Juniper set our drinks in front of us, tea for me and coffee for him.
“I mean it!”
He just nodded agreeably. Did nothing rattle him?
“You’d look great wearing my cup of tea.” I scowled at him.
“I’d look great wearing anything. Or nothing.” He smiled pleasantly. “Ah, they make such good coffee here. Witches are amazing cooks. So are warlocks, for that matter.”
How could I possibly want to murder him and have sex with him? How could these two urges coexist so strongly?
After our tea, I headed for the bathroom. When I was done and washing my hands, Fionnulla walked in. She looked around as if checking to make sure we were alone.
Then she pulled a thin rectangle out of her pocket. A cell phone? “Take this, Daphne.”
I accepted it, frowning in puzzlement. “Just a free phone out of nowhere?”
“I want to help you. So I want you to be able to call me. If you want to escape, you can let me know and I’ll do what I can.”
“This will work here?”
“Yes, it works here, but not in the human realm. Any of us who travel into the human realm have two cell phones. One for here and one for there.”
“I appreciate your help, but why?”
“Sisterhood.” She smiled wryly. “They might consider you a shifter, but you have witch blood in your veins. And a witch should be subservient to no man. I know he’s holding you prisoner. People talk. If you want to go back to the human realm, call me and I’ll help you.”
I looked at it. It was a basic burner flip phone. One of those old ones that would survive nuclear war if it needed to.
I still wanted to leave, right? Of course I did. I just wanted this thing with the Iron Claw pack resolved first because otherwise, it might not just be me in danger—it might be my mother. Who knows what they’d do to get their claws into me if they thought I was a valuable pawn to play with.
“Thank you, Fi,” I said, sliding the phone in my pocket. Guilt sizzled through me. I was keeping a secret from Killian—but then, he was holding me prisoner, so turnabout was fair play—wasn’t it?
I was far too used to having things turn out to not be as good as they appear to be, after all.
No hot guy could be this good. There was always a catch. That was simply an undeniable rule of my life.
Thirteen
Killian
“There’s a big festival and you want me to just… sit in my room? Alone? Under guard? Bored out of my mind?” Daphne sat on the edge of her bed, her arms crossed, scowling at me.
“You got to go to town and hang out with your witch buddies yesterday,” I protested. And we’d spent last night with me exploring every inch of her beautiful body. She should have been exhausted this morning.
“But I love festivals, and I hate sitting around on my butt.”
“It’s safer for you here. Downtown, I can see where the threats are coming from. The festival, there are packs and covens from everywhere, huge crowds…much harder to manage.” I grimaced at the thought.
“You can’t just expose me to all of this and expect me not to see more of it,” she said. “If this is my father’s world, and this is something I’m going to be a part of, I want to learn as much as I can about it.”
I looked at her, staring back at me earnestly. She was right. I wanted nothing more than to protect her, but if I did just keep her sealed up in a tiny bedroom the entire time, I’d drive her away.
I heaved a sigh. “Fine. But you need to stay close to me. I need to be able to protect you and you’re not allowed to vanish into the crowd. Clear?”
“You,” she emphasized, “should stay close to me then. I want to see what Tall Timbers is all about and I don’t just want the Killian-approved guided tour.”
Her willingness to stand up to me made her all the sexier. I was too used to getting what I wanted without. I had to earn Daphne’s adoration, and I was damn sure going to do it.
