Louis stroked his narrow chin. “You are far too good at guessing. That will get you into trouble when one day you guess, but are very, very wrong.”

“One day,” I said as I started up the stairs, “but that one day is not today.”

13

Eammon did not speak to me the next week except the day after my first night training, which was fine because even speaking hurt muscles I hadn’t known I possessed.

“You can keep the daggers.”

“Spoke to Crash, did you?” I asked.

Eammon glared at me. “He said you were in his bed.”

I grinned. “Yup, had my clothes off too, Dad. You going to ground me now?” Eammon’s eyes about bugged out, and I leaned down to give him the talking-to that he needed. “Eammon, you don’t get a say about my love life, or lack thereof. You can complain about anything that pertains to this job, but the rest of my life is off limits.”

“When you are humping the leg of a . . .” He clamped his mouth shut and then continued on. “. . . a man with a bad attitude, that pertains to this job! He is a sometime customer.” He jabbed a finger toward my shoulder. I took a step back, not because I was afraid, but because Eammon clearly knew what not-human thing Crash was and had almost let it slip. Interesting. Nor did I fancy a poke in the shoulder. “You do not need to owe him ten percent of your bounty. The weapons are good, but they’re not worth that. He took advantage of you.”

I opened my mouth to say, “He can take advantage of me anytime,” but was yanked away by Luke, who pushed me toward Sarge. Luke was shaking so hard I wasn’t sure how he was even still standing.

“I can’t spar with him,” he said.

And that was the end of my conversation with Eammon and the start of my werewolf obedience lessons with Luke. “He’s just a big dog. So, don’t make eye contact unless you want to challenge him, use a firm voice, don’t turn and run.” I rattled through some dog-training basics. “And when he’s bad, use a choke collar.” I grinned and Sarge did not.

Neither did Luke. “How do I get close enough to get a choke collar on a werewolf?”

I grinned at Luke and pushed him forward. “Offer him a treat.”

* * *

That first week, I spent my evenings reading through the book I’d spent so much of my money on. Reading through Gran’s handwriting, remembering slowly the things she’d taught me when I was a child. Which shadows I should fear, and which I should befriend.

Jinx was in there as a potential friend and sometime ally. Oops. I snorted when I found a particularly interesting passage about the trickster. “Loves Charlotte’s Web, does she?”