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Chapter Forty-Two
Rachel
Carterinsistsonmakingme walk down the stairs ahead of him. He gives out a sigh of satisfaction when I get to the bottom, and I turn to raise an eyebrow at him.
“I picked that dress for the view from behind, and I must admit, it is spectacular.”
I feel my face flushing under the makeup as my hands move around to my behind.Oh Goddess, it’s scandalous back there.I thought I might get away with wearing the outfit next Halloween as a Tinkerbell costume if there’s a monster’s ball at the academy again, but I’m not walking around in public with my ass hanging halfway out of the back of my dress.
“You look hot,” Carter says. “And I really wouldn’t mind parading you around in public in this little number. Every guy at the academy would be insanely jealous that the hottest girl in the room was with me.”
He leans in for a kiss, still standing on the last stair in front of me. I’m not used to him being taller than me, so it takes a second to adjust to the difference. I’m about to meet his lips halfway when the doorbell rings loudly enough to make me shudder in fright.
It breaks the mood for me, even if it doesn’t really seem to faze my mate.
Carter’s gaze moves down my top. “Ooh, do that again.”
I raise an eyebrow at him as I stop shaking. “Would you just get the door, please?”
“You’re closer,” he reminds me, smiling as if he might pull me to him and kiss me at any damn second regardless of whether or not I open the door. “In fact, I dare you to open it.”
“Oh, you dare me?” I ask, getting a glamor ready to add a knee-length skirt to the dress.
“I double dare you.” He gives me a peck on the lips and lets me go.
I turn and glamour my front, opening the door just as the bell rings a second time.
The smile dies on my face when I see who’s standing on our porch.
Mr. and Mrs. Winters are rich workaholics like my parents, and they have the same lack of warmth even when they’re in a good mood. Mrs. Winter’s appraises me with mild disgust, and her husband wears his disinterest all over, but especially in his eyes.
What the hell are they doing here? How did they even know where to find me?
“Hi,” I manage, clearing my throat. “What can I do for you?”
Carter puts a hand on my back, coming in close. I know he can sense my shock, even if he doesn’t quite realize yet who these people are.
“Rachel Ellison,” Mrs. Winters says. “I can see you haven’t changed one little bit.”
She couldn’t be more wrong. My whole world has changed over the last six months, and I’ve transformed along with it, embracing the path fate chose for me with every fibre of my being.
She clearly doesn’t know me, but I can’t say I blame her for the ice in her tone.
She suspects I had something to do with her son’s disappearance, and as it turns out that’s something that she isn’t wrong about.
Goddess, give me strength. I’m going to need it.
“We’re looking for our son,” Mr. Winters tells me, glancing at Carter and sniffing. “But we’d prefer to talk outside of the company of wolves.”
Tough luck on that front, considering I’m a shifter now.
“Well, you can stop looking,” I tell them.
Carter sucks in a breath beside me. He thinks I’m going to confess. I’m not, because it’s too awful and I can’t stand the thought of it. The probably don’t know their son was into Dark Arts. They probably think he was the perfect gentleman until I came along.
The solution that just popped into my head is crazy, I’ll admit, but it makes me the bad seed they already think I am, and it should be enough to shock them into leaving.
Hopefully, it’ll be enough to make sure they never return, or even think about their son again.
