eyebrow, then snorted and backed up a few steps. “I’ll go up to the house and let them know you’ll…both be in soon.”
Then he walked away, shaking his head, and shoved his hands in his pockets as he went. Henry ignored the other man and kept his attention on Ophelia. “What are you doing here?”
“Deirdre invited me,” she said. She pushed away from his chest more and pressed a shaking hand to her forehead. “Sorry. It’s been a…weird day.”
“And a weird night, seems like.” Henry retreated to give her more space, though he held her waist to keep her steady as she maneuvered that enormous bag. “Let me take that for you.”
He reached for the bag and she immediately jerked away. “No.”
She flushed just as quickly but kept a secure grip on the bag. “Sorry. I mean, thank you, I’ve got it. I prefer to carry it myself.”
Henry eyed her as he slowly closed the car door. “Fine by me. You should go inside. Deirdre will be waiting. And it seems like you need to lie down or eat lunch or something.”
Ophelia brushed the dark hair out of her eyes and wobbled a few steps closer to the house. “Right. Something. Did you… Do you know what happened last night? Who those animals were?”
“We have some ideas,” he said. “But nothing concrete. Do you know why they might have picked you out?”
She hesitated and his ears perked up. She knew something. There was definitely something she avoided talking about. Ophelia shrugged and kept her attention on the house as they walked across the yard. “Nothing comes to mind.”
“We can smell lies, you know.”
She looked at him sharply, a hint of fear in her eyes, and her cheeks reddened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He wanted to tease her more, since it was patently untrue, but Ophelia still looked off-balance and uncertain, and Henry wasn’t usually a dick to people. He left that to the alpha. So he left it alone and figured it would be easy enough to circle back to the topic later. If she stuck around the house for very long.
He found the possibility intriguing. What were her plans? What did Deirdre have in mind for the other witch? Henry frowned to himself and rubbed his jaw, standing back as Ophelia climbed up the rickety porch stairs. He jumped forward to catch her waist again as she hesitated, fearing she’d fall, and earned himself a withering look from the witch and an equally disdainful sniff from Cricket, who’d appeared on the porch to witness the proceedings. Henry snorted and stepped back, holding his hands up in surrender. “Sorry.”
“I’m perfectly capable of walking up five steps,” Ophelia said, though her voice verged on breathless.
Henry studied the set of her shoulders and tried not to grin. Maybe all witches were prickly. Or maybe she didn’t mind his help as much as she wanted to. He was about to tease her about it when the front door opened and Deirdre stood there, eyeing him with slightly more interest than he liked.
He kept his expression neutral as Ophelia stalled on the top step and looked at the other witch. Henry figured the standoff could take hours and decided to help it along. He caught Ophelia’s arm to help encourage her to go inside. “What did Mercy make for lunch, Deirdre?”
He barely got the sentence out before a jolt of pure electricity jumped from Ophelia to him, knocking him off his feet and halfway across the porch. He even flew through a few chairs and sent them clattering into kindling. He shook his head to try and dispel some of the static in his brain, and he had half a second to see the stricken look on Ophelia’s face before nature took over and the wolf roared to the surface.
Chapter 13
Ophelia
I stared in horror as Henry flew across the porch after my magic discharged from the iron control I’d used to make it across the lawn. He slammed through the outdoor furniture and collided with the porch railing, so at least he didn’t fly off into the house next door. I clapped both hands over my mouth, dropping my loom bag, and braced for Deirdre to lash out at me.
She just stared, first at me and then at Henry. Then back at me. Then at Henry. Then she muttered, “Oh damn,” and jumped forward to catch my arm, trying to drag me inside. “Come on. No, come on.”
I looked over and sucked