Page 96 of De-Witched

“Yes! Is there a resemblance?”

“Something like that,” Sloane murmured, gingerly stepping toward a dry patch of floor.

Leah choked back her laughter. “Melly, this is Sloane.” She debated for a second, then went with her gut. “You might know her sister, Emma Bluewater?”

Melly’s eyes rounded and then fired with excitement. “Oh, my Goddess! You’re the hidden love child?”

Sloane’s face went slack, and Leah winced.

Immediately, Melly’s face twisted with contrition. “I’m sorry, sometimes words come out before I’ve thought them through. It’s a bad habit.”

“It’s okay.” Sloane rubbed her elbow, crossed her arms around her stomach. Her brown hair fell forward as she stared at the ground.

“I heard about Bastian’s proposal.” Clearly trying to make Sloane feel at ease, Melly switched gears and audibly sighed, all drama as she clutched the mop to her chest. “It sounded so romantic. I wish I’d been there.”

“I saw it,” Sloane ventured.

Melly darted forward to clutch her wrist. “You have to tell me all the details. Did he really have the ring that was promised when they did their—um...” She stopped, slid Leah a look.

She took pity on her. “How about I finish mopping and you two fetch us some drinks from the café across the street? Just tell Joanne to put it on my tab.”

Sloane shot her a betrayed look as she was carted off by the chattering girl. Leah was unrepentant. She might not know magic, but she knew people, and she would bet on those two becoming fast friends before she had her coffee in hand. It would be good for both of them—and get Melly away from Leah before she figured out the truth about her and Gabriel.

Yeah, Leah would let Melly’s big brother explain that one.

Gabriel stopped short as he caught the sound of his sister’s belly laugh pealing out from the shelter’s yard. His chest tightened as he hurried forward, telling himself he had to be wrong. Melly was in New Orleans, she was at the manor, she was...

...playing tug-rope with Chuck.

Stupefied, he fielded emotions like Leah’s beloved baseballs as he watched Melly laughing with the Labrador. Pleasure at seeing his sister; anxiety, the kind that wrings out your insides; irritation, the kind that only a brother would know.

Chuck noticed Gabriel first, releasing the rope with an overjoyed woof and hurtling toward him. He went up on his hind legs but dropped before making contact. Progress.

His tail swished violently along the ground as he pushed his head into Gabriel’s crotch.

Or not.

It was hard to maintain dignity when scooping a Labrador’s head out of his groin, but he managed a narrow-eyed look toward Melly. “What are you doing here?”

“Gabriel!” His sister charged him with a whoop, just like Chuck. Trapped, he caught her but remained stiff in her embrace.

“I told you not to come here,” he murmured into her hair as his hands briefly gripped her before nudging her away.

“I’m a Goodnight,” she said with a twinkle, drawing back. “We don’t let anyone tell us no. Besides,” she added before he could comment, “I wanted to meet Leah.”

Every nerve inside him went on red alert, a hundred flags raised at the comment. “Why?”

“You know why.”

Hot color ran up him as he fought not to shift like a guilty teenager. His sister couldn’t know about what had happened between him and Leah, but she had an uncanny ability to read people. “I’m sure I don’t.”

She hiked up her eyebrows, delighted. “You’re blushing.”

“I am not blushing,” he hissed at her.

She patted his cheek, pinched it, and then giggled as he swatted her away.

Melly turned to include the others in the conversation, walking with Gabriel back to them. “I’ve been put to good use. I mopped,” she told him, dropping down to her haunches and rubbing Chuck’s chin. His back leg lifted and he scratched at the air in ecstasy. “And I cleared out some cats’ cages. And then Sloane and I went to get coffee.”

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