“Riley Savage. Yes, of course. Your parents are Atticus and Lucy Reilly-Savage, correct?”
“Correct.”
“You have siblings. Brody and Trina.”
“Yeah,” he clips.
“You’re of the belief that your fated mate was Rikki, but you lost her. Was that before or after you mated her?”
“Why are you asking me that?” he demands.
“It’s important,” Mimi states. “Can you tell me the answer?”
He shakes his head. “Why don’t you ask her, since she’s obviously not dead since I can fuckin’ smell her?”
“You should have told me,” she hisses to Dani.
“I wasn’t entirely sure he’d pick up her scent,” the young witch defends. “She showered for our meeting and then masked it before she left with Jessica. I wondered, but I didn’t know for sure so there was no point bringing it up.”
“Not enough. And we should’ve masked. Don’t play with me, child. You know better. Did your sister know he was coming today?”
“What the fuck!” Riley stalks over to the woman and stares down at the book.
“No. But it’s time this was over anyway,” Dani says with a shrug.
“Girl…” Mimi admonishes like she’s exasperated.
“You know it, Auntie. The seven years are nearly up anyhow. She needs to move forward. Finally…” She lets that hang.
“The fuck does this say?” Riley demands, looking over Mimi’s shoulder at the ledger.
“Your name is here in the ledger. And her transgressions are listed.”
“What does it say?”
“That’s not for you to know.”
“Sorry I hijacked your meeting, Mase,” Riley says, still black eyes hitting mine. “Your issues are urgent. But I need to fuckin’ know why the girl I identified as mine, why the girl I knew I wanted to spend my life beside and inside, the one who I would love until I turned to dust…” His nostrils flare and he inhales deep, “Why… I can smell the girl I watched disappear into the river almost seven fucking years ago never to resurface … in this place. And why my name is in a fuckin’ witch’s book.” His gaze swings back to the blonde witch.
And not a word is uttered. I don’t think anyone even breathes.
Mimi closes the book, walks back to the rocking chair, and lifts her knitting up. Then she continues with the clicking of the needles.
“We can’t help you with those answers,” Dani says.
“She’s a witch, then,” Riley states.
“We can only reveal what we must about the other situation. His situation.” Dani gestures to me.
Riley’s chest puffs up as he hauls in a big breath and it feels like when he does, he sucks every ounce of oxygen out of the room.
“Where the fuck is she then? So I can take it up with her,” he roars.
She shakes her head. “We can’t help you with that.”
“You can’t help me with that?” he volleys, then he steps toward her, hostility oozing from his pores.
She doesn’t move. The old lady sets her knitting down and straightens up.
“Rye,” I warn.
Ignoring my warning, he takes another step and reaches like he’s about to grab her throat. The old lady’s hand flies up and though she doesn’t touch him, Riley flies back, hitting a black curtain on the same wall the door is on, falling into a shower stall.
“Do not…” the young witch warns calmly, “attempt to accost me again. I understand you’re emotional, but this is between you and my sister.”
Riley rips the curtain from the rod and tosses it, then whips his shirt off, kicks his shoes off as he reaches for his fly and he shifts, his large brown wolf lunging for the girl with his teeth bared.
Fuck!
He’s fast, but Mimi is faster. This time her hand flies up and just inches away from the blonde witch, Riley’s wolf freezes, mid-air, frozen in animation for two beats before he flies backwards, hitting the wall beside the shower stall.
“Secure that wolf or not only will we refuse to discuss anything with any of you,” Mimi hisses, “he’ll also be toothless, both as wolf and as man.”
“We do not need to piss off a couple of witches, brother,” I warn Riley, who is on the floor in wolf form, eyes wide.
Riley growls, baring teeth at her.
“No,” Dani agrees, smoothing her hand over her hair, looking rattled for the first time today, “You do not.”
Riley shifts to man again and promptly picks up the battered old desk and heaves it at the wall of bottles and jars. Shelves fall, bottles crash to the floor, glass shards explode throughout the area.
“Where is she!” he roars.
Pungent aromas immediately fill the space and Grey and I exchange alarmed looks. What the fuck is in those bottles and will the puddles of liquid blending together amid the broken glass on the floor make this place blow up?
I don’t know much about witches firsthand, but by reputation and the vibe coming from the older one, I know this is a dangerous situation.