Page 31 of Road To Runes

"Have you not eaten today?" Laura asked, chuckling at me from down the table.

"She had lunch," Penny said.

"I'm just... behind on a commission," I said in between bites. "Got to get a book finished by the end of the week."

"So you're not joining us for movie night?" Edward asked, pulling an expression that reeked of false innocence.

"No," I said, flatly. "You can have your girlfriend all to yourself."

"Oh, stop it." Penny flushed and dug into her dinner.

"Ouch, Hec!" I hissed, as a shooting pain lanced my ankle. Hecate spat and growled for a second until I lifted my foot. Shoot. I had accidentally stepped on her tail in the dark.

Making my way down the stairs in pitch blackness wasn't exactly easy, but when Hecate insisted on zigzagging down in front of me, she made it harder still. I couldn't risk waking anyone up by turning on a light. Last time someone knew I had snuck out, Asher had stopped me getting a power.

"Can you look where you're going?"Hecate grumbled.

"I can'tsee, so no. Keep away from my feet and you won't get smushed."

"You're a bumbling ape."

"Listen, you sentient ball of fluff," I muttered, as I grasped the banister to shimmy down the stairs. "If you don't want to see another piece of fish again for a month, you carry on mouthing off."

Hecate didn't respond but I could only imagine she had given me some sort of offensive nonverbal sign in the dark.

With my sight basically written off, I focused on listening for anyone getting up. But as we made our way to the garage door, nobody uttered a peep upstairs. With any luck, if my bike woke anyone up, we would be long gone if they decided to investigate.

I slipped into the garage, leaving the door open for Hecate until I felt the brush off her fluff against my ankles. But before I had even shut it behind us, the light flicked on. My heart tried to leap out of my chest and I stumbled back against the door, slamming it closed. I slapped my hands against it to steady myself, and searched the garage for who had turned on the light switch.

Asher strolled next to my bike, raising his eyebrows at Hecate whose fur stood on end, poised to attack.

"Going somewhere?" he asked.

"Okay, that's it." I strode up to him, stepping awkwardly over Hecate who refused to get out of the way, and stared up at him with my fiercest expression. "I've had it with you."

"I'd never have guessed." Did he emphasise his Scottish drawljustto sound sexier?

"Shut up." I thrust a finger into his face. "You're going to go back upstairs and forget you even saw me. I've got something important to do and you willnotstand in my way. You don't get to show up here and disrupt my life after everything you've done."

Asher folded his arms, putting a welcome barrier between the two of us. "You're being reckless."

"And that's not your problem. So leave."

"Yeah, it is my problem. This isn't just aboutyou, you know. If you get arrested then everyone in this house could get roped into your issues.," he said.

"Right. Becausethat'swhy you stepped in last night." I snorted.

Asher threw his hands out, his eyes widening. "Uh, hello? I'm not going to just let someone assault you."

"It's. Not. Your. Problem," I said, annunciating every word so clearly that he couldn't possibly misunderstand. "You need to stay the hell out of my life because I can't handle this."

"What? Someone watching out for you?" Sarcasm leaked into his tone and I wanted so badly to give him a shove.

"Youbeing all up in my business. You opted out of that, remember? So back off and let me do my job." I gave in and shoved past him to get to my bike, but he stood in front of it, re-folding his arms.

I twitched as Hecate leapt up Asher's chest and he instinctively curled his arms to catch her. She pressed a paw to Asher's cheek and his eyes glazed over.

What would she even need to tell him? I was doing fine fighting my own battle.

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