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I don’t budge. Which means Rafe and Jonah don’t either.
I won’t choose which of my mates I’m going to sit with. Not when strangers might insinuate something about our relationship from it.
I finally pull my eyes away from the empty chairs and find the woman I haven’t met staring right into my eyes.
Her dark gaze has weight to it, like that of a fellow supernatural, but I can’t figure out what exactly she’s packing.
“Are you alright, Willa?” she asks quietly.
I take another deep lungful of city air and remind myself ofOmega Affirmation 1. Stay out of your feelings.
I can’t lose it here in front of all these people, even if I am feeling self-conscious and unworthy.
Unworthiness belongs to Old Willa. Willa who convinced herself she deserved to be unhappy as a healer because she wasn’t good enough to be a real omega.
And, despite this little relapse, I’m not that person anymore. Not by a long shot, judging by what my guys just did to me.
I clear my throat and draw my spine up straighter. “Yes, thank you. I was just admiring the spread Julian put out. It looks good enough to have come from our own betas,” I lie smoothly.
It does look good, if not overly ornate, but no one could top our betas’ cooking.
“Well, sit down and let’s dig in.” Sunny says, just a bit too sharply.
“Well, I’d like to,” I start, making direct eye contact with her and adding an equal amount of bite to my tone, before shifting my gaze to Eden. “But I’m afraid the chairs aren’t arranged to accommodate a coupling of three.”
Everyone at the table pauses as they try to make sense of what I’d just said.
I fill in the blanks for them. “I’d prefer if all three of us could sit on the same side of the table,” I say brazenly, shocking the hell out of myself.
“Oh. Oh! Of course. Here, allow me.” Jaxson shoots out of his seat, grabs his glass of wine and moves to the other side of the table next to the unknown female, which makes three empty seats along the opposite side.
“Better?” he asks jovially.
I beam at him for playing along and pretending it was common wolf business when it likely wasn’t and I was just being overly sensitive. “Much, thank you,” I say and give him a wink.
“My apologies, Willa. I didn’t realize—” Julian starts, but I stop his apology with a shake of my head.
“No need, Julian. You didn’t know.” Hell, I hardly knew this would be a sticking point for me.
“Well, now that’s settled, I’d like to introduce you to Claudia St. Claire, the coven leader of the Laurel Cove witches.”
The fair woman with a severe dark bob nods to me, and Rafe and Julian make polite introductions, shaking her hand across the table.
Witch.
She’s a witch.
That explains why I couldn’t figure out her deal. I’d never met a witch.
“It’s nice to meet you, Claudia,” I say with a smile.
“You as well. I’m actually quite familiar with the way your magic and land work together. The interconnection is quite fascinating. And that knowledge helped a close friend of ours.”
I raise my water glass to my lips while Julian portions out the meat dish he prepared. “Oh?”
“Indeed. Her situation was quite unique, but the way your wolves and healers deal with magic helped her immensely.”
I nod, not sure what else to do.
