Page 9 of Zoe

“How do you know he’s not her mate?” Maria asked. “He could be.”

“Hell, he could be Heather’s mate for all we know,” Zoe said. Heather grumbled something under her breath and scowled up at Zoe. “Oh, shoe, other foot, we don’t like it?”

“No, we don’t like it,” Heather said.

“Then behave yourself or so help me, Goddess; I will call the corners and bring you a mate if there is one out there for you,” Zoe said.

Heather held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, I’m sorry,” she said. Then she screwed up her face. “I’m bored, I haven’t broken a head in days, and you don’t know how stressful that is for me.”

“Then eat chocolate like a normal person,” Zoe grumbled.

“I would eat cake, but nobody made it,” Heather said.

Zoe rolled her shoulders and groaned. Then she shook the tension out of her arms. “Fine, I will make chocolate cake,” she said. Then she snapped her witching finger out at Heather. “No more mate talk.”

Heather grinned. “Perish the thought,” she said. “Unless it’s about Maria…”

“What?” Maria snapped. “Why drag me into it?”

“Oh, before I forget,” Kristen said, pointing at Maria.

“What’d I do now?” Maria said, squeaking just a little.

“You – nothing, but that cat you adopted…”

“Fairy,” Maria said, smiling. “I met her; she came by.”

“She did?” Kristen said. “Why?” She asked with a big dollop of suspicion.

“She wanted to tell me the truth and say thank you for taking her in,” Maria said. “She said I have a favour to call in if I needed one.” She looked as pleased as punch.

“Look at you, making friends with the local wildlife,” Heather said. “They grow up so fast.”

Maria snatched up a cushion and lobbed it at Heather. “Shut up,” she said, pleased when the cushion bounced off Heather’s head and hit the floor.

CHAPTER FIVE

~

“I hear you own a bar,” Eileen said across the counter as Heather took up a stool at the end of the counter.

“Something we have in common,” Heather said in a dry tone with a snap of a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “News does travel fast around here.”

Eileen pursed her lips and eyed the witch. Then she reached for a bottle of beer, used a claw to flick off the top, and slapped it down in front of Heather. “On the house, one head breaker to another,” she said.

Heather raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Thanks.” She wrapped a hand around the cold glass but didn’t drink.

“I hear you tangled with Billy,” Eileen said.

“Something like that,” Heather said.

“Don’t do that,” Eileen said. “He is an entirely different temperament to Robert, and he won’t take kindly to it.”

“It? You mean witches,” Heather whispered, and that time the smile did reach her eyes.

“Something like that,” Eileen said. “He can be – territorial.”

“Pees up trees?” Heather asked, and for a moment, the flicker of amusement played on the she-wolf’s lips and sparkled in her eyes, and then it was gone.

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