Katherine snorted. She leaned over the bed and ruffled his ears. “Mister Olli, they need to sleep. Can you just lay beside her calmly?”
He thrashed and licked the air, his tail wagging as he looked at her with big eyes.
“He says he will sleep with them.”
“Well okay then.” Katherine grinned and shook her head.
Chutney sat Olli at the foot of the bed and it made my heart so happy. That had always been his spot for sleeping. He looked at me and licked my bare leg poking out from under my dress, then curled into a ball. I smiled and squeezed Riah’s hand. I wanted to speak, to say something to them, but sleep was claiming me. As my eyelids fell shut I pictured my favorite meadow in Salem, surrounded by my fairyflies…with Riah and Olli by my side…
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tennessee
Babe?
I sat up straight and looked around – and then realized Tegan had spoken into my mind.
Come up. Em made lunch. You need to eat.
I sighed. I wasn’t sure exactly how long I sat in the room with Saffie, her dog Olli, and this Riah guy but if Emersyn had made lunch then that suggested it had been a few hours. All three of them were sound asleep, they hadn’t moved an inch. Olli was snoring. Golden glitter kept sprinkling out of Saffie’s hands on the bed beside her.
Riah…he looked better than he had before. Less dead. There wasn’t a single thing human about him, aside from his physical appearance. The pointed ears made me not want to trust him. Savannah’s desire to throat punch him didn’t make me feel better about it. Cooper didn’t know what the guy’s deal was, but that he had protected Saffie from a demon attack in Hidden Kingdom – and several other times, according to Gigi. Tegan and Bentley’s coy smirks told me I didn’t need to kill the guy. Yet. The jury was still out.
But it was the way Saffie clutched his hand and curled into him that told me he meant something to her, and we owed her the chance to explain it to us. So until then, they would stay in this infirmary room we’d set up in the basement of Coven Headquarters.
BABE, Tegan yelled in my mind so loud I flinched. If you’re not up here in thirty seconds, I will tell your dad to carry you up. Got it?
I sighed. Tegan never made empty threats. Ever. I shook my head and stood. Olli, who had to be the single cutest dog I’d ever seen, picked his scrunchy face up off the bed and looked up at me. He was a Basset Hound, with the sad-looking droopy eyes, wrinkled face, and long ears. And paws fit for a Saint Bernard. I had no idea where he came from either, but he was definitely allowed to stay.
I reached down and rubbed his scrunchy face. “It’s all right, go back to sleep. Stay with her.”
He blinked at me, licked my wrist, then curled back up into a ball and closed his eyes.
I smiled and turned for the door – then froze and glanced back to the bed. Saffie was half laying over Riah’s chest, using his body as a pillow. Riah’s shoulder was no longer bleeding through the gauze. Both were breathing calmly and steadily.
TEN SECONDS, BABE.
I cursed and flew out the door. By the time I made it to the top of the steps, my father was leaning in the doorway. He chuckled and shook his head, then turned and walked away. The smell of fresh fried chicken swept down the stairs and my mouth watered. No one made it like Emersyn did. My stomach growled in anticipation. I hurried up the last few steps, then leapt through the door — and slid to a stop an inch away from crashing into Saffie’s friend Gigi.
Gigi screeched and her eyes widened. Light flashed and then a three-foot-tall emperor penguin stood in front of me.
“Dammit, Gigi.” Savannah yelled from the table. “Stop it or I will throw you in the lava at Mordor! I will steal your pebble!”
Hope spit her drink all over the table in front of her and snorted. Beside her, Tegan threw her head back and cackled.
I looked down to the penguin version of Gigi and tried not to smile. “Sorry?”
She squawked and waddled out the front door.
“Smooth move, boss,” Royce shouted from where he sat.
Deacon, who sat beside him, rolled his eyes. “Please, it’s not like we all haven’t penguined out in our minds when he scares the shit out of us.”
I grimaced and turned to Savannah who sat a few seats down. “She gonna be okay?”
Savannah sighed and nodded. “In theory. She just needs a sec to shift back.”
“Chutney can probably help her,” Willow said in a small voice. She was sitting beside Savannah. Her cheeks were flushed a rosy pink. “She’s good friends with the dragons.”
“Tegan?” Em yelled from the kitchen, then flicked a fireball at her twin. “Do your job, woman.”
Tegan cursed and threw her hands up. She flicked her wrists and the trays carrying mountains of fried chicken floated to the table. Everyone cheered and dove for the food the second it landed.
Tegan materialized in front of me. She arched one eyebrow and then grabbed my hand and dragged me to the table where everyone else was sitting. In the month since Christmas, Tegan and Lennox had renovated the downstairs of Coven Headquarters to make it big enough to fit all of us – especially since we had quite a few non-Coven friends we all refused to kick out.
As she forced me to sit at the head of the table on the far left, I sighed and looked around at my friends. My family. It was a relief to finally have Saffie back and I honestly could not wait until she was sitting here beside us. After all she’d been through she deserved it. I wondered who in our group she’d be closest to. I glanced up and down the table and tried to picture her walking into the room and picking a seat.
Jackson, Warner, and Cooper sat in the middle of the table talking. All three of them were solid stand up dudes, always in control of themselves and super confident. None of them flashy or attention seekers, but they seemed too calm for Saffie. Braison and Paulina were next to Cooper, yet those two were far too quiet for Saffie. She’d been alone for too many years to be silent now. Plus, those two were threatening to beat Easton and Lily in the PDA department. Those two sat across from them. Easton was making dirty jokes. I couldn’t hear him but I knew by the look on his face – and the way Lily kept rolling her eyes despite grinning.
My father sat at the opposite end of the table with his soulmate Mona by his side. Hunter and Devon were on his left while Uncle Timothy was beside Mona. Katherine walked up at that exact moment and took the seat beside my uncle, then turned in toward him. I knew they were a couple. We all did. But they hadn’t announced it yet. Still, it made me happy.
I wonder if she’ll feel more comfortable with the real adults? She is older than all of us.
It wasn’t that we had cliques in The Coven, but with twenty-two of us – and then our add ons – it was natural for people to divide into little groups. Especially given the varying personalities.
The fact that Willow, the single shyest person in our group, was sitting next to a stranger and talking her ear off blew my mind. Sure, Savannah seemed cool but Willow never spoke to strangers. She and Chutney usually stuck to each other, especially after Larissa passed. I could see Chutney and Saffie being good friends. They both had an insane love for animals.
Yet part of me knew it was this end of the table that would draw our new Death Card in.