“No,” Sadie says, looking at me calmly.
I glare at her. “What do you mean, no?”
“She’ll stay here with you,” Sadie says. “She is your wife now, but you can’t just dictate everything she does.”
Even though I know she’s right, the words are still hard to hear. “But—”
“It’s okay, Owen,” Sadie says. “I’ll be with her. You have to let her go to work and have her freedom. She’s your wife, not your prisoner.”
“I don’t feel like there’s much difference,” Trina mumbles.
Sadie rubs her arm again. “I’ll need you to come with me to the museum and help me look through the old texts. You might have magic, Trina. Isn’t that exciting?”
“Yeah,” Trina says, grinning bashfully. “It’s pretty amazing.”
Sadie gives Trina a hug, and instead of feeling rejected and left out, I try to focus on the fact that at least now, it looks like Trina wants to stay.
Chapter 4 - Trina
We take our time finishing breakfast, and Sadie tries to distract me by talking about other things. When she finally starts packing up to leave, a bolt of panic shoots through me.
“You aren’t going?” I ask, my eyes flicking between her and Owen.
You aren’t leaving me alone with him, are you?
Sadie follows my gaze and smiles comfortingly. “I thought you might want a day off, considering everything that’s happened. Fern won’t mind—she’s actually a wolf, too. A member of Silver Valley pack.”
“Lies upon lies,” I mutter. “But no, seriously, I want to go to work.”
“Okay,” Sadie says at the exact moment Owen says, “Absolutely not.”
Sadie frowns at him. “We just went over this, Owen. Trina needs some freedom. You want her to be happy, don’t you?”
Owen looks down and grumbles a little. I can’t be sure he gives even the slightest damn about what I want.
“I just think it’s a bit soon,” he says. “We should be getting used to this living situation.”
“Don’t you have anything to do today?” Sadie asks.
Owen shrugs. “I don’t have an actual job, like Rhys. He runs the chop shop for his own pleasure. I’m basically alpha full-time. I can take a day.”
“Are you sure the council has nothing they’d like to say to you?” The way Sadie tilts her head and gives him a hard stare tells me she already knows the answer to the question.
“I’ll check my phone,” he says gruffly, and leaves the room.
“I’ve got some spare clothes in the car,” Sadie says. “Why don’t you jump in the shower while I go get them, and we can go to work together?”
I don’t like the plan, but I can’t think of anything better to do, so I head for the bathroom. I take my time in the shower, as if the world outside might just magically rearrange if I stay in here long enough.
“Clothes by the door,” Sadie calls.
I sigh as I dry myself off, wondering how I can even pretend to be normal under circumstances like these.
Anything is better than hanging around here all day, alone with Owen!
I stand in front of the mirror, wiping condensation from it to see a blurred version of myself through the steam. I let my thoughts linger on Owen for just a second, and my body immediately rushes with heat.
What am I afraid of?
