Page 43 of Of Magic and Murder

“Are you leaving?” Honey asks brightly, her eyes all but begging me to take the big, bad wolf out of her bakery. When so many of her patrons are prey shifters… yeah. I get that. “I’ve got croissants in the oven, and fresh-baked sourdough if you want to bring some with you.”

There’s a rack of freshly baked bread on one of the bakery’s walls. She grabs a loaf, holding it out.

Riordan steps in front of me and grabs it.

“I’ll take that, Honey.” He breaks off a piece of bread, tossing it to Gus. “Deputy. I’m sorry that we left you behind yesterday. We’ll be doing research today.” Riordan makes it sound like ‘research’ is a four-letter-word. “If you’d like to come with⁠—”

Gus shoves the piece of bread into his mouth before turning around and resuming his curled-up position on top of the bag of flour.

Riordan’s eyes gleam as he looks my way. “Guess it’s just us again, Pen. Here.” He holds out the rest of the loaf. “For you.”

Honey giggles. “Careful, Riordan. Anyone would think that you’re trying to feed Penelope.”

He slings an arm around my shoulder. Ah, Hecate. Riordan is so deliciously warm. He smells even better than the fresh-baked bread. His arm is heavy across my shoulders, and while every instinct I have should be warning me that there is a very large, very dominant wolf shifter touching me, the only thing my traitorous body seems interested in is how easily I fit against his side.

And then he says simply, “Someone has to.”

Honey’s answering smile is enormous.

Okay. Enough of that. I duck out from beneath Riordan’s arm before I embarrass myself, clutching my loaf of sourdough against my chest.

“Research,” I squeak. “Right. We should go do that. Now. Let’s go now.”

Riordan’s almost-smile tells me that he’s enjoying this way too much. “Whatever you say, Pen.”

It isn’t until we pull up in front of Moonburrow Library that I realize Riordan never actually told me what we’re going to be researching.

I assumed it would have something to do with the murders. Maybe he wants to look into the town’s history, since the relationship between the coven and the Moonshadow Pack is shakier than I first realized. Or maybe he thinks there might be some old reference to wolfsbane being used to disguise a shifter’s scent. Could be anything really.

So, as we enter the library through the side door Ash gave me a key to after my unfortunate magical incident, I ask, “Where do you want to start?”

Riordan closes the door behind us. “Over there.”

I follow his gaze.

There are still books everywhere. It’s definitely better than it was. Ash and I have made progress, but it turns out that putting thousands of books back where they belong is a lot more time-consuming than magically ripping them off their shelves in the first place.

Especially when I promised Ash I wouldn’t use magic to clean up the mess mine made…

I look at Riordan. I look at the books. Then at Riordan again.

“Over there where?”

He waves around him. “Anywhere. Pick a pile, we’ll start there.”

Okay… “What are we looking for?”

His eyes brighten. “Shelves.”

Shelves?

It takes me a second to understand. “We’re not here to research, are we?”

“We might be. If we find a book that looks like it might help with the case, we can set it aside and check it out later. But, mostly, we’re here because I saw how much work there was to do. Had another chat with Ash, and he said that you won’t stop feeling guilty until all of the books are back.” He flexes his fingers. “I’ve got an extra pair of paws I’m willing to offer.”

For a second, I can’t speak.

People help me all of the time. Serena taught me. My mother loved me. Honey gives me a place to live and feeds me often enough that I might eventually turn into one of her cupcakes. Roxy has basically decided we’re friends whether I understand how that happened or not.