“Sam, how are you and Clive?” He walked over and gave me a big hug. Unlike most dragons, Benvair especially, Alec didn’t have a problem with vampires. Yes, Aldith had kidnapped and fed on him for twenty years, but Clive, Russell, and Godfrey had found him and battled an army of vampire and fae soldiers to rescue him. He would never not be grateful for his freedom.
“He’s good. Thank you for asking. And he will be so happy when I tell him how great you’re looking.”
Alec went to Coco and took her empty glass. “Sam, Owen tells us you’re not a wine drinker. Would you like some iced tea? That’s what my sister and I are drinking.”
“I’d love that. Thank you,” I said.
“Good.” He waved me forward. “Come with me and you can help me carry the glasses back.”
He was giving me an escape hatch, and I took it. The kitchen was filled with wonderful, spicy smells and looked like it should be featured in an architectural magazine. They had white cabinet uppers and soft teal lowers. The countertops appeared to be a sparkling white quartz. A massive island in the middle of the room had teal leather stools on one side and a deep prep sink on the other. There was even an eat-in nook on the far side of the kitchen, right in front of the huge windows.
The massive head of a black jungle cat came up from the nook bench and snarled at me. Alec dropped the glass he was holding on the counter and moved in front of me, with his hands held up.
“No, Jade. This is our friend.” He went to the black jaguar and crouched by her head, murmuring something to her. Glaring at me with luminous green eyes, she gave a deep, guttural roar that sounded strangely like sawing.
“Forgive me,” I said. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” I’d completely forgotten. Owen had told me that Russell and Audrey had rescued a jaguar who had been imprisoned by a lone vampire in the attic above Meg’s penthouse, downtown at the Palace Hotel. Meg was one of the Furies. She’d been coming to my bar since it opened, but she’d been strangely absent recently. It was starting to worry me.
Owen had said the jaguar was covered in scars and had yet to shift to her human form. Russell had given the traumatized cat to George, hoping his gifts as a veterinarian would help her. “And I’m sure I smell like vampires. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come into your home.”
She was dangerously beautiful. Her jaguar rosettes created a black-on-black pattern in her fur. It was heartbreaking, though, to see all the breaks in her glossy fur where her skin was scarred and burned. I knew the vampire who’d done this to her was dead, but I wished I could reanimate him and kill him again.
Alec stood and the jaguar came to her feet. She gave me a reproachful look and leapt over the back of the seat to stalk down the hall.
Alec turned back. “I would have warned you if I’d known she was in here. She hadn’t been a minute ago. She doesn’t normally come up when we have visitors. I think she caught your scent and came to investigate.” He picked up the glass he’d dropped and pulled two more from the cupboard. He filled all three with ice and then pulled a pitcher from the refrigerator, pouring tea into each of our glasses.
Alec looked pointedly at me as he handed me my glass. “It’s okay. Jade is strong and she’s healing. She wasn’t expecting you to walk into her space, but she still stayed in control. She warned you away from her. She didn’t attack you. She was in control and protected herself.”
He may have been staring at me, but he was talking to Jade.
“She’s doing a lot better than I was after my attack,” I said, hoping she was listening. “I was covered in scars, didn’t trust anyone, and hid underground in my bookstore and bar for seven years. If you ask me, she has the heart of a warrior.”
I thought I heard a chuff of air from down the hall. It was so faint, though, I wasn’t sure. Alec smiled and then tipped his head toward the living room. Apparently, he’d heard her too.
When we went back out, they were all sitting silently, no doubt listening. George was beside Owen, his mouth at Owen’s ear. Wicches didn’t have the enhanced hearing all the rest of us did.
“Here you are, Coco.” Alec brought his sister her glass and then sat on the bench beside her. “What are you making us for dinner, George? It smells good whatever it is.”
Alec’s message was clear: Everything is fine. Please resume your conversation.
“Lasagna,” George told him. “The way you like it.” He turned to me to explain. “Alec loves when I do a layer of pesto within the layers of tomato sauce.”
“He also does three times the meat, which I appreciate,” Alec added.
“That sounds amazing. I’m glad I’m here on lasagna night.” I sat on Owen’s other side on the couch and took a sip of iced tea, my gaze falling on Coco. I worried about her. She was George and Alec’s older sister. Though she had been only ten when the twins were eight, she seemed to have taken on the full responsibility for Alec’s abduction. No amount of reason could lift the burden. When she’d gotten older, she’d tried to numb the pain and guilt with alcohol, but she’d eventually dragged herself back out of the bottle and was sober now.
Alec was still recovering. He suffered from panic attacks and had a hard time leaving the house, but he was healing and getting stronger. George, too, was thriving having his twin back, no longer sleepless and ravaged with guilt for being the one who made it out of those woods that day.
Coco, though, watched Alec’s every move with such concern in her gaze that it broke my heart. Alec bumped her shoulder with his own and murmured something to her. She smiled, but it dropped from her face when he turned away. Her stolen brother may have been back, but it didn’t look as though she was ever going to let herself off the hook for how that vampire had tortured and broken him.
George’s phone buzzed in his pocket. “Why don’t we move to the dining room and Owen and I will bring in dinner.”
Alec patted his sister’s knee and then went to his grandmother, offering his arm and an escort to the dining room. Coco and I followed. A huge, round cherry wood table dominated the room beneath a coffered ceiling. A mural filled the far wall. Instead of sitting, I went to study it.
“Owen, when did you have this done?”
He stepped up beside me. “What do you think?”
“It’s incredible. Wait.” I touched the wall. “Is this wallpaper?”
