Curran shook his head, got the keys out, and opened the hatch. We packed the crate with the bunnycat inside, Curran slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine, and we were off, heading through the city toward the northeast, where the shapeshifter Pack made its lair in the Keep.

The car heater kicked in. My teeth stopped chattering.

“I’m so hungry,” Ascanio said. “What’s for dinner in the Keep?”

“We are going to the Keep,” Curran said. “You’re going to your mother’s house.”

Ascanio bristled. “Why?”

“Because you haven’t been there in the past three days and she would like to see your face. And because she would like to discuss your latest report card.”

Damn it. Him and Julie both. My fifteen-year-old ward had failed algebra in a spectacular fashion. First, she tried to convince me that the teacher lost her homework, all four different assignments of it. Then she ranted for a while about how school was hard and we were placing unreasonable demands on her, and then, for a big finish, she informed us that she would rather drop out and be homeless. Curran and I slow-clapped for a whole minute.

“What did you fail this time?”

“I failed nothing. I’m passing all my classes.”

“He has a forty in algebra,” Curran said.

Algebra again.

I turned around in my seat so I could see Ascanio. “How the hell did you get a forty?”

“I don’t know.”

“He isn’t turning his homework in. He spends half of his time with Raphael and the rest with you at Cutting Edge.”

“School is overrated,” Ascanio said. “I don’t like it and I have no interest in it. I just want to work for the Pack.”

“Let me burst that bubble for you,” Curran said. “The Pack requires educated people. If you want to climb up the food chain, you need to know what you’re doing. Most alphas have advanced college degrees. In fact, most people you know have degrees.”

“Like who?” Ascanio asked.

“Raphael has an MBA. Barabas has a Juris Doctor. Andrea has completed the Order’s Academy. Doolittle completed medical school. Mahon has a doctorate in medieval history.”

That explained some things. Mahon ran Clan Heavy and I always thought his reasoning was on the medieval side. Oooh, I should tell him that sometime. He would like that. Just not while he was in his bear form. I could run really well for a human, but I had a feeling an enraged Kodiak would be faster.

“Aunt B didn’t have a degree,” Ascanio volunteered.

“Yes, she did,” Curran said. “She went to Agnes Scott and majored in psychology.”

Ascanio stared out the window.

“What’s the plan?” Curran asked. “You’re sixteen; you have to have a plan. Or are you going to let your mother pay your bills for the rest of your life?”

“No.” Ascanio bit off the word.