“Of course, I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Clara’s spell may carry you through the day.” She lifted her chin. “You may not need my presence to, you know, focus or whatever.”

She stared beyond me, watching a couple heading toward Magazine and the nightlife in full swing.

“Evie.” I edged closer, drawing her attention back to me. “I still need to be”—with you, near you—“around you.”

Inside you.

I waved my hand holding the DVD in a circle. “You know, our agreement.”

“I haven’t forgotten our agreement. I’m just saying—”

“Is nine okay? Or do you have to work at the shop?”

“No, I don’t usually work the shop. Clara will handle it. That’s really her gig with Isadora. Violet and I work the bar. Livvy handles all the bookkeeping and marketing. Jules handles the kitchen.”

“So, nine then?”

“Sure.”

She moved to close the door, her mood having plummeted since my little episode when I obviously freaked her out.

Before she could shut it all the way, I put my hand on it to stop her. “Thank you, Evie.”

She glanced up through dark lashes, and I swear that spell pumped a new rush of cracked-out bliss into my veins.

“What for?”

I smiled. “For showing me Star Wars.”

“A New Hope,” she corrected. She didn’t smile, but her features softened. “And Empire Strikes Back.” She glanced down at the DVD in my hand. “If you don’t finish the third one, we can no longer be friends.” She said it with a completely serious face.

“We’re friends?”

“Of course, we are, you idiot.”

“Friends.” I backed up and released the door, grinning like a, well, an idiot. “Awesome.”

“Goodnight.” Her mouth quirked as she shut the door.

“Sweet dreams, Evie.”

As I made my way through the streets, I reveled in the realization that Evie was my friend. I wanted to be more, but there was no trusting my wolf to allow more to happen. Not right now. Not yet. But maybe after this hex was broken and I was back in control… Just maybe.

I knew for a fact that the sensation of euphoria pumping through my veins all the way home and well into the morning, since I couldn’t sleep for hours, had little to do with the Aura’s spell. And everything to do with Evie.

Chapter 10

~EVIE~

“Did I do something wrong?” Clara hovered a spoon over the open carton of Tutti Frutti ice cream clutched to her chest.

I stared at the sweetest sister in the whole wide world.

“No,” I answered on a huff. Though I tried not to be a petulant child, I couldn’t help it. I wasn’t one of those people who could disguise my feelings. I’d been told more than once that whatever I was thinking or feeling was clearly written all over my face.

“Then why are you mad at me?”

“I’m not mad at you, Clara.” I definitely sounded mad, rather furious actually, which only made me growl in frustration.

“Did I interrupt something?” She quirked a dark blond brow and shoveled a spoonful of the rainbow-colored ice cream into her mouth.

“Pffft.” I opened the fridge and scanned the containers from Cauldron’s kitchen. Jules often brought home the leftovers, whatever she didn’t give away to the kitchen and wait staff or JJ. Opening one to find her crawfish fettucine, I popped it into the microwave. “There was nothing to interrupt. So don’t even worry about it.”

“Do you want there to be something to interrupt? He’s a—”

“I know, I know. He’s a werewolf. No need to give me the same lecture JJ did.”

“No. I was going to say he’s a nice guy.”

I spun in my socks and tilted my head. Not what I was expecting. “Nice?”

She smiled. “Totally nice.” She flipped her spoon in the air to gesture. “Well, except for the scary beast he’s holding back. I think he wanted to eat me when I touched him.” She must’ve seen some kind of reaction on my face. “Oh, not Mateo. His wolf, I mean. But Mateo, he’s very sweet.”

“Sweet.”

She gobbled another spoonful of Tutti Frutti. “Totally sweet.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. Yeah. He was sweet. Totally. And beautiful and crazy talented. And adorable in how little he knew about pop culture. I mean, who in the modern age didn’t know that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father?! Mateo. That’s who. Absolutely ridiculous. And completely cute as hell. I had to admit that watching his slack-jawed reaction was the highlight of my entire month. Maybe my whole year.

“You’re smiling. So you’re not mad at me anymore?”

After pulling the dish out of the microwave, I grabbed a fork out of the drawer. “Clara, I’m not mad at you.”

“You were when I cast a joy spell on Mateo. See, you’re making that frowny face again.”

I twirled a giant bite of fettucine around my fork and shoved it into my mouth to avoid responding.

“Very mature.” She smiled and dropped the spoon in the sink and put the ice cream back in the freezer. “You want to know what I think?”

I chewed, swallowed, then stuffed another overly big bite into my mouth. “I’m hungwy,” I managed to mumble around a mouthful. Yep. That was me. Super mature. Eating my feelings.

“I think you like this werewolf.”

I tried to scoff, but only kind of choked on the pasta. Clara took my bowl, set it on the counter, and patted my back until I managed to swallow and inhale a deep breath.

“And because you like him, you didn’t really like your sister helping him in the way that you help him. Because it’s obvious your hex-breaking magic has a positive effect on him the way my magic does. Makes him need you somehow.” She smoothed her hand down my back. “You just got a little jealous. And that’s okay. You like him.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but then I realized who I was talking to. Clara could read people better than anyone I knew. It had to do with her gift as an Aura. She just knew shit, what people were thinking and feeling and, holy hell, she was totally right. I was freaking jealous! Which was so stupid.

“We’re just friends,” I admitted softly.

“Friends,” said Clara, as if trying on a new word she’d never heard. “She handed me back my bowl of fettucine. “That works, I think.”

“You think?”

“You don’t want to be his friend?”

“Of course, I want to be his friend.”

“Then I don’t see the problem.”

“There is no problem.”

“Then why are you scarfing down fettucine at midnight and growling at me?”

“Why are you eating ice cream at midnight?”

“Evie,” she said with a laugh in a way that said I was being ridiculous. Because I was. “You know I have a sweet tooth. There’s no time limit on my need for Tutti Frutti ice cream or lemon tarts. Or turtle cheesecake. It just happens.” She shrugged with a smile like it’s a fact. And it kind of was.

This was true. Clara had a serious craving for all things sugary. How she remained so thin and willowy was a mystery to me. She and Violet were built leaner than the rest of us like our dad. It didn’t matter how many tarts or pastries she consumed, she remained the same. I didn’t mind my curves, but I could definitely tell you that this fettucine was going straight to my ass. I didn’t care. I needed these carbs more than I needed a not-fat ass.

“Everyone needs friends, Evie. Especially him.”

“Especially him, how?”

“Besides, friends make the best lovers.” She pecked me on the cheek. “Night, night.”

“Why would you even say that?” She giggled and shut the door when I said even louder, “I never said anything about lovers.”

Through the window, I watched her shuffle back toward the carriage house.

That’s when I noticed Z crouched on the counter staring at me. I scooped him up in my free hand and slung his upper body over my shoulder. He let me carry him however I wanted, never putting up a fight.

“I didn’t, Z. I never said a damn thing about lovers. I mean, he’s cute and all. I’ll totally admit that.” Z started his sputtering purr as I held onto him with one hand and balanced my late-night snack of fettucine for two down the hall to my bedroom on the first floor.

“I mean, okay, he’s hot even. I’m not going to deny that at all.”

Z let out a scratchy meow.

“Exactly. That doesn’t mean I want to sleep with him. I see hot guys every day in the bar. I don’t want to jump their bones or anything.” Z said nothing. “Clara’s right. Friends are good.”

I set Z on the foot of my bed. After slipping out of my clothes and into my sleep shirt and shorts with leprechauns drinking green beer, I devoured the pasta, brushed my teeth, and jumped into bed.

“What should I read tonight, Z?” But he was already curled into a ball and sleeping.

I scanned the books on my bedside table. Yes, books. I’d set aside my comics the last few nights in favor of some light reading like The Demons of the Night, The Beast of Gevaudan, and Werewolves: The Origin Story. I’d raided Jules’s library, hoping to gain some insight into Mateo’s problem. Last night’s reading about the werewolf in Gevaudan gave me nightmares, so I decided to go back to the origins book tonight. Facts were good. And not too scary. Right?

The first part had listed the basics of the life of a werewolf—strengths and weaknesses. Some I knew. Some I didn’t. Like the need to balance the curse of the beast and the gift of the arts that dwelled in all werewolves.

The most interesting fact I learned last night, which I absolutely did not bring up with Mateo, was the carnal impulses of a werewolf. Their need for sex and blood was the curse of the wolf inside them. It said they released the beast at least once a month to hunt and satisfy their craving for blood. I also learned that some changed more than once a month as needed. They weren’t dependent on the full moon to shift, though many felt the urge strongest at this time.