Page 99 of The Witch is Back

“Yes.”

“But... Bastian, she’s not...” Emma pursed her lips, waved a hand at the cat’s small body. “She’s not a familiar most Higher families would have.”

“Why?”

“She has three legs. She’s not...perfect.”

Goddess, he hated that word. It made him bare his teeth at Emma in a grin. “Good. Then she’ll suit me fine. Won’t you, Hallie?” The cat bumped her head against his chin, rubbing her soft ears against him. His heart melted.

“What will your parents say?”

“My mom’ll love her. My dad will complain about another cat even as he sneaks her sardines.” Bastian cocked his head. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as someone who cared about that.”

“I’m not.” She leaned back against the enclosure. “Chester isn’t exactly a purebred. But people don’t think a lot of me anyway.”

He frowned at that.

She ignored his expression, watching Hallie. “People might judge you for her supposed defect.”

As he stared at his complicated fiancée, the fiancée that he knew thought of her shyness as a flaw, that tight feeling in his chest constricted to the point where dragging in a breath was a great achievement. His luck, he was allergic to his damn familiar.

“I really don’t give a shit what people think of me,” he told Emma honestly. “Let them say what they want—their funeral. And I don’t see imperfection when I look at Hallie.” His eyes caressed Emma’s downturned face. “I see strength.”

Emma swallowed, leaning back against the cages. “Oh.”

Bastian scratched Hallie’s ears as a small pause fell between them like a cloth preserving the moment. “Is there paperwork?” he nudged when Emma didn’t seem inclined to say anything further.

“Yes, but... She was abandoned, Bastian. Like a lot of animals, she doesn’t do well with change. She needs a stable environment for a few months.” She hesitated, scuffing her shoe on the floor. “I’m not sure she would do well in Egypt or wherever it is you’re going next.”

“She’s stronger than you think,” he told her. “But that’s fine. Maybe I’ll stick around for a bit after the wedding.”

He’d only said it offhandedly, but alarm—and it was alarm—sparked in Emma’s eyes. “What?”

Taken aback by the emotion, Bastian paused in his stroking. “Unless that’s an issue...”

She straightened away from the enclosure. “I thought we had a deal. Marry and split, remember?”

Noting the flush that rode her cheeks, Bastian took a minute to think of what to say. To wonder why she wanted him gone so quickly after the wedding. “Well, you just said Hallie might need some time. And besides, I don’t want people judging you if I leave immediately.”

“I thought you didn’t care what people thought.”

“Well, no, but you do. And I don’t want them talking about you.”

“I’ll be fine. We agreed you’d go so that’s fine. You can go.”

“You sure know how to flatter a guy’s ego,” he drawled, trying not to let her practically kicking his ass out her door bother him. But it did, damn it. Not to mention, the suspicions he’d buried in the name of letting go were clawing back up. “What’s the big deal? It’s only a few extra months.”

“It’s not. A big deal. We just...had a plan. And I can take care of myself.”

His jaw tightened despite his attempts not to get annoyed. “I feel like you’re trying to get rid of me, Emma. Why do you want me gone?”

She rubbed a hand along her neck, looking at the sterile white walls, the concrete floor, Hallie, the other cats—anywhere but him. “I’m not trying to get rid of you. I just don’t want you to feel like I need you. To stay.”

He relaxed. So, that’s what it was—her insistence that this was casual so she didn’t feel like the old Emmaline. She needed to realize she didn’t need to go back to being the old her to open up to him. Just a little.

Maybe she needed a nudge. “Well, would you like me to?”

She chewed on her lip. Shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me.”

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