Chapter 21

21

"You have to be Leah."

At the unfamiliar feminine voice, Leah twisted from where she was tugging rope with the energetic collie, Buster. The cool air fluttered loose curls around her face as she peered up against the sun. "Yeah. Can I help you?"

The figure moved to the right and Leah saw it was a girl, around Sloane's age, with the coltish frame of someone who hadn't yet grown into her limbs. She held the promise of beauty, with a swing of black hair that framed a heart-shaped face topped with hazel eyes and an infectious smile. She wore snug jeans and a white T-shirt that exposed her stomach beneath a cute lilac denim jacket. Something familiar tugged at Leah but she couldn't place what.

"I've come to help out," the girl announced, as though it were a done deal.

Despite the American accent, it was that authority that clicked it for her. Surprise shot through her veins. "You're Gabriel's sister."

"Yes!" Melly's smile widened. "I guess we kinda look alike, right?" She looked around. "Is he here?"

"Not yet." Discomforted, Leah arced her arm back and let the rope fly. A delighted Buster charged after it, joined by the other dogs she'd had out in the fresh air. She who was rarely lost for words found it suddenly hard to form a sentence. With no idea how much Gabriel had told her—and Leah really hoped he hadn't told his fourteen-year-old sister everything—she felt like she was trying to drive through fog. Her smile turned vaguely queasy as she faced Melly.

Who didn't appear to notice. "Perfect. That gives us time for a tour before he comes." Melly linked her hands in front of her, a silver charm bracelet dangling from her wrist. "He'll hate that I'm here."

Leah had a feeling.

"But I won't get you in trouble."

When Leah couldn't hold back her snort, Melly looked at her with as much delight as Buster. "You're not scared of my brother?"

Only when he withholds orgasms and I feel like I might die.

Right. Like she could say that to his little sister.

Deflecting, Leah pushed hair behind her ear. "Should I be?"

"Please, Gabriel's all bluster. Not that I won't get in trouble, but it'll be worth it. I've been dying to come here." Melly took everything in with a fascinated expression. It reminded Leah of herself whenever Emma or Tia spoke about the witch community. "He's talked about this place a lot." Her eyes went sly as only a teenager's could. "And you."

Leah's stomach jittered ridiculously.

"And Mrs. Q likes you. So, I thought, why should I stay home alone when I could come and check it out myself?"

Gabriel would blow a fuse. Two fuses. Hell, the power would be out in the whole state for days. If she was smart, she'd tell the girl to go home before her brother got there.

But she didn't do that. Mostly because Leah didn't see the harm in letting Melly hang out for a bit. Leah had often been the one left out of things, and she knew how bad it felt. Besides, if Melly's control over her magic slipped, Leah could always just steer her away from the others.

"You can help me with some of the chores if you want," she said, making the decision and whistling for the dogs.

After herding them back into their kennels, Leah put a mop in Melly's hand, grabbing a broom for herself. Even the prospect of cleaning didn't dampen the girl's enthusiasm. Over the next fifteen minutes, she chattered about her school, movies, even a hairstyle she was thinking of getting before moving on to how cool it must be to work with animals every day.

No wonder Gabriel put up with her so well, Leah thought with some amusement. He had his own chatterbox at home.

"Have you ever had animals?" Leah asked as she deposited swept-up dirt in the bin.

Melly, who was swinging the mop around with more enthusiasm than skill—definitely Gabriel's sister—shook her head. "I think Gabriel was overwhelmed enough looking after me; an animal would've been too much."

"A handful, huh?"

A grin brightened Melly's face. "Only when some of my, uh, experiments go awry."

Potions, Leah hazarded, with a strike of envy. She was obsessed with potions, had even talked Emma and Tia into letting her try to make a few, but they never worked. If she could only talk openly to Melly, she could've asked so many questions, but the last thing she wanted was to endanger the little Goodnight.

"I bet he handles that well."

"He's okay." Melly leaned on the mop handle with both hands. "He sighs, he groans, he curses the ceiling, but he's back the next day with a new, um, experiment to try."

"A good brother, then."

"The best."

"You must miss him while he's here."

She nodded. "The house feels too big. Uncle August says I could go over to his, but then Mrs. Q would be alone. She...she said you call Gabriel ‘Gabe.'" Curiosity shone in the girl's eyes, with not a little speculation.

"It annoys him. I enjoy annoying your brother." Leah shrugged, focused on keeping it light. Surface. From the direction of Melly's questions, she had a feeling Gabriel had done just that.

Whether he'd tell his sister about the change in their relationship, well, that was his choice.

But she hoped.

Melly laughed again, swiping the mop across the soaked floor. "I know," she said in answer to Leah's comment. "He used to grumble how you were out to make his life hell."

Leah's eyebrows went up.

"It made me want to meet you even more. It's so obvious he doesn't want to answer questions about you. That he, you know, likes you. Like, likes you likes you."

Ah, to be fourteen. Unsure what to say, Leah fell back on a vague, "Huh."

"He's only dated a few women and they were all different, so I don't think he has, you know, a type." Thoughtfully, Melly swirled the mop in the bucket as Leah tried and failed not to be interested. "Well, looks-wise. They all scramble to agree with his every word. They don't stick around long. I think he wants a woman who'll push back. Who'll annoy him."

It could've been a billboard, for all its subtlety. Leah wondered if Gabriel knew his little sister was matchmaking. With a human, for that matter. "You don't say."

Melly slapped more water on the floor. Leah didn't have the heart to tell the girl she was doing it wrong if you could see your own reflection.

"He's stubborn," Melly continued, wrinkling her nose in thought. "He needs someone to push back or he'll get bored. And too full of himself." Her sneakers squeaked in the water as she twirled the mop to the right. "He's, uh, not bad looking."

"No," Leah allowed, conjuring intense green eyes, sharp cheekbones, a soft mouth curving in the barest hint of a smile.

"He's funny. Sometimes."

"I've seen it."

"And he's strong. Like, if you needed to lean on someone, Gabriel would be there. He's always been there."

A lump appeared in Leah's throat.

Melly looked up at Leah, her parents' ghosts dancing between them. She frowned a little, the barest furrow. "Some people make fun of him for being too quiet or too blunt, but that's not the important stuff. He's...solid. Someone you can rely on."

The Warlock of Contempt. And yet.

Leah heaved a breath through her clogged throat. "Some people don't look beneath the obvious."

"No." Melly smiled, approving, the specter of grief disappearing. Dimples winked at her. "But you do."

Well, she'd stepped into that one.

Luckily for her, Sloane also stepped into it—it being the lake of water that ran over the kennel hallway.

"Gah." The teenager gawked at the water pooling around her sneakers. "Did we have a leak?"

Melly lifted a hand from the mop, gestured. "I'm mopping!"

"Uh..." Sloane slid her gaze from the grinning girl to Leah to the floor. Something shifted on her face. "You're Gabriel's sister."

"Yes! Is there a resemblance?"

"Something like that," Sloane murmured, gingerly stepping toward a dry patch of floor.

Leah choked back her laughter. "Melly, this is Sloane." She debated for a second, then went with her gut. "You might know her sister, Emma Bluewater?"

Melly's eyes rounded and then fired with excitement. "Oh, my Goddess! You're the hidden love child?"

Sloane's face went slack, and Leah winced.

Immediately, Melly's face twisted with contrition. "I'm sorry, sometimes words come out before I've thought them through. It's a bad habit."

"It's okay." Sloane rubbed her elbow, crossed her arms around her stomach. Her brown hair fell forward as she stared at the ground.

"I heard about Bastian's proposal." Clearly trying to make Sloane feel at ease, Melly switched gears and audibly sighed, all drama as she clutched the mop to her chest. "It sounded so romantic. I wish I'd been there."

"I saw it," Sloane ventured.

Melly darted forward to clutch her wrist. "You have to tell me all the details. Did he really have the ring that was promised when they did their—um..." She stopped, slid Leah a look.

She took pity on her. "How about I finish mopping and you two fetch us some drinks from the café across the street? Just tell Joanne to put it on my tab."

Sloane shot her a betrayed look as she was carted off by the chattering girl. Leah was unrepentant. She might not know magic, but she knew people, and she would bet on those two becoming fast friends before she had her coffee in hand. It would be good for both of them—and get Melly away from Leah before she figured out the truth about her and Gabriel.

Yeah, Leah would let Melly's big brother explain that one.

Gabriel stopped short as he caught the sound of his sister's belly laugh pealing out from the shelter's yard. His chest tightened as he hurried forward, telling himself he had to be wrong. Melly was in New Orleans, she was at the manor, she was...

...playing tug-rope with Chuck.

Stupefied, he fielded emotions like Leah's beloved baseballs as he watched Melly laughing with the Labrador. Pleasure at seeing his sister; anxiety, the kind that wrings out your insides; irritation, the kind that only a brother would know.

Chuck noticed Gabriel first, releasing the rope with an overjoyed woof and hurtling toward him. He went up on his hind legs but dropped before making contact. Progress.

His tail swished violently along the ground as he pushed his head into Gabriel's crotch.

Or not.

It was hard to maintain dignity when scooping a Labrador's head out of his groin, but he managed a narrow-eyed look toward Melly. "What are you doing here?"

"Gabriel!" His sister charged him with a whoop, just like Chuck. Trapped, he caught her but remained stiff in her embrace.

"I told you not to come here," he murmured into her hair as his hands briefly gripped her before nudging her away.

"I'm a Goodnight," she said with a twinkle, drawing back. "We don't let anyone tell us no. Besides," she added before he could comment, "I wanted to meet Leah."

Every nerve inside him went on red alert, a hundred flags raised at the comment. "Why?"

"You know why."

Hot color ran up him as he fought not to shift like a guilty teenager. His sister couldn't know about what had happened between him and Leah, but she had an uncanny ability to read people. "I'm sure I don't."

She hiked up her eyebrows, delighted. "You're blushing."

"I am not blushing," he hissed at her.

She patted his cheek, pinched it, and then giggled as he swatted her away.

Melly turned to include the others in the conversation, walking with Gabriel back to them. "I've been put to good use. I mopped," she told him, dropping down to her haunches and rubbing Chuck's chin. His back leg lifted and he scratched at the air in ecstasy. "And I cleared out some cats' cages. And then Sloane and I went to get coffee."

"What?" Alarm rippled through him. "You went out?"

"Uh-huh. We went to the coffee shop across the road. I had hot chocolate as Sloane said they were the best. Leah said we could put it on her ‘tab' but I used your card."

He looked at her drolly. "Naturally."

She grinned. "And then we came out here to exercise the dogs. I like Chuck. Leah says he's your favorite, too."

Without asking permission, his gaze sought Leah across the small distance that separated them. She was windblown, capless, curls flying everywhere, in jeans and a snug sweater. Her small breasts rose and fell beneath the thin material. An erotic memory of teasing them with his teeth ran through his mind, so vivid that he felt heat of every kind flushing his cheeks.

As if Leah could hear his thoughts, she shivered. Or...

No coat, he realized.

"You need a coat," he told her.

"I'm fine."

He didn't frown but he wanted to. "You'll catch cold."

"I'm fine." Her stare drilled into him. He almost heard the words in his head: I'm not fragile.

If they'd been alone, he might have argued the point, but with his sister and Sloane keenly watching, he swallowed the retort. He wasn't sure what to tell Melly about their arrangement, but he knew he didn't want a big public display.

He refocused. "Chuck is a project," he told Melly. "I'm attempting to make him more dog than beast."

"He's doing well," Sloane ventured, in her shy way. "Chuck never sat before. He doesn't always listen, but he'll pay attention for a treat."

"In other words, your typical male."

Both girls hooted at Leah's dry comment.

Gabriel shook his head, gesturing to Melly to walk inside. "I need to talk to you."

"Here comes the lecture." Melly pushed to her feet, not looking at all worried about his wrath. "I'll probably be headed home after so—Sloane, you've got my number. We'll text. Right?"

Anyone else might not see the slight anxiety that her potential friend might not follow through. Consequences of being a Goodnight. It was hard to find genuine people.

Sloane nodded with a timid smile. She ducked her head. "It was fun, like, hanging out."

"You could come to me next. I can show you Bourbon Street."

"No, you cannot." Gabriel shuddered to think what Emmaline would say if his sister corrupted hers. He pointed ahead of him. "If you please, Amelia."

With a final roll of her hazel eyes, Melly headed into the building.

Even as he followed, he couldn't help but look back at Leah. A hint of a frown marred her forehead as she watched him go, her arms coming up to wrap around her stomach.

Was she annoyed that he was lecturing his sister? Surely she had to understand his concern. Melly was young, untried in society, witch or human, and was still not in full control of her magic. Letting her run loose in the human world was asking for trouble.

As soon as they were both inside, he cast a soundproof spell, sealing it with, " Susurri. " At his strongest, he wouldn't have had to say the word, but he fell back on his schooling now.

The magical feedback ripped through him, and he clenched his teeth.

Melly touched his arm. "Gabriel?"

He nodded to let her know he was okay, breathed out through his nose as much for calm as to get his breath back.

Then he turned on her. "I cannot tell you how angry I am with you."

"Oh, Gabriel."

"No, you don't get to play the teenager card. I had reasons why you shouldn't come here. Reasons that begin and end with your safety."

"But I'm fine," she protested, patting all parts of her body like a strange game of head and shoulders. "See? All working parts still attached. I know you don't trust humans, but—"

"It isn't that," he cut her off, then, when her gaze called him out, he amended it to, "Not exactly. But you went out to the streets of Chicago."

"You make it sound like some kind of war zone. Dealing with teenage witches is more treacherous."

Because she had a point, he regrouped. "Do you know the crime rate in Chicago? Because I do."

"Okay, but I have magic to protect me."

"Which you can't use in front of humans." Sticky fear at the reminder of how their parents had died clutched in his belly, numbing him for an instant. To think of his sister being in the same situation...

Her mouth opened, closed. Something softened in her eyes. "It's not the same, Gabriel."

He rubbed a hand down his face, his chest, trying to ease the grip of anxiety.

"It's a safe street, a cute neighborhood café. Sloane was with me," she pointed out.

He didn't laugh but another man might have. "A fourteen-year-old half witch as a bodyguard. That changes everything. Please. Go play in the streets."

"Being around humans has affected you," Melly teased, still with that sympathetic glint. "I just meant, if it was dangerous, she would've said something. And I'm not them . I'd fight, even if it meant exposing witches." Sounding older than her years, she added softly, "I'd never choose to leave you."

Undone, he put his hand over hers, love a sharp blade in his throat.

"Besides," she continued, lighter now, an element of mischief warning him what was coming, "Leah wouldn't have sent us to the coffee shop if she thought we'd be in trouble. I like her, Gabriel."

He only heard one thing. " Leah sent you?"

"I think she wanted me and Sloane to bond."

It would be just like Leah to encourage a friendship. She never wanted to see anyone be alone. But the idea of his sister, his younger sister, wandering unprotected had his system on high alert. While she was right that she could defend herself and ultimately, if it came down to her life and exposing the secret, he would always have her choose herself, he wasn't so sure the High Family would agree. A cold sweat broke out at the idea of their summons.

"Promise me you'll be more careful," he demanded, trying to temper the fear. "You have to think before you act."

"Sometimes you can think too much." Her challenge was gentle but her eyes, when she lifted them to his, were hot. "I'm not a little girl anymore. You can't protect me forever."

"I can try."

That lifted the corners of her lips. "Gabriel, you have to let me make mistakes sometimes. Step outside the safety lines. I did, today, and look, nothing happened. Let me grow." She squeezed his forearm. "You're not my dad. You're my brother."

His words got stuck in his throat as he stared down at the girl he'd raised, suddenly a young woman.

She grinned, an impish curve. "You should be helping me make mistakes, not stopping me."

"I don't know about that," he said, his voice rusty. He looked up at the ceiling, then back. "When they died... You were so young. But it...affected me. I can't change overnight, Mells."

"I know. One step. That's all I'm asking."

He struggled with the instinct to say no, to wrap her up in bubble wrap. But he knew she was right, even if he hated it. Hadn't he accepted that living, working with humans wasn't always a bad thing? How could he admit that and then not trust Melly to navigate it herself? Under guidelines, of course. His points about the danger of losing control of magic were valid. But if another witch or someone he trusted was there to intervene...

He'd been allowed to make mistakes, though his parents had always despaired of his "acting out." He didn't want Melly to feel stifled, to be friendless. To have bitterness eat away at her soul. He didn't trust all humans, hell, he didn't trust all witches, but he could trust her. Even if it made him feel vaguely nauseous.

At some point, he thought, tracing her face, you had to take a leap.

He closed his eyes, gave in. "Fine. You can come back, but only when I'm around."

"I'll accept that. For now." Melly bounced up, kissed his cheek. "Thanks, big brother." She drew back, an impish dimple creasing hers. "About Leah...maybe you should start thinking about stepping outside some safety lines with her, too."

He shifted, uncomfortable.

Her eyes went round as crystal balls. "Shut. Up."

Resigned to nosy sisters, he nudged her toward a seat. This would take a while.