Ophelia whispered. She stared miserably at the floor and shook her head. “I could have killed you.”
“But you didn’t.” Henry squeezed her knee and edged a little closer as his wolf side wanted to comfort her more. Which meant physical contact and a bit of overbearing reassurance that she was fine. He would have preferred to get his arms around her, but that damn bag was in the way.
“But I could have, and it might happen again.” Ophelia looked at him, her eyes still wide and filled with tears, and the depths of her fear finally struck him. She really thought she might have killed him. “That’s what happens when I’m around people. I’m dangerous and someday someone will end up dead. I just… I should just disappear already.”
“No,” he said, more firmly than he’d intended. He tried to tell himself it was more to put an end to the despair in her voice and the potential that she’d do something crazy than anything to do with how the thought of losing her agitated the wolf. He barely knew her. Hardly knew anything about her, other than she packed a hell of a punch. “No, you should not. You’re not dangerous. Whatever it is, there’s a solution for it.”
Ophelia sat up and started to argue, indignant like she objected to his reassurances, then her entire face turned bright red and she averted her gaze to the ceiling. “Um, I don’t think—”
It took a second for him to realize that he was still naked and maybe a little too close for her comfort. He wanted to laugh about it though, since apparently his nudity was enough to snap her out of the pity party. He’d have to remember that. Henry straightened up, enjoying far too much that her cheeks shaded purple and she looked everywhere but at him—except in little cheating glances that made him want to preen.
He stretched—which was just good practice after an uncontrolled shift—and choked back a laugh at the strangled sound she made. Henry figured toe-touches were a bit much given the circumstances, but lunges were certainly tempting. He didn’t want her to pass out, though.
Deirdre took her time coming back from the kitchen, but the witch’s approach spoiled the game since she called out, “We’re going to eat in the dining room, Ophelia, if you’re hungry.”
The other witch bolted to her feet, knocking into him with that damn bag, and nearly ran into another couch as she made her flustered way through the minefield of furniture. Henry rubbed his jaw and gave Deirdre a bit of a dirty look, which she ignored, then headed for the stairs to get dressed. Experience told him Deirdre didn’t let naked asses sit at the dining room table, even if they belonged to Evershaw.
He pushed away the visual, not wanting to think about the alpha’s bare ass at all, and pulled on sweats and a T-shirt. At least if the witch ended up shocking him again and sending him into a shift, he wouldn’t shred his favorite jeans. He could sacrifice the sweatpants without blinking. He paused in his room and checked his phone. Two missed calls from Nola.
Henry shook his head and headed back downstairs to get some food. Ophelia was a mystery he wanted to solve, and there wasn’t time to worry about what his sister wanted. Henry had already told her to leave him alone, and short of showing up in the city, there wasn’t anything Nola could do to ruin his day.
He even whistled as he went down the stairs.
Chapter 15
Ophelia
I didn’t know what to say to anyone at the table as Mercy loaded platters of sandwich fixin’s onto the buffet and ordered everyone to eat. Deirdre jostled me into getting up and making a turkey-on-wheat with a bit of cheese and a thin layer of mayo, and she added chips and fruit when I wasn’t looking. It was just as well—my hands were still shaking too much to do more than stack turkey slices on bread. Handling a spoon for fruit would have no doubt resulted with more on the floor than on my plate.
The humiliation and terror of having almost killed Henry made sickness boil in my stomach until eating seemed like a terrible idea, though some of the heat in my cheeks linked back to getting an eyeful of Henry’s altogether when he was trying to make me feel better. He just stood there… naked. Very naked. Entirely naked. Unabashed, unashamed, comfortable.
And rather