Free Blood Promise (A SkinWalker Novel #4) (A DarkWorld SkinWalker Novel) by T.G. Ayer

shoulder but she'd learned soon enough that I wasn't the judgmental type. Having her at my side in a fight had taken getting used to but now I used her skills to my advantage.
    And she'd become more than just a sidekick.
    I waited until she caught up with me at the front door. Then I blocked her exit. "Talk."
    Lily gave the way out a longing glance over my shoulder. Then her shoulders sagged. "Oh, all right. Anjelo's been in a mood since we got back from Wrythiin."
    "Mood?" I prompted, hoping I wasn't going to have to pull every detail out of her like some deranged dentist.
    "Yeah. I think he's taking it bad. You know, the whole how-could-I-have-trusted-Illyria song. You'd think he had feelings for the bitch."
    That's more like it.
    I shook my head. "I don't think it's that, and nor do you."
    She shrugged. "Maybe. Yeah, okay. But she played him and he risked your mom's life with his carelessness. That's more or less what he believes."
    With a sigh, I set my hands on my hips. "I should have gone to talk to him but I've been crazy busy with all the hell that's breaking loose. It didn't cross my mind he'd be taking it this hard."  
    "Not your fault."
    "It's not his either and it's time he faced it."
    "I've tried to make him face it," Lily said. "Believe me, I've tried. But it's like he can't hear me."
    I snorted. "Yeah, that's usually the case with the people we care about the most. We don't listen when they talk because we take them and their opinions for granted."
    Lily's mouth turned down. "You think he still cares?"
    So that's what was really going on.
    "Lily," I admonished as I walked toward her. I held onto her shoulders, tipping my head to meet her gaze. "You know he cares. His feelings haven't changed. He's just taking longer than most to adjust. Guilt is a difficult burden to bear."
    She nodded, sniffed, shifted her gaze. Anjelo wasn't the only one taking it hard.
    "Look. If I makes you feel better, I'll go talk to him after I see Kira." I spoke softly, hoping she wouldn't take it the wrong away.
    She turned to face me, her eyes shining. "Yes. That's probably the best thing. He'll have no choice but to listen to our Alpha, right?"
    Their Alpha.
    I'd forgotten that Anjelo had declared me his alpha before he'd ended up being pulled into the wraith plane. Now it looks like Lily had taken up the same standard. It probably wasn't legal to acknowledge an alternate alpha and I wasn't sure how I felt about it since it meant he was divesting himself of my father as his pack leader. Too late now.
    "Right," I said. "No choice. Let's go."
    I slung my messenger bag over my shoulder and headed out of the apartment and toward the stairs, a pensive Lily in tow.  
    No choice.
    Heading for the stairs, I wondered when I'd grown up and chosen to stop using the rickety fire-escape at the back of the building?  
    Sure, it had always been untrustworthy and its rusty bolts had had me clinging on to both walls and guts a few times as I teetered above the street.
    Could that need for excitement, for the rush of death defying stupidity, have had something to do with my panther's needs? Since I'd chosen to give her more freedom, time to run as a cat, perhaps I no longer required the rush of adrenaline that came with choosing to risk becoming a chalk outline on the pavement below.
    Who knew?
    But even that rusty-lattice web of doom was better than the Birdcage. I could deal with troubled teens and a certain death talker B-word, but nothing--not even imminent death--would get me to choose that clunking monstrosity over the stairs.

CHAPTER 14

    I DIDN ' T HAVE A CAR , so we'd run to the meeting.
    What was the point of a walker owning a vehicle anyway, when they run like the wind?
    Oh yeah, for times when you want to appear cool, calm and collected instead of looking like you'd been hit by a windstorm.
    I should have though this through, but it was a little late now.
    The street outside my apartment was deserted enough but we made for the back