Page 146 of Sigils & Spells

Before the kitten could decide one way or the other, a soft tapping came from the window beside the bed.

Pippa stood, opened it and leaned out. “What are you doing here?”

Jared, the wolf from the diner, stared up at her. “Hey. I was wondering if you’d like to compare notes on caring for cats.”

Was that kind of like an invitation to look at his etchings or was he really that desperate to know what to do with his newly adopted cat?

Well, hewasa wolf, so it could go either way.

“Sure. Shall I come down or did you want to come up?”

He glanced around. “Not sure how—”

She grinned and pointed to the left. “Just climb the tree.”

His jaw dropped. “Is that tree growing through your wall?”

“It is. It started outside, but then it kind of curved into the house and now it’s growing through my bedroom and out the roof.”

“That doesn’t exactly seem safe.”

“Please. Who’s going to break into a house protected by seven witches?”

“Huh. Good point. Right. I’ll be right up.”

She grinned and watched as he walked over to the tree, examined it from both sides, chose a spot and started to climb.

She wasn’t actually sure he’d be able to get inside the house. After all, there might not be enough room for himandthe tree, but he disappeared from view, so she supposed it was possible.

A moment later, Jared’s head appeared at floor level where the tree first entered her room.

His arm muscles bulged as he pulled himself inside, causing heat to rush through Pippa as she watched.

“Impressive,” she said.

He grinned up at her, then bounded to his feet. “For a moment there, I thought I might have to shift to make it through, but there was just enough room.”

“Which means I really need to seal that up as soon as possible since if you managed to fit through, Hocus Purrcus won’t have a bit of trouble.”

He grinned. “Hocus Purrcus? Is that the kitten’s name?”

“It is.”

As if he understood them, Hocus Purrcus suddenly leapt down from one of the many branches of the tree and attacked Jared’s shoelaces.

“Hey, there, little guy.” Jared crouched down and began petting H.P., who flopped onto his side and filled the room with his rumbling purr.

“When I adopted Chester, the woman at the shelter told me I needed a cat tree, so I spent two hundred dollars on this monstrosity that took over an hour to get set up in the packhouse.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t because of the weight or because we had to put it together. No, it came fully assembled. The problem was that every pack member had an opinion about where the tree needed to be. The only thing they could agree on was that it had to be in a common area and not my bedroom.”

Pippa grinned. “So the wolves of your pack want access to the cat?”

“Pretty much.”

“And not because they’re planning to eat it or anything. Right?”

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