Page 38 of The Vampire in the Potting Shed

“Stop.” I slashed a hand through the air, ignoring how it trembled. “Why are you saying these things?”

“Because you asked,” she said simply, “and because they’re true.”

Finally, she had given me a reason I could sink my teeth into, one explaining his determination to find me. “Is that why Rían wants me so badly?” The words cut their way free. “To play brood mare?”

As hard as Dad had held on to the hope I would shift into a wolf, to the point his tough love almost got me killed, Rían could prove equally fanatical in his belief I would sprout wings and scales. Until I let him down too, proving I wasn’t anything special, he might not give up his vision of a scaley ever after with me.

“Come on, Ana.” Sloane tugged me toward the front door. “Let’s get you home.”

Home? I didn’t have one. Not anymore.

“Mind if I come in?” Sloane pounded on my bedroom door. “You’ve been in there for hours.”

The sheet fluttered above my face with every hitching inhale and hiccupping exhale as I hid in bed under the blankets and wished the world outside would just go away. Including Sloane.

“Jess stopped by to check in when we didn’t make it back by closing,” she called through the wood. “She has a plan for getting the pets transferred to Pampered Pooches in Springvale tomorrow. Just until the sanctions are lifted on the town.” She paused, waiting for an answer, but I was struggling to find one. “We could send her with a master list, let her call the owners and tell them where to pick up their animals.” Some were locals, but most of our clientele drove a few towns over for our services. “I thought she could use the old plumbing-leak excuse for the humans. It’s benign compared to fire, black mold, or asbestos. And it will allow us to open as soon as clients can come and go freely again.”

“Thanks,” I rasped, my throat raw. “That sounds great.”

“What was that?” Metal rattled as she twisted the knob. “I couldn’t hear you.”

The door whined open, but I couldn’t summon the energy to push back the covers.

“Thanks,” I tried again. “That sounds great.”

“Nope.” Floorboards groaned under her feet. “Still couldn’t quite make it out.”

“Thanks.” I strained to hear her next move. “That sounds?—”

“Cannonball.”

She landed across my stomach, knocking the air from my lungs, and I wheezed like a deflating balloon.

“Ouch.”I would have curled into the fetal position, but she was pinning me. “Really ouch.”

The fabric disappeared from my field of vision, leaving Sloane grinning down at me. “Feel better?”

“Ribs,” I whistled through my teeth. “Broken.”

“Rude.” She rolled until she lay beside me. “I’m not that heavy.”

“It’s not your weight.” I sucked in sweet, sweet oxygen. “It was the force of impact that got me.”

A sharp thud rang out from the living room, and I shot upright in bed. “Is someone else here?”

“No.” Sloane had leapt to her feet so fast, I hadn’t seen her move. “It’s just us.”

We held our breaths, straining our ears, but it didn’t happen again.

“Maybe someone knocked on the door?” I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. “Goldie?”

“Stay put.” Sloane, confident as always in her element, didn’t verify that I obeyed. “I’ll check it out.”

Usually, I was content to sit back and be protected, but I felt drawn to investigate for myself.

As soon as she exited the room, I lowered my toes to the cool oak floor. I rose as quietly as my bedsprings allowed before following her. The closer I got to the source of the noise, the colder I felt. Dread, maybe?

“You little rebel,” Sloane murmured, proving I hadn’t been in danger of sneaking up on her.

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