Chapter 21

Twenty-One

When I push through the door to Wexxons, Anthony looks up at me with a scowl. It morphs into something like a smile a moment later, but he doesn't want to see me.

"Good afternoon, Anthony. How are you today?

"I've been better."

The brusque answer tells me he doesn't plan to be chatty. And that's okay.

The quicker we get this over with, the quicker I get to the guy's house.

Weaving through the tables meant for tourists, I go straight to the dried herbs and flowers.

There's only one thing I'm missing, and there's no time to dry my own lavender.

Usually, I'd grab one of the smaller pouches on top of the table. But for Monday night's plans, I need more.

I drop down to the bulk bags on the shelf beneath the table. The ones that Anthony divides up into the tiny sachets that sit above.

When I place the one-pound bag on the counter, Anthony's brows raise.

"I've almost run out."

"You'll definitely want some for Monday night. But I can't imagine why you'd need this much…" Because he knows I dry my own. And if I need something right away, it's for the full moon. And I don't want him thinking too much about that.

"I could buy less…" I say, pretending to think about it. "I mean, if you've got too much money."

He shoots me a glare and shakes his head. "You know, sarcasm isn't attractive."

I don't tell him I could care less if he finds me attractive.

Partially because ill will met with ill will never did anyone any good. And partially because he's distracted and doesn't seem to have the patience for that kind of response.

"Those warnings you wrote up for me?" He says, suddenly.

"The ones about love potions?"

"Yeah, could you do a few more for me? I'm running low."

"Really?" I don't like the sound of that. "Who's coming in here for those sorts of ingredients?"

"You know I can't give out the names of my clients."

"If girls are making love potions… the last thing we want is for a problem to break out at the high school."

"Honestly… They've just gone missing." He looks at me, brows pinched in disgust. "I wouldn't sell high school girls the necessary things for a love potion."

I can't use the warnings as a bargaining chip. Those pieces of paper have to be written regardless of whether or not he's willing to tell.

"I'll try to bring some more in before the weekend."

"Thanks."

I take the lavender and put it in the bottom of my purse. "Just remember not to drink anything a stranger offers you."

He snorts. "No one's making love potions for me, Scar."

"You never know."

I say goodbye and am glad I get out of there before he sucks me into a discussion on why no one is making a potion for him. Nice guy isn't quite accurate, but still…

My car is still warm, but I hang out long enough to get the heater back up to a cozy temperature.

That's why the pair on the corner catches my eye.

I have no idea what Thomas would need to buy from the antique shop, but it's the only place that uses that kind of bag. He clutches it to him and his smile looks forced.

Mrs. Miller's granddaughters are all beautiful, and the one with Thomas is even prettier when she smiles.

I watch them from my car, wondering… not enjoying the roil of jealousy that has settled in my belly.

I blow away the ugly feeling. It doesn't serve me. Turning out of the parking lot, I drive away, not looking back.

When I park in front of the guys' house, I spare a moment to glance at Mrs. Miller's house. Its windows glow bright, and I see multiple silhouettes in the window.

Hopefully having a full house will keep the old lady from invading the guys'.

I'm halfway up the steps when the door ahead of me opens, the large shadow that spills out makes it impossible to mistake who it is.

He meets me five steps down and picks me up, twirling me. I purse my lips to keep a startled squeak from escaping.

"That's dangerous." I swat his chest and he just laughs.

He doesn't let me down until we're inside.

"This," Johnny pulls the key from his pocket with a flourish. "Is for you."

"I don't think I've made it to this door while it was still closed since the first time I was here."

His smile is tight, like he's trying not to laugh, and he shrugs. "Then let it be a symbol, if nothing else."

I pull my keys back out of my purse and slip it onto the loop before dropping them in with the other bric-a-brac.

"I like the way you dress," he says as he helps me out of my coat. "You're like a present we get to unwrap."

Brushing my hair back, he kisses my neck and drags his nose up my skin until his lips are level with my ear. Inhaling against my hair, he whispers. "I like when you're in my shirt and nothing else, too."

"Lucky you. I like both too."

Once I've unwrapped myself I'm the one who leads the way into the kitchen where Chase and Joshua are setting up the first game.

"Do you want to be the thimble? Or the race car?" Chase asks, holding up the small metal tokens.

"Why not the terrier?"

"Because that one goes to whoever's messed up the most since we last played and you haven't done anything to receive that honor."

"I'm in the dog house tonight." Johnny says with a long sigh. "And all because I bought the wrong kind of dressing."

"That's not the only reason," Joshua says sorting the bank. "It's just the one you're fixating on."

Chase pulls open one of the pantry doors and points to a chalkboard with each of their names lined across the top and a handful of hash marks beneath them. Chase only has about five. Johnny… I do a quick count. "Thirty-six?"

"What can I say? I'm a bad boy." He snorts and heads for the fridge right as Thomas comes in.

"Where have you been?" Chase asks.

"No where fun. That's for sure." Thomas isn't holding the bag he had when I saw him on the street, and he looks too tense.

"What happened?" Joshua asks before I can. Everyone in the room is still, waiting.

"Mrs. Miller's granddaughter found me today." Thomas says with a scowl into the fridge. "Her grandmother seems to have made a pitch for us that is not… exactly accurate."

"How so?"

"Well, for one, Charity seemed to think we had already agreed to a triple date, the actual day was the only thing in question."

"Yeah?" Johnny's face has soured. "What, exactly, are we supposed to be doing with them?"

"Getting married and giving Mrs. Miller great grandbabies." Chase shoots me a glance. "Means I get you all to myself. Maybe I should thank the old woman?"

I shoot him a look, but can't stop my lips from twitching to a smile. "Did she tell you her grandmother was offering her up for future generations?"

"She kept looking at my junk. If I'd known I was going to be ambushed, I would have changed."

I glance down at his gray sweatpants and have to shake my head as I bite back a laugh.

"It was almost as creepy as if a dude did it to you." He makes a face. "The only difference is that if she tried to do something I could hold her back pretty easily."

"Just make sure you don't get cornered by all three of them."

"You think this is funny, don't you?" Thomas comes to me, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

"I mean, not the ogling, but Mrs. Miller thinking her granddaughters have a chance? That's perfectly risible."

"There was something weird." Thomas turns all his attention on me and pulls the necklace out from under his shirt. "This thing was hot as hell when I was talking to her."

"Let me see?"

I walk over to him, grabbing his hand before he can reach up and try to take it off.

A vein of deep red slices through the stone that definitely wasn't there before. But the stone is still good. He's still protected…

Letting it drop back to his chest, I say, "That's curious. Mrs. Miller's granddaughters might be witches themselves."

"What?" Thomas looks like a ghost just came through the back door.

"It's either that, or the one you spoke to was bespelled."

"What did she try to do?"

I immediately think of Wexxon's. "There are love potions that can be worn as perfumes…"

"But the amber will stop that?"

"It's powerful enough to stop a novice witch's proximity spells. Definitely don't drink anything they give you."

They look a little shellshocked at that.

It's Joshua who speaks. "But if you tried to do a love spell on us…?"

"If I didn't find it morally and ethically wrong?" I don't lie to them. I won't. "I could make you do literally anything I wanted."

Thomas snorts. "You don't need magic for that."

Chase tips his head to the side. "How do we know you haven't? Because Thomas is right, I don't think any of us would deny you anything."

"Love spells are brutish things. They take an emotion that should be gossamer soft and turn it into a sledge hammer. Real love is not blind obedience. But if I had put a love spell on you, I could ask you to do anything, and you would."

"So… what do you think we wouldn't do that your spell could make us do?" Thomas asks.

I watch him for a long moment, sorting through things until I set upon one that meets all the requirements—close, not technically harmful, easily accomplished, and something he doesn't want to do…

"I want you to go knock on Mrs. Miller's door, ask for her eldest granddaughter, and when she is in front of you… Kiss her."

Thomas straightens, his face turning to a blank mask and he heads for the door.

The others go tense.

Taking a deep breath, I roll my eyes, but I don't have to say anything.

His hand doesn't touch the door knob before he turns back, laughing.

"You're an asshole." Joshua says, punching him in the hip.

"If we were in love with you because of a spell, why would we go ask another woman to marry us?

"It's not love, it's obsession. The people who need those spells can't tell the difference between the two."

"Meaning, we wouldn't be able to have our day jobs, because we'd be at your home, groveling at your feet twenty-four seven?"

"Something like that." I take the offered thimble and settle in to play the game that rarely found its way into my childhood. I'm not even certain I know the rules.

But understanding the game doesn't really matter.

Two rolls in, they move back to a subject I had a feeling would come around again.

"So," Johnny says, balancing the dog on its backside. "You and your mom seem to have a bit of a disagreement about kids."

It's a question, even if he hasn't asked it as one. "She'd prefer to have had grandchildren already, and as you know… she hasn't gotten them yet."

"But you want kids, right?"

The way Chase asks sounds more like he's checking his own assumption than anything close to accusing.

"When the time is right." I land in free parking and sit back to see I'm the only one who wasn't looking at the board.

"Would your mom or the coven come after you if you should, say, have one of our kids…?"

"No." I manage not to wince. "The coven's approved of you. If you were something else, they'd probably kill you and make me terminate any pregnancy."

"Like vampires?"

I nod. "The coven has too much of a past with vampires to tolerate that. It's asinine if you as me. But werewolves… even with the spell we did, you guys can still hear super sharp and smell and see things a normal person can't. Those traits are passed on to any children you have. Witches prize that sort of thing.

"And if you have children with a witch—"

"With you." Chase corrects.

"—the downsides that child would face disappear."

"What downsides?" Joshua suddenly looks concerned.

"A half were child would immediately draw the attention of other were. Every full moon for that child's life would be spent fighting off wolves that wanted to change them, to make them join their pack. A witch's blood cancels that out."

"So… heightened senses and magical powers. Sounds like a pretty good deal."

"It's why the coven is okay with that particular crossbreeding."

"Ew." Thomas pulls a face. "Don't call it that."

"Never again." I hold up my hand, swearing it.

"You just let us know when the time is right." Johnny pulls me onto his lap and I kiss the tip of his nose.

"That's not how the ‘right time' works for me, but I'll see what I can do." I turn back to the board. "Now, who is going to lose all their money to me?"