Chapter 23

Twenty-Three

The house might be small, but even with all four of them here, it never feels cramped.

Three straight days of them has left me just a little bit sore and has my house smelling of sex and cinnamon—thanks to Johnny's constant breaks to make sure everyone stays fed.

The quiet long weekend has made it abundantly clear that this thing we're trying could be the best thing any of us have had before.

Johnny is in the kitchen, bossing Chase around. I have no idea where Thomas has gotten off to, but as I tighten the belt on my robe, I go to Joshua. Sitting at my kitchen table in nothing but his boxers, he fits right in, like he's always been here.

He's working on something, digital pen in his hand as he pulls long lines across the screen.

"What's that?" I ask and before I get a good look at it, Joshua puts the tablet into sleep mode.

"Just dreaming."

I cock a brow and he wrinkles his nose. "Okay. I'll show you, but like I said, it's just dreaming."

He opens the tablet back up and the screen fills with an architectural program.

The floor plan is my house… with some extra added on.

"That looks like an expensive dream."

There are three new bedrooms and four more bathrooms. The layout isn't ideal, but I have a feeling he hasn't been planning this for long.

"May I make a suggestion before you get any further into this dream?"

"Sure." He pulls me down to sit in his lap and holds me tight to him.

"Decrease the footprint and add a second floor." I kiss him on the cheek. "There are things buried under these two easterly bedrooms that you do not want pulled up by an excavator while putting in a new foundation."

"You don't mind?"

"Dreaming? No, I don't mind that at all."

By now, I should be itching to have my solitude back. I should be looking for ways to get them out of my house and out of my hair.

But I don't want them to go anywhere.

Thomas comes in with a pile of logs in his arms. He's the only one in the house fully clothed, but he doesn't look upset about it.

"I want to keep you warm, so you never need to put on anything more substantial than that."

"Silly me, and I thought it was so my toes didn't freeze off."

"We definitely don't want that."

"We haven't really talked about tomorrow night." Thomas says when he stands, brushing off his hands and turning to the rest of us.

"Not really, no." I pause as Johnny and Chase come back to us… Johnny with a timer in his hand and an apron covering his front. "What did you do before last month?"

"We locked ourselves in the basement so we couldn't hurt anyone."

"No offense, but your basement didn't look that sturdy."

"You didn't go into the other room. It was originally a dry cellar, I think? Made for storing cans and other things. But the walls are lined with metal, and the door is basically a hatch."

"Once we had paws and claws, there was no way to unlock the door."

"Well, you don't have to lock yourself up this time."

"We should… just in case."

His wolf pushes at him and we all look at it, a little startled.

"I think that's a no." I say, watching it. The wolf sneezes, a silent but sharp shake of its head. "I think they want you to stay with me."

"We don't want to hurt you if something goes wrong."

"You won't. But I would guess the wolves want you with me so that you can pick up the slack. They're the ones who will run amok, so you guys will just have to stick around to protect me."

"Okay, so… what will happen to us?"

"You'll likely still have some of your animalistic urges."

"Which ones? I'd rather not wind up naked in a field gnawing on a cow's leg."

"That shouldn't happen. But that's why I had Johnny brink all that meat."

"Is that why you want us here one more night?"

"Oh, mine are largely selfish reasons." I scratch his chin through the beard he's grown in the few days he's been here. "There are other urges I'd be happy to help with."

They all perk up at that.

"And you can join me for one of my full moon rituals as well."

"We liked the ritual last time."

"That's not what you've got in store this time."

"Alright. Fine."

The wolves stir, their movement catching through shafts of sunlight, but they don't go to the front door, they stay close to their human counterparts… as if they need more protection than I do.

"Looks like we have a visitor."

Leaving them all in the kitchen, I wrap my robe around me and go to see if it's the sheriff, or someone more palatable.

It's neither.

Aphrodite gets out of her car—a bright green beetle—and looks around the property as if she's never seen anything like it.

When her gaze settles on me, her eyes get even wider. "This place is amazing! No wonder you wanted to get away from that stuffy old coven."

"Aphrodite." I say, leaning on the door jamb. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit?"

She smiles, but it's tight. She knows there's nothing pleasant about this visit.

"I know you haven't forgotten what tomorrow night is. I wanted to invite you to a little get together. Just some of us local witches gathering to celebrate one of the last full moons of the year."

"Thank you, but no." And I know that Gena isn't joining her, so that leaves Anthony and possibly Mrs. Miller's granddaughters. "I already have other plans."

"Right." She actually looks disappointed. "I should have known, it is such short notice."

Her eyes travel past me and I glance over my shoulder and see nothing but Joshua's bare chest.

"Oh!" She says, eyes bright. "I see."

"Well, if I had someone fun to play with, I'd definitely dabble in sex magic tomorrow too!"

She laughs, but there's something uneasy in it, and she heads for her car, waving goodbye. "We'll have to talk about Yule festivities!"

Her tires crunch in the gravel and I watch her disappear into the foliage before I turn back to Thomas.

"Her mother would have told her about us, right?"

"Undoubtedly."

"So… sex magic?" Johnny asks, as we come back, and I see the others have perked up at that too. "That definitely has to be on the menu for tomorrow night, right?"

"I had something in mind, yes."

Chase turns sharply to Joshua. "Show her the thing."

"It's not ready yet."

Chase rolls his eyes. "Show it to her, anyway."

He pulls me into his lap and opens that tablet again, but it's not a potential renovation, it's a sketch for something much smaller and still pretty huge.

"A bed?"

"Yours is not sturdy enough for any of us. Do you want us to focus on you? Or on not breaking the damn thing?"

"Good point." I look at the frame and note the dimensions are larger than a normal king mattress… "What about it isn't finished?"

"Just some of the small details."

"Well, it looks great. Though I don't think it's going to fit in the room…" I consider going to get a measuring tape, but when Joshua tells me it will, he's so sure, I know he already checked.

"Will you let me make you a bed, Scarlette?"

"Of course."

His smile is wicked. "Good. I already put a hold on the wood at The Yard."

Laughing, I pull back from him. "I feel like I should be offended that I'm so easy to predict."

Johnny shakes his head as the timer goes off in his hand. "It's not that you're predictable, it's that he's just as impatient as I am, he's just better at hiding it."

He goes to the oven, clattering with the pans and producing a warm and delicious smell that is so saturated with fall, it feels too decadent for lunch—even on a week when so many over-indulge.

The ephemera glass shifts in my periphery and I glance at it, seeing my mother's tidy script.

Be careful with your wolves tomorrow night. I don't want to have to kill them. But I will if they hurt you.

With a long sigh, I stand, letting Joshua hold onto my hand for as long as he can before I have to slip from his grip.

There's only one way I can respond:

I love you too, mom .