Page 53 of Bent Out of Shade
She glanced at her paw. “Were you stealing my ring?”
“No.” I bopped her on the leg I’d just petted, hissing when she sliced my finger. I sucked it into my mouth and made a face because blood tasted gross.
“Stealing bad.” I explained in detail how I could have borrowed it, but I wouldn’t do that.
Her frown grew deeper and deeper. “Basta. You aren’t making any sense. Whatever is wrong with you, stop it now.”
There was so much bristly irritation packed into her exquisitely carved body that I giggled.
“Miriam!” She headbutted me in the chest. “You must help.”
“Ow. You meanie.”
She cursed in Italian. “Vamps are headed for some teenagers. Four blocks south. Keep them from being fed on.”
I spun around. “Never eat shredded wheat.”
“What are you doing?” Her eyes practically bugged out of her head, and I had to remind myself not to laugh.
The scowly face I made felt funny, though, so I made it again. “Finding south. North, east, south, west.” I pointed in the direction that south was.
Growling, she nipped my shirt and repositioned me. “Phone Laurent to help. You are useless.”
I held up the phone. “Will you give me the ring if I do? Just to borrow.” I wagged my finger in her face, but I got distracted by the tracers coming off it and forgot what else I meant to say.
“No.” She jumped back like I’d wrestle her for it.
“That’s okay. Your ring, your choice. Zev’s going to kill me, and I’ll never know who murdered my parents, but I’ll find another way to deal with the shifter.”
Giulia growled. “You cannot guilt me.”
I blinked. Did I use my inside voice outside?
“Yes! And you did it again. Call Laur—no, there’s no time.” She lowered herself onto her belly again. “Get on my back and hold on.”
She wanted to give me a piggyback ride? Fun. I straddled the hundred and fifty pounds of literal rock-hard muscle.
“Omph. You’re heavy.”
Not so fun.
Giulia leapt into the air, soaring up to the top of the condo tower.
Shrieking, I flung my arms around her neck and held on for dear life, my eyes screwed tight. Wind streamed across my face.
“You. Choking.” She smacked me with a paw.
I loosened my hold a fraction of an inch.
She thudded onto the roof, but her paws had barely touched down before she launched herself again, nimbly hopping along the rooftops, until with a faster rush of air on my feet, she landed on something spongy.
I cracked an eye open. We were on the grass of David Lam Park, which stretched along the waterfront, mere blocks away from Giulia’s perch.
She threw me off and sprinted toward two boys with gelled poufy hair. Their baby-faced teen looks didn’t mean shit in terms of age, but the trio of adolescent girls they’d zeroed in on, talking on the playground swings, wouldn’t know that.
I jogged after the gargoyle, shivering at the cold breeze coming off the water and keeping other parkgoers away. There weren’t any cyclists on the seawall or couples taking selfies in the park itself. Even the boats in False Creek quietly bobbed against their anchors.
The girls hadn’t noticed Giulia, but the boys had. They laughed as she pulled up in front of them.
