She nodded. She knew me well enough now to know when it was pointless to argue.
“Just be careful. And if your psychic radar happens to go off again tonight, please ignore it.”
“Rest assured I will.”
She raised an eyebrow, expression disbelieving. “Rest assured you likely won’t—especially when you’ve shown no inclination to ignore the radar up until now.”
A fact I couldn’t deny. I waved goodbye and slowly walked back to my car. By the time I let myself into Aiden’s house and trudged up the stairs to the bedroom, the painkillers really had kicked in, and I was feeling almost normal—in a floaty, spaced-out sort of way. After a quick shower to erase the smell of smoke and destruction from my skin, I dropped into bed and was asleep within seconds.
Strident music woke me a few hours later. I muttered obscenities at the offender and, when that didn’t work, swept my hand across the bedside table and eventually found my phone. I wearily turned off the alarm and then pried open an eye to see if there were any messages from Aiden. There weren’t, and disappointment slithered through me. Which was ridiculous given he often didn’t make contact on the morning after a moon run with his family. Besides, Jaz wouldn’t have had time to make her report yet, so it was likely he didn’t know about last night’s events.
I ignored the inner whisper suggesting that had nothing to do with the lack of a message, and slowly climbed out of bed. I was as stiff as hell, but I could at least move without too much wincing, and that was always a bonus. A quick look in the mirror revealed I was indeed sporting an interesting array of bruises, but the numerous cuts and scrapes were already well on the way to healing. The area where the silver had stabbed me remained red and puckered, but there was nothing to indicate infection had set in, and both the burning ache down my arm and the numbness in my fingers had disappeared.
I might not be able to shift shape, but the werewolf-like ability to fast heal was definitely getting stronger. Which was probably just as well, given the dangerous situations I kept finding myself in.
I slowly got dressed, then headed downstairs. After making myself a quick breakfast—crumpets slathered with butter and an instant coffee to keep me awake on the drive to our café—I jumped into the Suzi and drove to Castle Rock.
Belle hadn’t arrived home from Monty’s by the time I got there. Either they’d slept in or were too involved in the pursuit of pleasure to realize the time. They were in the first blush of their relationship, after all.
I grinned and headed into the kitchen to do the prep for the day. Mike, Frank, and Penny—our chef, kitchen hand, and main waitress—all arrived before Belle did. When she did make an appearance, her thoughts were all sorts of chaotic, but her eyes sparkled and there was a decidedly bright glow of satisfaction swirling through her aura.
“Had a good night, did we?” I said, as she threw her coat over the nearby hook and then tossed her bag under the counter.
“The best,” she said, silver eyes bright with happiness. “Oklahoma was just amazing.”
“So the review said.” A smile twitched my lips. “But I’m thinking the show isn’t the reason for the glow.”
She gave me a stern look and raised a warning finger. “Go no further.”
“Oh, I won’t.”
“Good.”
“Decidedly so, I’d say.”
She whacked me. I laughed and added, “Oh, come on, after all the dancing to and fro between you two, you’ve got to expect a little ribbing.”
She sighed. “I suppose I should. And yes, before you ask, he’s very … adept in the bedroom.”
“A polite way of saying he got your rocks off multiple times.”
She grinned and didn’t deny it. “So, what happened to you last night? I had a vague sensation of trouble about one o’clock, but when I reached out, you were locked down tight.”
“Because I didn’t want to disturb your night.”
“That doesn’t answer the damn question.”
I waved a hand. “We had an event—”
“Define event.” Her voice was dry. “Because in this reservation, that could mean many things.”
I gave her a quick rundown and then added, “I’m a little stiff this morning, but otherwise okay.”
“And that niggling worry I can feel at the far reaches of your thoughts? The one you’re keeping from me?”
“I’m lucky I can keep anything from you.”
“Stop avoiding the question.”
I grinned. Belle wasn’t only a witch, but also a spirit talker and a strong telepath. She also happened to be my familiar—an event that had never happened before in all witch history and something that had not only changed my life but also saved it.
“I’ve just got a few things I need to ask Katie—nothing serious.”
Belle harrumphed. “Yeah, believing that.”
I smiled and nudged her with my good shoulder. “I wouldn’t lie to—”
“No,” she cut in, voice dry. “But evade the truth? Hell yes.”
I laughed, and we both got down to work. The morning rush came and kept us busy, though I mostly remained behind the counter making coffee, as it required the least amount of movement. I checked my phone a number of times over the course of the day, but there was nothing from Aiden. Had something happened within the O’Connor compound or during the run last night? It wasn’t like any of us outsiders would know—the wolves might share the bulk of the reservation with us, but the three home compounds were out of bounds.
At three on the dot, Monty made his usual appearance for afternoon tea. He was tall and well built, with crimson hair that gleamed like dark fire in the afternoon sunlight streaming in through the windows. He was also grinning like a cat that had just lapped all the cream.
A poker player he would never be.
“You can do the honors,” Belle said. “I don’t want to be starting any untoward rumors.”
I snorted. “Little late for that. Half the gossip brigade is here, three of whom won a sizable amount of money correctly guessing when you two would become an item, and all of them will know exactly what that satisfied grin of his means.”
“Yes, but I have no desire to add further fuel to the gossip mill fire. And I probably would, if I went out there.” She slipped his coffee and a thick slice of black forest cake on the tray with my cup of tea and pushed it toward me. “Off you go.”
I rolled my eyes, but picked up the tray and slowly wound my way through the tables to the one he’d claimed in the corner. There was a backpack sitting on one chair and his wet coat slung over the other.
I slid the tray onto the table and handed him his coffee and cake. “Heard a good time was had last night.”
“Heard you hit some problems last night,” he replied evenly. “Why didn’t you ring me?”
I just gave him the look—the one that said “don’t be daft”—and sat down on the remaining chair.
He grinned. “Well, okay, I’m glad you didn’t, because oh boy—”
I held up my hand to cut him off. “Details are not required.”
He chuckled softly. “I, however, do require them. I didn’t get much from Aiden this morning—”