Page 34 of The Witch’s Daughter

“I’m taking it seriously.” Alec threw a middle finger over her shoulder as she started to undress. “It’ll take me a day or two to get to Kera. You better have more intel when we come back.”

Trish started growling, and quieted when I glanced at her. Color flushed her cheeks pink.

She coughed. “Also, let the other Alphas know. Everyone is freaking out a bit.”

“Aye, Captain.” Alec gave her a salute before shifting into her wolf. Meg slipped my message into a travel bag, then looped it over the wolf’s shoulders. Alec’s powerful sigma wolf bounded off into the night without another glance at us.

Tisiphone was growling softly again.

When I looked at her, she stopped.

“Okay, so that’s taken care of…” She started towards the border. “We should get back.”

“No, not until you tell me exactly what is going on.” Meg caught her sister by the arm. “Is it safe there for you? What does he have everyone doing? Do you have any bad feelings? Is your magic acting up?”

I knew it was Meg’s alpha wolf pushing her hard, and not having all the answers was killing her.

But I hated seeing how Tisiphone sank into herself, nervous as she dug her toe in the dirt. “I’ll be fine. There’s some testing tomorrow, but I’m sure it’s nothing crazy.”

“And I’ll be there to protect her.” I stood tall by Tisiphone’s side.

It was a slip of tongue. I didn’t realize what I’d said until Trish’s eyes narrowed, and by then, it was too late to take back.

“Maybe I’ll just skip the trials altogether,” she said.

“That’s good.” Meg sighed in relief. “Why don’t you spend time shopping and having fun? We’ll get the intel one way or another. I’m sure Jaxon can figure it out. But Alpha Kera will be pissed if you take unnecessary risks.”

“Yeah. That’s a good idea.” Tisiphone’s face fell. “I’m tired, though. I’m going to call it a night.”

“If you’re sure…” Meg looked very much like she didn’t want this conversation to be over.

But Trish was already walking away.

“Hey, wait up…” I called after her, yet again.

She didn’t shift into her wolf, so I didn’t give into mine.

Awful idea if you ask me, he grumbled.

It wasn’t the first time in my life I wondered if this was how it’d always be—me chasing after Tisiphone when she didn’t want to be chased—and it wasn’t the first time I thought about giving it up.

If she hadn’t looked so sad right now, maybe I’d have been able to let her go. Her outline was a silhouette against the night sky, with the moon high above and Halley’s Comet charting its course through the stars.

A once-in-a-lifetime event, they said.

I lowered my gaze to the earth, making sure there were no obstacles in Tisiphone’s path that would make her bare feet stumble.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I said, catching up to her side.

“There’s nothing to talk about.” She shrugged.

“I think it’s the right thing to do,” I filled the silence. “All of us, we should lie low and watch until we know more about this Vincent character. That was always the plan. Nothing has changed.”

Trish snorted. “Your plan, maybe.”

“Did you have another plan?” I asked.

She chewed her lip as she thought. “No. I guess not.”