Who the hell knew about Marcus? Of any of them, he made the least amount of sense.
I straightened my shoulders and took a deep breath. I had my own life to live. Regardless of whether or not I turned into a Dragon, I intended to live it.
I turned and walked away.
“Riley!” Predictably, Kiko ran after me. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to get Fang something to eat,” I said.
The Satyr tilted her head as she looked at me. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I lied. “I just need some alone time.”
Her lips pulled into a straight line. “These guys are all jerks. They don’t deserve you.”
I trembled with the need to be gone. “They have their reasons. I just don’t agree with them.”
Her eyes measured mine. “Someone once told me that Fate makes you work for your future. That she never just hands it over to you.”
I forced a smile. “Must be why people call her a bitch.”
“But she’s never wrong, Riley.”
If this conversation went any further, it was either going to end with me screaming, or crying. “I just need time to think.”
Without warning, Kiko grabbed me by the arms. I suspect that if it wasn’t for Fang on my shoulder, she would have hugged me.
Having a venomous pet had its advantages.
“You aren’t alone. Just remember that, okay?” she said.
Before I even thought about it, I grabbed and hugged her. “You’re a better friend than I deserve.”
“Your problem is,” she said as I let go, “that you don’t think you deserve much. Go, have your think. When you come back, I’m going to force Cara to let us go shopping. We need retail therapy!”
“In other words, you need a good fuck.” My smile this time was more genuine.
The Satyr’s eyes gleamed. “That too. But shopping first!”
“We’re shopping?” Vali had come up behind her.
“Shopping. Later,” I agreed.
As I turned away, Vali said, “We’ll be in the library, if you want to talk.”
Kiko appeared less than enthused with the idea. “The kitchen is comfy…”
Vali snorted. “I want to look up more info on the Storm Drake.”
“Swell.” Kiko pouted.
I walked away before the tears building in the corners of my eyes could fall, following a trampled path through the trees.
Within seconds the forest had closed in around me. My mind spun as I skirted the massive trunks. I was seized with the longing to talk to Molly, my last foster mom in the human realm. She had always been good at putting things into perspective. Kiko was more than willing to be a sounding board, but she tended to rate things a little differently from me. And she was pretty damned pissed at the guys.
Cara was the closest thing to a confidant I had in this crazy new world. But even if she wasn’t up to her eyeballs healing Havoc, she’d been booted from the academy, and there was this Isobel thing, both of which were infinitely more important than my selfish relationship difficulties.
Fang’s little feet tickled again, and I blinked back the tears in an attempt to search for something insectoid and juicy. I finally turned over a rotting log and exposed a full selection of delectables that even a nearsighted Webspinner couldn’t miss.
