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“It’s lucky that Jeni was so young—her mind is a little more malleable than that of a full adult.” I finished the last bit of cake, then picked up my coffee and took a sip. “Are you on late shift tonight?”
“I finish at eight—why?”
“I feel the need to have your arms around me and your body pressed close as I fall to sleep.”
A smile twitched his lips. “If I’m pressed too close, sleep might be a little… hard.”
“Careful lovemaking would not be unappreciated. You’ll have to do most of the work, though—the arm is still rather sore.”
Concern crossed his expression. “You should have a doctor check it.”
“The wounds are sealed, and there’s no sign of infection. It’ll be fine.”
He didn’t look convinced but he knew me well enough now not to argue. Instead, he finished his coffee, leaned across the table to give me another kiss, and then stood. “I’ll pick you up when I finish tonight, then.”
I watched him leave, then rose and moved back to the counter. My arm protested vehemently the minute I tried lifting anything heavier than a mug, so I manned the coffee machine and plated up cake orders for the rest of the day.
Aiden picked me up a few minutes after eight and, once we’d arrived at his place, made me dinner, ran me a sweet-smelling bath, and generally cossetted me. When we finally did make love, it was sweet and gentle and filled with such deep passion that my heart sang. I went to sleep with his arms wrapped around me and a contented smile on my lips.
Only to be woken hours later by a shrill ringing.
Even as Aiden reached for his phone, I threw off the sheets and began to dress. I had no doubt what this call was or what it meant.
“I’ll be there in twenty,” Aiden said. “Call Ashworth and Monty and get them out there ASAP.”
“The Empusae?” I asked when he’d hung up.
He nodded and climbed out of bed; the moonlight streaming in through the windows silvered his muscular body and made him look almost otherworldly. He caught my sweater before I could pull it on and tugged it out my hands.
“You need to stay here.”
“What? No—”
“Liz, be sensible. If this attack follows the pattern of the others, the Empusae will be long gone.”
“What if it’s another trap? What if she’s waiting up high and does to you what she did to Byron?”
“Then you can tell my ghost ‘I told you so.’” He tossed the sweater onto the bed and stepped closer, catching my chin with his fingers and lifting my lips toward him. “Ashworth and Monty will be there. They’ll cope. You need to rest and recover.”
“I need to be out there—”
“That is not your job.” His voice was gentle, but held a hint of steel. “To be as blunt as you were earlier, you are not this reservation’s witch and you do not have unending reserves of either strength or magic. You need to rest.”
I took a deep breath and released it slowly. What he said was totally sensible. I just didn’t feel sensible right at this particular moment. “Remind Ashworth that he and Monty need to capture this thing, not kill it.”
Aiden frowned. “Why?”
“Because of the White Lady. She’s here for vengeance, as I said earlier, and if she doesn’t get it, all hell will break loose.”
“Oh, things just keep getting better, don’t they?” He kissed my nose. “I’ll call you if we do snare the Empusae. Until that moment, however, you need to rest. I can smell your weariness.”
“You can’t—”
He raised his eyebrows. “I’m a wolf, remember.”
“But still basically human, and our noses aren’t capable—”
“Except that they are. Even in this form, we have millions more olfactory receptors in our noses than regular humans do. So stop arguing and get back into bed so I can leave.”
