Page 385 of Flirting with Darkness

“Well…” Grandma waved a hand at me. “There's no one around. Give yourself a little cleaning up.”

Grandma couldn’t do magic anymore. It was too much out of her control and only got worse as she got older. The last time she tried to close the curtains they caught on fire instead.

Sighing, I glanced behind me and out into the empty hallway. No one was coming. With a wave of my hand, my skirt and blouse smoothed out as if it had been freshly ironed. Unfortunately, I couldn’t conjure up a new pair of panties.

I willed the blush in my cheeks to go away as I sat down next to my grandma’s bed.

“What is this?” Grandma prodded her old eyes not missing a thing.

“What?” I touched my face feigning innocence. “Do I have something on my face?”

Grandma gave me an impatient look and waved at my face. “You’re blushing. Who’s the young man?”

Who indeed. More like three young men. I couldn’t very well say that to her though she’d have a heart attack.

“It’s no one. Just someone from work.” I stared down at my lap. Not a complete lie.

“Well, if he has you blushing like that then he must be something special.” She adjusted her blankets around her. “I want to meet him.”

I jerked my head up. “Uh. No. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?” Grandma asked with a frown. “You’re not hiding anything from me are you Angelica?”

“Of course not,” I reassured her. “I —”

“Who are you?” Grandma asked sharply. Her eyes were getting cloudy and wary of me. “What are you doing in my room?”

I swallowed hard and reached for the call button.

“Don’t touch me!”

“I’m not. I’m just calling the nurse,” I reassured her with a small smile.

“Get away from me. Don’t touch me. Who are you?”

I wrapped my arms around my middle and stepped into the hallway, waiting for the nurse to come.

When she came, she gave me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, hun. I swore you’d get more time with her. Sometimes you just can’t predict these kinds of things.”

I bobbed my head, my throat thick with emotion. “I know. It’s okay.”

Leaning against the wall by Grandma’s room, I waited while the nurse went in and calmed her down. They would probably give her some of that medicine that always made her more manageable but it also made her sleepy so my time with her lucid was gone.

The nurse came out a moment later and patted me on the shoulder. “You can go back in now. She’s resting.”

I inclined my head but hesitated.

The nurse walked away, back to check on her other patients unaware of how I struggled with myself. I could face down werewolves. I could strip and fuck strangers but I couldn’t face my own grandmother. What kind of witch was I?

“It’s okay, you know.”

My head jerked up. Standing before me looking just as perfect as they did the first time I saw them in my private room stood all three wolves.

I bypassed the obvious question of how they found me and asked, “What is?”

Cooper stepped forward and brushed his fingers under my eye where tears had somehow slipped out. “It’s okay to be weak, Angelica. It’s okay to care.”

I shot a glare at Jax, expecting him to make some sort of snide remark but all I found was sympathy on his face.

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