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Pappas nodded. “As day.”
“Good. Now get the fuck out of the Bennett house. You can stay the night in town at the same motel as before, but I expect you gone by morning. We’ll take care of the Omega. I don’t want you touching her.”
He looked as if he was going to say something more, but thought better of it. He stood and brushed by me. For a second I thought I saw something that couldn’t be there.
A flash of violet.
But it had to be just a trick of the light.
The raven settled on its bed of roses, and I closed my eyes.
THE OMEGA burned quickly on the pyre in the woods. The stars shone above brightly. The moon was more than half-full, and I knew the wolves felt its pull.
Ox stood and watched the flames flicker toward the sky, Joe at his side. Carter and Kelly were with their mother, a shawl pulled over her shoulders. I wondered if she was thinking about the last time she’d been faced with fire, when her mate had become nothing but ash. Her sons rested their heads on her shoulders, and she hummed softly under her breath. It sounded like it was Johnny and his guitar.
Robbie stood awkwardly next to Kelly. He looked as if he wanted to reach out and put a hand on Kelly’s back, but decided against it. He kept glancing at me, the expression on his face like he thought the sun shone out of my ass. It was unnerving, and I was going to nip that in the bud before it could become full-blown hero worship. I didn’t need a goddamn puppy following me around.
But of course someone else noticed it too.
“Looks like you’ve got an admirer,” Mark murmured.
I rolled my eyes. “Kid gets stars in his eyes easier than anyone I’ve met. He’s too soft.”
“What caused this newfound affection, you think?”
“Why? You jealous?”
“Do you want me to be?”
What the fuck. “What are you—Jesus Christ. I don’t give two shits about him.”
He snorted. “Sure, Gordo. Let’s go with that.”
“Pappas was messing with his head. I put a stop to it.”
I felt Mark’s gaze on me, but I watched the flames. “I never understood that. About you.”
“What?”
“How the outside never matched what was inside.”
I glanced at him, eyes narrowing. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He shrugged. “You aren’t as much of an asshole as you want everyone to think you are. It’s… comforting.”
“Fuck off, Mark. You don’t know a goddamn thing about me.”
He laughed quietly. “Sure, Gordo.” He reached up and squeezed my arm. I was barely able to stop from jerking it away. His hand was heavy and warm and—
Gone.
He went to Elizabeth, leaning forward and pressing a kiss against her forehead.
My stomach twisted something fierce.
I left the wolves and disappeared into the forest. I had wards to check.
MAGIC IS a strange and expansive thing.
