Page 29 of Gold & Shadow

She blinked, her eyes coming back into focus and a blush rising in her cheeks. “I can’t help it when you project them,” she argued evenly, crossing her arms. “Hewas thinking very vividly about one that youdefinitelydon’t want me repeating.”

“Mora!” I hissed, flushing as crimson as my sister. Orson, to his credit, grinned in an unapologetically fearsome way. “That was private.”

“What?” Calli asked, bouncing on the balls of her feat. “What’s private?”

“That’s enough,” Izzy sighed, her cheeks also slightly pink at Mora’s suggestive tone. “All sisters younger than Lis, go back in the house thisinstant.”

My three younger sisters all complained loudly at this edict, but were convinced by Lena’s threat to make them all dream of spiders for a week if they didn’t go. Thunder rumbled ominously outside, a sure sign of Calli’s displeasure.

“So,” Izzy said, turning back to us still holding the rolling pin. Lena perched on a log, brushing off the snow before looking at me thoughtfully. “Explain.”

I flushed. “It turns out that we are…or we might be…sort of…mates,” I said, gritting my teeth as both of my sisters’ brows shot up. “It’s a shifter thing.”

“Mates,” Izzy echoed, looking between us. “How long exactly have you known each other?”

“Three days,” Orson said as if this meant nothing. “But my personal feelings for Lis have nothing to do with this. Think of me as any other client.”

“A client who is sleeping with our sister?” Izzy asked.

Orson made a choking sound, and I blushed as I retorted, “That is none of your business.”

“It is if you expect our help,” Izzy said, looking between us. “You used protection, I hope?”

“Do you love him?” Lena asked at the same time.

“Gods, kill me now,” I groaned, dropping my face in my hands as I leaned against Orson for support.

Orson cleared his throat, butting my shoulder with his nose in a comforting way. His voice was calm, but firm, his dominating toneturned on Izzy. “My feelings, and those of your sister, are unrelated to my financial offer. I have the means, and you have a skill set I need to retrieve my amulet. What Lis and I decide to do beyond that will not involve your opinions, although I would like to be a shifted male when I do them, rather than a bear.”

Izzy gaped at this, and I blushed even more crimson, but Lena smiled, giving me an approving nod. “I like him.”

“Gods above,” Izzy sighed, as if she had no patience for romance. “What exactly do you need from us, Lis?”

My heart leapt. They were going to help us.

“We have some supplies,” I said, gesturing to the pack. “But taking on Victor will require taking down his guards. I was hoping that Sera and Mora might help.”

“You realize that none of us will be able to work for Victor after this?” Izzy pointed out. Lena frowned. She hated working for Victor and crime in general, but she hated seeing her sisters go hungry more.

“We will find other clients,” I promised, grateful for Orson’s warm presence at my back. “Wehaveother clients.”

“Not clients who pay like Victor does,” Izzy pointed out. She didn’t love working for Victor either—none of us really did—but he did pay the best rate of any of our other clients, and he almost always had work for one of us.

“I won’t let you starve,” Orson rumbled, the suggestion seeming to irritate him. “You won’t miss his employment.”

Izzy pursed her lips and looked at Lena, my two older sisters engaging in a rapid silent argument before Izzy threw up her hands.

“Fine,” she relented, pointing an accusing finger at Orson. “But if anything happens toanyof my sisters,“ she threatened, her hair seeming to float behind her in an ethereal wind, “I willpersonallyskin you and turn you into a rug.”

She strode back into the house, brandishing her rolling pin at my younger sisters, who had crept back down the stairs to eavesdrop at the front door.

Lena hopped off the log. “Don’t mind Izzy,” she said, giving me a hug, and then—to his great surprise—Orson. “She threatens because she cares.”

“I don’t plan to cross her,” Orson growled.

Lena smiled. “Good. I’ll start dinner,” she offered, gliding toward the door. “Oh,” she turned, fixing a sweet, gentle smile on us. “And if you hurt my little sister, I’ll haunt your nightmares for eternity.”

Chapter 15