“Stop. I’m trying to make sure I never break another rule here. And, by the way, thank you for calling forth the, uh…”

“Police?” He smirked.

“Are you making fun of me?”

OMG. Jeff has an evil smile.I’d just as soon I hadn’t learned that.

“What gave it away?”

Wow.“Jeff, seriously, has someone imperious and antagonistic possessed your body? Another Lorcan, maybe?”

He laughed. Out loud.

“Whatever.” He shook his head. “If you think the criticism is too harsh, just wait until the sephalion comes home.”

“This wasn’t my fault.”

“And yet nobody else is walking in here with a werewolf on her arm.”

“I went on a hike. He followed me home. How does that put this on me?”

“You went on a hike?”

“Yeah?”

“Alone?”

“Yes. So what?”

He leaned back and scrubbed a hand over his face. “What kind of defenses did you have?”

“Defenses? Well, it’s a public park. A tourist thing. Why would anybody guess there might be a last werewolf there?”

Jeff turned to face me full on. “Who told you that?”

“Who told me what?”

“That the werewolf is thelastwerewolf.”

“John David mentioned it.” I took a small back. It felt strange for Jeff to be so close. “Not about this werewolf per se. It just came up as a joke because of the super moon thing.”

“So, you knew about the super moon, and you knew there’s a werewolf out there somewhere most likely looking for a mate. Let me guess, you arrived at the car park at dark.” He didn’t even bother to put a question mark at the end of that for sake of politeness. “Of course, you did. It’s weird that you can be a brilliant judge and also be the blonde who goes down to the basement.”

“If that means what I think it means, I resent that.”

He shrugged, turned away, and said, “Go ahead,” as he walked off.

Turning back to the cluster of friends and neighbors who had come when I said “wolf”, there was no one to talk to. The speed with which everyone had returned to what they’d been doing before Jeff sounded the alarm, sent a clear message regarding just how disgruntled everybody was with me.

Uh-oh. Did I just do the shit dance at the F.U. commencement party?

I hated having people mad at me under any circumstances, but I especially hated it when it occurred just one day away from the Vampire Ball.

I was due for a final fitting in a couple of hours. Of course, Esme didn’t need a first fitting, much less a final fitting. It was just her way of getting social encounters on the calendar. And I hoped she was still feeling social toward me.

CHAPTER SEVEN The Werewolf Who

Came to Dinner