“I’m looking for the vet. I saw a sign saying he was here at the diner.”
“Pretty sure he just left,” Darren said.
“Damn,” Pippa leaned over and reclaimed the kitten from Matthew. “Gotta go. Thanks.” She whirled and raced out the door.
Jared shoved back his chair, tossed some bills on the table and followed her out, Corwin scrambling to follow him.
They arrived out front just in time to watch Pippa pull out of the diner’s parking lot and drive off.
“What’s up?” Corwin asked.
“I think she might be my mate.”
And she’d been completely oblivious to his presence, not even acknowledging him at all.
So rude!
CHAPTER3
After an hour spentat the vet’s office, Pippa left with her kitten, secure in the knowledge that no one had called about a missing kitten.
Truthfully, she would have been surprised, considering there were no other properties near their own, which meant someone had probably dumped the poor thing.
“The kitten’s a boy,” the human vet, who had to be ninety if he was a day, had informed her. “You’ll need to get him fixed unless you want a lot of kittens running around come spring.”
So, Pippa paid for the vet visit and the vaccinations the vet had given the kitten and made an appointment to have him neutered later in the week.
She just hoped the ancient human was as competent with surgery as he seemed otherwise.
She stepped out of the vet’s office, only to stumble to a stop.
“What are you guys doing here?” She strode over to where the coven was hanging out around her car and Morana’s truck.
“We thought you were coming to join us for lunch, then you just left,” Tempest said.
“And you didn’t even introduce us to the kitten,” Natalie said.
“So we had to follow you to meet her,” Jo said, holding out her arms eagerly.
“Him,” Pippa said as she settled Hocus Purrcus in Jo’s arms.
“He’s so cute,” Jo murmured as she stroked H.P.’s fur, who let out a loud, rumbling purr in response. “Where’d you find him?”
“Down by the stream, buthefound me.”
“This is wonderful,” Natalie said, “Our coven has its first familiar. Congratulations, Pippa.”
Pippa froze in the act of reaching out to pet H.P.
She hadn’t even considered—she’d never been deemed worthy enough for a familiar in her old coven and it just hadn’t occurred to her that this might change now that she was free from them.
“I think we should go back to the diner,” Jo announced.
“What? Why? We just left there,” Morana said.
“There were too many people,” Amaryllis whispered.
“I didn’t get my dessert,” Jo said. “The pies looked excellent. Besides, I’m pretty sure my mate was in the diner, but you guys hustled me out too fast for me to find her.”