Chapter 19
Ophelia
I’d taken Henry’s suggestion that I practice magic around him to Deirdre, and she’d been oddly supportive of working magic around the shifters. She assured me they healed much faster than humans and could withstand shocks and injuries that would have killed anyone else. But she’d suggested starting small and working with someone who wasn’t so... distracting. And the way she arched her eyebrows made me suspect she knew that Henry had spent a little time in my room in the middle of the night.
Deirdre volunteered Mercy for the experiments instead, as the young woman remained fascinated by anything magical and half the time was sneaking around to see what we did anyway. The young wolf pestered me with questions enough she was quite the distraction, and her questions made me think and reconsider how I looked at the problems myself, so there was no arguing with Deirdre’s logic. We ran a few experiments in the garden and then the house, though it wasn’t nearly as successful as I’d hoped. She just didn’t put me off-balance like Henry did.
The other witch proposed a change of scenery, since I’d perhaps gotten comfortable enough in the house that I wouldn’t be surprised there, and so one morning we drove to what they called the old pack house. It turned out to be a dingy former warehouse in a questionable neighborhood. Deirdre rather dryly told the story of how she’d first ended up in the warehouse-turned-apartment building and living space, and I was laughing with shock at how she and the grumpy Evershaw seemed to build a relationship out of complete chaos and distrust as we parked next to the building and Mercy added some colorful commentary the whole time.
I was just about to ask what the hell Deirdre had been thinking the first time Evershaw kissed her and she didn’t run screaming in the other direction. But I swallowed the question when a familiar figure, dressed in nice jeans and a tailored sport coat, strode out of the warehouse. My throat went dry as his head turned and I caught a glimpse of his face—Henry.
I’d only seen him in sweats or jeans and casual clothes, so to see him in something like a suit drew my attention to his form even more. It was surprisingly disconcerting to see a man who could take a wolf’s form looking like a regular business owner or banker or something. Like he was on his way to a meeting—he even carried a satchel and looked harried and irritated. His gaze found me and something softened in his expression; all of me caught fire and I couldn’t meet his eyes.
We hadn’t really crossed paths since that disastrous night when he’d found me in my room and kissed me and then listened to me complain about my childhood. I hadn’t known what to say to him or how to approach him, and Deirdre kept me fairly busy anyway so there weren’t many opportunities to reach out. Not that I knew what to say to him. Apologize for dumping all that sad history at his feet? Ask him to sleep at the foot of my bed again?
Just the thought made me flush as I hung back and let Deirdre talk with him about some business. I hadn’t slept so well since the night he’d been in my room, and part of me wondered if he was the reason. No dreams haunted me that night, and I hadn’t even woken up in a cold sweat, expecting to be chained up or locked in. Even having Cricket sleep on my pillow wasn’t as reassuring as knowing that Henry had been there, his hand on my ankle.
I was distracted by imagining how I might ask Mercy to experiment by sleeping in my room one night, since I hoped the reassurance was just from having a shifter in the room with me instead of Henry himself, when a horrible woman confronted him and demanded he leave. It took me a long moment to catch up, but then a scared-looking girl about Mercy’s age slunk up and the awful woman said she was Henry’s mate. I was still sorting through what had happened and why Mercy kind of nudged me forward when Henry caught my wrist and drew me up to his side, pulling me close as he called me... his mate?
I was too startled to say or do anything except study the two women in front of me. The young one turned red and tried to retreat to the car to hide, but the mean one, older than Henry and wearing too much makeup, looked mad enough to spit. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of catching Henry in the lie, nor did I want to draw much of her attention. She looked like the kind of person who might have knee-capped me to get me out of the way of her plans.
And then Henry turned toward me and touched my chin and kissed me, and I forgot about everyone and everything else. His lips were soft and warm, gentle as he started with the most casual, glancing touch. His arm, strong as steel, kept me close to his side as he leaned down to repeat the kiss, and I couldn’t help touching him back. My knees weakened and I could do little more than cling to him as his lips parted and his tongue brushed the corner of my mouth.
I closed my eyes and opened to him, ready to get lost in the sensations. It didn’t even matter if there were witnesses. I couldn’t feel anything but his touch, the connection with him, sparking magic in the air. Which should have dragged me back to reality. We were there at the warehouse to challenge my control and see whether I could shock Mercy by accident. I didn’t want to accidentally blast Henry’s sister or the poor girl with her, even if the older woman kind of deserved it.
Henry must have heard my murmur of distress or felt me tense, because he broke off the kiss and retreated just a bit, though he returned for another whisper of a kiss across my cheekbone. It felt like the world held its breath as we stared at each other. I didn’t know what to do or say and just hung there in his arms as he smiled, his long eyelashes nearly hiding his eyes from me completely. Hints of gold flashed through, and I saw some of the wolf staring back at me.
Deirdre cleared her throat, sounding amused. “Well. As you can see, Ms. Nola, Henry is well... entrenched here. There is no reason for him to return to wherever you came from, so with all due respect, please do not bother him further.”
Henry straightened up but hugged me to him, my front plastered against his side, and I tucked my head against his shoulder as he faced his sister once more. He still sounded remarkably calm and in control, even though my knees wobbled and I couldn’t have strung a sensible thought together for all the money in the world.
“Give my regards to the pack, Nola, but I have no business with them now,” he said.
It sounded final. It should have been final.
But Nola sniffed in disdain and eyed me from head to toe. “A non-shifter cannot be your true mate, Henry. Everyone knows that. I’m sure you’ve got some... infatuation with this girl, but you owe it to your family to—”
He growled, loud enough it vibrated through me, and my skin prickled. His sister’s eyebrows rose as she eyed him, as if shocked by his uncouth behavior, and her mouth twisted in distaste as she looked at me once more. Henry’s arm tightened around me even more. “Do not threaten my mate.”
It sounded far too serious, as if he meant it. As if he believed I was his mate. Whatever it meant to be a mate. It wasn’t just posturing to get his sister off his back. I straightened, wanting to get some distance before things got even more serious, but his arm was like iron and the rest of him was even less likely to move.
He and his sister stared each other down, neither willing to blink, and I craned my neck to look for Deirdre’s help. She caught my eye and started to smile the very faintest bit, though she smoothed her expression as she stepped forward. “Enough of this. Surely we can all behave like adults. Nola and Fran, you are welcome to take rooms here at the pack house for the night. My mate and I will host you for dinner; Henry and his mate will attend. We can discuss these matters in a civilized way and resolve whatever must be resolved.”
Henry still growled, but more quietly, and his sister stepped back. She folded her arms over her chest but nodded at Deirdre. “Fine.”
Deirdre nodded back and turned her attention to Mercy. “If you don’t mind, please show them inside and register them with Brody.”
The younger woman gestured for the two guests to follow her into the warehouse, which left me plastered to Henry’s side and Deirdre smiling in amusement. She gave him an arch look. “Is there something you need to tell us, Henry? Did your wolf reveal something important?”
He blinked and stiffened, then abruptly released me. “Sorry,” he said under his breath, as if he’d only just realized that he’d been squeezing me so hard.
I swayed and would have fallen if he hadn’t caught me around the waist again. I flushed and managed to finally stand on my own, extricating myself from his arms while Deirdre grinned. “Whoops. I think I’m okay now.”
“I would have asked,” Henry said abruptly, still holding my hand even as I got a little distance. “If you minded. I shouldn’t have presumed I could kiss you and pretend you’re my mate, but with Nola right there...”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I didn’t…mind.”
I hadn’t. I really hadn’t minded at all.
