Page 4 of Shadow's End

He laughed and picked up a spoon to stir the milk and prevent a skin forming while it heated up, though his amusement quickly faded. “What was the dream about? It looked pretty nasty from my side of things.”

“It was.” I grimaced and gave him a bare-bones rundown. “We’ve twenty-four hours before Marie unleashes the hell that will be Maelle without Roger.”

“I heard you leave her a message—are we going down there if she doesn’t reply?”

“What’s this ‘we’ business? You have work in the morning.”

“You seriously think I’m not going to accompany my wife-to-be?—”

“Said wife-to-be is well able to protect herself.”

“I’m aware of that?—”

“Thisis one of those moments we discussed, you know.”

Confusion flickered briefly across his expression. “What moments?”

“A ‘going all alpha wolf, must protect mate,’ moment.”

He rolled his eyes, poured the frothing milk into the cups, then dumped a couple of spoons of chocolate into each. “I’m being sensible. Marie targeted you with that dream. It may well be a trap—a means of drawing you out of the compound so she can grab you.”

“It wasn’t. If she can draw me to her in a dream despite the spells I’ve set up around this longhouse, she could have undoubtedly just walked in here and grabbed me. It was a show of strength, nothing more.”

“For now.”

“Yes. Hopefully we can find and stop her before that becomes a problem.”

“Things have never been that easy before, and I suspect it won’t be so in this case.” He stirred the chocolate in and slid amug over to me. “It might be better if we stay full-time at the café—at least until this idiotic vampire war is over.”

I picked up the drink and took a sip. “That will mean you putting up with my shower.”

He smiled. “I can put up with almost anything when you’re by my side.”

“You say this now, but you’ll be complaining when you bang your elbow on the shower glass for the umpteenth time.”

“If I’m banging you when it happens, I assure you I won’t.”

I snorted and threw the tea towel at him. He caught it with a laugh and then added, more seriously, “Is she powerful enough to break the café’s protections?”

“Possibly. But the wild magic is thickly woven through the spells there, and there are few witches or mages who’d risk tackling its unpredictability.” I took another drink. “Seriously, though, I don’t believe she has any intention of coming after me just yet. I think I’m dessert—a tempting little treat after the main course that is Maelle.”

“Well, that’s comforting.”

It was dryly said, and I smiled. “You can escort me down to my car to make sure I get there safely, if you want.”

“I want.”

The toast popped, so I slathered walnut toffee butter all over both pieces, then offered him a slice.

He shook his head. “Do you think Maelle will acquiesce to her demand?”

“Not a chance in hell.” I munched on the toast for a bit. “Shewillexpect me to find and save Roger, of course.”

“And if you don’t?”

“She’s long wanted to taste the power in my blood. Which, before you say anything, she will never be able to do. My inner wild magic is an instinctive beast, and her teeth won’t get withinan inch of my neck or thigh or whatever other bit of flesh she likes to dine on.”

I crossed mental fingers as I said all that because, hey, fate did like being tempted, and I’d just sent a doozy out into the ether.

---