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Ilianna stopped in front of me and undid the bottle’s cap. Sage and a peculiar sweetish smell that vaguely reminded me of licorice stung the air.
“Why was Ilianna attacked?” Tao asked as she dabbed some of the antiseptic onto the cloth and began to wipe my throat. It stung like a bitch and I had to resist the urge to jerk away. “And if you were aware of the impending attack, why didn’t you just call and tell her not to leave the house?”
“I tried, but I couldn’t get through.”
Ilianna grimaced, her gaze on my neck as she continued to wipe it with the cream. “I turned the phone off. Mom’s been hassling me to have dinner with them again.”
Tao snorted. “Another prospective stallion in the offering, I gather?”
“I guess.” She shrugged—like it wasn’t the huge hassle we all knew it was.
“You should tell them, Ilianna,” he said gently. “They love you. They’ll understand.”
It was Ilianna’s turn to snort. “All my life I’ve heard my father go on and on about how he looks forward to having lots of little foals under his feet once we come of age. And now that Kandra can’t—”
She stopped, but not before a flash of guilt ran across Tao’s expression.
“I can’t disappoint them,” Ilianna said eventually.
She couldn’t give them children, either. Not the way they expected her to—by allowing herself to be claimed and branded by a stallion and producing his offspring. And with Mirri beginning to make noises about meeting her family, the secret would be out sooner rather than later.
I shared a glance with Tao. He shrugged and grimaced. We’d both tried convincing her to out herself to her parents for years, but to little avail. Obviously, the status quo wasn’t going to change anytime soon.
Ilianna finished wiping my neck, then stepped back. “You’ll need to use this after every shower, just to ensure it doesn’t get infected. You never know what sort of germs men like that are carrying.”
A smile curved Tao’s lips, bringing his dimples to full bloom. “I think the germs they were carrying would have been the last thing on her mind at the time.”
“I guess.” She put the lotion on the table, then propped her butt besides Tao’s. “So, explain.”
I sipped some coffee and winced a little. After all these years, you’d think Tao would remember I liked my coffee sweet. The sweeter the better.
He must have seen my grimace, because he pushed away from the table with a grin and loped over to the kitchen, fetching the sugar bowl and bringing it back. He held it while I scooped three spoonfuls in, then shoved it on the table.
“It’s a long story,” I said as I stirred in the sugar.
“It’s not going to get any shorter unless you start talking,” Tao commented, the dimples flashing again.
So once again I repeated the tale of the day, from the reaper’s appearance to the attack in the parking lot, then my discussion with Riley, and finally my mad dash through traffic to get to Ilianna.
She frowned once I’d finished. “But how did they even know I’d be heading toward Mike’s office?”
“Scanner, no doubt,” Tao said. “I’ll contact Stane and see if he can grab us some scramblers. Until then, we’d better stay off our phones.”
Stane Neale was Tao’s cousin, a wolf who ran a small electronics business down in Clifton Hill. He was also something of a wiz when it came to computers—which just might come in handy if I needed information. Uncle Rhoan, as much as I loved him, obviously wasn’t about to let me investigate this, but it wasn’t in me to sit back and let others solve my problems.
Although that would obviously be the wise thing to do.
“They also placed a tracker on my bike, so it’ll be worth checking your cars before going anywhere.”
Ilianna snorted. “Like me checking is going to do any good. I wouldn’t know a tracking device if it slapped me in the face.”
I grinned. “I’ll do it. In the meantime, you’d better start preparing some repelling potions. You just might need them.”
“I always carry a bottle or two when I’m out. I just didn’t get the chance to use them this time, because you were screaming at me to run.” She crossed her arms and studied me with concern. “What are you going to do?”
“Well, first off I have a date—”
“Date?” Tao said, surprise evident in his expression. “Wasn’t it yesterday you were moaning about the dearth of eligible men in your life?”
