Page 79 of Blue Moon Mistress

“Oh dear.”

“Right?”

“Now that I know what’s going on with your mom, I’ll rest a little easier tonight. And you… try to getsomesleep.” She winks and hangs up.

“The surprise…” Johnny says as he pulls the tray from the oven. “When you told her what I am.”

“It’s just uncommon for witches to have relationships with non-witches. Even rarer with wolves.”

“So, is it anti-werewolf sentiment in general? Or because of our Halloween shenanigans?”

“The less said about our Samhain ritual, the better. Witches don’t like unknowns, and like I said, this thing we’ve done… it’s had a bad reaction in the past.”

“What happens when someone shows up and sees that you’ve taken custody of our wolves?”

There were a few excuses I could make, but none of them would hold up to scrutiny. “That is a bridge I’ll burn when the time comes.”

Dinner is delightful. We both make a few jokes about Johnny’s perfection, and we make it halfway to the bedroom before we wind up on the floor. But we do manage to lose all of our clothes, unlike with Joshua this morning.

“You know… I didn’t realize how nice it would be to have someone to force me to take food and sex breaks.”

He kisses my collar bone. “I was reminded, before I came out here, to not offer or promise anything… but the idea of being here whenever you need one of these breaks, as often as you need them, has a lot of appeal.”

Yes it did.

“But I’m not going to ask to move in with you… or vise versa.”

“Probably for the best. They don’t actually take up any space, but your wolves definitelyfeellike they’re here. With nine of us in this house… It’s going to feel a bit crowded.”

“We don’t have to invite the others.” But he laughs when he says it, so I don’t have to remind him that I’m never going to choose between them.

Standing, he pulls me to my feet and then lifts me into his arms. “Point me to the bathroom.”

I do, and he marches to my bedroom and into the attached bath.

“Perfect,” he says, setting me on my feet. He kisses me once, along and lingering press of his lips, and then, he goes to my tub. The water steams against porcelain.

“What,” He says, turning to the shelf and squinting at the bottles. “Do I put in to help you find your answers?”

I pull down the base salt and then a few other jars and let him fill the tub with the mixture as I slip away for a moment. When I’m back, he holds out his hand to help me in.

“I request that you relax… I’m going to go get you something to wear when you get out.”

He disappears into the bedroom and I drop my head back, turning off the tap with my foot when the water finally gets to the right level.

Soaking up the warmth, I wonder if I might fall asleep before he gets back, but I don’t.

Clothes back on, Johnny brings in a small pile of clothes that definitely look like pajamas.

“I can’t stay. Work and what not. But Chase has promised to swing by in the morning to make sure you’ll eat breakfast.” He brushes a tendril of my wet hair back over my ear. “I’d try to tuck you in for the night, but something tells me you’d just be right back to it as soon as I left.”

“You’re not wrong.” I stretch my deliciously sore muscles. “The quicker I find the answer the easier I’ll feel.”

“What if you don’t have the answer? It’s been days.”

“Then I’ll just have to get a little uncomfortable.”

He leaves, and his wolf takes his place, tail brushing through the porcelain and into the water.

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