Kisten laughed, and in front of her computer, Ivy froze. By her suddenly closed expression, I realized that what I had said could also be applied to her and myself. I tried to catch her gaze, but she wouldn’t look up, fiddling with the same rivet on her boot. From the corner of my sight Jenks’s wings drooped as he watched us.

Oblivious, David stared at the statue. “Okay,” he said, not reaching for it. “I’ll … I’ll take it, but it’s yours.” His brown eyes were wide and his shoulders were tense. “It’s not mine.”

“Deal.” Pleased to have gotten rid of it, I took a happy breath. Jenks, too, puffed out his air. Matalina hadn’t been happy with it being in their living room. It was sort of like bringing a marlin home from vacation. Or maybe a moose head.

The pizza had a bubble starting to rise, and Kisten opened the oven to stick a toothpick through the dough to release the hot air under it. The odor of tomato sauce and pepperoni billowed out, the scent of security and contentment. My tension eased, and David picked the focus up.

“I, ah, I think I’ll take this home before I finish my appointments,” he said, hefting it. “It feels … Damn, I could do anything with it.”

Ivy put her feet on the floor and stood. “Just don’t go starting a war,” she grumbled, heading out to the hall. “I’ve got a box you can put that in.”

David set it back on the table. “Thanks.” Face creasing in worry, he edged it closer in a show of possession—not greed, but of protection. A smile came over Kisten as he saw it too.

“You, ah, sure the vampires won’t be after it?” the small man said, and Kisten pulled out a chair and sat in it backward.

“No one knows you have it, and as long as you don’t start rallying the Weres to you, they won’t,” he said, draping his arms over the top of his chair. “The only one that might know about it would be Piscary.” He glanced at the empty hallway. “By way of Ivy,” he said softly. “But she’s very closed with her thoughts. He would have to dig for it.” Kisten’s look went worried. “He doesn’t have any reason to think it’s surfaced, but word gets around.”

David put his hands into his pockets. “Maybe I should hide it in my cat box.”

“You have a cat?” I asked. “I’d put you as a dog person.”

His gaze darted over the kitchen when Ivy came in and put a small cardboard box on the table. Jenks landed on it and started tugging at the tape holding it. “It belonged to an old girlfriend,” David said. “You want it?”

Ivy went to flick Jenks away to open the box herself, then changed her mind. “No,” she said as she sat and forced her hands into her lap. “Do you want ours?”

“Hey!” Jenks shouted as the tape gave way and he flew back from the momentum. “Rex is my cat. Stop trying to give her away.”