“Ask away.” I resisted the urge to lecture. “I’m happy you’re happy.”
Mentally, I warned Abbott I had a foot enema with his name on it. I was going to kick his butt for this.
“Thanks to you guys,” I said, getting us back on track, “we dealt the coven a major blow.”
“This won’t be the end of it,” Anca warned. “I’m worried the worst is yet to come.”
A call interrupted our meeting, and I would have let it go to voicemail if it hadn’t been Addie. For the fifth time. Gah. I must have left my phone on silent again.
“Give me a second.” I took the call into the kitchen. “Hey, what’s up?”
“I wanted to warn you.”
The bottom dropped out of my stomach. “What’s wrong?”
“We’re coming to Atlanta to see you.”
“Okay?”
“There’s an art installation Dad really wants to see, and I thought it would be a great opportunity for us to spend time together as a family.”
Code for see and be seen as the Whitakers. “Why the panic?”
“Boaz wants to come with me.” She hesitated. “He wants to see…” She left a long pause where my name once would have fit. “Anyway, he asked if I wanted company, and I said yes.”
A giddy thrill shot through me at the chance to see my brother, and my sister. “That’s great news.”
“Except his mother is interested in the art installation too.”
A chill traipsed down my spine. “Oh.”
“She noticed him packing a weekend bag and asked where he was going,” she explained. “Boaz only told her to get her off his case, which backfired. Big time. When she heard I was going, she launched into one of her lectures on familial responsibilities and keeping up appearances. She said he was too old and too engaged to be running off to party in the big city, and she, well, invited herself along. To chaperone us.”
“Did you point out your—I mean, our dad—was coming too?”
“She implied he would be too drunk to make sure Boaz didn’t slip into my room at night. She also hinted at how I was expected to be a virgin on my wedding night and provide an heir within the year, but the math better work in my favor.” She snorted. “I stopped listening at that point.”
I thumped my head on the table. “I don’t blame you.”
“Are you okay?” Addie fretted. “We can cancel if it’s too much.”
“You’re fine. It’s fine.” I sighed. “I’m fine with it.”
Regular visits from Addie and her dad went a long way toward cementing our legitimacy as a family.
“Call if you change your mind.” A happy note rang in her voice. “See you next week, sis.”
“See you then.”
I ended the call to make banging my head easier. The noise must have attracted Bishop, who sat opposite me and let me dent my forehead to my heart’s content. I only stopped because my ribs hurt, not because I wanted to, and I leaned back with a pained groan.
“Anca was right,” I told him. “The worst is definitely yet to come.”
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About the Author
USA Today best-selling author Hailey Edwards writes about questionable applications of otherwise perfectly good magic, the transformative power of love, the family you choose for yourself, and blowing stuff up. Not necessarily all at once. That could get messy.
www.HaileyEdwards.net
Also by Hailey Edwards
The Foundling
Bayou Born #1
Bone Driven #2
Death Knell #3
Rise Against #4
End Game #5
The Beginner’s Guide to Necromancy
How to Save an Undead Life #1
How to Claim an Undead Soul #2
How to Break an Undead Heart #3
How to Dance an Undead Waltz #4
How to Live an Undead Lie #5
How to Wake an Undead City #6
The Potentate of Atlanta
Shadow of Doubt #1
Pack of Lies #2
Change of Heart #3
Black Dog Series
Dog with a Bone #1
Dog Days of Summer #1.5
Heir of the Dog #2
Lie Down with Dogs #3
Old Dog, New Tricks #4
Black Dog Series Novellas
Stone-Cold Fox
Gemini Series
Dead in the Water #1
Head Above Water #2
Hell or High Water #3
Gemini Series Novellas
Fish Out of Water
Lorimar Pack Series
Promise the Moon #1
Wolf at the Door #2
Over the Moon #3
Araneae Nation
A Heart of Ice #.5
A Hint of Frost #1
A Feast of Souls #2
A Cast of Shadows #2.5
A Time of Dying #3
A Kiss of Venom #3.5
A Breath of Winter #4
A Veil of Secrets #5
Daughters of Askara
Everlong #1
Evermine #2
Eversworn #3
Wicked Kin
Soul Weaver #1
