“What a nasty little rat chaser,” Jenks said from the security of my shoulder as I wiggled my foot to keep him inside when David opened the door.

“He’s a saint in fur for putting up with that woman,” I said, wanting to pick him up and take him home. I didn’t even like dogs. Giving him a last look, I stifled my desire to pat him on the head and just shut the door.

David was eyeing me questioningly, and ignoring it, I schlumped down the stairs and to the car. I wanted to get out of here before Tom found his balls and started after me. In a bad mood, I got in David’s car, fastened my belt, and stared out the front window, waiting.

Both David and Jenks were unusually silent, hesitant almost, as they got in.

“What!” I snapped, and Jenks let a little dust slip from him to color David’s shoulder.

David shrugged, and after glancing at Jenks he said, “You okay?”

I looked at the house and saw Sampson sitting at the long window, tail still going. “No.”

The Were took a breath as he started the car up and put it into drive. “I hope he doesn’t call your bluff.”

Silently I stared at the Halloween decorations so I wouldn’t have to think.

“Uh, it was a bluff, right?” David prompted, and when Jenks’s wings hummed nervously, I put on a fake smile.

“Duh, yeah, it was a bluff,” I said, and Jenks’s wings took on a more normal translucence. But even as I busied myself with changing David’s radio from country to something a little more radical, a part of me worried it might not be.

But at least it hadn’t been Nick.

Eighteen

I held the black lace top up against me over my black T-shirt, knowing it would take that bust-enhancing charm of mine to fill it out properly and make the thicker lace land in the proper strategically placed spots. It wasn’t worth the risk of embarrassment if I had an amulet malfunction, and so I put it back on the rack, reaching instead for something more substantial. Smiling, I pulled out a silky silver-and-black top that would drape fantastically on me, falling right to the top of my hip-hugger jeans. It was a mix of casual sophistication and daring modesty that Kisten would have approved of.

Recalling his blue eyes, I held my smile, though it went decidedly melancholy as I considered the blouse. I didn’t need it. I wasn’t going anywhere fancy anytime soon.