give her a reassuring kiss before heading toward the door.
With a piece of bacon in hand, Ivy wasn't concerned about the intruder. Her focus remained fixed on Uriah's bare ass.
She gave an idle thought to him answering the door naked, but if he didn't care, neither did she. In fact, it was kind of funny. Ivy couldn't see who was out there, but she could see most of Uriah when he yanked open the door and rudely bellowed,
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
“What the shit?” a man squealed, clearly offended by Uriah's wide-legged stance that no doubt gave the intruder an unrestricted view of Uriah's enormous cock. “Jesus, put that thing away!”
“It's my house. I'll put that thing wherever the fuck I want. What are you doing here?”
Thoroughly entertained despite only seeing one side of the conversation, Ivy continued to nibble on her bacon strips. “You weren't answering your phone and—”
“I sent everyone a text to say I'm with my mate, and we're fucking busy,” Uriah snarled, raising his fist to shake at who Ivy assumed was one of his work crew.
“Busy fucking, you mean,” the guy muttered darkly. “Look, I get that the first few days are important to your bear. All that bonding shit, but the Dyer project is going completely tits up and I need you.
“Mike wants to use railroad ties now instead of the cedar posts, the cabinet guys delivered their shit but couldn't put anything in because the flooring isn't done—because Mike canceled the original order and ordered hardwoods from Livingston instead—so they took off with half the cabinets still on the trailer because there's no room in the garage.
“Steve put the recycling system for the gray-water in all backwards because Mike kept badgering him about the process, and fuck me running... you mated a human? Are you out of your mind? The pride—”
“Isn't gonna do shit!” the bear was so close to the surface, Ivy could see Uriah struggling to hold him back from the other side of the house. “She's not human.”
“But she smells like—”
“I know exactly what she goddamn smells like, Warren. She's a witch, so back the fuck off right now, or so help me, I will rip your butt-sniffing snout right off your face and shove it up your ass.”
Ivy scowled as she chewed, wishing she had enough magic to make the long vines of the berry bushes right there by the front door snap out toward Warren like barbed whips, proving she wasn't the average human.
“Ow! Shit, what the hell?” For a wolf, Warren sure squealed like a pig. “Okay! I'm sorry, ow! Not the face! Not the face!” Even from her seat in the kitchen, she could hear the pounding retreat of Warren's hurried footsteps, and the slam of a car door, followed by his loud shout, “I'M SORRY I SAID YOU SMELLED LIKE A HUMAN!”
Uriah stood in the doorway mutely for a moment, then glanced back at her like she'd just done something concerning, and then yelled back out the door at Warren. “Deal with it until I get there, you ass-troll!”
The roar of an engine and the bite of tires grabbing at the gravel drive was Warren's answer. Then he was gone.
Uriah lifted his hand to crook a finger at her. Ivy got up and crossed the distance, offering him her last bite of bacon—which he leaned down to nip from her fingers.
He pointed out the door, so Ivy leaned forward to peek around the frame, still butt naked herself and not wanting to take chances of being seen, then stumbled forward in shock.
The berry vines growing out of cauldron-shaped terracotta pots she distinctly remembered selling Uriah, were waving around like an octopus's tentacles, several of the abnormally large thorns dripping with crimson liquid.
“Did you do that, honey?” Uriah asked, completely unperturbed, sounding more curious than anything else.
Her mouth worked soundlessly for a bit before she sputtered actual words. “I... I don't know. I was imagining how nice it would be if I had enough juice to make the vines into whips...”
Propping himself up against the doorframe, Uriah gave a thoughtful ‘huh’, and rubbed at the scruff on his jaw. “Well, imagine them going back to normal. See what happens.”
“That's... that's not how magic works,” Ivy said dumbly, watching the vines writhe and shudder in absolute fascination.
Uriah ran his hand up and down her back, steadying her when she hadn't realized she needed steadying. “It's not?”
Well, there was certainly an element of imagination and intent