Page 73 of Blue Moon Mistress

“Yes please. Don’t dig too deep in the salad. The bottom’s been sitting in that vinegar for too long.”

He goes to the cupboards, and I let him explore while I start typing out an apology for the copious texts I’ve missed.

He finds the plates on the second try.

“Grab a second plate. Unless you plan to make me eat alone.”

“I’ll join you, but only if you text the guys and explain what happened.”

“Already started.” I hold up my phone with the unfinished paragraph of a text back to the group.

“Good girl.”

I finish up the apology and hit send as Joshua puts the plates down on the island. His phone pings, but he ignores it.

“This is good. Johnny is going to want the recipe.”

“Has he always been this into cooking?”

“I mean, he’s always enjoyed it, but I’m not going to lie… he’s hoping to draw you in by keeping you well fed and happy.”

“You all make me happy.”

“Good. When you trickled off there, after ourgamenight, we got a little worried.”

“This is a weird case of it’s not you, it’s me. Sometimes I get a little hyperfocused.”

“What brought that on?” He asks, nodding toward the living room.

“I’m trying to figure out what a few things might mean when added together.”

“The warnaway and that tracking spell?” He guesses.

“Potentially multiple warnaways… and now it seems like the sheriff is hell bent on getting me into trouble.” I sigh and try to stretch some of the tension out of my neck. “I could check to see if he’s bewitched with a simple spell… but that requires getting up close and personal and I donotwant to spend any more time with him than I have to. But the spell I want to use is eluding me. And searching for it has… well, you can see how it’s going.”

“What’s Derek, bugging you about?”

“My neighbor—who has been trying to get me to sell part of my land, by the way—complained that I have dogs getting onto his property.”

Joshua glances at the wolf sitting in the doorway, watching us.

“We both know they don’t count. Besides, even if Connor saw them, it would be a bare glimpse in his periphery. He is a normal human. And they can’t see these guys if they look for them.”

“So one complaint about a dog?”

“On my way home last week, he pulled me over. Because he thought I had a dog in the back seat.”

“How could he see the wolf?”

“Another instance of his periphery. And his family has that history with witches…”

“Well, if you need him to, I’m sure we can get Johnny or Thomas to convince him you haven’t adopted any pets recently.”

“The only new additions to my life are four men.”

“Telling him that would just prove you attract strays.”

“Luckily I like them.”

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