Page 43 of His Whispered Witch

“But I got you. You want to see if it’s fate.”

“You don’t even believe in that, so?—”

“Remember, fate’s just a word we used to label long-term effects of really annoying, stupid causes. You and he could be living out your grandparents’ screwup.”

Penn let out a high, long whistle of air.How many greats would get me to that damn book?

“You okay?”

Penn bore down and fought for calm. “I’m good.”

“Tie between you?”

“That. Is there something like that between us?”

“Got it.”

Cat closed her eyes, and Penn braced for a pull on her magic, but they weren’t related. Though they were pretending tobe in the same coven, their magic didn’t believe them. She felt nothing.

She almost laughed. The difference between this and her connection to Asher was kind of all the answer she needed. There had to be something between them beyond an addiction to his lips.

Cat opened her eyes, but she wasn’t in the room. She was focused on the middle distance and looked a little like she was hypnotized. Penn fought off a shudder.

Slowly, Cat’s gaze swept downward toward the tiny glass of water. Penn knew the water was a crutch, just like the tea leaves. The magic didn’t live in them, but Cat had to focus on something. Nothing happened for a tense and endless sixty seconds, then Cat’s eyes flew up, and she wrenched her hand away, flinging herself back in the chair.

“What?” Penn demanded.

“Wolf,” Cat said, sounding rough.

“What?” a voice asked, and they spun to see the twins standing in the door to the parlor with identical looks of shock on their faces.

Cat scrubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands as if she could erase what she saw.

Penn didn’t have time for the freak-out. She’d already had her freak-out. “What did you see?”

“Oh yeah, there’s a tie. It’s like you’re the same person? Except not a person. I don’t know.”

“What are you talking about?” Siobhan demanded, stomping into the room, her black hair fanning out like a cape behind her.

“Nothing!” Penn said.

Cat met her eyes. She seemed to come back to herself and look around, noticing where she was and what was happening.

“Nothing,” she echoed weakly.

Siobhan spun to Penn. “The wolf with the snake venom wasn’t hypothetical. Where is he?”

“Nowhere! I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“She sees you connected to a wolf. You’ve brought him to our door!”

Everyone froze as they heard the click of claws on hard wood but sagged when Ducky rounded the corner and butted into Niamh.

“Do you smell him, boy?” the old witch asked.

Penn rolled her eyes.Shewas the only one here who could actually talk to the dog.

Ducky just stared up at her adoringly. Niamh started searching the room as if Penn had stashed him under a sofa.

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