Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“How is this possible?” I demand.
“It was a nightmare,” Hilda assures. “It was scaring you and doing a good job of it. But it didn’t destroy your mother.”
“Oh, thank the goddess.” I want to reach for her so badly. I want her to hug me close, brush my hair back, and tell me that everything will be okay.
Even if it’s a lie, I want to hear her say it.
“I’m so mad at you,” I inform her, and she just smiles and shrugs. “I’m an adult now, Mom. You don’t have to keep teaching me lessons.”
“You’ll always be my daughter,” is all she says in reply, and her voice is music to my ears. “You’ll stay here for a few days.”
“No, I have a mess to clean up at home—”
“You’ll stay here,” Jonas interrupts and stands beside me. It’s not lost on me that everyone steps away as if they’re giving us a moment to ourselves. “It’s not safe at your house, Lucy. I saw what it did to you, and I do not trust that it’s gone. So, you’ll go nowhere near it for the time being. We’re only a week out from Samhain, and things are only going to ramp up.”
“Jonas—”
“Please.” He tips his forehead to mine and links our fingers at our sides. You’ll never know the terror I went through tonight. Don’t make me relive it if we have a way of avoiding it.
“Okay,” I whisper, feeling exhausted. “I’ll stay here. But where will you stay?”
“Why, here, of course,” Astrid says. “Honey, we’re not under any kind of illusion that the two of you don’t sleep together.”
“I hope they are,” Hilda agrees.
“I guess it’s decided, then,” I reply and smile at Jonas. “We’ll stay here for now. But you should go check on things in Hallows End.”
“Eventually,” is all he says.
“I’m bored out of my mind.”
Neither Astrid nor Hilda acknowledges that I’ve said anything at all.
“Hello? I’m not invisible.”
“No, dear, you’re just annoying,” Astrid replies as she works on her knitting. Hilda smiles but keeps her eyes down, focusing on the book she’s reading. “And we love you, so we’re keeping quiet.”
“I’m going home.”
I stand and march into the guest room where Jonas is also reading and prop my hands on my hips.
“I’m going home.”
“I heard you,” he says mildly and turns a page in his book.
“Great. It’s decided, then.” I grab the few things I have here that are mine, which isn’t much because no one was willing to go to my house to gather anything for me. “Come, Nera.”
“I didn’t say you could actually go.” Jonas’s voice comes from behind me.
“I beg your pardon?” I turn slowly and narrow my eyes at the man I love.
“You heard me.” He closes the book, sets it on the table next to him, and then rises.
“I do find it sexy when you’re the alpha male,” I admit, feeling my blood stir at the intensity of his gaze. “But I feel great, Jonas. And not weird-good like that night with the girls. I’m myself, my energy is back in spades, and I have things to do. I have to clean my shop and reopen it. It’s my busiest time of year, and I’m losing out on money every day I stay closed.”
“Do you think I’ll risk you just because it’s tourist season?”
His voice is too calm—on the verge of angry-calm.
“You’re not risking me.”
“Luciana—”
“I can’t just hide here.” I walk to him, pressing myself against him. “It’s my home. My business, Jonas. If there’s any funny business, we’ll come right back here, but I’m telling you, I have to get out of here and do something. I’ve already texted Delia, and she’s going to meet me at the shop so we can start cleaning up.”
“How much does Delia know?” he asks me.
“She’s a member of the coven and my sole employee. I trust her. For the love of Freya, Jonas, the whole coven knows what happened.”
“As they should.”
“What are you worried about?”
He buries his nose in my hair and takes a long, deep breath. “That it’ll use one of them to get to you, and we won’t know it because it’s someone we trust.”
“It’s okay.” I lean back far enough to cup his face in my hands. “I promise you, it’s going to be okay.”
“Don’t do that.” He takes one of my hands and kisses the palm. “Don’t promise something you don’t know for sure will happen.”
“I can promise that,” I insist. “Let’s go to the shop and dig in. And, as I said, if something is off, we’ll come back here.”
“We’re all going with you.”
I turn to find the aunts watching from the doorway, holding their brooms.
“I think I can use all the help I can get.”
Delia is waiting when we arrive, sitting on the top step of the shop’s porch.