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“Granddaughter, if you have a moment....”
I froze in the darkness, fingers on the tank of the snowmobile I’d found along with five others in the basement. The debt had spurred me into immediate action, and I’d rightly guessed that my grandmother wouldn’t bury her mansion under three feet of snow if she didn’t have ground transportation at the ready. What I hadn’t guessed was that she’d be able to find me so quickly when I slipped my leash and began exploring the residence on my own.
“Yes, Sobo?” I backed away from the vehicle and into the light of the hallway, mind buzzing through possible explanations for lurking down here in the darkness. What could I possibly say I’d been looking for other than an easy way out of her clutches? Usually adept at making up stories, I was currently drawing a blank.
“There are things you need to know, granddaughter.” Sakurako’s eyes flicked behind me once, but she spoke as if my location wasn’t suspiciously telling. Still, I sensed her restraint in the hum of kitsune power seething beneath her skin. The old woman was currently stronger than I’d ever seen her. As if summoning snowstorms revved her up rather than wearing her down.
And maybe Sakurako’s skills included mind reading, because she went on to confirm my analysis of her strength. “You’ve been dabbling in the barest edges of kitsune power, granddaughter. Blood magic is minor and fleeting. I can show you how to harvest energy from the adoration of your honor guard and even from the sky.”
There it was, out in the open. For days she’d been dancing around this subject and I was suddenly sick of fending off advances without knowing for sure what we were talking about.
So I stepped in a little closer, accepting the direct path. “Stop beating around the bush, Sakurako. What exactly do you want from me?”
My grandmother was small and alone there in the basement, with the brittle bones and sagging skin of old age. But her words were powerful as she told me: “I want you to live here, be my apprentice, accept your honor guard, and take over this lineage after I’m gone.”
For the last few days, some rainbows-and-kittens part of me had insisted I’d be able to maintain a relationship with my grandmother without falling into her world completely. But there was too much at stake now to dream of impossibilities. So I countered: “If I won’t?”
“If you won’t, then I’ll be forced to select another heiress.”
Well, that didn’t sound so bad. Money and properties were irrelevant. For the first time all day, my shoulders relaxed away from my ears...too soon, as I discovered when my grandmother continued to speak.
“I’ve been the epitome of patience, granddaughter. But the time has come for you to make a choice. Do you want to be my apprentice, or would you rather I trained your sister instead?”
***
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE with Kira?” Despite the fact that weapons were of little use against magic, my sword was at the old woman’s throat as soon as she’d spoken.
Unfortunately, Sakurako reacted just as quickly. She twitched her fingers ever so slightly...then my sword began dissolving into pure magic that seeped like lotion into her skin.
Yelping, I yanked back all that remained to me, hiding my star ball inside my body where it couldn’t be stolen. But I’d lost a third of my energy already, the absence making my legs shake so badly they threatened to drop me onto my face.
Sakurako wasn’t just powerful...she was unbeatable. A supervillain laughing at the weakness of mere mortals as she soared above us with cape streaming in the wind.
Still, I stood up to the old woman, measuring the distance between us carefully. She was, when it came right down to it, small and relatively feeble. It was possible I could overpower her with my bare hands alone....
“Kira is perfectly safe,” Sakurako answered before I’d decided whether it was worth trying to strangle one of my two remaining relatives in order to save the other one. “And she will remain safe, along with your pet werewolves, while you prove your worth and goodwill. Now come.”
Without waiting for an answer, she turned her back on me and began striding toward the staircase that led back to the living area above us. And I had no choice but to trot after her, realizing as I did so that yesterday’s twenty-four-hour oath must have recently lapsed.
That explained why the kid gloves had come off my grandmother. But it also gave me an inkling of a solution....
Unfortunately, Ransom’s debt still tugged at my stomach, making it difficult to ascend behind Sakurako rather than returning to the basement and leaving this mansion behind me. Only the fact that I didn’t actually know how to drive a snowmobile prevented the Atwood werewolf’s demand from determining my immediate future.
So...maybe if I could pin my grandmother down to a similar promise, I could ensure my friends didn’t suffer for my mistakes. Of course, I’d have to give something to get something. Good thing I had a bargaining chip on hand.
“Oyo.” The name of the black-furred fox Sakurako had demanded I hand over made the old woman pause. She turned to face me from two steps higher, leaving us standing eye to eye.
“You say her name as if you know her.” So my grandmother had only been guessing earlier when she’d asked for the black fox who’d showed up terrified at my party. Well, I was only guessing now as I pieced together information that would allow me to break my oath to someone I’d promised to protect.
“She was your original heir, wasn’t she?” I ascended one step until I was even closer to my grandmother, looking down now in order to meet her eyes. “You trained her to use affection to harvest magic. Then, what, you heard about me and Kira and you tossed her aside?”
“I didn’t toss anyone. The ungrateful wench left me.”
“Left you and followed the breadcrumbs you’d uncovered to Atwood clan central. No wonder my pack started to crumble as soon as she arrived.”
Because Gunner was an excellent alpha. He would never have let so many resentments smolder beneath the surface, just waiting to flare up into fur-form fights.
No, it was Oyo’s presence that had been the instigating factor. Her presence...and maybe magic she’d used on the sly?
Either way, I could feel my promise to the black-furred kitsune sloughing off as I prepared to make Sakurako an offer I hoped she couldn’t refuse. I’d need proof that my guesses held water, but if Oyo was the one responsible for killing Edward....
“I’ll bring you Oyo. You can breed her to your harem, end up with two young kitsunes to raise as you wish.” The offer was horrendous—I was signing Oyo’s death warrant and setting up her children for a lifetime of servitude...the same sort of servitude I would also be forced to accept.
“Along with Oyo, I’ll obey you, do whatever you ask of me....” I swallowed, hating the fact that my voice cracked as I sealed my fate.
“And in exchange, granddaughter?”
“In exchange, you’ll relinquish Kira, Elle, and Curly. You’ll return them to their home and never contact them or any other werewolves ever again.”