“Nikolai , are you certain this is what you want?”

I scanned the faces around me and took a deep breath. My great-aunt’s eyebrow arched with suspicion as I caught Mayor Tippy Thornton exchanging a glance with the police chief, Trevor, and the hospital’s medical examiner, Winstan. The humans sat in a small group at the far end of the long table, shifting their weight as the tension mounted. The men shrugged as their attention reverted to the mayor. Tippy’s eyebrows rose as she glared at me. From the confusion on their faces, I knew there wouldn’t be an issue with them. It was Markus and Doug that I was...