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I sat up in bed, a feeling of urgency gripping my stomach in iron claws Body stiff with tension, I listened for whatever had awakened ht was free of unusual noises

A warm arm wrapped itself around my hips

“Mercy?” Adah with sleep Whatever had awakened , his voice would have been crisp and his muscles stiff

“I heard soh I wasn’t certain it was true It felt like I’d heard so, but I’d been asleep, and now I couldn’t remember what had startled me

He let o and rolled off the bed and onto his feet Like ht I felt hih I couldn’t follohat he learned My link to the Coluh simple membership, but Adam was the Alpha

“No one else in the house is disturbed,” he said, turning his head to look atWhat did you hear?”

I shookbad” I closed ainst me The action drew Adam’s eyes to ently pulled the walking stick away

“Did you bring this into bed last night?” he asked

I flexedstick Until he’d drawn my attention to it, I hadn’t even realized that it had, once again, shown up where it shouldn’t be It was a fae artifact—a minor fae artifact, I’d been told

The stick was pretty but not ornate, sie, varnish, or both When it had followed me home like a stray puppy the first tis are rarely what they seeain in power

It was very old ic and stubborn It would not stay with the fae when I tried to give it back to the Soed it I didn’t knohat to do with it, so I’d given it to Coyote

My life so far has been a learning experience One thing I have learned is: don’t give s to Coyote He returned it, and it wasdifferent

I opened and closedrong had faded Experiain, but my fear didn’t return

“Maybe I just had a night stick’s fault