As they headed out, I turned back to the kitchen. My guests had helped clean up, but there was always some sort of letdown that came at the end of a party. That, along with the adrenaline rush from seeing Ellison standing at my front door, had drained the joy out of my veins. Now I was riding on the tail end of a sugar high and the imminent crash from eating too much sugar along with too much booze was threatening to hit at any time.
I was about to text Killian to ask what he thought about eating out when I noticed that I had new email. Frowning—I did my best to keep my email down to a manageable number—I glanced to see who it was from.
“The Witches Guild? What, they want more cookies?” I opened it up.
Dear January:
We’re writing to remind you that the annual Winter Solstice Festival is quickly approaching. Since your specialty is research, and your grandmother is Rowan Firesong, we thought we’d ask you to research ancient festivals to find something we can use in our Tableau of Solstice Rituals Through the Ages. We’ll see you with your results on Saturday night! Welcome aboard!
I stared at the email and groaned. Just one more thing in my busy schedule that I didn’t need.
Chapter Two
After Killian and I dropped off Teran’s truck, he took me to Ruby’s, a small Italian restaurant. It was quiet, intimate, and their food was top notch. By then, I realized that I had to tell him about Ellison. The cops had been at my house and somebody would mention it to him at some point. But I decided to wait till we were immersed in the main course. Carbs softened many a blow.
I ordered an appetizer of scallops wrapped in bacon, and then the fettuccini Alfredo with chicken parmesan. Killian ordered a shrimp cocktail and then, for his entrée, calzone. Neither one of us wanted wine and I decided that I’d give myself a caffeine break, so I ordered spiced cider to drink.
“How was your day?” Killian asked, stirring sugar into his coffee.
“Eventful,” I said, trying to hold off talking about Ellison until the food got there. “We baked fifteen dozen cookies. Well, more like twenty-one dozen, so we’d each have a couple dozen left. So I was able to check that task off the list.” I paused, then added, “Aunt Teran is getting nervous. Andrew appears to be taking their relationship more seriously than she is. She’s afraid he’s going to propose.”
Killian laughed. “I doubt any man will ever be able to get your aunt to the altar.”
I snorted. “ ‘Teran’ and ‘marriage’ are words that don’t belong in the same sentence.” I paused as the waitress brought our appetizers. Killian dug into his shrimp, dipping one of the breadsticks into the cocktail sauce. “Good?”
He tried to speak through a full mouth. “Mmm hmm.”
It was now or never. “Something else happened today. Something not so good.”
Frowning, he set down his breadstick. “What?”
I decided to rip the bandage off. “Ellison showed up drunk, on my doorstep.”
That did it. Killian straightened, his eyes darkening. I could tell his wolf was up.
“What did you say?”
“Ellison showed up at my door to yell at me for not taking his phone calls. We called the cops and they carted his ass off to jail for breaking the restraining order.” I hurried to add, “Please, don’t go off half-cocked about this.”
Killian paused, his gaze locking mine. After a moment he said, “Ellison is a lucky man right now. He’s got iron bars and cops between him and me. If he didn’t, I’d mop the floor with his ass and then chuck him in the bay.” His voice was so low that it almost scared me.
“I know, I know—please, though, don’t get yourself in any trouble. He’s not worth it. You won’t do anybody any good if you get yourself locked up over his sorry ass!”
The look in his eyes alarmed me. Killian was protective. He was an alpha wolf shifter, and while he wasn’t the leader of his Pack, he had the potential to be. One thing I’d found out about dating shifters—especially wolf shifters—was that they protected their friends and family, and since I was his girlfriend, I was family at this point.
Killian leaned back in his chair, trying to restrain himself. He was gorgeous at all times, but when he was angry, he was positively magnetic. His hair, a wheat-brown mane of curly strands that fell to his shoulder blades, was pulled back in a ponytail. At six feet, he was about three inches taller than me, and he was sturdy and muscled, but not totally ripped. All in all, he was a striking man with brilliant green eyes and I was madly in love with him.
After a moment, he relaxed. “You say he’s locked up?”
I nodded. “I’m going down there to press charges tomorrow morning.”
“You’ll go down there after dinner, and I’m going with you. Ellison’s going to learn that trying to mess with you will only buy him trouble, not only with you, and not only with the law, but with me.” He let out a long breath. “All right, let’s eat. We’ll set this aside until later.”
Relieved that he hadn’t gone charging out of the restaurant, I went back to my scallops. I told him about the email from the Witches Guild. “I have no idea what they want me to do for them, but apparently I’m part of the Solstice Festival as well as the November Gale.”
Killian let out a laugh. “Once you join any organization, they’ll rope you in for everything they can.” He paused as the waitress cleared our dishes. When she was gone, he continued. “So, I got a letter today.”
“From whom?” I asked, so relieved to be off the subject of Ellison that Killian could tell me he signed up for a trip to the moon and I’d be okay with it.
“My application to join the Rainier Wolf Pack is official. I’m no longer Packless. It’s been awhile since I moved from California, and it’s time to get settled. I figured I might as well join the Pack my parents belong to. They’re progressive, and I like that.” He smiled, and by his tone of voice, I realized how long this had been weighing on his mind.
Wolf shifters didn’t do well when they were out of a Pack. Lone wolves were the exception, not the rule. Wolves—and their shifter kin—were Pack-oriented. They worked better when they were part of a larger group. And the Rainier Pack was progressive compared to a number of Wolf Packs. Wolf shifters tended to be more patriarchal, but every so often, a Pack broke with tradition. From what Tally—Killian’s sister—had to say about the Rainier Pack, they were much more supportive of women in leadership roles.
“Will you have some sort of swearing-in ceremony?” I was facing my own initiation into the Crystal Cauldron coven, which protected Moonshadow Bay, in a few months. Until then, I was beginning to get a feel for being part of the elite magical group. The Witches Guild, on the other hand, had more of a country club–type atmosphere for those of us who were witchblood. Not everyone was accepted, but it was far more social than the coven.
“Yes, I will, and I’m hoping you’ll be there to see me inducted?” The hope in his voice was evident.
I reached across the table for his hand. “You know I’ll do everything in my power to be there.” Pausing, I added, “They aren’t going to haze you or anything like that, are they?”