Page 24 of Of Magic and Murder

Riordan clears his throat, snagging his brother’s attention. “Honey’s right. At least, when it comes to me. I was being hardheaded, but now I’m back. And I want in.”

In? In what?

I realize that this conversation is really between Riordan and Max. Gus is watching the brothers go back and forth, bobbing his head like he’s following a table tennis game, while Honey finishes tidying up her backwrap at the same time as trying to hide her growing smile.

Me? I’m thinking that this is the perfect opportunity to slink away to the back room, tiptoe through the kitchen, and hightail it upstairs before I have to deal with the way that being face-to-face with Riordan Lobo for the first time in months is affecting me.

I try. I really do. But when you have two alpha wolves basically flanking you, it takes a witch much sneakier than I am to turn away and hope that no one notices.

Two steps. I make it two steps toward the counter before Riordan rumbles out my name in that same polite voice he used when we first met:

“Ms. Willows.”

A lump lodges in my throat. I’m not surprised he remembers the red-headed witch he once maneuvered into a holding cell. It is a little disappointing that he still insists on using my surname, though, to be fair, there’s no reason it should be.

Swallowing roughly, forcing a smile to my face, I meet Riordan’s gaze. “Hello, Chief Deputy.”

A muscle tics in his jaw. “Riordan is fine.”

It’s funny how, after all this time in Moonburrow, I’ve started to think of him as Riordan instead of Chief Deputy Lobo. I guess it’s because of how close I’ve grown to Roxy and Honey. Honey refers to her brother-in-law by his first name, and when Roxy isn’t poking fun at Riordan and calling him ‘Deputy Lick-My-Balls’, he’s Riordan to her, too. Somewhere along the line, I’ve become familiar with a male I don’t actually know, but when he gives me the permission to use his name… I can’t help it.

Why does he get to be familiar and still insist on calling me Ms. Willows?

“Goes both ways.” I shrug my shoulders. “If Riordan is fine, so is Penelope.”

He thinks about it for a moment. “What about ‘Pen’? Does anyone call you that?”

My mom did. When I was little, she would call me both ‘Penny’ and ‘Pen’. By the time I had matured into my powers, I guess I matured into my full name, too. I’ve been Penelope ever since. However, my mom is gone, so it’s not a lie when I tell him, “No.”

He nods. “I’ll keep that in mind. First, though… Max told me that you’ve moved out of the coven house, that you live over Honey’s bakery now. Good. I would’ve suggested that if you hadn’t already moved in. So that’s settled. But, please, if you’d stay with us for a few moments longer, I’d really like you to be a part of this chat between my brother and I.”

I… don’t know what to say to that. I have no idea why he cares that I put some space between the Moonburrow coven and me, or why he wants me to stick around while he talks to Max, but if he thinks that I didn’t notice how careful he was to ask me instead of order me… he’d be wrong.

“Um. Okay. Sure.”

If I wasn’t watching him so closely, I also wouldn’t have noticed the tiniest way his big body relaxes. But I was, and I did, and I know then that whatever he wants me to hear, it’s going to change everything.

I’m right about that.

“I want to take point on the Frost murder,” he tells Max.

Max doesn’t look surprised. Instead, with a mild expression that only highlights the pure alpha dominance in his eyes, he says, “You took off two months ago. I went without my chief deputy and my Beta. And now you think you’re gonna waltz back into Moonburrow and take over my investigation?”

Riordan drops his gaze just enough to make it noticeable that he’s not challenging Max. It doesn’t matter that he’s the older brother and that both of their wolves are considered to be alphas in the wolf shifters’ hierarchy. I heard from Roxy that Riordan was supposed to be Alpha, but he stepped down years before due to this curse. He’d been a supportive Beta to Max’s Alpha ever since, and he proves it now by submitting just the right amount.

And then he says in a softer tone, “I shouldn’t have left you with all of it. Whatever you want to say to me about that, Max, I’ll listen. But we both know you have a pack to lead, a town to run, and a mate who’s still pissed at you for hiding that we have a second dead witch.”

“He’s right,” Honey calls out cheerfully. “I might forgive, but I haven’t forgotten. Remember that, Max.”

Max is the biggest, baddest wolf in Moonburrow. All of us know that. But even he winces a little when his smaller, daintier mate reminds me of his well-intentioned fuck-up.

As for Riordan, he turns to me. “Max tells me that you’re the one who discovered that Frost was murdered. That you spoke to her.”

To be honest, I’d much rather discuss her cruel murder than remember what happened when Riordan believed I was capable of such a crime.

I nod. “Yes. I’m a seer.”

“And a cursebreaker.”