Because she was a werewolf. Laughing with my werewolf sister in a house full of werewolf rogues who didn’t care at all for non-werewolf, human life.
I kneaded my aching palm with my thumb.
“Joey, did you hear me?” My sister snapped her fingers. “Earth to Joanna,” she teased.
I blinked away the hatred burning in my eyes to see Latoya and Heather staring at me, both their eyebrows raised.
“Y’all seem close,” I whispered, already having my excuse prepared. “Everybody in this house probably knows you better than I do now, huh, Latoya?”
Latoya flinched.
“Well…” Heather’s gaze bounced between me and my sister. “I’ll leave and give—”
“What’s that?” I pointed to the baggy Latoya inched behind her leg.
But I knew what it was. On the way to the estate, Latoya insisted we stop at a warlock-owned dispensary. She was still persuasive as hell… or maybe I was desperate for something familiar, like being conned out of money by my big sister.
I had a dangerous profession and could die at any moment. Life was too short for stupid. So, no—Heather did not need to give me and Latoya a fucking moment alone. “Why are you hiding it? I’m not twelve.”
Latoya sighed. “I thought the three of us could take a hit. Heather’s boss doesn’t like her smoking, so we do it in the bathroom upstairs with the fan on… but maybe we shouldn’t.”
I waved her off with a performative smile. “Why? Because I seem a little sad? Latoya, go. I’ll be fine.”
She changed her footing. “Should I get Marcus—”
“No!” I exclaimed, louder than I would’ve liked. “No, thank you.”
Heather grinned. “Do you have a crush on him too? Damn it, I’d like to climb that tree.”
The placating smile remained on my face, but it vanished from my eyes. I blew out through my nose, fidgeting with the cuff around my wrist.
Do not take the bracelet off, Joanna.
Latoya cleared her throat, her worrisome gaze morphing into something resembling protection as she pulled Heather away.
I am brave. I am strong… I am perfectly capable of kicking Heather’s ass.
“You okay?”
I jumped, not realizing that Marcus had appeared in the archway of another entrance to the kitchen. He crossed his arms, but his face was indecipherable.
I nodded, dropping my gaze. “Thank you for asking. You can go now.”
His voice deepened. “Where’d your sister go?”
I shrugged. “She had to use the bathroom, Matthew.”
He chuckled, and I listened to his footsteps as he approached. “It’s Marcus. And you’re… Joey? Right?”
My breath caught, and my gaze flew up to his mocking grin. Hearing my name leave those lips made my damn toes curl. The warmth flooding my body banished the cold, but the hair on my arms still stood straight, as if they rose in prayer to God that I didn’t act crazy.
Marcus watched another shiver travel through my body. He pulled his sweater over his head, sending a wave of earth and pine straight into my lungs. He held it out to me. “Put this on.” He’d said those exact words to me at Club Luna… I wondered if he remembered.
And whether he was now picturing what’d happened after we left the club.
I tried in vain not to. But as I studied the way his tank top hugged his chest, before allowing my gaze to flitter down his muscular arm to the cream sweater hanging off his finger, the phantom hands of the memory stroked my skin.
I am allowed to feel good.
