They’d need to chain me. I’d seen Serena when she’d first turned all those years ago. She’d been out of control.
Serena huffed out a breath. Az’s jaw clenched tight.
“What’s happening?” I asked, half-hoping they’d refused to answer. They both looked like a baseball bat had smacked them in the face. “Have I sprouted fur on my face or something?”
“No,” Az growled. “It’s worse than that. You’re immune.”
4
“Immune?” I frowned, certain I hadn’t heard him right. “How the hell could I be immune?”
Az folded his arms. “You tell me. Immunity to werewolf venom does not happen accidentally, Mia.”
My brows rocketed up to my hairline. “You think I did this on purpose?”
“How else could it have happened?”
“Ugh!” I shot back, snapping my head toward Serena. “Tell him he’s being ridiculous. I couldn’t have found an immunity to werewolf venom when I didn’t even know it existed until now!”
But Serena’s frown merely deepened. “He’s right though, Mia. If you’re immune, there’s a reason. No human alive can withstand werewolf venom.”
“Apparently, at least one of us can.”
“Something must have happened,” Az said as he paced the length of his penthouse. “Perhaps someone gave you an immunity when you were younger, and you didn’t realize. Did anyone else in your town know that Serena was a werewolf? Your parents, perhaps?”
I snorted. “My parents never had a clue. And if they’d known, they would have forced me to stay away from Serena. I can’t imagine they would have been open-minded about me having a werewolf for a best friend.”
“Someone else then,” he muttered. “What about your parents, Serena? Did they know? Who turned you?”
Serena shrugged. “They never knew either, and I can’t remember who turned me. I know what night it happened, but everything else is a big shadowy blur. Mia’s the only one who knew the truth about what I am before I came to New York.”
He stopped short, halfway between us and the kitchen. “Well, someone must have known, and he—or she—sneaked Mia an immunity serum. That’s the only explanation for this.”
I nodded, frowning. Az seemed so sure about what had happened, but it didn’t sit right in my gut. Who would have done that? When would it have happened? I thought back to my childhood and everyone within it, trying to find a point where it might have happened. But…there weren’t any answers to those questions. I’d never had a great memory when it came to my childhood, and that certainly wasn’t improving now. Like Serena had said, it was all just a blur.
So, maybe Az was right, and I just didn’t remember. Someone could have found out and tried to protect me from Serena’s werewolf side. It wasn’t the craziest idea I’d ever heard.
It just…it didn’t feelright.
“So, what now?” I asked quietly, flicking my eyes to the yawning windows that looked out on Manhattan. Lucifer would think to look here soon, even if he couldn’t follow my garbage-drowned scent. All he’d have to do was shoot up above the buildings and see me standing here in the brilliant light of Az’s penthouse. I was a sitting duck.
“We’ll have to find another way to mask your scent,” Serena said with a sigh, slumping against the wall as if her legs could no longer stand to hold up her weight. “Thereareother ways. A vampire could work. Werewolf immunity and vampire immunity are two entirely different things.”
“Absolutely not,” Az said with a dangerous growl. “Werewolves hold on to their humanity. Vampires don’t. She’d become someone else. A bloodthirsty, vengeance-fuelled monster. A murderer.”
My heart twisted in my chest. “So, that’s out then.”
“And then there’s the fae,” Serena added. “You could ask them for a scent glamor.”
Az’s scowl deepened. “There’s a reason I didn’t go to them in the first place. If they even agreed to it, they’d ask for something in return. The fae give nothing away for free, and their deals are…”
“Worse than yours?” I arched a brow. “If I remember correctly—and I do—I’m pretty sure I signed a deal with you,unknowingly, for my soul.”
“That was…” he began.
“Different?” I folded my arms. “I don’t think it’s any different at all.”
He ran his fingers through his thick, dark locks. “You don’t know what they’ll ask for, Mia. If you did, you might not be so eager to seek them out.”
