Rourke ignored him.
"What did you tell him?"Gone was the relaxed pose, the arm disappeared from the backrest and both feet rested on the floor.
He shrugged, not remembering exactly what he'd said."I told him he wasn't allowed to cook or bake."
Tala huffed and got up.
"What?"Rourke glared at her.
"How is he to feed himself if he isn't allowed to cook?"She grabbed her plate and left without giving him a second glance.
Ulric frowned at him.
"What?"Had everyone gone insane?They didn't want a witch to perform magic in their home, he was sure of it, so why were they giving him shit for preventing it?
"He's supposed to live here.I know it's only been a few days, but...The whole idea with the mating was to form an alliance, right?"
"They don't want one."
"No, it's pretty obvious, but so far, he's done nothing but help us.He put up the wards, told us how to deal with the cat, and so on."
"To get us to trust him."
"You can smell a lie, Rourke."
"On a shifter, but he doesn't even smell like a witch.I haven't learned his scent properly."
Ulric rubbed a hand over his mouth."His magic didn't smell evil."
"And you know how evil magic smells?"
He shrugged."We're used to the rot, the scent of decay.What he does doesn't smell...malicious."
"I know, but we can't trust it simply because it hasn't got an evil scent."
"Fine, but no one was hurt, and he ate a cookie too.We were cautious."
Rourke snorted."Three of my top people shoved enchanted cookies into their mouths.It's not my idea of being cautious."
Ulric threw his hands in the air and made a move to get up, but Rourke placed a hand on his arm.He waited, but no words came to Rourke."I'll talk to him."
"And say what?"
Rourke had no idea."I have no idea."
* * * *
Chapter 12
Ezra could sense the tingle of the ward he'd set up.He should've brought a knife.He hadn't excluded himself from it.He'd made sure Ulric wouldn't be given constant warning of him while he was in the warded area, but he hadn't made it so the ward wouldn't send a signal if he passed through.He'd been too drained to think when he'd linked everything together.
Maybe the warning only would last for a second since he was leaving, but he couldn't risk it.
Rourke and the others would be there within minutes, and then he'd be punished for sure.It was a miracle they hadn't come after him yet.Every second counted.Shifters moved much faster than he did, so he needed any head start he could get.
Looking around the ground, he grabbed a stick.Ugh, he didn't want to do this.
With a deep breath, he pushed up the sleeve of his left arm.Ulric had reopened one of the wounds when he'd grabbed him earlier.It wouldn't take much to get it to bleed again.
