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I smiled. “I never said there was. I’ll bring the cake if you provide the coffee.”
“Done deal. Any time after eight will be fine—Eli should be finished teaching the kids by then.”
Eli had fully thrown himself into reservation life and was now helping to coach the local kids’ cricket and football teams. Apparently he’d been pretty good at both when he was younger and had only quit playing regional cricket in his forties after a rather nasty fight with two rogue witches had left him with a shattered right hip and a warning from the doctors that high-impact sports were now out of bounds.
“I’ll be there. Thanks, Ashworth.”
“I think it’s way time you started calling me Ira, lass.”
I smiled. “It just sounds… wrong.”
He snorted. “You’re a strange one sometimes.”
“Which is why you like me so much. See you soon.”
I hung up and met Belle’s gaze. “Are y
ou coming?”
She hesitated. “I think it better one of us stays here. I don’t trust that witch one iota.”
I raised my eyebrow. “You think she’ll break in magically and snoop?”
“Yes, if only because she’s a Sarr, and we’re not exactly well known for following the rules.”
“True.” Although Sarrs not following the rules had been a major factor in our escape. “I wish there was some sort of spell to stop prying magic.”
“If there is, Monty would know it.”
My eyebrows rose again. “Are you actually volunteering to contact the man and ask for help?”
“I wasn’t volunteering to do any such thing.” Her voice was dry. “And he’ll need to teach us both, as it’ll take the two of us to weave it through the current connections.”
I nodded. “Of course, there’s no saying such a spell would keep my father or Clayton out.”
“Probably not. In fact, it might be better if it didn’t, simply because we’ve a chance of holding our ground within the café thanks to the multiple layers of spells and wild magic. I’m not sure that’ll be the case outside.”
I doubted it would be the case inside, but I guess we’d find out soon enough. I finished the rest of my drink and rinsed the glass out. “I’d better head downstairs and help Penny close up.”
“I’ll finish checking Gran’s indexes for anything else on Empusae, then head over to the storage to grab the books. That way, the SUV is free tonight if you want to use it.”
“I’ve had two large whiskies in short order—I think I’d better walk.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You’re not going to Aiden’s tonight?”
“He’s got another meeting with the council, so depends on what time that finishes. If it’s too late, he’ll just stay up at the compound.”
Amusement touched her lips. “We’re talking about a werewolf with an extremely high sex drive. It won’t be too late.”
“It might be for me.”
“Yeah, right. Believing that.”
I grinned and went downstairs. By the time I headed over to Ashworth and Eli’s, flags of red and gold were staining the evening skies and the night air was crisp, holding a vague promise of rain. Their place was a beautiful old miner’s cottage that still held all of its original features, even though it had been fully renovated and contained all the mod cons, including solar panels and central heating. I knocked on the gorgeous old paneled front door and heard the echo of footsteps approaching.
“Perfect timing,” Ashworth said as he opened the door. “Eli’s just put a fresh pot of coffee on.”
He stepped to one side and waved me in. I walked down the central corridor—the walls of which were soft gray with white accents on all the lovely old fretwork—and entered the kitchen living area that dominated the entire rear of the house.
