Page 13 of Blood & Ice

“She’s not?”

He continued shaking his head. “There’s something else. Something I need to consult with the others about.”

I stood and stretched, enjoying the weight of his stare on me. He actually groaned when I leaned down and began to rummage through the laundry on the floor. The black button-up shirt he’d worn yesterday was too big on me, hitting at mid-thigh when I put it on.

“You’re just teasing me now,” he said, longing in his voice as I shimmied into a pair of his slacks, cinching his belt as tightly as it would go. I felt like a little girl again, donning my father’s police uniform after finding it in the laundry.

“You think this is sexy?” I asked, gesturing at myself. “I look like I’m gearing up for a department store big and tall sale.”

“You’re wearing my clothes. I may never wash that outfit again, just so it’ll smell like you when I put it on.”

“I’m not sure if I should be enchanted or disturbed.”

He flashed me a quick smile. “I get that a lot, actually.”

Chapter Seven

Taliyah

The coven house was mostly empty by the time we descended the stairs to the ground floor.

It was a small mercy not to have to do a walk of shame out the door with half a dozen witches watching. None of them would heckle us. It would be infinitely worse. Best case scenario, they’dcongratulateus, and at worst, they might offer tips to improve our performance.

Color flushed into my cheeks when I saw a trio of young faces huddled together on the couch. Astrid’s flame-bright hair was a striking contrast to her brother’s inky dark locks. She reminded me of a spider lily, full of bright colors and odd angles. Maverick, in comparison, was like a Rorschach test more often than not. Done up in black and white, and impossible to interpret unless you squinted to find the meaning. If not for the distinctive Depraysie eyes, I wouldn’t have believed they were related, let alone siblings.

The girl sitting beside Astrid was one of the few witches I’d met who didn’t have black hair. Meredith Boline was a brunette and a little on the lean side. She was curled up in the corner of a sofa as if afraid to take up too much space. It was a defense mechanism. According to Astrid, Meredith’s mother was a real piece of work. It would probably take the girl years to uncurl from the defensive posture.

Wedged in on Astrid’s other side was a pale young man with auburn hair. It was impossible to tell if he was attractive or not. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find someone under thirty compelling in a romantic sense. He only looked a decade or so older than my boys. Though Rook Thorne was old enough to be my grandfather several times removed, I could only see him as the twenty-something he appeared to be.

All three glanced up, taking us in as we passed. I felt the insistent urge to step through Winter and materialize in my own home, where I could die from embarrassment in peace. Instead, my besotted ass let Maverick wrap an arm around my waist and tuck me into his side protectively, forcing the others to stare him down first. Another day, his posturing might have pissed me off, but at the moment, I was too mortified to speak, let alone lecture him. There were vampires in this house, which meant at least two of the three hadheard us.

Maverick jabbed a finger at Astrid. Her face was split into a wide, knowing grin, and she opened her mouth to issue the dreaded happy sentiment.

“Don’t,” he said, cutting across her before she could speak.

Astrid’s copper brows shot up, and she leaned into Rook’s side. She was sitting half on his lap, legs draped over his. Their joined hands rested on her knees, and she shivered when he stroked the outer curve of her calf with a fingernail. Her pout was a little too practiced to seem genuine.

“Don’t what?” she asked, faux innocence dripping from the words.

“Tease her. She was raised like a mundane, which means she’s practically a Puritan.”

“Hey,” I said, bumping his hip hard with mine. “I’m not a prude”

Maverick rolled his eyes. “Fine, you’re a Victorian. Hopelessly sexually repressed, overly critical of yourself, into the occult, and may or may not have piercings in intimate places.”

Astrid frowned and turned to Rook. “The Victorians had piercings?”

Rook nodded. “It was a fad for a while. Doctors discouraged it in young women, but it was fashionable to have your unmentionables pierced for a while.”

Meredith and Astrid devolved into laughter at almost thesame instant, and Astrid managed a choked, ‘unmentionables’ before trailing off into further giggles. I wasn’t sure what had set them off. The fact that Victorian women had nipple piercings or that I might be sporting one.

“I don’t have anything pierced,” I said weakly.

“I know,” Maverick said. The tone was so matter of fact, it brought the blush roaring back, heat sweeping from the crown of my head down to my toes.

“Can we change the subject?” I muttered, eyeing the door longingly. Just one spell and I could get away from this humiliating conversation. I already wanted to squirm all the way out of existence, and Maverick had barely started. The familial comfort was obscenely high in this house.

“We actually have something important we need to talk to you about,” Maverick continued.

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