“I’m going to do it. I really am…not today, though.” I gave him the best smile I could. “I’ve gotta take care of Meredith first.”

He pressed his lips in a firm line before speaking. “You’re going to have to deal with this before the full moon. Three days, Tessa. It’ll give us the edge we need to fight during the Tribunal.”

“I know.” I got it, but I couldn’t deal with it now.

“It’ll be really fun. Going on a run. Feeling the wind against your face. You’re going to love it. Trust me.”

I trusted him, but still, letting go of my humanity was harder than expected. Doing it a little bit at a time was easier. I’d gotten much more comfortable with the pack and being Dastien’s mate, and those powers were pretty cool. Being on four legs was what freaked me out.

“Meredith first, then wolfy stuff.”

“Promise?”

I hated to promise if I wasn’t going to follow through. Still, I kind of had to with this one so I might as well give him my word. “I promise.”

“Good.” He placed a quick peck against my lips. “Now, let’s raid the supply closet.”

Chapter Ten

The meta lab storage room was across the hall. It was tiny, three feet by six feet at most. The door bumped precariously into the shelves that lined every inch of wall as we opened it. Every item in the room was perfectly labeled with white tape in two-inch round glass jars and alphabetically organized. The space was perfectly used. I may have been slightly jealous of the skills it took to organize at this level.

Dastien opened the door and then his cell phone rang. He pulled it from the back pocket of his jeans and glanced at the screen. “Excuse me for a sec.” He stepped into the classroom next-door.

For a moment I wondered what the phone call could be about, but soon I forgot all about it. Taking one final look around the room, I turned to Adrian and Chris. “Let’s get what we need from here, and figure out what we don’t have. After that, I’ll call my mom and see if she might know where to get the rest.”

Adrian handed me the book. “Sounds like a plan. If you read, we’ll pull.”

“Cool.” I grabbed the book. The paper was yellow and the edges were worn, but the handwriting was still readable. In the margins, someone had written, “Shortcuts result in ineffective potions.” Great. So, no shortcuts. “Cinnamon.”

Adrian searched, and handed the bottle to Chris.

“Next,” Adrian said.

“Salt.”

More muttering from the closet.

“Next.”

“Flour.” Wait a second. “Cinnamon? Salt? Flour? Really? What are we making? A pie?” This was supposed to be a potion, not a home economics project. “If the next thing on the list is pumpkin, I’m going to freak out.”

Adrian laughed. “Cinnamon can be used as cleanser for the blood. Salt grounds any evil spirits. Flour—”

“Did someone say we needed pumpkin?” Chris stepped out of the room with a can of pumpkin puree.

“Jesus Christ. I think my cousins made a mistake and gave me the family cookbook.” I closed the little brown book. “They could at least call it something better than cinnamon. Like bark from the center ring of an ancient tree.” I wiped sweat from my forehead. My wolf was rising along with my nerves. “If we mix these things up, I’m pretty sure we’re gonna make some really bad cookies.”

Adrian grinned. “These are just the ingredients. It’s what you do with them that makes them either cookies or a potion. Give it a chance to work.”

The thought that we could be doing the wrong thing made my mouth dry. I was so out of my element, but I was trying to go along with it. Still, this whole thing seemed really far-fetched.

I chewed on my lip, trying to find my calm but failing miserably. I hadn’t thought about what went into a potion. “How about we skip to the hard stuff? I’ll let you gather all this nonsense.”

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Might take longer to get all the other stuff together,” Adrian said. “Give me the book, and I’ll make a list.”

Dastien swung open the classroom door. His wavy hair was disheveled, like he’d been messing with it while he was on the phone. A pulse of anxiety flowed through our bond, and for once, it wasn’t mine.

“Everything okay?”

“Tribunal stuff.”

Yikes. Not something I wanted to deal with tonight, but I hated to see him upset. “Everything okay?”

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