Thane sighed heavily. ‘If I use her full name, she'll think she's in charge of me.’
‘Look at her,’ I said while the cat in question pointedly turned her back on us. ‘She already thinks she's in charge of you.’
‘I can't win, can I?’
My answer was cheerful. ‘Nope.’
Thane ran a hand through his copper-coloured hair. ‘Fine,’ he muttered. ‘She Who Commands Werewolves!’ he called. ‘Come here!’
My grumpy tabby raised a threatening paw in the ginger cat’s direction to add clawed weight to Thane’s words. We all knew it was her movement rather than his order that caused his beautiful beast to back off.
I shook my head with mild dismay then went to the garden gate to see if there was any sign of the Maine Coon. Sadly hehad gone – for now, at least – but I’d leave the food in case he decided to return. I suspected this wouldn’t be the last time our paths crossed; that moggy likely needed some proper food and now he knew where he could get it.
‘It’s time I got ready to head out,’ I said aloud. ‘And it’s high time the two of you left.’
‘I’m sorry about the cat, Kit.’
I smiled at Thane. ‘It’s not your fault.’ I went to him and brushed away a few strands of ginger cat fur that were clinging to his T-shirt, then planted a long, slow kiss on his mouth. He wrapped his arms around my waist, allowing me to revel in his deep vetiver scent and hard body.
Suddenly I was tempted to tell him to stay and to drag him to my bed instead of fulfilling my other obligations, but Thane Barrow had already satisfied my carnal desires twice today. It was time to attend to other matters.
Marie Wicker wasoutside when I arrived at the front door of the temporary training centre, sucking furiously on a cigarillo and expelling clouds of blue smoke into the air around her. The witch’s disdain for me hadn’t altered since the first day of the MET course for wannabe investigators, but at least she tried to maintain a polite veneer during our conversations and I certainly couldn’t blame her for her attitude. If anything, I cultivated it at every opportunity.
She inclined her head as I approached. ‘Kit.’
I nodded, smiling brightly enough to make the witch turn her head away and roll her eyes. She might be a Wicker witch, a member of the most magically adept coven in Coldstream, but she wasn’t as skilled at hiding her feelings as she thought she was. I tried not to laugh.
‘I can’t believe that this is already the last day!’ I gushed.
‘Time flies when you’re having fun. But thisisn’tthe last day.’ She offered me a patient look. ‘We still have the fieldwork component of the course to complete.’
‘And graduation.’ I continued to grin broadly. ‘I love a good graduation.’
‘Uh-huh.’ She dropped the cigarillo butt and stubbed it out with her toe.
I ought to have let it pass but Marie had pigeon-holed me from day one, so I was merely assuming the role she expected me to fill. I widened my eyes and gazed in feigned horror at the squashed cigarillo butt. ‘You’re going to pick that up, right?’
Her blue eyes flicked to mine. It was quite clear that she had no plans to do anything of the sort.
I allowed my smile to drop and my voice to take on a worried edge. ‘I mean littering is an offence. We will be law keepers, so we have to keep our noses clean, Marie. We have to set a good example to the other citizens of Coldstream. We can’t break the law ourselves and then expect to be taken seriously.’
Two points of colour emerged high on her cheeks that were either the result of rage or embarrassment. I reckoned the former because Marie was too sure of herself for shame.
‘You’re absolutely right, Kit,’ she said. She bent down, pinched the butt between her forefinger and thumb, walked smartly to a bin nearby and dropped it in. ‘But,’ she added without turning her head, ‘we’re not law keepers, are we?’
‘Not yet.’
She sighed. ‘Not ever. A two-week course on basic investigative skills doesn’t make us officers in the damned MET.’
I blinked innocently. I shouldn’t have been enjoying myself so much, but I really was. ‘Captain Montgomery has said that we may well be seconded to help with minor investigations.’
She faced me. ‘He means locating lost parcels.’ She looked me up and down. ‘And finding missing cats.’
‘I know.’ I beamed. ‘Isn’t it great?’
Marie snorted and gave my fur-strewn blouse a long look. There wasn’t a lint roller in the world that could effectively remove the amount of cat hair I accumulated on a daily basis. ‘For you, maybe.’ She rolled her eyes again and this time she didn’t try to disguise it.
Genuinely curious, I raised my eyebrows. ‘So why did you take this course if you think so little of it?’
