Page 108 of Roaring Flames

How is it possible that I am?

I shake my head to rid it of that errant thought. That’s a problem for Future Izzy.

“And you guys?” Ansel asks, volleying his gaze between Ethan and Emery.

Emery’s lips purse in stubborn determination, and Ethan glances at me, a question in his gaze. I offer him an eloquent look that clearly states it’s their choice whether or not they want to share the truth with Ansel.

“Oh, popsicle sticks and gumball machines,” Ethan murmurs, frowning. Then, louder, he says to Ansel, “We’re wolf shifters.”

I think Ansel is going to have a brain aneurysm. A vein in his temple bulges in a way that doesn’t seem healthy.

“As in you…?”

“Can turn into wolves and eat warlocks?” Emery’s smile is sharp. “Yup.”

“Behave,” I chastise him, glaring.

He simply offers me an unrepentant, shit-eating grin.

“I can’t believe this is… God, I can’t believe this is real. I always thought I was going insane.” Ansel scrubs his hand through his light-brown hair and then pauses, as if a thought suddenly occurred to him. A frown touches his lips. “You guys aren’t fucking with me, are you?” Vulnerability creeps into his tone. “This isn’t some elaborate prank, is it?”

A strange mixture of hurt and disbelief arrows through me. “Really? You think I would do something like that to you?”

Ouch.

Ansel’s cheeks pinken, and he lowers his head quickly. “I know you wouldn’t. But…”

“But?”

“But sometimes it seems surreal that someone like you would want to hang out with someone like me.” The blush creeps to his neck and the tips of his ears, turning them a rosy shade of red.

My heart flutters. “I like hanging out with you, Ansel.”

And I like you. A lot.

But I don’t say that out loud.

Emery’s jaw clenches, but Ethan just glances between us, his expression curious. Before he can ask the question lingering in his gaze, Ansel pipes up.

“So who were those people? They’re…witches and warlocks? They’re like me?”

“That dark-haired girl is Reid’s ex-girlfriend. That guy was probably her brother,” I say.

Both Emery and Ethan speak as one, “She’s not his ex-girlfriend.”

My brows furrow.

Everyone keeps saying that, but I’ve seen the way the two act around each other. There’s yearning in Reid’s gaze when he stares at the striking girl. And Michelle obviously still loves him.

Yet…

Rage fills me when I remember the way Michelle spoke to Reid. How she slapped him across the face.

Yeah. I want to kill the bitch. Painfully. And with a variety of weapons.

“They’re a dangerous group,” Emery says, and I don’t know if he’s trying to warn me or Ansel. “I would stay away from them if I were you.”

Ansel brings his pointer finger to his mouth and begins to bite at his nail. I wonder if that’s a nervous habit of his. I’ve never seen him do it before.

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