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My nose provided no further evidence of the fur’s location. It was as if the pelt had been everywhere and nowhere. I nudged Bastion, but he was too deep in his pain to give us the direction only he could offer. His twin, on the other hand, was painfully alert.
Justice grabbed my ruff, shaking me as if he intended to knock the fur right off my back. “Shift.”
I struggled for only a second before I obeyed him, Justice’s body shielding my discarded pelt from Luke’s view. Huddling in naked humanity, an air-conditioning vent blew a frigid breeze up one leg. Then I warmed as Luke stepped around my cousin to block the flow of air.
“Leave her alone,” Luke growled, even though Justice had gotten what he wanted and was no longer shaking me. In that moment, Luke was all skinless. Wolf fangs and claws were barely hidden beneath smooth human skin.
For his part, Justice snorted while snatching my pelt. Had Luke noticed its abrupt reappearance? I didn’t think so.
The flutter of my stomach drew my attention away from misdirection. My pelt landed atop Bastion. I braced for pain, hating the fact that I felt none.
Either the few minutes in wolf form hadn’t been enough to charge my fur, or Bastion was failing so rapidly that the pelt no longer helped him. I squeezed my eyes shut, rubbing my face with one hand.
And Luke must have decided I needed clothes more than protection. Because a t-shirt slid over my head as my eyes opened. I fingered the alligator at the breast.
“This is Clarence’s.”
Luke’s eyes crinkled. “He has dozens. Do you really think he’ll notice?”
I wanted to answer, but it was all I could do to remain upright. My legs had turned strangely liquid. Not because my pelt cradled my favorite cousin. That would have been too much to ask for. No, my body was rebelling due to exhaustion and lack of sleep.
My butt hit the floor—sticky, gross—just as Justice swore and kicked the bed. “It’s not working. You need to get your lazy ass up and....”
I only realized my eyes had drifted shut when my cousin went silent. I struggled free of exhaustion, turned...and found Luke and Justice facing each other like posturing wolves.
***
“DON’T SPEAK TO HER that way,” Luke growled.
“Don’t stick your nose in where it doesn’t belong.”
Any second now, someone would reach out and shove the other. Any second now, this would descend into a no-holds-barred brawl.
I tried to rise, but my muscles refused to tighten. I must have squeaked or whined or something. Because Luke was beside me. Kneeling, his eyes both soothed and warmed me.
“When was the last time you slept?”
“Yesterday?” I shook my head. No, it was now long after midnight. “Day before yesterday.”
For a split second, Luke’s anger was so hot it seared my body. Then he pulled the rage inward. Covered his anger with strengthening ice as he returned to his feet and focused on my cousin instead.
“You need to let her rest.”
“Bastion will die....”
I found enough energy to grunt out a protest. Now wasn’t the time to share our identities with one of the skinless. Thankfully, Justice fell silent before more was revealed.
Luke was no idiot, but he let the opening pass. “Whatever you’re hiding, Honor has nothing to give now. She’s empty. She has to rest.”
Justice’s snort indicated reluctant acceptance. “Sure, I’ll leave her here in the lap of luxury while I take my twin away to vomit and shiver in a parking lot.”
“You have nowhere to sleep?” The thread of anger in Luke’s voice was no longer aimed at Justice. It appeared to be aimed at the universe. Still, I didn’t like the way he clenched both fists.
“It’s fine.” I pulled myself up, using the bureau to steady myself. “If I cuddle up with Bastion lupine, I can rest and he might get some strength out of it. I can run in an hour. Two at the most.”
There. That suggested my wolf form was boosting Bastion’s energy. Nothing I’d said implicated my pelt.
Both men nodded, but Luke was the one who took action. “Here.” Keys in his hand. Glistening, promising. “Go to my apartment. I’m not using it.” He rattled off a nearby address.
I opened my mouth, and Luke solved the other obvious problem before I even had time to voice it. “I’ll take care of Grace along with Clarence,” he promised. Then, turning his attention to Justice: “You will treat Honor with respect.”
My eyes were too watery to be sure of it, but something powerful seemed to pass between the two men. At last, Justice nodded. Gathered his twin in his arms like a lover. Nudged me with one toe.
“Come on.”
***
IN THE END, JUSTICE had to carry Bastion and me one at a time up to Luke’s bedroom. Because the so-called apartment was really a duplex, two well-furnished stories with the sleeping quarters at the top of the stairs.
This close, Justice smelled like his father, and I found myself snuggling into his shoulder. But the rose-tinted glasses shattered as he dropped me onto the bed rather than setting me down.
“Shift before you sleep,” he demanded.
I obeyed him, wriggling out of Clarence’s polo and into my pelt. I was asleep the moment my damp nose found safety underneath Bastion’s chin.
Hours later, I woke to voices, cordial but stilted. “How’s Bastion?” That was Luke, true concern in his question.
“No better.” Justice was scangry—that combination of terror and rage that left his words clipped and terse. “Honor needs to run. Soon. We have sixty hours remaining.”
Luke didn’t ask how my cousin knew the timeline of Bastion’s illness. Perhaps they’d already discussed that. Whatever the reason, he instead told Justice where he could find various family members. Clarence was undergoing chemo at the hospital with Grace as his companion. Mr. Smythewhite was at work. Mrs. Smythewhite was getting her nails done.
This was a changing of the guards. Or at least so I gathered when Luke asked: “Can Bastion be left alone?”
I could almost see Justice shrugging. “Won’t make any difference. He doesn’t even know if I’m present now.”
Up to this point, I’d been drifting in that half-sleep, half-awake zone where nothing seemed important. But the pain in my cousin’s voice pushed me out of the bed.
I had fingers instead of paws, I noted. My pelt had crept away from me while I was resting. Had spread itself across Bastion. Unfortunately, the effort had done exactly no good.
Because Justice was right. Bastion was breathing but showed no sign of noticing my presence. Eyes twitched beneath their lids. His cheeks were red and flushed, his breath had syncopated into breathy pants.
It was painful to look at him, but the solution lay just outside the window. Trees, starting in the backyard and extending so deep the ground grew black beneath them. Luke had chosen his den wisely. I slung the pelt around my shoulders, wishing the resulting surge of strength would energize my cousin.
It didn’t. Even when I pressed my damp lupine nose against Bastion’s dangling hand, his fingers didn’t curl up in protest. The house was silent as I turned away and padded down the stairs.
There, Luke waited alone by the back door. He cocked his head, asking a question without words as if he was already lupine.
Could he run with me?
I swallowed back memories sweet and sour. Nodded once. Then fled to the trees, leaving Luke to shift and follow if he so desired.