Page 103 of Witchbane
“Ari is Ari. And not your concern.”
“He is while he’s living with my daughter.”
I blinked at her. “Excuse me? Aren’t you the same woman who gave up custody of your kid allowing you to date at random?”
“How I live my life is none of your business. I’m not even sure why you’re still here. Some fetish of the moment, I suppose,” Elaine sniped.
For a minute I was at a loss for words. The whole see-red-for-anger thing became reality. This time I could feel the fire building. Not the startling eruption of it as had happened when I’d set the book on fire, but the glowing weight of energy. Power or magic, whatever. I could have set something on fire at that moment, no symbols needed, my focus was that clear. I could even feel the heat of it in my palms, yet no flames appeared as I held them back. At least I’d have to worry less about the cold.
I sighed. Liam’s ex-wife or not, this woman was not staying in my house. Something wanted to follow her home? At that moment I was willing to feed her to theHunt. No one disrespected my kid that way.
Toby appeared by my side as if magically conjured. He touched my shoulder.
“I got this,” I growled.
He leaned in and whispered, “Your claws are showing.”
And sure enough, my fingernails had elongated. That had never happened before, shifting out of control. I tried not to call attention to it, and was shocked enough that the anger washed away with panic. The nails vanished, and my fingers stung a little at the abruptness of it. One more thing to work on with Liam. The kitsune wasn’t content to always stay silent in the background until I was ready to call it.
The back door opened and Nick walked in. He glanced from me to Elaine to Toby, then said. “Carl’s on his way in.”
“Good. I want a word with him about giving my kid a coloring book with naughty words in it.”
“I’m to bring you to your mate,” Nick said.
Elaine looked him over, her gaze lingering a while. It was weird because I still thought of Nick as that little boy who’d been pulled into my mess through no fault of his own. But he was hardly a little boy now. Dressed in jeans, and a sweatshirt, he shouldn’t have looked extraordinary. But with his rust-colored curls falling around his face, and a bit of stubble on his jaw, and his wide shoulders, I could see how someone would find him appealing. He had grown into a handsome man.
I really didn’t want Elaine near him. Whether it was because she was Liam’s ex, or how she treated Ari and her own daughter, didn’t matter. I hated her in principle.
“Great,” I gave Nick a smile. “Take me to my mate, please. But I have to make a quick trip to my camper.”
“That’s a stupid word. Mate. Like you’re Australian or something,” Elaine muttered.
If I hadn’t already been following Nick out the door I might have turned to lash out, but Toby shut the door firmly and returned to his cooking. Even he wasn’t giving her the time of day. Since she didn’t mention Ari’s mishap in shifting, I assumed someone had done the “convincing her it was a dream” thing. At least she would be out of my hair soon enough. I really hoped Liam didn’t have to go into a court custody battle over Korissa because he decided to keep me.
Chapter 29
Ifollowed Nick silently. We headed for a well-tamped trail through the snow and to my camper. My thoughts were heavy. He was back, safe in this world, but had missed an entire lifetime. I didn’t know what to say or do to make it better. “You’re still his scion?” It was a dumb question. I didn’t think them escaping Underhill meant the bond had broken or even could be.
“It’s a lifetime bond, not all that unlike the mate bond. Only death do us part.”
I hadn’t thought their relationship was an intimate one, but maybe I’d been wrong. “Are you and Kiran like… together?”
Nick threw me an amused glance.
“Kiran is not ugly,” I said. “And you’re sort of magic sorcerer hot now, which is totally weird and wrong in my head.”
“Magic sorcerer hot…” Nick repeated, rolling the words around for a minute. “I’m okay with magic sorcerer hot. Kiran and I are not together like you and Liam are together. Is that PG enough for you?”
“I guess?” We arrived at the camper door and I opened it, feeling the wards welcome me, but I peeled them back. And they welcomed Nick too. He would love the books.
“Is there a way to make you less uncertain?” Nick asked, following me inside. Everything was still and quiet, untouched, even the bed was made, which was odd as neither Liam nor I had made it before we left several days ago.
“I want you to be happy,” I said, heading to the cupboard that was locked and warded because the books in there were a bit more on the dark side. I wanted him to find a new life with all this supernatural bullshit behind him, but I doubted that was possible.
Nick took in the long rows of shelves full of books and tins. “This is nice. And I am happy. Sort of?” He seemed to think about it as he ran a hand along the spines of the books, reading the titles.
“Sorry it’s not as big as your library was, but you’re welcome to read anything you like.” I worked on unlatching and relaxing the wards on the hidden cupboard. It wasn’t hidden as much as it looked more like a part of the shelving wall than an actual opening.