Page 42 of The Wolfing Hour

“I’ll put her with the rosemary.”

She pushed the flowerpot into my hands. “Your choice, but I think she’d be an asset.”

The little plant peered up at me, her downturned mouth the width of my thumbnail, her tiny eyes pinching into irritated little slits. Meredith was bonded to Ida, and Ida only. She tolerated everyone else.

“Come on, Meredith. Let’s go.”

The plant’s eyes widened; her leaves flattened against her stem. Her tiny mouth formed a perfect “o.”

Uh-oh. I’d seen this expression before.

“Uh, Ida? Something’s wrong.”

The mandrake let rip with a murderous scream. My ears reacted with pain, then silence, and eventually, a piercing buzz. The display on Ida’s cell phone cracked, and the glass in the sliding glass door leading onto her back patio wobbled in its frame.

Ida grabbed Meredith out of my hands and rubbed her thumb over the creature’s head. Her mouth moved, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying. My guess was she was cooing at the tiny monster, trying to calm her down.

Finally, the plant’s mouth cinched shut. Ida tucked the small clay pot into her robe pocket and picked up her phone. She peeled off the broken screen protector. Thankfully, the phone was intact.

She typed something then pointed at my pocket, where my cell phone was.

I took it out, grateful I also used a screen protector. I peeled the broken thing off and set it beside hers.

Ida:Sorry. She’s been annoyed since I came home hurt.

Me:No problem. We’ll talk later. The charm from last night should heal your ears.

I gave her a smile that was as fake as the reasoning she’d given me and left.

We both knew the truth. Meredith hadn’t been reacting to Ida’s injuries. She’d been reacting to me.

With terror.

Chapter

Eight

Chapter Eight

When Ronan walked through the door, shirtless, barefoot, and in gray sweatpants, I’d already been wearing my healing charm for an hour. My hearing was back, though my inner ears were sore.

“Betty, you’ve got to stop threatening Trey. I need him focused.”

“It was only a teensy threat,” I said without looking up.

“Teensy, my ass. You scared the hell out of him.” He dropped a kiss on my head and peered over my shoulder as I peeled the backing off a thin-glass screen protector. “What happened to your phone?”

“Meredith happened.” I lowered the glass shield onto my clean screen and pressed the air bubbles out with a soft cloth. “I started buying these in bulk after she came to live with us.”

“Uh-oh.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “Ears still smarting?”

“A little.”

He sat in the chair beside mine, smelling like the outdoors and bacon grease. Weirdly inoffensive. “What set her off?”

“Ida thinks it’s because Meredith was worried about her after yesterday,” I replied as offhandedly as I could manage before changing the subject. “How’s Gladys?”

“Sore but mostly healed. Any silver still in her chest should expel on its own now.”