Page 94 of Wind with a Chance of Wolfsbane

If he didn’t get her to leave soon, there was a high probability that he’d end up back inside, making a move on Willa—which would be ten kinds of wrong since he was a mated man.

“Jonathan,” she said, smiling up at him.

He groaned.

Craig snickered.

“Craig, later, when you have time, I’d like to speak with you about that white light you saw back then,” said Jonathan, hoping Craig might be able to offer something more on it all. Anything that could help Jonathan find his mate.

At the thought of his mate, Willa popped into Jonathan’s head again, weirdly chasing away thoughts of the white wolf. Jonathan did his best to think of anything other than Willa. It didn’t work. His wolf pushed him to turn around, go back into the house, and do naughty things with the woman.

Resistance was far harder than it should be.

“Yeah, sure,” said Craig. “But there isn’t much I can tell you about the light. One second, I was in this house, fighting a supernatural soup of things, and the next I knew, there was a blinding white light. When it cleared, everything and everyone except me was gone. End of story.”

Deflated, Jonathan sighed. “Same thing happened to me here eighteen years ago, but I was in the woods, off-campus, near a cave. I was with someone, and when the light cleared, they were gone. There was no trace of them.”

“I never knew that,” said Craig.

“I didn’t know about you experiencing the light here in town either. As far as I knew, the light was an isolated incident near the cave. Why didn’t you report it?” asked Jonathan.

Craig took a deep breath. “Because I was afraid that reporting it might put Astria and her friends on the radar of slayers. It was pretty damn clear to me after the attack that night that Astria and the other women she lived with were more than human. As desperate as I was to find Astria to be sure she was all right, I was more scared of what could happen to her if hunters got itchy trigger fingers. It was around the time frame when there had been a lot of stress between supernaturals and slayers—back when all that Murray line crap was happening. I just wanted Astria safe.”

That made sense. Jonathan nodded.

“Why didn’tyoureport the cave thing?” questioned Craig, suspicion in his voice. “I kept checking in to see if anyone mentioned white lights from that night, but no one did. Had you, I’d have come to you to discuss it.”

“Same reason as you,” confessed Jonathan.

Marcy tipped her head somewhat. “Well, that and because most men aren’t very good at talking about their feelings. That needs to change. Quick, hug. That’s the first step to breaking down old views on what it means to be a manly man.”

Neither man hugged, but they did stare at her.

She took it upon herself to hug them both. When she was done, she smiled up at them. “Better?”

“Uh, yeah,somuch better,” said Craig.

“Yay!” Marcy shouted and clapped her hands.

Jonathan tipped his head, remembering what had started the conversation. “Marcy, you mentioned panicking when we first came out here. What should we be panicking about?”

“Oh, right. Yes, the panicking part,” she said, facing him fully. She grew quiet and glanced out toward the front yard, tipping her head slightly. “Hmm, never mind. False alarm, I guess. There aren’t any more whispers from the trees. Come on, Craig. You can take me to see Poppy at the Proctor House.”

“I’ll take you,” said Jonathan.

“You can’t take me,” said Marcy. “You have to stay here and spend time with her.”

“With who?” asked Jonathan.

Marcy touched his cheek. “Are all supernatural males this bad at seeing what’s right before them? How in the world do you men get anything done walking around with your eyes open and closed all at once?”

Jonathan wasn’t sure what she was talking about. “Marcy, I’ll take you to your friend’s house, and then I’ll drop you back at the estate before I check in on Kellan again today.”

“Nope,” she said. “Craig is taking me, and Kellan is okay right now. He doesn’t need you underfoot. You’ll just hamper his escape plan.”

“Marcy,” stressed Jonathan “Wait a minute. His escape plan? What do you mean? He’s safe and secured at Dr. Hartshorn’s clinic, right?”

Marcy smiled and blinked rapidly. “Yes. Right this minute, he is absolutely safe and secured there.”

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