Page 44 of Road To Runes

"Because you're afraid he might tell Priya and she'll yell at you?" Penny asked. "Actually, I think you deserve it."

"If you want to yell at me Penny, do it. Make my day."

Penny scowled at me and I grinned back. No matter how hard she tried to get angry, she just came off cute. Although I had never met anyone who could guilt someone the way Penny could. It was an acceptable price to pay for watching her lose her crap at me.

"We are going to talk about this when we get back," she muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

And I would enjoy it thoroughly. Not just because she would no doubt have an overdue outburst to release some of the pressure she'd been holding in since she left home, but so I could tell her what I had been up to. I didn't enjoy keeping things from Penny and having an excuse to let her in on my secret.

I worried that Edward would notice Penny was out of sorts on the drive home, but the moment he shot her his heart-melting smile, all the tension fell away from her. I left them to it, staring out the back window as they nattered in the front. A part of me wondered if Asher had returned home or if he would continue to avoid me. Whether he liked it or not, we needed to have a serious talk ourselves.

When we arrived back at the house, the moment I kicked off my shoes, I stuck my head through the kitchen doorway. Nobody was in there. Before Penny could commandeer me, I hurried upstairs to find Asher's door partially open. Without bothering to knock, I threw it open.

Asher jumped up from where he sat on the edge of the bed, poised with his fists up. Oh good, he was as ready for a fight as I was. But all my prepared thoughts as I readied myself to argue with Asher scrambled themselves into a horrifying mess as I watched Hecate fall off the bed in fright.

"Well, this looks pretty bad," I said, kicking the door shut behind me. "Having a pow-wow without me?"

"First off, it's called knocking." Asher lowered his hands and rolled his shoulders back. "Second, we were going to get you as soon as you got back."

"Really? Then why were you avoiding me this morning?"

"I wasn'tavoidingyou. I got proactive and asked some contacts if they could find out what the Franklins know about the break-in," Asher said.

The fire fizzled out in my belly. Damn. What was I supposed to yell at him about now? Oh yeah, the strange interaction we had the night before.

Hecate jumped up into my arms before I had a chance to begin my confrontation, and pressed a paw to my cheek.

"We've talked about what happened last night..."I stiffened at the thought of Asher and Hecate having talked about that little situation."...and we've decided we all need to lie low for a while."

"Lie low?" I asked out loud so Asher could hear. "What does that even mean?"

I had visions of myself sprawled out on my bedroom floor, bored out of my mind. Getting out and about wasn't just something I did to keep occupied, but a part of my livelihood. I had to pay the bills somehow.

"Staying out of trouble," Asher said. "No sneaking around, no raids, definitely no using your power to steal other people's for a good, long while."

I snorted. Well,thatwasn't happening.

"Listen." Asher made his way around the bed at a relaxed pace. "There's no record of the Franklins registering a robbery with Nexus, which is good news. But that doesn't mean they're not going to investigate and when they do, we need to make sure we'reall-" He looked pointedly at Hecate, "off their radar. It just means a few months of staying out of sight."

"A few months?" I hitched Hecate up in my arms as she started slipping down my front. "I can't wait that long, I've got commissions."

"So...do a trial run of what life would be like without doing them?" Asher's lips disappeared into his mouth once he'd spoken.

"You'd all love that, wouldn't you?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

Sure, my line of work wasn't exactly legal and sometimes not even ethical, but it gave me the ultimate independence. I was in control of what I did, my finances, and I had put away a fair lump of savings in the past few years. That was without mentioning getting up whenever I wanted and buying my own cool stuff. Ten years ago, I would never have dreamed of owning amotorcycle.

Nobody would talk me into giving up the stability I had built for myself. The Franklins had no idea anyone but Hecate had anything to do with the break-in, so as long as the private investigator didn't catch sight of her, they would never know.

Hecate's eyes widened, and she nipped at my chin.

"Ow," I said, loosening my grip on her as I jerked my head away.

Hecate wriggled out of my arms and ran over to Asher, jumping straight into his. It wasn't until she pressed her paw to his cheek that I realised what she was doing. She had overheard my inner monologue and with it, the fact that a private investigator was now in the picture.

"Hec, don't you dare." I pointed a finger at her with one hand and rubbed the sore spot on my chin with the other.

But Asher's eyes glazed over as she communicated something to him. I balled one hand under my chin and clenched my jaw. If she thought she was stealing food off my plate that night, she had another thing coming.

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