Familiars themselves are neither good nor bad, yet they pledge themselves to a witch or warlock and will follow them down whatever path they choose. If I wanted to embrace my villain era and watch the world burn, Hunter would supply the matches.
My phone vibrates and I look down to see Ruby sent me another text.
Ruby: We do have several families who have had various dog breeds as their familiars for centuries. I want to say the Jones have huskies. They’re smaller than wolves but look similar.
I can definitely see how I could mistake a husky for a wolf back when I was ten, but now that I’m in my twenties and have worked at a vet clinic for most of my adult life, I wouldn’t make the same mistake.
Me: Yeah, they do. Maybe that’s what I’m remembering. Thanks again. Sorry to bother you!
Ruby: It’s never a bother! Once things calm down, we still need to go on that lunch date.
Me: Def! Let me know! :-)
I let my hand fall to my side and go to the front door, waving my hand in front of me to open it with magic. My feet hit the hardwood and a memory washes over me.
“Go on upstairs,” Aunt Estelle tells Harrison, reaching into her robe pocket and pulling out a piece of chocolate. “Turn on a movie and eat this once you’re settled in bed.”
“Is that another sleeping potion?” I ask, holding a squirming cat in my arms. I’m already scratched and bleeding but I’m determined to make this cat mine so I can bring it home.
“Shhh,” Aunt Estelle tells me with a whisper. “It’s our secret” She smiles and winks. “Though this time I need you to go up and keep watch over him. You do that for me, and I promise tomorrow I’ll teach you a new spell.”
Smiling, I hold the cat tighter and nod before hurrying up the stairs after my brother. The cat scratches me and I lose my grip when we get to the landing. I turn, trying to catch her, right as a man with dark hair and dark eyes steps into the house. The door closes behind him, but not before I catch a glimpse of a beautiful gray wolf.
ChapterSixteen
“God, this is good.” Ethan closes his eyes and nods. “You sure you don’t want to try some?”
I wrinkle my nose in disgust and shake my head. “Eww. No, thank you.”
“You’re missing out.” He raises his eyebrows and takes another bite of his burger.
“It is good,” Rene agrees, stabbing her fork into her salad. “It’s usually what I get from here, but I need to lose ten pounds.”
“Girl,” Keith huffs and looks at me. “She’s crazy, isn’t she?”
“I wouldn’t say crazy, since I know where she’s coming from,” I start. “But you do not need to lose weight in order to fit into a dress you bought a size too small.”
“It wasn’t that long ago men preferred women with fuller figures,” Nik tells her. The five of us are at a restaurant in Paradise Valley and are going to the bed and breakfast after we eat. “And I’ve had over a thousand lovers both male and female in my years and the ten pounds you’re talking about has never once made a difference.”
“Over a thousand?” Keith and I echo at the same time.
“He’s going on two-centuries old,” Ethan reminds me, talking with his mouth full. “Even if he had just ten hookups a year, that’s still one thousand people every hundred years.”
“I’ve gone on five dates in the last two years,” Keith deadpans.
“Until Ethan, I was in the same ballpark.” I set my vegan vegetable wrap on my plate. “I don’t even know fifty people I’d want to sleep with since I lost my virginity.”
“You two are a little pickier than I am when it comes to love.” Nik opens another sugar packet and sprinkles it on top of his milkshake. “And I have twice the dating pool to dip into since I have no preference other than they need to be human-ish.”
“Human-ish?” Rene raises her eyebrows. “I’m gonna need you to elaborate on that.”
“They need to have basic human anatomy. Vampires don’t consider themselves human and some werewolves will get very offended if you call them human.”
“Ohhh, gotcha.”
Nik picks the cherry out of his milkshake. “Though I did spend the night in a cave in Tibet with these ogre brothers and let's just say I tried things I’d never tried before. I had also done a crap ton of coke along with faery weed.” He pops the cherry in his mouth and smiles at the memory as we all stare at him incredulously.
“Sometimes you say things that make me second guess letting you live in my house,” I say, realizing the couple at the table next to us are listening to our conversation with a mixture of amusement and curiosity.