Page 9 of The Vampire in the Potting Shed

“I thought you went home.” I spun the questioning her way. “Are you spying on me?”

“I was just down the road at Brisket Barn. I came to apologize after I got your text. I didn’t want to draw attention to you, so I used your other neighbor’s side yard to get into your backyard and—” Her cheeks flushed. “That doesn’t matter. Why are you here?”

“No reason.” I let my shoulders slump. “Let’s go to my place so I can face the music from my couch.”

The fifteen minutes I promised Walsh had timed out fifteen minutes ago.

Good thing he was already dead, or the delay might have done him in.

“Can you just—” she clutched my upper arm, “—tell me what’s so important you would risk permanent lockdown if Mr. Sartori caught wind of it? That’s why you’re sneaking in, right? You knew he would lose it if he learned you were surveilling GSG to catch the…break and enterer…by yourself.”

That wasn’t a bad angle. I wished I had thought of it. Still, I latched onto it with both hands.

“Yes.” I faked contrition. “You got me.”

“You could have asked me to stay late.” She searched my face. “I would have helped you.”

“You would have called Dad, like you did earlier, like you’re about to now, and he would have sent half the pack to stop me.”

“You don’t have to do everything alone, Ana.” She blew out a sigh. “You’ve got friends.”

“Who do I have in my life that wasn’t assigned that role by my dad?”

“I was assigned to protect you. I can do that with or without you liking me. But Iwantto be your friend. I kind of thought…after a whole year…” Sloane straightened her shoulders. “The point is that you’re being reckless by sneaking out alone when there’s a?—”

“Break and enterer on the loose?”

“Yes.” Her complexion turned blotchy. “Icankeep a secret.”

“You’re pack, so, no. You can’t resist the urge to obey Dad, and that includes orders to spill your guts.” A good friend ditched me after one such interrogation, and it left a mark. My other so-called friends? They hadn’t required convincing. “You might not want to do it or mean to do it, but everyone does in the end. I don’t blame you for your nature. Even humans and latents like me struggle against his dominance.”

“Try me.” She jutted out her chin. “Give me a chance to prove I can be a loyal friend.”

“You’ll lose your job, maybe even your position in the pack, if you defy Dad’s orders.”

And if I got hurt in the process? She might lose more. Like her life.

“Maybe I will, but he can’t stop us from being friends.”

The little girl in me, the one desperate to belong, was already planning our first sleepover.

God, I was pathetic.

But I did have a carousel of nail polish and a stash of unused face masks under the bathroom sink…

“How about this?” Sloane took out her phone, motioning me closer. “I’ll take the first step.”

A contact name popped up as her thumbs got tapping, proving she was reaching out to Tai. Now that I was safely home, or so he thought, he would patrol between my house and GSG until shift change.

>Left the key to my apartment in my locker like a dope. Be there in a minute to fetch it.

>>No worries.

>Anyone else I need to notify? This morning was tense. I don’t want to cause an incident.

>>Nah. Just me tonight. Everyone else is in Shorter at that meeting.

Leaning around her, I read the exchange. “What meeting?”

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