Page 121 of The Blood Witch

“Oh! Jasper!” she said, face splitting into a warm grin. “What are you doing here, so late?”

Jasper bit back his own smile. “It’s not late, mom. The sun only rose a few hours ago. Hey—have you seen Viv? I thought she was supposed to be here last night.”

Blinking hard to ease the sleep from her eyes, his mother looked around her apartment.

“She’s not here?” she asked, confused.

“Nope, not here. Unless you’ve tucked her into the icebox.”

“Oh.” She reached out and swatted at him. “You and your jokes, Jasper. Well, let me think, let me think. I don’t think she’s supposed to be here, not tonight. And she wasn’t supposed to be with you?”

Jasper shook his head.

“What’s going on? Is she in trouble?”

“No, Mom,” Jasper said. “I just… I feel like I’m seeing her less and less, you know? I just want to make sure she’s okay, keeping out of trouble. I thought she was here, and maybe we could go for a run, but…”

He motioned around at the clearly empty apartment.

His mother sat up further, and Jasper recognized the subtle shift as she swung into problem-solving mode.

“Well, she can’t be at Karla’s because that old bat is out of town visiting family for another week.”

“You shouldn’t call your friends names, Mom,” he chided her.

“Why not?” she asked. “Honestly, you should hear what she calls me, the old bat. It’s much worse. I’d have to cover your ears.”

Jasper chuckled.

“Have you tried that little warehouse she and her friends are always hiding out in?”

“The clubhouse?” Jasper’s smile widened. The place brought back memories of when he was young, and he and his friends spent their days there, getting into trouble. He should have known his mom knew about it, even back then. “Yeah, actually, that was the first place I checked. Declan’s younger brother was there. You rememberhim?”

“Jayce.” His mom smiled. “Ah, he is a good lad.”

“Yeah, Jayce. He said he hadn’t seen her.”

His mother frowned and looked at him, really looked at him—the look that made him feel like she could see through him to every sin he’d ever committed.

“You’re worried,” she declared.

“I… yeah, I guess I am. I am worried.”

His mother reached out and gave his arm a comforting pat. “She’ll turn up,” she assured him, smiling. “Trust me, they always do. Sometimes you just have to wait for them to get out of whatever mess they’ve gotten themselves into first. But they always turn up.”

Jasper consideredher words on his walk home, back to his own apartment. It had been a surprise not to find Viv at the clubhouse. He’d hoped whatever trouble she was getting into, at least she had the rest of the pack around her. This worried him, her going off without them, doing only the Goddess knew what.

He spent the last few nights with Alastair and Fey, and would gladly have stayed there even longer if guilt over Viv hadn’t set in. It had been days since he’d last seen her. He didn’t want to be just another male in her life who vanished, just another family member who treated her like a stray pup. He wanted to be her Uncle Jas, the one who was there for her no matter what, the one who she could trust.

He just wasn’t sure how.

The deadbolt made a heavy sound as he unlocked his door and stepped inside.

Goddess, maybe he needed Mara’s sister to come clean his place more than his mother did. It was a mess, pizza boxes piled next to the sink, beer bottles he hadn’t taken out to the recycling…

And his niece, sitting cross-legged on his kitchen table, stuffing her face with cookies.

“Feet!” he said, almost instinctually, even before the relief of seeing her set in. “Shoes off the furniture, Viv!”

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