“Mona—” Andrea starts, but Grayson cuts her off.
“Your human is showing again,” he says to me.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re acting like you’re human. You keep forgetting. We are shifters. This is how we operate. You need to calm down.”
Andrea sucks in a breath, then lets out a low whistle.
“Calm down?” My chest puffs up with air. I inhale, feeling my nostrils flare. Even his lovely cinnamon scent isn’t enough to quell the fire. “Calmdown?” I repeat.
He winces. “It’s not a big deal, is all I’m saying.”
“How can locking up an innocent woman not be a big deal? You already punished her enough, don’t you think? What happened before, that was because she thought I was working with the witches. Guess what, Grayson! I was! I mean, not on purpose, obviously, but Andrea was right all along. I don’t understand how you can be so fucking—”
Before my tangent spirals too deep, Andrea cuts me off. “Mona, Gray’s right. We’re not human. You have to stop treating me like I am.”
I gasp. “Et tu?”
She almost succeeds in hiding her chuckle, but then her face settles into something grave.
“Mona, do you think I’m weak?”
“No, of course not—“
“Is it because I’m a woman, then?”
“What? No, of course not! Be he can’t just—“
“I am a soldier. Our Lune wouldn’t be a great leader if he didn’t treat me as equally as he did everyone else. He exiled Stance, remember? I’d have done worse than lock me up if I were him. Stop defending me, it only implies you think I’m weak.” Andrea turns to Grayson. “Lune, I’d like to resign as a lead enforcer.”
“I already fired you,” Grayson deadpans.
She continues unperturbed, “And I’d like to become Mona’s full-time bodyguard.”
“What?” I whip toward her.
“Interesting,” he says, rubbing his chin.
“No, not interesting,” I say.
Andrea and Grayson continue to have a conversation like I’m not even here. “She gets into a lot of trouble.” Andrea points to one finger as she counts off all the reasons it’s a good idea. “The witches, I assume, are still a problem?”
Grayson nods, and I try to interject, to tell them both this is a terrible idea, but they ignore me. Andrea keeps counting. “The witches seem to want her, and her alone, so she needs someone to watch her back. She also is weak and needs someone willing to punch her in the face to help her improve her fighting skills.”
“Woah, woah, woah. I don’t think—”
“I accept.”
“What?” I turn on Grayson. “What happened to,she’s a traitor?”
“You made your case. And I trust you, Mona. You were absolutely right. So was Andrea, though. I’m not sorry I locked her up, I did what I thought was necessary when we were under attack. But I wouldn’t have harmed her unnecessarily, and not without proof. You proved I was in the wrong, so she is now free to leave. And Andrea has made excellent points about you needing a bodyguard. A more consistent one than the enforcers rotating on duty.”
He crosses the room and sets the key back on the shelf. “Wait until morning, then you can come by and establish a schedule. Mona won’t be without Orion or me before then, though we’ll need to make a plan for the witches, so it’ll be good to have you around.”
“You guys—” I start, but neither of them is listening.
“Okay, I will be there. And thank you, Lune. I will not let you down.”
