“I can be an asset.” She flipped open her notebook to reveal pages of detailed notes written in glitter ink and bullet-pointed by stickers. “I really can!”
My brothers and I exchanged glances over her head. We didn’t need words, not for this. Cas’ green eyes narrowed fractionally:Not a chance. Zane’s left eyebrow arched:She’s hot when she’s determined. Still no, though.
I said nothing, telegraphed nothing, caught between two instincts warring inside me. The need to protect her battled against my belief in her strength. The thought of her anywhere near danger made something feral rise in my chest, a savagery I barely contained on good days, but she was a protector and a fighter as much as we were.
“You’realreadyan asset, beloved, but your magic hasn’t returned yet,” I said quietly, placing my hand near hers without touching. Still giving her the choice to bridge that gap. “You need time—”
“I’vehadtime,” she countered, but her fingers trembled as she reached for my hand. “Weeksof doing nothing but eating and sleeping and—”
“And healing. Your magic is like a muscle that atrophied. You need to build it back slowly. It hasn’t been long enough, Seri, and youknowthat.”
Her shoulders slumping made us all suck in a sharp breath.
Cruor, we hated to deny her anything.
Fortunately, Brumous chose that moment to trot into the room, distracting us all. The dire wolf pup moved with newfound confidence through our home, his charcoal gray fur full and fluffy, a far cry from the starved, scarred creature we’d found that first day. He made straight for Seri, touching his nose to her arm in greeting.
“See? Even Brumous agrees you need to recover more first,” Zane said around a mouthful of eggs. “Look at him. Hardly recovered himself.”
The pup blinked up at Seri with those bright blue eyes, then turned toward Zane with an expression that clearly questioned his logic.
“Don’t give me that look, Brumster. You’re still too skinny.” Zane waved his fork at Seri. “Listen, bunny, we’ve been hunting supernatural beasties since you were in middle school. We’ve got this whole ‘not dying’ thing down to a science.”
“What we do is dangerous,” Cas added. “These aren’t just pests we’re dealing with. The things we hunt—”
“Kill people,” Zane cut in, now buttering his toast with unnecessary vigor. “Violently. Messily.”
“And they would particularly enjoy killing a lunar witch,” Cas continued. “You’re rare. A valuable commodity on the right market as well as an immediate target—”
“Far more valuable tous, of course,” I hurried to add over his tactlessness. “Our greatest treasure.”
Her eyes widened, a blush creeping across her pale cheeks. Compliments still caught her off guard. What Arabesque and those stepsisters had done to her…
The butter knife in my hand bent, and I forced my fingers to relax before I snapped it in half.
“You are staying here,” Cas declared, his voice dropping into that leadership cadence he used when closing a debate.
I watched as something glittered behind her eyes. Not surrender or resentment, but reassessment. The slight tilt of her head told me she was formulating a new approach. It both worried and impressed me how quickly she’d learned to navigate our dynamics, finding the cracks in our united front.
“I’m not asking to fight. Just to help.”
“Seri,” I started, but the words caught in my throat.
How could I explain the ice that formed in my veins at the thought of her facing down danger while she had no real defense? That Cas still checked her pulse at odd intervals because Amabel’s illusion had convinced him she was dead? That Zane, fuckingZane, had cried the day we found her, broken and bruised and bleeding in the driveway? That we’d already started intercepting ‘small torments’ from Arabesque, as Foster had promised she’d send?
We haven’t even told her about that yet,I reminded myself grimly as I thought of the gold pocket watch we’d received in the mail yesterday, ‘To Jonathan with love from Jocelyn’inscribed on the back.Not to mention that Rasputin is dead.
Cas had wanted to find that damn goat to restoresomethingof her mama to Seri, and now it wasn’t an option anymore.
We weren’t keeping it a secret from our beloved because we didn’t trust her or thought she was weak. We simply couldn’t bringourselves to break her heart, to see her wilt with sorrow, to be brought to our knees by her tears…
“Your safety isn’t negotiable,” I finally said.
“Please.” Her voice went small and fierce, and Brumous whined and wedged tighter against her legs. “You can’t keep treating me like some blown-glass ornament that’ll shatter if—”
“More like a hand grenade with the pin half-out,” Zane snorted.
“I do not enjoy denying you anything, Serafina, but the answer will remain no until you’re medically and magically cleared and trained for field work.” Cas set down his fork with deliberate care. “However, if it would please you, we can discuss parameters for when that time arrives.”
