“Will do.” I catch her arm before she can leave. “And Sadie? Thank you for the research. You didn’t have to do that.”
She shrugs, but I can tell she’s pleased. “What are almost-sisters-in-law for?”
She’s gone before I can respond to that, disappearing into the stacks with her messenger bag bouncing against her hip.
Micah watches her go, then turns to me with an expression of mock outrage. “She likes you better than she likes me. Her own brother.”
“She does not.”
He slumps in his chair, arms crossed. “She’s never mademea dossier.”
“That’s probably because you’ve never needed intel on a supernatural operative.”
“Hey, I’ve played against an entire football team of wizards. I absolutely needed it then. But I’m pretty sure if I had ever gotten kidnapped and she was the one who answered the phone, she would have paid them off to keep me longer.”
I laugh, and it feels strange. Like I shouldn’t be capable of doing anything other than worrying about Killian right now. “That’s just how sisters are.”
Micah’s expression softens. “Have you heard from Cadence?”
“I’ve been answering her texts.”
He raises an eyebrow. “That’s a suspiciously vague answer.”
“I’m keeping things suspiciously vague.” I sigh. “She’s going to have questions when I’m honest.” I pick at the corner of my gummy worms package, not meeting his eyes. “About Kyle, about the pack, about everything. And I just... that’s not what we need right now. I can’t deal with her on top of everything else.”
Micah is quiet for a moment. When he speaks, his voice is careful. “She sounds a little...”
“Overbearing?” I offer.
He laughs. “I was going to say concerned. But yeah. That too.”
“She is.” I finally look up at him. “Concerned, I mean. That’s the problem. Cadence processes everything externally. Loudly. And probably with a PowerPoint presentation about how I’veruined my life by not going to grad school and getting involved with shifters.”
He perks up a little. “So she knows about us?”
“She knows I left Kyle and moved in with a pack of wolves. That was enough to generate seventeen consecutive phone calls and about forty texts.” I shake my head. “I love her. And I know it’s not her fault she was the favorite child, or that she came out of the womb perfectly in control of her powers. But she’s a lot. And right now I can’t handle a lot. I have to keep her on a need-to-know basis and she definitely doesn’t need to know about this stuff with Killian. Or Villeneuve.”
Micah reaches across the table and takes my hand. His palm is warm, grounding in exactly the way I need right now.
“For what it’s worth,” he says quietly, “you’re definitelymyfavorite.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Your favorite what?”
“Anything.” He grins.
“You haven’t met Cadence,” I tease. But there’s some truth in it. I suddenly turned invisible to every guy I was ever interested in the moment they met Cadence.
Logically, I know that’s not going to happen with the wolves. But the old wounds are there and I’m not sure I’ve healed from them as much as I want to believe.
“Don’t need to.” His grip tightens slightly. “Not even a contest.”
The warmth in my chest expands, pushing against my ribs. I squeeze his hand back and let myself just enjoy it.
“Come on,” I say, gathering up Sadie’s dossier and the books I haven’t finished. “Let’s check these out and go home.”
Home.It’s not exactly the right word for Villeneuve’s mansion, but it’s got my pack.
And right now, that’s close enough.
