psycho Granny actually shoot that man?
A flicker of guilt nips at my heels. However, brief and fleeting. Quickly replaced by the memory of those golden eyes locking onto mine and him declaring I’mhislike he was calling dibs on a muffin in the break room.
He might be hot as sin—over six feet tall, broad shoulders, a stare that looks like it could strip a soul bare, thick chocolate hair that falls over his ears, and a presence that makes the air feel too thick to breathe—but I don’t belong to anyone.
Certainly not prophecy-spouting men who look like they live off the land, have a sexy beard, and could probably bench press me a thousand times over.
Yeah, definitely not my kind of man.
I quicken my pace until I’m practically full-on sprinting, barefoot, down the stairs—wait, where did my clothes go? That doesn’t really matter now. Whoever’s yoga pants and loose tee these are, they’ll just have to be okay with not getting them back.
The front door looms ahead, a symbol of my rapidlyfading last chance at keeping my sanity. But just before I can throw it open and dramatically vanish into the night, Liz steps into my path.
“Get out of my way,” I demand, breathless and done with absolutely everything.
“Rowan, just listen,” she says, hands raised like she’s trying to coax a wild animal out of a trash can. “Iris needs to explain a few things before you go. We won’t keep you, but if we let you leave without knowing what you are?—”
“I know what I need to know,” I snap, straightening my spine even though my knees are trembling like I just downed six energy drinks. “I never should’ve come here, so I’m just going to pretend this whole horror movie episode didn’t happen and go back to my normal, totally boring,non-supernaturallife.”
She winces, stepping closer, arm outstretched like she might actually try to grab me. Bold move, considering I haven’t ruled out kicking and screaming and maybe even biting my way out of here.
“We can’t let you do that.”
Archie hisses like a possessed teakettle.
I move to soothe him, but he jumps off my shoulder like an airborne fur missile, claws out, and rage-mode activated.
“Archie, no,” I yell at him. The last thing I need is someone calling animal control on the only family I have left.
My fingertips brush his tail, and lightning shoots through me. Not metaphorically.Literalelectricity zingsfrom my fingers to my spine, making me jolt like I licked a massive battery.
“What the actual?—”
I barely have time to blink before the world tilts sideways.
Archie, my emotionally codependent, snack-hoardingferret, is suddenly the size of a freaking Great Dane. His back arches, teeth bared in a growl that’s anything but domesticated.
Oh. Hell. No.
Stars begin to flicker in my eyes, and I’m moments from passing out, but Archie touches me with his tail and another current snakes through my body, keeping me upright.
A deep voice rumbles beside me. “It’s okay, Rowan. We’re going to get out of here.”
I look up, swaying slightly. Aman’svoice. One that’s coming from the very muchnot a manbeside me. My entire chest clenches like it’s been crammed into a corset two sizes too small, and every muscle in my body shakes. Though I’m not sure if that’s from fear or adrenaline.
“Shifter shits,” Iris mutters from behind me. “Nowyou show her what you really are, Archibald? Honestly, you were the worst investment I ever made.”
Investment?Did she buy him on some kind of magical black market? Is there a supernatural Craigslist?
“Someone please explain what’s happening,” I shout, throwing my hands in the air. “Right the hell now. And preferably in English.”
Archie—Great-Dane-sized, magical tail-waving, protective Archie—settles himself beside me, his hugeshoulders level with mine as he turns his head. His voice softer now.
