“Anything?”

Layla pretended to listen as avidly as the others apparently did, though she already knew from Hunter that there wasn’t any news. They’d snatched a few moments together in the kitchen, washing up the plates from lunch. Of course, they’d soon been interrupted by Damaris coming in to make some tea.

The last few days had been infuriating. They’d all felt cooped up and frustrated, but Layla’s particularly bad mood went back to her and Hunter not having been able to get more than five minutes alone together since that night when they’d had the house to themselves.

Now, among a large group again, it seemed useless to hope that alone time would come sooner than later.

“Nothing,” Phoenix said heavily. “Whoever it is has realized they’re being tracked and made themselves scarce. That’s good for your safety, but not so good for our chances of finding them. This is going to be difficult.”

“I’ll be glad to go home,” Rose said. “Not that we don’t like staying with you, Sophie, but…”

“I know. As soon as Hunter gives the all-clear, I’m kicking you out.”

Layla shot Hunter a look.

“I’ll send Cord and Phoenix out again this evening,” he said to the group at large. “If they don’t find anything, it should be safe for Rose and Lizeth to go home.”

A collective sigh of relief ran through the group. Much as Layla liked her coven, being stuck in a too-crowded house with all of them had become a bit much.

Glancing around to see that no one was watching her, she signaled Hunter with her eyes. He hid his smile and moved to sit opposite her, making as if he’d only wanted a better position for seeing out the window. Layla brought out her sketchpad. Since she knew the others wouldn’t be very happy about her sketching Hunter, he’d been surreptitiously sitting across from her for the last few days.

The sketch was coming along nicely, too, though she doubted she’d ever truly be able to portray everything that made up Hunter. Hunter’s eyes widened warningly as she watched, and she quickly flicked a page over to display a half-completed sketch of a dog she’d seen walking past the window a few days before.

Hunter nodded almost imperceptibly a minute later, and Layla turned back to her sketch of him, glancing out of the corner of her eye at Rose, who had just walked behind her. Based on Hunter’s lack of alarm, she hadn’t seen the sketch.

This secretiveness had become more and more frustrating, though, to the extent that Layla wondered for the millionth time just how long they could keep their relationship under wraps.

The day passed slowly, with the biggest event being that Damaris and Rose got into a spat about who’d finished off the teabags, which was only resolved when Cord went out to buy some more. Layla had rolled her eyes, though she couldn’t blame them. She’d recently thrown a bit of a fit herself when Fisher accidentally opened a bathroom door while she was inside, even though she’d been fully clothed at the time. They really needed to get out of this house. Even the bits of training that Layla had been engaging in with the rest of the coven had grown stale—a lot of practice had led to little progress, and though they said that was normal, the routine didn’t offer much variety to life.

“I need to go out,” she announced simply, not wanting to listen to the huffy noises coming from Rose and Damaris anymore.

“What for?”

None of them were supposed to go out unless it was strictly necessary—not until they were sure all danger had passed.

“I need to follow up with some of the places where I dropped off resumes.”

Really, she just needed to get out of here, but she supposed following up on jobs wouldn’t hurt.

“Can’t it wait?” Sophie asked pointedly. “We’re all antsy, Layla, but the danger to us is real.” She’d been setting a good example, not leaving the house and somehow managing not to snap at anyone, though she was clearly as frustrated as the rest of them were.

Guiltily, Layla still pressed forward. “I don’t want them to think I’m not fully invested in the jobs.”

Sophie rolled her eyes, but nodded. She’d given up on telling Layla she didn’t need to work. Hunter stood up to accompany her. None of the other demons batted an eye—Layla was sure they knew at least some of what was happening between her and Hunter—but Damaris cast a disapproving look at the two of them.

It was probably becoming obvious that Hunter made sure to stay and guard the house when Layla was home and also that he suddenly needed to take a turn guarding a witch running errands whenever Layla needed to leave. Fortunately, Damaris didn’t say anything in protest.

“Good thinking,” Hunter muttered, getting into her car. “If I didn’t get out of there soon, I think I’d have started throwing knives at the walls. What? Don’t look at me like that; it’s what we do for fun down in the underworld.”

“Remind me never to go to the underworld,” she joked back.

Layla drove slowly, not having any single destination in mind. Supposing that she might as well go check on the progress of her job applications, though, she headed for the center of town. Once they were there, Hunter had other plans.

“Let me take you out for ice cream.”

Layla blushed. “All right.”

She eyed Hunter with interest as he took out his wallet and some money, shoving at least a hundred dollars at the surprised cashier for two simple cones and then looking surprised when he was given change.

“I take it you don’t use human money much,” Layla guessed, trying to suppress a giggle.

“Never have before, but I’m going to need to get used to it if I’m staying up here.”

“Where did you get it?”

“I sweet-talked Sophie into it.”

Layla snorted. “That must have been something to see. You could have just asked me.”

“Yes, but I wanted to take you out.”

They lapsed into comfortable silence as they ate together.

“Do you need help with your car?” Hunter asked after a while. “It isn’t looking too good.”

“No,” Layla said sadly, wondering how much a mechanic was going to cost her when she was finally able to make the suggested repairs. The mechanic who’d delivered it had gotten it running, but it was in a sorry-looking state; she couldn’t put off upkeep much longer. “I thought you didn’t know anything about cars?”

“Not much, but since I’ve come here, I have learned quite a bit about the internet. Apparently, google can tell you anything—even how to fix a car with a slowly dying engine.”

“Help would be much appreciated,” Layla laughed. “How long did you need to spend researching this?”

Hunter shrugged. “I didn’t really tally up the time. I want to be able to help.”

Despite the ice cream, a warm feeling was spreading through Layla’s chest. Hunter was so sweet and considerate. She couldn’t believe she’d found someone like him, let alone that he actually seemed to want her.

They spent hours sitting and talking, eventually even ordering a few more ice creams to stop the shop owner from glaring at them. Finally, they had to get back. They could only spend so long pretending to be following up on jobs. Hunter watched Layla as she drove, and she lightly brushed her hand across his. Hunter just smiled at her, resting his own hand protectively on her thigh.

They got back just as Phoenix and Cord were coming in from patrolling.

Cord struggled to open the door as everyone pressed closer inside, and everyone had to shuffle back a little. At first, it had just been Rose waiting by the door to hear news, but then Lizeth had joined her, and then Damaris.

“Clear,” Cord said to the anxious faces. “All clear. You should wait until morning to go home, though.”

No one let out a cheer, but it was a close thing.

The night passed amicably with no new spats, and when the next morning came, everyone seemed glad to say goodbye—at least for now.

Sophie and Damaris parked themselves on opposite sides of the house, enjoying the space. Layla and Hunter went outside to tackle her car with parts he’d ordered online. The other witches had been surprised he felt he’d be able to help with it, but he’d managed to hide the fact that he’d learned on her behalf. Once they got started, though, she thought that Hunter should be a mechanic. He seemed to have an intuitive understanding of how things worked, enough that Layla doubted a thousand hours of study would have given her the same know-how.

Still, it was a good thing he had such excellent reflexes. She was sure he’d have burned all the skin off his hand if he hadn’t gotten away from the minor explosion that led Cord and Sophie to run outside, thinking they were being attacked.

And while Layla would never have thought of spending a morning fixing a car as fun, with Hunter, she couldn’t keep the smile off of her face. He made a point of brushing his arm against hers every time he passed her, and she caught herself hoping that maybe the car would be more difficult to fix than Hunter had hoped.

It was lunchtime before the car seemed to be running smoothly, and Layla whooped and hugged Hunter.

“We should test it,” he said quickly. “Just to make sure it’s okay for driving for longer periods of time.”

Layla dashed inside to tell Sophie, who accepted the plan with a sort of resigned grimness. Clearly, she still didn’t like the two of them spending time together.

“Let’s go to this address,” Hunter suggested, showing her a piece of paper. “That’s the land we want to buy when this is all over.”

It wasn’t a far drive—something Layla was quietly happy about. She wasn’t looking forward to the time when Hunter would no longer have to guard her, but it would at least be better if he lived close by.

Layla parked on the edge of a field just outside of the plot of land. “It’s big,” she noted.

“We like to have a lot of space to practice.”

She did know how much the demons liked their practice. They’d shaken the house some mornings, throwing each other about. It looked terrifying, but they always laughed it off in a fashion that only highlighted their toughness.

“It is a nice piece of land,” Hunter mused. “Too bad I probably won’t use it.”

“What?”

“Well, the idea was we’d all live together, but once we find our mates, we’ll want our own places with them.”

Hunter’s scorching gaze was making her breathless, and Layla leaned in, close enough that their noses brushed. She wasn’t sure who closed the remaining distance, but it didn’t matter. Hunter’s lips on hers were hot and urgent, and she could hear herself moaning at his touch. He somehow managed to pull her over so that she was sitting on his lap, and she pressed down onto him, never breaking the kiss.

Their clothes came off then, and the windows steamed up quickly. Awkward and confined as the space was, they both had ample motivation to make it work. They scrambled into the backseat, and Hunter propped himself up on his elbows above her.

His every touch came across as hungry and possessive, and Layla loved every second of it. When they came together, it was just as amazing as the first time had been.

As they lay panting, Hunter nibbled Layla’s earlobe. “You’re mine,” he whispered to her.

“Yours,” she agreed. She couldn’t help it. She was falling so deeply in love with this man. As much as it had freaked her out at first, she’d fully accepted her destiny as his mate. She wanted to be with him, no matter what.

They lay together until the sun started setting, sending pink and orange rays over the horizon. Finally, Hunter said they should get back. Layla didn’t want to move from where she’d been resting, nestled into his side, even though her elbow was squashed uncomfortably against the back of the front seat.

“We can’t be out after dark,” he reminded her. “It’s not safe.”

Reluctantly, Layla crawled back into the driver’s seat, hoping her face wasn’t still red from their earlier activities.

The drive back seemed even shorter than the one there had been. And Layla wasn’t looking forward to being back in the house. She appreciated having a place to stay, and having these women to call her friends—her family, even—but ever since Hunter had mentioned getting a place together, her mind had been filled with images of them together, with unlimited time alone, not having to look over their shoulders.

Her magic had improved, too, which made it easier to imagine leaving the house’s protection. They’d been training hard for the past few days, and though she wasn’t quite at the stage where she could sell spells, she could certainly put up some defenses if she was attacked.

As soon as the car stopped, Hunter was at her door opening it for her. Layla giggled and took his hand. The two of them walked side by side, as close as they could get to each other, relishing their last moments alone for who knew how long.

But then Layla glanced up and stumbled. Hunter put an arm around her to keep her on her feet, and Layla forced herself to keep moving, but she turned her face away, trying to pretend she hadn’t just seen Sophie watching them from the upstairs window.

“I think we may be in trouble,” she murmured to Hunter, slipping her hand out of his. He took in her expression and tensed. How much would Sophie read into what she’d seen? What would Layla say if she asked her about what was going on with them? She didn’t want to lie, but the truth might make things very difficult.

She turned to Hunter in panic when they reached the door, hesitant to step inside. What were they going to do? He looked worriedly back at her, but just shrugged—it was what it was. Inside, Layla heard the telltale thumping of someone coming down the stairs. She grimaced and forced herself to step away from Hunter, leaving a gap of a few feet between them.

Trying to ignore the feeling of impending doom she felt, she forced a smile onto her lips and readied herself to face Sophie.