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For my first older woman decision, I was going to forget Jack and Rasmus for fifteen minutes and take a long, hot shower before I packed.

Then I was going to contact Conn. I hadn’t seen my familiar in seven years either.

ChapterSeven

Before Conn went to live with my mother, he’d taken all my magickal stuff and put it in storage. He’d sent word by Fiona that he’d found a troll-guarded place in Salem that the demon hunters would never find.

Fiona told me on the phone that Conn was retrieving what I needed and said he would catch up with me.

Sure, I could call him to me and demand his presence immediately. As his guardian, I had that right. One call would bring him instantly to my side, but I only did that when it was a matter of life and death. In the last seven years, I had never called at all because it was his death I cared about preventing.

I’d barely hefted my bag to my shoulder when my inner alarms went off. There was a knock on my door at the same moment, but I felt no danger. Dropping the bag, I threw open the door, and then threw myself into the arms of the male standing there.

“Are we knocking on doors like strangers now? Ya haven’t knocked on my door since I first got ya.”

Conn hugged me and swung me around. “They don’t allow dogs in your hotel. I had to go the brother route for my disguise. I hope that was okay.”

“Ya look wonderful to my eyes in any form. It’s yer soul that matters to me.”

Conn set me down and stood back to study me. “My true form was why you ended up rotting away in a cottage instead of being out in the world practicing your magick.”

“I only stayed there for...”

“Fiona’s sake—yes, I know. But you got sent there because of me and you stayed because of her. I’m still not sure that was the wisest way to finish raising your only child. What will she think when she figures out she was the reason you let her father treat you so horribly?”

“Children are innately self-serving. She’d think it was her due. Besides, I have years before she matures enough to think of anything but her own needs. Are ya well, Conn? Ya look well enough.”

“How could I not be well? I’ve been staying in Ireland with Bridget all this time. She brought me with her when she came to see Fiona in person. I have to say living with Bridget was very entertaining, but not nearly as exciting as being with you.” He pointed at my bag. “Checking out early?”

I glanced at my tiny bag and chuckled. “I’m running from a couple of idiots who keep messing with me.”

“That’s a funny coincidence. I followed one here.”

I shrugged. “Then I guess ya already know about Jack surprising me today. His partner-in-plotting betrayed me and I fell for it. I think I went soft while I was locked up.”

Conn lifted an eyebrow that nearly mirrored mine. He’d used my facial features to create his persona but had begged me to let him be taller. His modest five feet ten height seemed to suit him perfectly. No creature wanted to be as short as I was, not even those who were naturally small.

Conn picked up my bag. “I’ve been following Jack around since our plane landed. Let’s go, and I’ll catch you up as we escape his evil clutches. We need to cash out some gold coins so Bridget doesn’t keep thinking you’re some fugitive from justice out starving on the street. She’s only one or two resentments away from going after Jack with a curse.”

I chuckled before closing the door behind us. “Jack isn’t important enough for Ma to worry about. I told her I wasn’t destitute. It only appears that way at the moment.”

“Do you have any cash on your person right now?”

“Well, no.”

Conn smiled. “See? This is why you need me. You refuse to use your magick for anything to help yourself.”

I lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “I’m not starving, nor am I intending to become a selfish magickal. I admit my life is easier when ya have my back, but I need ya most for yer company. Ya’re the only man I know that isn’t scheming behind my back.”

Conn stopped, laughed, and then shrugged. “I’m flattered you see me as your savior, of course, but you haven’t forgotten what I’m really like, have you?”

I chuckled remembering some things he’d put me through over the years. “No, of course not. I just trust ya’re not feeling yer mischievous urges today.”

“Oh, I’m not. I’m feeling vengeful instead. How long before Jack and the ponytail guy get free?”

“Were ya spying on them?”

He snorted. “I was following your ex-husband to see where he was going. When I got to the hotel, I felt your magickal signature and followed it thinking I would find you. Finding Jack glued to a chair did not surprise me. No man can damage a woman more than one who once shared her bed. Worse, no one—man or woman—is immune to it happening. Even The Dagda dealt with that.”