have some witch business to attend to, if you’ll excuse Ophelia and me. Mercy, do you mind helping our guests?”
The young wolf, though she looked disappointed, agreed and scampered off to the kitchen. My cheeks burned but I squared my shoulders as I approached the other witch. “I need help understanding... some things.”
“Of course.” She tilted her head toward her workroom and led the way, moving as calm and serene as an iceberg making its way out to sea.
Deirdre didn’t speak again even when we were in her workroom and the door shut. She waved me at one of the comfortable chairs, near the workbench, and took the battered armchair that had seen many better days. And then she waited, watching me with that eerie intensity that I remembered from our first encounter. Even though I now knew she wasn’t much older than I was—a few years at most—it still made me feel like a very junior witch called on the carpet in front of the coven’s head witch.
It was a familiar and much-resented feeling.
But I needed her help and she hadn’t really acted like a bitch to me since inviting me to her house. She was just particular about her home and her life and her magic, and it was completely understandable. If I had what she had, I’d damn well protect it, too.
I cleared my throat and searched for a way to start that didn’t sound like I was in middle school and wondering if a boy “like-liked” me. I finally held my hands out in supplication, desperate for some kind of insight. “I don’t know what’s going on. What happened at dinner? Why is Henry…acting like this? And why do I feel...”
I trailed off, since I damn well didn’t know how I felt. Part of me hoped that Deirdre had figured it all out for me and would solve the mystery in a few easy words.
She tucked her dark hair behind her ears and studied me, her gaze not unkind. “It’s really something you should talk to Henry about.”
“I would,” I said, then shook my head. “But that wouldn’t be a good idea. It seems like every time we’re alone and trying to talk, we end up kissing.”
She laughed. “Isn’t that an answer for you?”
My cheeks burned. “It is, but... I don’t know what the rest of this is.” And I waved my hands to take in the pack, the house, the entire city.
Deirdre nodded and propped her feet up, toying with a long necklace she wore. “It’s not my business to get involved, but...”
“Oh, come on,” I said, laughing. “You’re already involved and you know it. Sending me off to lunch with Henry? Making sure we share a room?”
Her lips pursed but she couldn’t quite hide the smile. “Okay, okay. I could see a little... spark between you and figured you needed a little support. Henry is a very good man, and you deserve someone who will treat you well. I figured it might be a nice distraction for you, and for Henry, but it seems like there’s something much bigger going on.”
I massaged my temples as a tremor of magic simmered in my blood. I thought I’d been all burned out from the afternoon’s craziness, but apparently not. Maybe it was something in the water that recharged my magical batteries faster than anywhere else. “That’s what it feels like. It’s like you’re all speaking a language I just don’t understand.”
“I felt the same way when I met Miles,” she said, frowning in thought. “It’s still foreign to me, in many ways. Which is why you should ask Henry these questions, regardless of what I tell you. My opinion is just an opinion, based on a few months of observing the wolves and knowing what I went through with Miles.”
I nodded and braced for the worst. Some kind of joke or contest, something awful, even though I couldn’t see Henry playing a prank that cruel.
“I think, based on how he’s behaving, that you might actually be Henry’s mate.”
“But he just said that to get his sister off his back,” I said slowly. She’d been there. She knew why Henry said that. “It can’t really mean...”
“He’s protective of you, more so than a normal wolf would be,” she said, starting to tick reasons off on her fingers. “He’s offered you food and fed you from his own plate. He almost brawled with Silas right at the dinner table because Silas complimented you and tried to give you