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CHAPTER TEN

Allen scented Lilac’s return to the corner booth and stood when the witch approached. She skewered him with a look, her beautiful mouth set in a disgusted twist. Spirits above, he’d really stepped into some shit when he’d said that about her reputation earlier. Like an idiot on his first mission, he’d forgotten a critical piece of information—Zofia had said the villages referred to her as a heartbreaker. Which was just a polite term for hussy. Or slut.

Of course, that’s not at all what he’d been referring to, and not at all what he believed about her, but she didn’t know that.

“I’m sorry for what I said earlier,” he said quickly. “I only meant the Hawthorne reputation for despising shifters.”

“Hmph,” was her icy reply. Then she looked him up and down. “Why are you standing?”

“It’s, um, what you do when a lady—”

She didn’t wait for him to finish before sliding gracefully back into the booth beside her brother and picking up her fork. She gave her salmon a vicious stab, and Allen wondered if it was his head she was envisioning instead of the fish. He sank back into his seat .

“Now that Lilac’s recovered from her touch of the vapors or whatever nonsense,” Boar said, casting a glare at his sister, “let’s finish getting you up to speed, Allen.” To Lilac, he said, “He didn’t want to continue the conversation without you, out of respect, so maybe you can show him some in return?”

“If he earns it,” came her reply.

Inside, his wolf’s ears drooped.

“Let’s eat and talk, okay?” Rose ladled some soup into her bread bowl. “No reason to let it get cold.”

“You’re the Keeper of the Keys,” Boar said without preamble, “the Feeder of the Fire, the Maintainer of the Mansion.”

“You forgot Ringbearer.” Allen lifted his left hand where the opal glittered on his pinky finger.

“Lucky for you,” Rose said, nudging him in the shoulder, “you don’t have to leave your hobbit hole and miss tea time.”

“The Hall is spelled to obey your ring,” Boar continued. “You think it, and it’ll do it. It mostly commands the shield wall around the Hall, but Zofia was able to get the hearth to run hotter without any additional wood and make doors open for her at will, so long as they were already unlocked.”

“Sounds fancy.”

“She was also our cook and housekeeper,” Lilac said flatly, still trying to get a rise out of him. “You know, scrub the toilets, take out the trash, mop and polish the floors. You’ll be our servant. Still fancy?”

Servant? From the way she said, she might’ve just as well called him a dog.

Allen keep a tight rein on his temper. Let her unleash her vinegar and ire. The sooner she got it out of her system, knowing it would never get a rise out of him, the better. He didn’t normally let himself take a beating, either verbally or physically, but for them, for her —the girl in the photograph with the sad eyes—he was strangely willing to do it .

For the mission, you mean , a small voice corrected him. The wolf told that voice to fluff off.

“We take care of our own rooms,” Rose assured him, “but the function hall . . ..”

“I’m not opposed to hard labor, if that’s what you think.” It also gave him the perfect excuse to be all up in their business and make sure they were safe. He waggled his pinky finger to make the opal glitter again. “And it’s not like I have a choice, either, so there’s no use griping.”

Boar cleared his throat in a clear warning for Lilac to stop being so prickly and continued. “Now, Mrs. Hollyoak resided in the suite in the cellar, but since you’re a good foot and a half taller than that house elf—”

“She’s a house elf?” Allen exclaimed.

“You got something against Fair Folk?” Lilac asked sharply.

According to the dossier Sionnach had given him, the Hawthornes didn’t trust the fae on principle, but Lilac didn’t know Allen knew that, and it was clear she was determined to find fault in him.

“You’re the one who made me touch an iron cuff to prove I wasn’t fae,” he replied. “Do you ?”

“Nan’s an exception,” Rose whispered.

“Drink your tea, Lilac. That’s an order,” Boar said.

Reddening with embarrassment, Lilac lifted her cup for a swallow, wincing against the abrasive heat. She summoned her magic, manifesting as a brief green glow of her fingertips, to draw some of the heat away.

“I just never would’ve guessed Zofia was a house elf is all,” Allen answered her, keeping his voice earnest and sincere. It was clear she was a treasured addition to the Hawthorne family. “I thought house elves couldn’t leave their dwellings.”

“Zofia has access to the entire valley . . . as do you,” Boar told him .

“As do . . ..” Allen looked down at the opal ring in alarm. “You mean I’m leashed here?”

His wolf howled in alarm. Allen almost echoed him.

“Yes,” Boar answered gently. “Until Zofia reclaims the ring, or you pass it on to another.”

“But I have—” He choked off his words, feeling the color drain from his face, a sweat spring to his forehead. He couldn’t leave the valley?

“Allen,” Rose began.

“I need a minute,” he said forcefully, fists mashing into the table on either side of his beer stein. “ Please .”

Boar flung up his hand to get the attention of whatever server or bartender was looking in their direction at the moment. “Can we get a round of bourbon for the table, please?”

The witches waited awkwardly, exchanging glances as the new caretaker stared into the effervescent depths of his amber lager and came to grips with his new reality.

Spirits help me . How was he supposed to join the Coalition now if he could never leave this place? Other than this one mission, the Coalition never sent anyone into Hawthorne territory. Someone would see him shift eventually—he couldn’t lock away his wolf forever. Someone would rat him out. These people feared the Hawthornes more than they liked him. He could fight, but he could never escape.

When Talia appeared with the bourbon, setting the shot glasses down in a line along the center of the table, no one truly acknowledged her. Allen certainly didn’t, snatching the first shot glass and slamming back the brown liquor before moving on to the next. And the next. As the fourth pour of bourbon disappeared down his throat, he noticed Boar shrug and murmur, “That’s fair.”

Inside, his wolf was chasing his tail and howling, the alcohol having none of the desired effect. A run would’ve been better, a race to the edges of the valley to determine the truth of Boar’s words for himself, but he couldn’t do that. Not in broad daylight. But tonight . . . tonight was a different story. He just had to get a grip until then.

This wasn’t the first time he’d been in trouble, though, this was the first time magic had been involved.

Remember your training. What you’re fighting for . He was fighting to belong, for a place in the Coalition by keeping these three witches safe. He had to focus on that, otherwise he’d go insane.

Everything hinged on Zofia and this ancient pact she had passed on to him without his consent. He’d only known the woman—house elf—for a week, so there was no telling if she would reaccept her responsibility or go gallivanting about the world with her newfound freedom. He had to talk to her, as soon as possible. He also needed to talk to the Roots, find out if they knew any more about the hit-and-run this afternoon and if it wasn’t as coincidental as it seemed. If the driver had known about Zofia Hollyoak’s true nature, and the power she held over Hawthorne Hall, she would be the first person to eliminate if someone wanted to get at the Hawthornes.

And now Allen was that target.

He’d have to be on alert more than ever now. And know far more about the village, the Hawthornes, and his new responsibilities than he ever imagined.

Allen sucked in a deep breath and lifted glassy golden-brown eyes. “So, you were saying something about the living arrangements?”

Boar appeared eager for the change in topic into less emotional territory. “Right. Nan stayed in the suite in the cellar, but it was fashioned for a house elf, not a six-foot-something man. You’ll stay on the second floor of the Hall with us.”

“Boar,” Lilac protested. Caretaker or not, she obviously didn’t want a strange man sleeping within a stone’s throw of her bedroom.

“And where is my room in relationship to yours?” Allen had no time for the siblings to squabble again. He needed information like a drowning man needed air.

“Planning on getting ‘lost?’” she sneered.

“No,” he replied evenly (with great effort), “but I’d rather not accidentally walk in on either you or Rose while you’re in the shower and get another fist to the face from your brother. Plus, my nightly skincare routine is rather extensive and I don’t like to be interrupted.” There was a little more tooth to his smile than he normally allowed, but he was fighting back a panic attack.

Rose snickered, Boar suppressed a smile, and Lilac rolled her eyes.

“You’ll be in one of the spares on the other side of the balcony,” Boar said. “Right across the way from Lilac, actually.”

Lilac dropped her fork. “Oh my Green Mother.”

“Keep this unflattering attitude up, Lilac,” Boar growled, “and you’ll be sleeping in the cellar suite in Nan’s old room.”

If Allen didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought that was what Lilac had been angling for all along. Did it have something to do with what she’d hidden in the grocery delivery earlier?

“Gladly. Think I’ll go there now.” She dropped her napkin onto her half-eaten food.

“Sorry, Li,” Rose said, shaking her head. “You should’ve escaped out the back when you still had a chance.” She jerked her chin towards the nervous, petite figure approaching their table. “It’s beginning.”