Page 106 of The Wolfing Hour
“Yes. If she’s still…” He faltered.
Alive. My heart broke at the flash of real pain in his voice.
When he spoke again, he was back in brusque mode. “Supercharge, or whatever you call it, your protection spell on the park. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“But you need to find?—”
“Focus on the spell.” It wasn’t an alpha command, but it was damn close. “The Siete Saguaro isyourpriority.”
He ended the call like that, leaving me feeling lectured to and hopelessly sad for him, Rory, and the shifters Floyd had dragged into this war.
I showeredand dressed in jeans, a snug black tee, and sneakers. My black pumps might be collecting cobwebs in the closet, but my favorite red lipstick and high-end mascara were doing double duty today. It felt a little silly, putting on makeup while the world around me crumbled. I did it anyway.
Demon Betty stared at me from the other side of the mirror, like a ghoulish Lewis Carroll character. She’d been with me since I’d come out of the earth but hadn’t tried to take over. It was as if she was insecure about her place now that the witch was back.
More.
“More, what? Lipstick?”
The demon nodded.
I was so stunned that she’d made the request I smoothed on another layer. Not that I needed an excuse to put on more lipstick, but I’d take one if it was offered. I smiled to myself, and, for a moment, remembered what it felt like to be a normal woman in a normal bathroom living a normal life.
Then I caught my reflection in the mirror. Demon Betty smiled at me, showing two rows of pointed teeth, and I was forcibly brought back into the present.
I headed into the kitchen where I powered down a peanut butter sandwich with a glass of mint iced tea and checked in with Bronwyn. Mason was still out. No surprise there. His injuries hadn’t just been serious—they’d been grievous.
Because Ronan had told me to, I walked the park, though I knew the protection spell didn’t need supercharging. It was holding better than ever since the rebirth of the saguaros. Red’s roots were a fundamental part of the spell, and they were healthy and strong, something I’d personally witnessed when they’d wrapped around my neck this morning.
No, my protection spell hadn’t failed. My magic wasn’t weak, either. It was as powerful as ever—more than I’d expected. I could’ve kicked myself for believing otherwise.
I was inspecting Violet’s roots when Trini Alvarado came around the corner.
Ordinarily, she was a lean sinewy woman with a permanent scowl and a braid that reached her belt. Her thin arms were always adorned with the silver and turquoise jewelry she crafted to help fund the retirement her abusive husband had robbed her of. Every woman in the park had some of Trini’s pieces. I had two bracelets, a necklace, and some earrings, and was thinking of hiring her to help Cecil and me with charms—if we ever got to the other side of the current madness.
Tonight, she was in hybrid form. Two short, curved horns stuck out of her head, and her jaw was elongated. Coarse hairs grew between the strands of her softer, white hair. Autry was perched atop Trini’s head, between the horns. The tiny Bombay meowed a hello, her copper eyes wide and alert.
Whenever I’d seen Trini’s bighorn sheep before, she’d been completely in animal form. Although Ronan made it look as easy as changing clothes, shifting to hybrid wasn’t a simple thing for most shifters to do—particularly weaker alphas, like Trini.
“Be sure to stay on this side of the spell,” I said, after giving her the quick and dirty version of what had happened today. “And out of sight of the road.”
“Don’t worry, Betty. I’m not taking any chances. I was just going around the park, making sure everyone’s okay. Ida’s fine, and Gladys has the witch and wolf with her, so she’s okay. The Brittons are on vacation in Rosarito, and Maria is as bitchy as always. She threatened to sue you again.”
“Wonderful,” I muttered.
Trini chuckled then abruptly sobered. “We’re going to be all right, aren’t we?”
I looked at her, an eighty-six-year-old shifter with a lifetime of hurt behind her bitter smile, and said the only thing I could.
“Of course we are.” I reached up and scritched Autry between the ears. “Sweet girl.”
“Good. Don’t you worry about this one.” She pointed at her head. “I’ll take care of her until all this passes. She fits in real good with my others. Seems to like it at my place, too.”
They headed to Trini’s home, and I wended back toward mine.
I steeled myself to enter the garden room. Guilt squeezed my chest like a vise, but I had to go in. It was time to clean up so I could start the process of rebuilding what I’d lost.
The boys were already there—Fennel dusting his tail over a pile of dead leaves, using his magic to compost them into loamy soil, and Cecil delicately gathering a collection of seeds from what was left of our plants. He’d laid them out on his workstation as if he were arranging bassinets in a nursery.
