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Clearing my throat, I take a step back, toward what I hope is the door.

“We’ll leave you to your pizza. Let us know if you have any other questions. We’ll be around but stay out of your hair for the most part. Are you certain you only require a year?”

Marcus pouts hard as Charlotte nods, her mouth so full of pizza that it makes her cheeks puff. My mind drifts for a moment to what she might look like with my cock stuffed in her mouth. I clench my hands into fists and lengthen my claws to dig into my flesh.

I’ve never been so careless with my thoughts to let one interaction turn me into a sexual deviant.

“Should be all I need. I don’t want to inconvenience you guys any more than I already have.” Her eyes find Atlas, who steppedback into the room and is still brooding. “How hard can it be to find yourself?” she asks with an exasperated sigh.

I flee the room with a nod, wondering the same thing.

JULIUS

Darius leaves the room without another word, but I can’t find it in myself to pull away from this woman just yet. Charlotte. Her name is Charlotte, and it fits her sort of perfectly.

“Mind if we stay?” I ask, trying to keep my tone casual.

“I’m out,” Atlas says bluntly, casting one more burning look at Charlotte before he follows our alpha from the room.

“Well, may Marcus and I stay?” I rephrase my question.

Charlotte seems to glitch, a little scrunch pulling her face and a twitch jerking her forward a touch. She holds up a finger, swallowing her mouthful of pizza before she smiles. “Of course, it’s your house—uh, castle.”

“It’s our castle for sure, but mi castle es tu castle, am I right?” Marcus chuckles.

Charlotte sets her pretty eyes on me for further explanation, and I bite my cheek to suppress my grin. I remove my glasses and lift the corner of my sweater, using the improper material to clean the glass. Her eyes flick down, following the move, and her gaze almost heats my skin.

There might be something more to this witch than even Marcus first gleaned. My sporty nest-mate has always been the most open to changes in our environment and magic, but even I can’t deny thesomethingthat is there with Charlotte near.

“So the big blue gargoyle is the owner of the castle?” she asks, taking a small bite of her slice.

“That’s right. We lost the deed about a hundred years ago. Things get misplaced in magical spaces and then never turn up—” I begin.

“Or they turn up attached to a very pretty witch,” Marcus chimes in.

Charlotte blushes and shakes her head. “Thanks, but it’s not exactly attached to me, per se. I thought this castle belonged to my aunt?”

I wince slightly, shrugging to hide the movement. “It’s impossible. We’ve been the only owners since the castle was built. We’ve also been the only occupants.”

Charlotte purses her pretty pink mouth as she takes in that information.

“So I’m going to find out jack about my family here?” Her cute little nose scrunches up from displeasure.

I bite into my lower lip, fighting the urge to press my mouth across the bridge of her nose.

“Not necessarily,” Marcus says suddenly, one hand flying to rest on her knee. “If they ever lived in town, then Eloise will help you find info.”

“Speaking of her, um, why was she so…willing to go along with this ownership stuff?” she asks.

Her intelligence is nearly giving me a hard-on.

“Eloise knows better than most to roll with the punches when it comes to weird magic shit,” Marcus says with a scoff. “Plus, Darius said it was OK, and we sorta need the actual deed back.”

“Right,” she murmurs. “Right, right, OK, so…I can stay?”

“This is technically your castle now, but of course you can stay,” I say. “Darius did agree to a year, and I’m sure that could be extended if you needed.”

Or wanted. Forever seems like just enough time to stay and find yourself.