I clear my throat and try to hold it together. I can’t smell what they smell. But I know damn well what a change in her scent means.
Mara looks over at me. Her face crumples and she starts to whimper. Her tail is moving behind her in restless arcs and she shakes her head fast, her amber eyes locked on mine.
“No,” she says. “I haven’t noticed a change in my scent.”
“But you knew you were in the mating phase.” Sam’s voice is careful but firm. “Why risk your body when you’re preparing for pregnancy?”
Mara goes quiet. The silence fills the room and my magic sparks at my fingertips. I shake my hand and the sparks die but the anger doesn’t. I hate this. There are parts of Mara I don’t understand and it pisses me off.
“Mara.” It comes out harder than I mean it to. “Baby, answer the question.”
She looks between Sam and me. Hisses. Then she looks right at me. Her ears go alert, her tail snaps in irritation, and her face is set in something fierce and unapologetic.
“I will die for you,” she says.
Smoke curls from Sam’s ears and nose. I’m already moving from the corner.
Mara bolts. She spins on the bed and scrambles for the window. Her claws scratch at the wall and she’s hissing between words, “No, he will lock me away again,” and she’s trying to climb the goddamn wall but I grab the back of Torin’s shirt and yank her down. She hits the bed and sits, the panties Claude and Sam managed to find for her the only thing covering her besides the shirt. Her tail falls flat against the mattress.
“That’s not good, Mara,” Sam says quietly.
“I see the obvious goal here was to piss me off,” I tell her, and my magic is pressing against my skin. “And you’ve succeeded.” I point a finger at her. “Do me a favor and knock this shit off for a bit.”
Her mouth opens like she means to argue, then snaps shut.
I start to sit next to her on the bed but a voice from the hallway stops me.
“HE DID WHAT?”
There’s a light knock on the door. Sam pulls off his lab coat and drapes it across Mara’s lap. The door opens and Jacob starts to step in but my mother pushes past him, her eyes blazing.
She looks at Mara, her eyes sweeping the blood and the bandage, then swings to me and everything goes hard.
“I know you didn’t attack your sister,” she snarls.
I hold my hands up. “Ma, I can explain.”
She storms across the room and grips the back of my neck. She bends me into a headlock and pops the back of my head until my ears ring.
“How you like that?” Another pop. “Who the fuck do you think you are putting your hands on a woman?”
“Ah—Ma—damn, Ma!”
She smacks the back of my head again. “You got me fucked up, Aaron.”
“Ma, I’m sorry, Ma.”
Jacob walks over and puts his hand on her shoulder. “Angie. Enough, baby.”
She releases me and shrugs Jacob’s hand off. I straighten up and grip the back of my head, groaning.
Tiana steps through the doorway. Grinning. Smug and satisfied and enjoying every bit of this.
I glare at her but what am I going to do? I attacked my sister. I lost control. I deserve worse.
My face softens when I look at her. “I’m sorry, Tiana. I lost control.”
She holds up her hand. Fully healed. “Damn right you did.” She crosses her arms. “I’m not one to throw hands, especially at you. You’re my brother.” Her eyes narrow. “Now tell us exactly what the hell is going on with you.”
