She nodded. “That’s right. I’m not some weak schoolteacher nice old lady. Those blood suckers betterwatch out.”
I burst into crying laughter, the manic kind where you didn’t really know whether you wanted to cry or laugh and so you did both. “I love you,” I told her. It was sweet, but with her cuffs she couldn’t even shift—
My mouth opened in shock as my gaze went to her wrists.
“MOM! They took off your cuffs!” My voice was colored with shock, but not near as much shock as I felt. How had I just sat through an entire dinner without realizing she was cuffless? Free!
She grinned like a schoolgirl, nodding as tears shone in her eyes. “Just this morning. Sawyer had a hard time finding a witch powerful enough to work on it, one that hasn’t gone against us.”
I chewed my bottom lip. Was the entirety of Magic City against us now, over me? Because that was awkward as hell.
“Your father and I took a run in wolf form together this morning.” She grinned. “Happy to report I’m still faster than him.”
“I tripped!” my father called from the open doorway and I spun to see he and Sawyer making their way out into the garden. My gaze flashed to Sawyer’s pockets, checking for the bulge of a ring box.
Nothing.
“Get the solar worked out?” my mom asked, her tone completely light and nonchalant, but we both watched Sawyer’s face for a reaction.
My dad nodded. “It’s such a fancy system, you can’t even see the panels.” He pointed to the roof. “They’re built into the roof shingles!”
My face fell and my mom shot me a gaze that said,I’m sorry.
Damn.
“Ready to head back now, Demi, or would you like to spend some more time with your parents? I can come get you later, but I’ve got a few meetings to attend to,” Sawyer said.
“I’ll head back. I want to get settled in for classes tomorrow and catch up on what I missed.” I gave my mom and dad big hugs, and was surprised when my mom pulled Sawyer into a hug too. After shaking hands with my dad, Sawyer led us outside, where Walsh was leaning against the front of his car. Sage was standing in front of ours looking down the street like she expected an attack at any moment.
As we approached, she gave me a small smile and then looked at her cousin. “Did you get the text about the small breach in the south wall?”
Sawyer nodded. “It’s been taken care of. Group of dark fey.”
The dark fey were trying to break into the south wall of Werewolf City? I gulped.
Maybe getting engaged wasn’t the biggest priority right now…
It was backto classes as usual, and being normal felt great. After the first few days, people stopped staring and whispering about my “time away.” Upside: no attacks in the past eight days. Downside: was Sawyer ever going to fucking propose to me? Or was it like, assumed I was going to marry him? I mean wewereliving together. He was even turning his guest bedroom into a photography studio for me while we met with an architect to build us a house on ten acres of prime Wolf City land. It felt a little surreal to be honest.
I stepped out of my final class for the day and Eugene was waiting for me. Every day after school we had driving lessons. They were normal at first, and I had totally gotten the hang of it, but then they turned into psycho “defensive driving” lessons. Sometimes that meant that Sage sped up beside me on the highway and jerked into me while Eugene told me how to respond.
It was hell on my nerves, but apparently what I needed to learn to be the alpha’s wife.
“What are we doing today? Driving eighty while defusing a bomb?”
Eugene’s upper lip curled. “No. You’re going to do a sliding parallel park without stopping.”
I frowned. “A what?”
Eugene sighed as we walked across the quad. “You’ll be going forty and then jerk the wheel to pull into a spot, then get out and run into a police station or whatever safety lies beyond. All within seconds.”
My eyes bugged. “The hell I will.”
Eugene stopped and looked at me. “When Sawyer was taken, when he was little, he was with his mother. They think the woman is the weaker link when they try to kidnap.”
I growled, throaty and raw. “Eugene, I can catch bullets and go invisible. I dare them to come after my future children.”
He grinned, a slow and sly full white toothed smile. Was that pride in his gaze? I’d always liked him.
