"I can't disappoint them," Ilianna said eventually.
She couldn't give them children, either. Not the way they expected her to—by allowing herself to be claimed and branded by a stallion and producing his offspring. And with Mirri beginning to make noises about meeting her family, the secret would be out sooner rather than later.
I shared a glance with Tao. He shrugged and grimaced. We'd both tried convincing her to out herself to her parents for years, but to little avail. Obviously, the status quo wasn't going to change anytime soon.
Ilianna finished wiping my neck, then stepped back. "You'll need to use this after every shower, just to ensure it doesn't get infected. You never know what sort of germs men like that are carrying."
A smile curved Tao's lips, bringing his dimples to full bloom. "I think the germs they were carrying would have been the last thing on her mind at the time."
"I guess." She put the lotion on the table, then propped her butt besides Tao's. "So, explain."
I sipped some coffee and winced a little. After all these years, you'd think Tao would remember I liked my coffee sweet. The sweeter the better.
He must have seen my grimace, because he pushed away from the table with a grin and loped over to the kitchen, fetching the sugar bowl and bringing it back. He held it while I scooped three spoonfuls in, then shoved it on the table.
"It's a long story," I said as I stirred in the sugar.
"It's not going to get any shorter unless you start talking," Tao commented, the dimples flashing again.
So once again I repeated the tale of the day, from the reaper's appearance to the attack in the parking lot, then my discussion with Riley, and finally my mad dash through traffic to get to Ilianna.
She frowned once I'd finished. "But how did they even know I'd be heading toward Mike's office?"
"Scanner, no doubt," Tao said. "I'll contact Stane and see if he can grab us some scramblers. Until then, we'd better stay off our phones."
Stane Neale was Tao's cousin, a wolf who ran a small electronics business down in Clifton Hill. He was also something of a wiz when it came to computers—which just might come in handy if I needed information. Uncle Rhoan, as much as I loved him, obviously wasn't about to let me investigate this, but it wasn't in me to sit back and let others solve my problems.
Although that would obviously be the wise thing to do.