Doolittle reached over and touched my hand. “Your brand of magic is . . .”

“Evil?”

“I was going to say frightening. I don’t fear you. I don’t fear who you want to be. I do fear who you might become in spite of yourself. But you don’t need to be defined by your magic or an old man’s fears. There is a good word for the kind of person you are—honorable. It might be old-fashioned, but it fits. I’m glad I have the privilege of knowing you.”

I forced a smile. “Even if I don’t follow your prescriptions and you have to drug me with your iced tea to keep me off my feet?”

Doolittle smiled. “Even so. Speaking of prescriptions, you are to stay off your feet for as long as you can.”

“Absolutely.” I got up. “I’ll open the door for you.”

Doolittle growled. “At least have the decency to wait to ignore me until I leave.”

“Ehh, sorry.” I held the door open for him.

“My life would be much easier without so many hard cases in it,” he grumbled.

“You love us, Doc. You know you do. We keep you busy. Without us, there’s no guessing what sort of trouble your idle hands would lead you into.”

11

I WENT TO my room, took a shower, and lay on the ridiculously large sofa in our living room. Curran’s quarters were sized to his beast form. The bed, the tub, the sofas, everything was built to accommodate an enormous prehistoric lion. But in all of our time together, I had never actually seen him use the sofa as a lion. On the rare days when he trotted into our rooms in his fur, he usually lounged about in the tub or lay on the floor, and I usually ended up on the floor with him, leaning against his side and reading a book. Maybe it was the principle of the thing.

I missed him. Still no word on whether he was dead or alive.

I glanced at the clock. Eight forty-five a.m. Three hours and fifteen minutes until Hugh’s deadline.

They should’ve found Curran by now.

I would take Hugh apart. I would wipe that smug grin off his face. He wouldn’t have a face once I was done.

But I had to wait. Wait for Double D, wait for Hugh’s next move, wait for Curran to be found. I fucking hated waiting.

I forced myself off the couch. I had to get dressed and be seen. With Curran gone, the Pack would look for me. The People would be moving on us soon. I needed to check our defenses and to field questions from the Pack Council. I needed to check on Derek, Desandra, and Ascanio.

A knock sounded on my door.

“Come in.”

Andrea strode in, her face hard. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.”