He glanced at me, gray eyes hard. "Yes, but let us take care of this, Ris. This is our area of expertise, not yours. Okay?"
I nodded.
But if he thought I was about to drop it, he had another thing coming.
Chapter Five
BOTH ILIANNA AND TAO WERE WAITING FOR ME when I got home.
As the door slid open, Ilianna collapsed into my arms and hugged me fiercely. "Thank the earth," she whispered. "You're all right."
I returned her hug briefly, then pulled away and held her at arm's length. "Are you okay? The bullet didn't get you, did it?"
She shook her head, her gaze searching my face then dropping, coming to rest on the scratches around my throat. "You need some ointment on those."
She spun and strode toward her bathroom, a woman on a mission. I threw off my coat and bag and walked across the room. Tao handed me a coffee and a burger.
I took the coffee—my stomach still churned far too much to eat anything solid right now—and wrapped my fingers around the mug in an effort to warm the chill from them. A chill that came from shock more than the cold.
Tao leaned his jean-clad butt against the glass dining table and crossed his arms. Like most werewolves, he was slender in build, but he worked out daily and it showed in the way his T-shirt strained across his muscular shoulders and forearms.
"So," he said, his warm brown eyes studying me intently. "What happened? Ilianna wasn't exactly in a state to give proper explanations."
"You wouldn't have been, either, if you'd just been shot at." She came out of the bathroom and strode toward us, a potion bottle and cloth in hand. "And don't you be giving us any of that hero bullshit, either. You wouldn't have hung about to help any more than I did."
He glanced at her, a flicker of pain showing in his expressive eyes. "That happened a long time ago, Ilianna," he said softly. "If you think I'd abandon either of you now, you are seriously mistaken."
I touched his arm, squeezing gently. He glanced at me, the dimples in his cheeks barely showing thanks to the tightness of his smile. He knew that despite our closeness, despite the fact that the three of us would do anything for one another, Ilianna had never entirely forgiven him for what had happened to her sister.
And she never would.