“Why not?”

“I’d be a disgrace.”

“You’d be alive.”

My blood ran cold. “I’m not the most dominant wolf, and until Donovan and I have our ceremony my position won’t be secure. If his pack wants me gone, they can probably make it happen. Running from a challenge would only speed that up.” And it scared me how easy it might be.

“Donovan will try to protect you, but he can’t see all the threats. You have to look for the truth.”

Look for the truth? What was she talking about now? “What do you know?”

“I can’t.”

I nodded. Cosette was under some crazy restrictions. I knew she’d tell me more if she could. “Either way, I’m glad to have some insurance. This was really thoughtful of you,” I said instead of thanking her.

“I hope you never need it.”

“Me, too.”

I prayed she was wrong. Fighting to join a pack that didn’t want me seemed like a worst-case scenario. But it was Donovan’s pack. If I wanted to be his mate—and I did—then I had to do what I had to do.

Luckily, there was no hurry to head straight to Ireland. Donovan hadn’t agreed to a date for our Full Moon Ceremony, and until then I was still officially part of the Wayfarer pack and a satellite member of the St. Ailbe’s pack. That was more than enough for now. I was cool with avoiding Europe altogether if things were bad over there.

Since I couldn’t say thanks, I did the next best thing. As we walked into the Nordstrom store, I waved around the shoe department. “Whatever you want, it’s on me.”

Cosette grinned. “I’ll take you up on that. I’ve been eyeing a pair of Louboutin cage sandals that are to die for.”

Good thing I still had my father’s credit card. “God. Why haven’t we gone shopping together before?”

“Because we were hunting a psychotic witch. But I knew from your stash of magazines that this would be a true pleasure.”

I cracked my knuckles. “Let’s do some damage.”

Two hours later, shoe boxes were piled around us. We were making a mess, but I didn’t care. I had a few pairs I was for sure getting, and a couple of maybes. I was trying on a pair of Kate Spade booties that I was dying over. “What do you think?”

Cosette glanced up from a pile of K. Jacques. “Do they have a zip?”

“No.” They had laces with a buckle around the ankle, but no hidden zip.

“How quickly can you get out of them?”

“What?”

“If you needed to shift?”

That was a fantastic point. I’d never had to think about shifting in random scenarios. At least not until Luciana. Now, with all the problems we’d had… I tried toeing off a shoe, but it didn’t work. I had to unbuckle and then pull them off. “This is so sad.”

Cosette walked off and came back with another pair. “These. Get these.”