Page 52 of Of Magic and Murder

I can’t bring myself to think about the second part of that. But the first…

“Then why did you come back?”

His expression softens. “I would’ve come back to Moonburrow a lot sooner if I knew that you were trying to call me home. But, trust me… I only returned when I did because Max told me that Olivia Frost was dead and we had a wolf killing witches.” He reaches out slowly, giving me plenty of time to move away before his fingers brush a strand of hair behind my ear. “I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if anything happened to my sweet witch.”

My sweet witch.

I stare up at him, suddenly very aware that he’s still shirtless, that it’s the middle of the night, and that there isn’t any magic forcing him to stand in Honey’s kitchen but that he’s here because, for reasons of his own, he refuses to leave me unprotected.

My lips part.

He gives me a small almost-smile. “Why don’t you go back to bed, Pen? We’ll finish this talk in the morning.”

I fall back a few steps. “You know what? That sounded suspiciously like an order.”

His face goes blank.

I regret saying it just as quickly. “Sorry.”

“No.” His voice turns quiet. “Don’t apologize. You’re right.” Like me, he takes a deliberate step back. “Would you please go upstairs and get some sleep? We have another section of Garnet’s map to check tomorrow.”

I look at him. At the male who corrected himself the second I reminded him what his words could do.

I hesitate. “Are you going to get some sleep?”

He nods. “I will. Don’t you worry. And I’ll be knocking on the door at nine o’clock just like I have ever since we started this dance.”

Murmuring my good night to him, it isn’t until I’m back in bed, staring at the ceiling, that I think about what he said.

Dance.

What a funny thing to say.

Dance.

What a funny thing to refer to this shifting relationship we have, especially since I’m one hundred percent sure that, when Riordan does fall asleep tonight, it’ll be in the kitchen downstairs beneath me…

It is a strange little dance we’re doing, isn’t it?

CHAPTER 15

DO YOU TRUST ME

have they figured it out yet?

— gus

Ican’t stop thinking about the fact that Riordan slept downstairs last night and, if my suspicions are correct, he’s been letting himself into Dough You Believe in Magic for weeks now.

Not because I saw him naked. I mean, I am thinking about that. It would take a stronger witch than I am to erase the sight of a very large, very naked wolf shifter standing in the middle of Honey’s kitchen as though there was absolutely nothing unusual about that fact. But it’s what came afterward that keeps circling through my mind while we make our way through the woods the next day.

My locator spell didn’t bring Riordan back to Moonburrow. According to him, it isn’t forcing him to stay near me, either. He’s doing that all on his own for reasons I don’t want to examine too closely.

If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that Riordan is choosing to sleep downstairs because there’s a killer targeting witches and he wants to keep me safe; I’m also pretty sure Honey knows, and whether or not Riordan took Max’s emergency key doesn’t matter when the sweet opossum shifter is giving her mate-in-law permission to use it. He spends his days investigating with me, follows me through the woods while we search for a lodestone neither of us knows how to find, and seems to turn into an enormous black wolf at night so he can guard the bakery.

None of that should make me feel as warm as it does. Especially since I’m not completely convinced he’s right.

Maybe the locator spell didn’t attach itself to him. I’ll accept that. I can’t see any trace of my magic on Riordan, and he swears he would know if I cast something on him. That doesn’t mean it didn’t attach itself to me, though, or change something between us in a way neither of us understands.