On a Razor's Edge (Darkness #3)(25)

Rodge wheezed harder as I worked on unraveling the spell.

“Sorry—I thought you were going to hit her,” I squeaked.

“What’d she do?” one of the rescue party asked, standing just where the linoleum of the dining room changed into tile of the kitchen.

The spell peeled away. Rodge took a huge, lung-filling breath, leaning forward against the island.

“She got him with a spell, obviously.” The girl speared a piece of roast beef with a fork and hauled it onto her plate. “You guys better clean up that mess before the Alpha comes in here.”

Rodge shot me a glare. With wooden movements, he dropped his plate, miraculously unscathed, into the dishwasher.

As he moved away, leaving his two comrades to clean up their mess, the girl titled her head toward the food spread out on the counter. “Help yourself. I’m Ann, by the way. The one with the mullet over there is Pete.”

The guy on his hands and knees, wiping up spilled food, glanced up. “It’s not a mullet. I just haven’t had time to get to the barber.”

“Uh huh. And the other one is John.”

A man with bushy eyebrows and a receding hairline said, “Hi.” He jerked his head toward Pete. “It is a mullet, isn’t it?”

Pete straightened up with a pained expression. “The back just grows faster than the sides. I can’t help if that every time I change my hair gets a weird urge to Rapunzel down my back.”

“Anyway, don’t worry about Rodge,” Ann continued, laughing. “Being a shape changer goes right to his head. Thinks he’s invincible or something. Isn’t that right, guys? You all think you’re God’s gift.”

John huffed, a smile tweaking his lips. “You’re one to talk. Wasn’t it you that challenged the Alpha right after you changed?”

Ann’s face went crimson, but she smiled at me. “I totally did. I just felt so…strong! How about you? Do you get stronger with the magic?”

The guys paused, staring at me.

Still tingly from the scene a couple moments ago, and a little shocked that Rodge didn’t try to throw me through a window, I carefully picked up a plate with a shaking hand. “No, I didn’t get any stronger. And, as you apparently know, I don’t really have a firm control over my magic.”

Ann waved my comment away as she headed toward the table. Pete said, “It took me a few years to have a firm grip on changing. You can’t just learn everything right away. It takes a while. You have that vampire-looking-dude to help you out, though, right?”

I giggled. I couldn’t help myself. “He does look like a vampire, doesn’t he?”

“I thought the myths were true when I first saw him,” Ann admitted, cutting her meat. “What’s with the staring?”

“I know, right?” I laughed as I moved toward the table with my plate. “Drives me crazy. But he knows what he’s doing.”

Pete leaned against the door frame. “Always helps to have a good teacher. Listen to that guy and you’ll have all this down lickety-split. Well, nice to meet you, Sasha. See ya later.”

“See ya.” John gave a salute as he followed Pete out the room.

“They’re friendly,” I said before I shoveled some mashed potatoes into my mouth. Constantly working with magic, and the energy drain that went with it, had me famished.

“Yeah, everyone here is pretty cool. We’re family. Changing for the first time is really scary. It hurts, itʼs foreign, you turn into a thing out of story books, and you think you’re going to die. I freaked out for the first year. Didn’t ever want to change. Tim coached me through it.”

“He’s a good leader, then?”

Ann nodded adamantly. “He’s the backbone of this whole outfit. That guy bleeds for the pack. He’d do anything for any one of us. A lot of us would be running around wild, terrified and getting dead if he didn’t create the structure we have now. Yeah, it’s good here. I’m used to what I am, now, but at first…” She shook her head. “It was a hard first year.”

I took a steadying breath. “I’m still in that first year.”

Ann leaned against the table, surveying me. “You don’t really fit in, huh? I mean, you’re human, so that’s gotta be weird, right? Hanging out with a bunch of giant dudes with perpetual boners…”

I choked out a laugh, spraying food. I raked the back of my hand across my face. “Don’t do that when I’m eating!”

She chuckled and cut off a bit of her meat. “What? Spread my hilariousness around?”

“Yes, exactly.” I sobered. “And yes, it’s a little…lonely. Where I’m at.”

She beamed. “Was lonely. We aren’t exactly the same, I guess, but we both started out human, and we both had to get used to what we’ve become, right? So, now you got a partner in crime. Which is great, because I have a great idea for a practical joke, and I can’t think of anyone that would hate it more than that surly bodyguard of yours.”

Excited laughter bubbled out of my chest. “I’m in.”

“Where is he by the way?” Ann glanced at the door.

“I gave him the slip. He’ll be around soon. He’s pretty good at tracking me down, unfortunately.”