Page 72 of Bewitching the Wolf

I wake up cuddled into Jax, but the joy is soon swamped by the knowledge that our amazing time together is about to end.

We linger over breakfast. I give him an elixir, and he drinks it just to keep me happy. Other than that, we hug and kiss so often that we are barely ready when Traggar knocks on the door of the den.

Our bags are packed, the potions are all in my case. So is the story of Agdar and Leonora. In pieces. Not sure how I will explain that to Aunt Felicia.

On the table sit Jax’s last two vapes.

When Traggar walks in, his lips twitch as he spies them.

He raises his bushy brows at Jax. “Well? Has Tippy cured you?”

Jax nods. “There’s the evidence. I have no desire to vape. Zero. Zip.”

“You have done well, both of you.” Then his gaze falls to my neck, and to the bite marks I’ve made no attempt to hide, and while his face remains serious, I see a definite twinkle in his eyes.

“Otis will be here shortly to take you back to level one,” he says to Jax. “There, you will have twenty-four hours to prepare for the mission.” He turns to me. “Tippy, you will go with your aunt. She has found runes to enhance the performance of the portal cape and needs your help to sew them into the cape’s lining.”

I nod, glad to have something that will keep me busy, and that will also keep my beloved safer.

What if I lose him?

The thought is like a knife to my heart. Our conversation last night exposed the dark underbelly of Sparkle City. Sure, I knew it was a bad place, but that meant less before someone I loved was directly affected.

To think he will be voluntarily walking back into danger. Will his wolf, and the cape, protect him from the dark malefaction at Sparkle’s core?

No, I won’t think about it. I won’t. Besides, I don’t have time. Otis arrives in his jeep and Jax hugs me long and hard while Otis sits waiting patiently. He lifts his brows at me through the window with a grin as Jax hops in. “Potions worked then?”

I give him a thumbs-up, and he winks. When they drive away, Jax’s gaze holds mine for as long as possible before the jeep disappears around the corner.

I sigh, and walk back inside. It feels like we’ve been together here forever, not just three days. Already this den feels like home—our home, mine and Jax’s. It’s so full of love. Could I live here, I wonder? In Wolftown with the wolves?

Yes, with Jax by my side, I absolutely could.

After all, I’ve never seriously contemplated going back to Vixenville to live. I imagine spending my days in an almost exclusively female environment, knitting and baking and caring for our cubs. It would be lovely, but very one-dimensional.

Perhaps we’ve been too unkind to our fox men. Maybe they’re not as bad as vixens make out. I sure know that wolves aren’t.

My belly warms and I touch myself there.

All I want is for Jax to come home to me. For us to experience family. Like the family he lost. Like the family I’ve never really had. With a dad as well as a mom.

Heck, I’ll give him as many pups as he wants.

My fantasy is broken when my aunt sashays through the door in a billow of silks and tinkling jewelry.

“Hello, Tippy-Anna, are you packed and ready darling?” she says. “We’ve got work to do. Come along.”

She’s picked up my bags and hurried me into her bright blue buggy before I have time to even answer.

“I trust the weekend went to plan?” she remarks as we drive off.

I cast her a sideways glance. “Which plan do you mean, exactly?”

She turns her head and pops her eyes at me, narrowly missing a wolfman on a bicycle.

“Honey, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Then she turns her eyes—thankfully—back to the streetscape and starts humming a wixen ballad as she drives.

After a few minutes, I pluck up the courage to say, “The book you lent me. I’m sorry, it got a bit damaged.”