Page 49 of Magic Claimed

My mouth dropped open. “How did you know?”

Kes leaned back against the counter, crossed her arms, and managed to look stern. “I walked up to the garden with Ethan,just to make sure there was no one up there who would harass him, and found Shane passed out in one of the chairs.”

Oops.

“It was pretty obvious what he was doing.”

“Did you talk to him about it?”

“What was I supposed to say?” She flung her hands up helplessly. “He’s so… intense. He justlookedat me. Even I know that it’s weird how safe I feel with him around, but I don’t actually know how totalkto him about it. So… I got flustered and left.”

They both had it bad. Might as well just lay things out there.

“I promised I would ask you about letting him be more of an official bodyguard. Just until Blake is dealt with and there are no more contracts out on you.”

Her gaze darted to mine, then away. I didn’t need siren magic to know what she was thinking.

“I can’t ask him to do that,” she murmured.

“You didn’t ask. He’s basically insisting. Which means he’s going to be looking out for you, with or without your permission. If you don’t want him all up in your business, that’s fine, and I will always support your decisions. But I promise you he’ll just keep watching your back from a greater distance, where he won’t be nearly as effective.”

“But why?” Kes demanded plaintively. “Why is he doing this? Why does he even care?”

“I guess you’ll have to ask him?” I suggested tentatively.

She shot me a dirty look. “Fine. Yes. I guess he can be our official bodyguard,” she agreed, sounding somewhere betweengrumpy and secretly relieved. “For now. But none of this staying out all night on rooftops anymore. He also has to take care of himself, or the deal is off.”

“Great,” I said blandly, “because I think he’ll be moving into the apartment next to ours.”

Her eyes flared wide in something that looked like silent emotional flailing, but all she said was, “Okay?” It was unmistakably a question, just not one with an actual answer.

“Also, I think you should be the one to text him to let him know.”

This time she definitely glared at me, but she also didn’t say no.

“And…” This one might be the most difficult of all. “I think Ethan should come with me today.”

“To work?” Kes didn’t sound optimistic.

“No, I’m off duty until further notice,” I informed her. “I’m investigating a missing teen until we get more leads on…” I swallowed a quick surge of nausea and fear “…on Callum’s condition.”

She put a sympathetic hand on my arm. “They’re going to find an antidote. I know it.”

I nodded. I wanted to believe her, but I also wanted to be ready for whatever might be coming. Angelica had been right about that part.

“Ethan should be safe enough,” she said hesitantly. “He’s just so…”

Purposeless. I worried about that almost as much as his magic. He walked around like an automaton most of the time, asif he had no idea what to do with even the small amount of freedom this new life allowed.

“I’m hoping that a change of scenery will help him feel less aimless. Show him that he’s not living in a cage anymore, and give him something to focus on besides…”

Besides his own endless waiting for a solution that might never come.

“And we need to split everyone up for the move, anyway.”

“Just try not to involve him in anything unpredictable or dangerous,” Kes warned. “I can’t promise what his magic will do if he feels threatened.”

I didn’t always know whatmymagic would do under threat.