Ethan keeps his arm around me as we walk to his Jeep in the parking garage. I rest my head against the window as soon as we’re in and the heater is blowing warm air on me.
“Take a nap.” Ethan’s large hand lands on my thigh, giving it a rub. “It’ll be at least an hour before we’re home.”
“I hate sleeping in the car,” I say but am half asleep not even twenty minutes later. I doze on and off the rest of the way back to Thorne Hill. Mystery, Sundance, Ross, and Rachel are all out in the pasture, and Mystery whinnies to me when I get out of the car.
“Hey, guys,” I say and walk over. Hunter shadows out of the house, circling around me. He’s glad I’m home and can tell I’m sick. After I pet the horses, I don’t object when both Hunter and Ethan usher me inside. I want to shower and crawl into bed, turning on reruns of one of my favorite shows.
“Good morning, milady,” Nik says. He’s sitting at the island counter with a steaming mug of coffee, twirling his finger over top to stir it with magic. “You look rough.”
“Thanks,” I say flatly. “I have a cold, and yes, I know there’s a wellness tea in my book but I don’t have any peppermint root.”
“No need,” Nik says. “I have an old family recipe that will help. You just need whiskey, lemon juice, honey, and a sprinkle of cinnamon.”
“That’s a Hot Toddy.” Ethan raises his eyebrows. “Faeries came up with that?”
“We’ve been using it for centuries. Our whiskey is much stronger than the watered down stuff you drink.” Nik wrinkles his nose. “A few sips of my take on wellness will knock you out.”
“I wouldn’t object to that right now.”
“Great.” Nik claps his hands together. “I’ll brew up a batch. Get up to bed, young lady.”
Ethan comes upstairs with me and cleans up the mess Romeo made in his room while I shower. It feels good to breathe in the steam, and a cup of Nik’s spiked tea is on my nightstand when I get out.
“Need anything else?” Ethan sets a glass of water and a box of tissues on the nightstand and then closes the curtains, dimming the room. “You can take more meds to keep your fever down in an hour.”
“I’m good,” I say with a cough, dropping my towel and going to the dresser for PJs.
“Even sick, you’re still hot.” Ethan admires my naked body and even though I feel like shit, I get turned on seeing him look at me like that. “Rest and get better because I really want to fuck you again.”
“You can still fuck me,” I say, trying to be coy, but start coughing, getting up more phlegm this time. “Gross.”
“Yeah. I’ll wait. You need to rest.”
I put on my PJs and get into bed, reaching over to pick up the mug. “Holy crap there’s a lot of whiskey in this.”
“I saw him make it. There’s more whiskey in that than anything else. It will help you sleep at least.”
Bringing the mug to my lips, I take a sip and gag from the taste. Ethan laughs, kisses my forehead, and leaves the room, closing the door behind him. I take another few sips of Nik’s viscous hot toddy and put it down, settling in against my pillows. My phone rings, and I roll over, grabbing it off the charger.
“Hey, Harry,” I answer, greeting my brother.
“Hey, Annie,” he says back. “You sound sick.”
“I am,” I say with a sniffle. “I have a cold or something.”
“That sucks, though it explains why I dreamed that I was sick. Freaky twin-thing.”
I laugh, but it turns into a strangled cough . “I’ll be fine, Ethan is taking good care of me. I don’t think he’s going to let me leave our bed today.”
“Gross, Annie.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter. I didn’t mean it like that. Both he and Nik are going to make sure I rest and get better. The last time I had a cold I ignored it and got bronchitis. Trying to live and learn. Though, if I didn’t have to stay in a freaky-ass dorm room last night I probably would have woken up and felt a lot better.”
“Why were you in a dorm room?”
I look at the closed door, unable to hear Ethan downstairs. He’s probably playing video games with his headphones on, though I really don’t mind if he overhears me.
“I went to the Order’s headquarters yesterday. Ethan’s whole family got summoned there and we had no idea why until we showed up. The place is literally demon-hunting corporate hell, Harry. It’s so fucking creepy. The things I found out.” I shudder. “They don’t like to risk their young hunters going to school and possibly becoming independent thinkers. Ethan said it was rare that he got to go to school at all as a kid. Do you know how fucked up that is?”
“It’s really fucked up. But why were you there?”
“Oh, right.” I pull the phone away from my face to cough. “A hunter was found murdered and they think a witch did it, but that’s not true. So they called their best hunters in to assign us the job of finding said witch.”
“But you’re a witch.”
“I know. They think I’m a regular human they want to recruit into the Order because I went with Ethan to a job that was supposed to be an easy ghost-removal but we ended up killing ghouls instead.” Reaching over, I grab the mug and take another few sips, waiting for the whiskey to hit me so I can fall asleep.
“But the Order,” I go on, needing to talk to someone about it. “They’ve brainwashed their hunters and they have them all believing that witches are evil, we get our powers from the devil, and summon demons to do our bidding. Ethan believed that until he met me.”
“And them thinking a witch killed a hunter is a big deal.”
“Right. It’s just fucked up on so many levels, Har. I don’t like that Ethan is a part of it, but I can’t ask him to leave, can I?”
“Does he know you don’t like the Order?”
“Oh, he does. And he doesn’t like it either.”
“Can he even leave?” Harrison asks. “I’m thinking about it almost like a gang. You can leave but you’re never really out.”
A chill goes through me. “I kinda got the same impression.” Starting to feel the effects of the tea, I pull the blankets back up over me. “Oh, why’d you call?”
“The same clients from Chicago want me to come back to deliver another pitch. And if this goes well, there’s a chance I’ll be offered a promotion.”
“Oh wow. That’s awesome, Har. I’m sure you’ll get it.”
“Yeah,” he says but doesn’t sound excited.
“There’s a catch, isn’t there?”
“Yeah. I’d be transferred to the Chicago office.”
“You’d move to Chicago?” I sit up, thrilled at the thought that my brother would be close enough for weekly visits.
“Eventually. And I kinda feel bad asking since you have a lot going on right now, but could I, uh, stay with you for a few weeks while I suss out the city and find a place to live?”
He’s right. We do have a lot going on right now. But who I am to turn down family?
“Of course. When would you come?” I ask, thinking I’ll have time to prepare and maybe—just maybe—we’ll have caught the real killer and things will be back to normal by then.