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I rolled my eyes, stepping up onto the porch, and glared at him over my shoulder. “I’ll workshop it.”
“Come inside,” the old woman repeated, stepping into the house.
The action itself was fairly normal, except she never touched the door as it swung wide to let us in. I glanced at Jamie and caught him shudder for the second time.
I hesitated on the threshold, glancing at the markings lining the doorframe, and exhaled a deep breath. Something about it set my teeth on edge, but from what I could tell the magic in the design wasn’t outwardly antagonistic.
“I’ve invited you in twice now,” the old woman said, her voice rumbling like car tires on gravel. “You’re not vampires. So, I hardly think a third invitation should be necessary.”
“Apologies,” I said, walking inside.
I felt something roll over my body as I crossed the threshold, but nothing happened to me. I was fine. Jamie followed, his boots thudding on the hardwood, and he hissed.
“Ouch, what the hell is that?” He grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Apologies,” the woman said, narrowing her cold blue eyes at him. “I lowered my wards to allow for guests, but there’s old magic here I can’t change. The headache should pass after a few minutes.”
“Miss Grey, you said you were expecting us—”
“Miss?” She laughed without humor. “You’re too polite for your own good.”
My jaw clenched around the first nasty retort that tried to break free. I took a deep breath and exhaled. “You said you were expecting us. Care to explain?”
“If you’re not Miss Grey, then give us something else to call you.” Jamie added, standing at my shoulder.
Scanning my surroundings in my peripheral vision. I noted the stairs to our right, another sitting room rested behind us and a small sitting room stood behind the woman. It all felt surprisingly familiar. Like the Alpha house.
The woman looked back and froth between us. “You’re quite the pair, aren’t you? You can call me Sarah. Sarah Grey.”
Jamie opened his mouth to say something, but I put a hand up, to stop him and asked my own question again. “How did you know we were coming?”
Sarah smiled. “For that, we’ll need tea. Come sit.”
She turned to the room behind her and to my surprise a full tea set waited for us on a small mahogany coffee table at the center of the room. A low-slung couch sat along the wall facing the front window, and two chairs sat opposite.
Sarah sank into one of the chairs, so I perched on the edge of the couch. Jamie sat down beside me, forcing himself into the perfect position to protect me if the witch decided to lunge across the table.
“Would you like some tea?” Sarah asked, leaning over the table to pick up the white and blue porcelain pot. She poured herself a cup and then looked up at me expectantly.
“No, thank you,” I said.
Her eyes slid to Jamie. “I’m guessing you aren’t the tea type, are you?”
“I’m more of a coffee guy.” He shrugged, letting his hand fall lightly on my knee.
Sarah nodded and sat back with her cup. She gave Jamie another once over and looked back at me. “How much do you know about your mother? What did Edward tell you?”
I winced. It’d been so long since I heard anyone use my father’s name. “He died before he could tell me about her directly, but he gave me her name as part of his will.”
“He died.” She hummed under her breath. “Now, that is a surprise. A man like him. I thought he’d outlive us all. Vicious to the very end.”
“My father wasn’t vicious,” I snapped.
She held up a hand. “To my kind all wolves are vicious girl. I only meant that he was strong.”
“Do you know Selene?” I asked, eager to drive this conversation forward.
“I did for a time.” She nodded. “Selene was the one who told me you’d show up at my door one day. She was always great at predicting things like that.”
