Page 24 of Freed By the Witchbone Knife

“I know.”

He made a sound of annoyance in the back of his throat. “You’re impossible.”

“Are you saying I defy the laws of physics?” She grinned. “I’m flattered.”

“This is why I live in seclusion,” he grumbled.

“And here I thought it was because of your blinding personality.”

“That too.” His lips twitched. Damn it.

“Well, if you don’t mind. I’ve got loads of ground to cover, so don’t let me keep you.” Then she turned and set of. And fuck if he didn’t fall into step right behind her. She said nothing about it, just continued on.

“What’s that thing do, anyway?” He glared at her device. It made an annoying clicking sound and the needle pivoted back and forth across a dial.

“It’s a lunarium detector.”

“A—what?”

“You know, lunarium? The crystal that wolves are highly sensitive to? It’s supposed to be calming. Not that it seems to have any effect on⁠—”

“I know what lunarium is.” The words were bitten out.

“Ah. Right. Wolf and all that.”

“Didn’t know there were special detectors for it.”

“There’s detectors for all sorts of stuff. Geiger counters for radiation. Magnetometers for magnetic fields. Seismographs for ground vibrations. Ground-penetrating radar for subsurface structures. Metal detectors for ferrous materials, gas chromatographs for chemical compounds. Infrared spectrometers for heat signatures.”

He gaped at the back of her head. Not that she could see him.

“Then there’s the hybrid ones that lean more into the supernatural. Like this one. You’ve got thaumic resonance detectors for magical energy. Ectoplasmic field meters for ghostly activity. Aetheric disturbance sensors.”

He stopped walking.

“Crystalline formation scanners. Ley line displacement monitors. Dimensional flux analyzers. Spectral emanation trackers⁠—”

She froze, then spun around. Her brow furrowed when she saw the ten feet that separated them. He was about to say something cutting. Until he got a look at the dreamy expression on her face. His chest went tight. Whatever he’d been about to say—well, he couldn’t quite remember, could he? He closed the distance between them. “I suppose you learned all that from your physics classes?”

She grinned. “Something like that.”

His eyes dropped to her mouth and he quickly pulled his gaze away. She might have noticed the action, he wasn’t sure. But she fell silent.

She set off again.

He was contemplative as he followed behind, keeping an eye on her feet and the terrain more than necessary. There was no telling when she’d trip and he’d have to catch her. And so what if his eyes jumped to her ass a few times. It wasn’t as if she’d know.

The rocky outcropping she led them to was nearly twenty feet tall, one of the higher points on his property. He’d climbed it a few times in both human and wolf form. Her detector’s clicking intensified as they approached the formation. He was content to simply watch her, the way she moved, how she chewed on her lower lip as she was concentrating. The little furrow that formed between her eyebrows. She moved with purpose, checking readings at different points along the cliff, making notes on her laminated map.

He stayed close—closer than necessary, really—telling himself it was only to ensure she didn’t do anything foolish like stub her toe or trip and slide down the hillside.

When she crouched near a particularly deep fissure in the rock, her excitement was palpable. “The readings are strongest here.” She pulled out a small flashlight, trying to peer into the crack. It was narrow—too narrow for a person to enter—but her detector was practically humming.

“How do you feel about dynamite?”

“Absolutely not,” he growled, snapping out of his haze. “I agreed to let you on my property, not destroy it.”

She bit her lip, holding back a smile. At which point he realized she was simply fucking with him. He huffed and backed away.