“They’re rain boots, and if I do, I can fix them.” She held up her hand. Purple flames flicked off her fingers.
It was odd. He didn’t know a lot of witches, only his relatives. He’d ticked the number once or twice in his head. So, well, fourteen when he counted his cousins and their mates. In retrospect, that was a lot. There was the possibility his sister’s kids might become witches since Vivianne had mated a human, but they hadn’t shown signs yet. Not one of these other witches had let their power flicker toward him. And his aunt was the most powerful witch alive. While he knew zip about witches, as the oracle to the goddess, he imagined she would have a heck of a lot of power.
“What is it with you, anyway?” Emma tossed him a quick glance.
“That’s a pretty big question for me to answer.” Matching her speed was difficult. His truck wanted to go a lot faster. “Why don’t you get in, and I can answer it.”
She glanced sideways. “Yeah, no thank you.”
“Emma.” His exasperation grew.
“Flint,” she mimicked back. “What’s your beef with being a witch?”
“Get in the truck and I’ll tell you.” He stopped the truck.
She put her hands on her hips. “Shit, Flint. I’m a curious beast, but I’m also stubborn.” She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her elbows, and he thought he had her.
His conscience was soothed. He relaxed.
“And in this case, I don’t care enough. Goodbye.” Emma vanished. He moved the truck slowly. Not seeing her didn’t mean she wasn’t still next to him.
“Emma, be reasonable,” he shouted out into the woods. His breath left his chest. He sat there for a good ten minutes before a truck pulled up behind him, and he slowly rolled down his street. Going slower than he’d ever driven before.
13
Emma stared at her phone. Sunday afternoon, and she should be able to get through a weekend by herself. Well, she hadn’t exactly been alone. She was hungry, and she still didn’t have any groceries because they were in the back of Flint’s truck, and after what had happened, she wasn’t exactly going to call him and ask for food. Not that she had his number anyway.
She opened the fridge, and the same thing was in it as the last time she’d opened it: condiments and eggs from the little stand outside of the chicken coop on the walk home. Spelling herself some food, or even her groceries, from the back of Flint’s truck wasn’t going to happen. She’d used most of her power on the invisibility spell. And waiting for Flint to drive away. Which he infuriatingly didn’t do forever.
By the time she’d walked into town, she had lost all her drive to buy any more food. She had trudged up the hill and left her ruined boots on the front porch. If she used any more power today, she wouldn’t have enough for work tomorrow. But seeing her apartment all unpacked had given her a brief flash of joy before she remembered how she’d gotten the power and everything that followed.
Which led her to where she was now. Soaking wet hair, a rumbling stomach, and loneliness so strong she wanted to call someone. She snatched her phone up and dialed before she could stop herself. “Hello Mia?”
“Hi, Emma. How are things going out there in the boonies?”
Mia Teller was Shiori’s legal assistant from her old firm. Now she worked for Carter and Shiori. But Mia didn’t want to come out to Hundsburg every day, so she hadn’t moved. Not yet.
“It’s good. It’s fine.” Which translated to she hadn’t paid for cable or Wi-Fi yet and the cell service was spotty sometimes. And hadn’t met anyone other than the sisters of the hot guy she’d had hot sex with and scared the crap out of. “Horrible, actually.”
“Hold on. I’m getting my coat.” Mia dropped something, and the thud echoed through the phone.
“You don’t need to come out. I just needed someone to complain to who isn’t Shiori or Daphne.”
“They’re both kind of overly perfect, aren’t they?” Mia babbled.
“Yeah, you’re not wrong.” Emma exhaled. Her whole life, she’d been compared to the two of them. Shiori with the perfect grades while Emma merely existed in school. Shiori with the great work ethic, job, and now mate. Daphne with her beauty, poise, and cheerleader-like enthusiasm.
“Did something happen?” Mia was slamming things around in the background. “Don’t answer that. I’ll be there in half an hour and I’m spending the night. Carter wants me out there first thing in the morning, anyway.” Another door slammed, and something mechanical clicked over. “I’ll be there soon.” Mia’s phone switched over to her car’s speakers.
“You know you’re the best.” Emma sighed into the phone.
“You’re not wrong.” She laughed. “See you soon.” And the line went dead.
Emma flopped down on her sofa and tugged a folded blanket over her. She hadn’t seen it since she’d moved into the apartment two months ago. She traced the crack in her ceiling with her eyes and tried not to think about what Flint would have said had she let him drive her home. Why was he so set against witches? The thought haunted her until she fell asleep.
“I’m here.” A rapping on her door interrupted her dreams. They’d been full of people she’d never met. Things that seemed to have nothing to do with her. The residue of the well vanished with Mia’s voice, and any traces of pieces she might be able to use for work tomorrow evaporated.
“Sorry it took me so long,” chattered Mia, “but the last time I was out here and Carter bought pizza for the work party, it tasted like cardboard, so I bought the good stuff from Della’s.” She put two medium pizza boxes down on the coffee table.
“You are the best.” Emma pulled her long hair into a ponytail. All the hair ties she’d left on the table had inconveniently been magicked away. She had to fight her natural inclination to call one downstairs. Not because Mia was a human. No, Mia had been brought into the fold of witches and all things supernatural last June. But Emma had to conserve as much power as she could. Because Flint was right, she had ruined her favorite boots, and she wanted to fix them, but she also had to have enough power to work tomorrow. Or at least try to work. “I’ll be right back.”
Emma tromped up to her bedroom and reveled in her full closet. Color coordinated. She’d made a lot of mistakes in her life—a litter of discarded careers that were really just jobs, an ex-fiancé who’d kept the house and all the money she’d put toward it because she didn’t put her name on the title deed, and the string of one-night stands since her broken engagement. At least her one night-afternoon with Flint had landed her a clean house.
Her smile soured. When she was with Flint, she hadn’t felt unimportant. She bit down on the side of her cheek. That was exactly how she’d ended up in a horrible relationship with Sean. Being addicted to love. She stared into her closet. No worry about that with Flint. He didn’t want her enough to even have a full round of sex with her. Which, in hindsight, was a good thing. Because his tongue had made her float off the table. The rest of him might send her into orbit. She’d had sex with more than Sean, and she’d never floated before. Even back when she’d had that on-again-off-again thing in college with a bear shifter.
She let out a breath and turned to the container of hair ties on her nightstand. Snow was gently falling, the kind of snow that was beautiful in December but in February made you want to scream. She scowled at it like it would disappear with her disdain. Leaning on the windowsill, she glanced up into a light gray-blue sky that forecast more than a little snow. Her eyes skidded to the woods, where the wolf had trotted away this morning.
She blinked at the woods and then looked to her closet and back outside. Was the wolf Flint? No, he said he didn’t know where she lived. Did he? Maybe he didn’t. She stared into the woods. He’d asked her where she lived, which wasn’t exactly the same thing as saying he didn’t know where she lived. So maybe he did know where she lived?
It didn’t matter. She was done with him. He didn’t want her, and she wasn’t going to let him string her along.
Honestly, she believed he was a shifter, but she wasn’t sure. Living in Hundsburg for the last two months, she’d thought of everyone as a wolf shifter and part of the pack. It made it easier to remember that they could hear every last thing she said.
Downstairs, she could hear the music playing over a trailer from a movie. Probably a dragon shifter thriller, if she knew Mia. Emma pulled on her second favorite pair of Super Cat pjs and headed for the sofa.
Mia glanced up at Emma. “I love this movie. He’s so hot.”
