Page 111 of Tempting Fate

Chapter Forty-Three

Patch

Jamie changes before we eat, but he takes the seat between me and Em when he comes back downstairs, more like a wolf than I’ve ever seen him by the way he needs to constantly touch both of us.

I relax into each one. I don’t think the door has closed for all of us—or at least, my wolf certainly doesn’t believe that to be the case—but I know I need to tread lightly. Em should be angrier than he is at finding out we’re mates, and that might come through tomorrow. Jamie, too, might have second thoughts once the events of the day catch up to him.

Just before midnight, Jamie begins to nod off, though he’s trying to watch the TV with us. Em laughs and finally turns it off. “Come on. Time for bed.”

Jamie’s eyes are closed. “Okay,” he says, clearly walking that line between sleep and wakefulness when he asks, “Whose room are we staying in?”

Em stills. I don’t dare say anything. It might kill me, but I meant what I said—I’ll go home if they ask me to.

“Jamie, we…” Em looks at me helplessly, then sighs. “We’re just sleeping, okay?”

Jamie huffs. He forces his eyes open and stifles a yawn. “Think I’m going to pass out, honestly.”

“Yeah, come on.”

Em helps Jamie up and nods for me to get the lights as he leads him over to the stairs. I dash off to check the front door is locked, then the back, before I follow them up to the hall.

Em hesitates for a moment, then steers us over to his room again. It’s a little messier than last time, some things packed into bags, but the bed is made and Em gently pushes Jamie over to it before he grabs his own pyjamas.

“Do you need anything to sleep in?” he asks me.

“No,” I say. I watch Jamie clumsily climb onto the bed. He wraps himself up in the duvet, right in the middle. I can’t help my smile.

“Patch,” Em says. He’s closer now. “Hey. If it’s too fast, you don’t have to stay here. Or you can take Jamie’s bed, if that’s better?”

“No, I want…” I tremble with all that I want. Can’t he see it? Feel it?

For a second, I think he does. He reaches out and strokes my jaw, the touch feather-light but grounding all the same.

“You want to stay with us?” he asks.

I nod.

“Okay. What do you wear to bed?”

Usually, nothing, but that doesn’t feel quite right when Jamie’s in a T-shirt and joggers and Em is wearing pyjama bottoms.

“I’ve got… I’m wearing boxers.”

“Okay. Get ready for bed.”

He slips away to the bathroom and I strip off, then sit on the edge of the bed, watching the door. Jamie holds on to my wrist.

“He wants us too,” he murmurs.

“I know.” My wolf knows. “He might still not want all of it.”

“He wants magic,” Jamie says. “He found it. He’ll remember.”

I glance back at him, but his eyes are closed, a peaceful smile on his face. I shake my head and watch the door again. Em smiles when he comes through and sees me sitting there.

“All yours.”

He moves for the bed when I go to the door, but then I look back and see he’s trying to get in on this side, closest to it. I shake my head.