Aric stared at her for several seconds and then sighed. “If I promise to bring your future husband back, will you give me a break?”
Sami nodded.
“Good.” He jammed the marshmallow into the fire and waited for it to catch fire. “I’m burning the heck out of this thing. That’s how you still like it, right?”
Sami nodded. “Mom’s way is gross.” She rested her head on her father’s shoulder.
“Totally,” Aric agreed, kissing her forehead. His eyes met mine in the glow of the fire and I could see the resignation there. He didn’t want to walk away from his child, but he’d already decided his wife needed him more tonight. He was a bull of a man and a champion for both the women in his life, but it was clearly a thankless job.
“It’s time,” Zoe announced as she polished off her s’more and stood, pinning Sami with a pointed look. “You’d better be good for Rooster and the others. If you’re not, I’ll know, and I’ll take your phone away.”
Sami rolled her eyes. “You won’t take my phone away in the middle of a crisis.”
“Then I’ll delete all your game apps.”
Sami’s mouth dropped open. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me.” Zoe leaned forward and rested her forehead against Sami’s, lowering her voice. “Be good. We’ll bring him back. Have a little faith.”
“I’m going to be really mad if you don’t come back with him.”
“Duly noted.”
Twenty-Three
Zoe erected a dome that we could move under, and as soon as the shimmering shell fell over us, I became entranced by the magic she managed to weave.
“This is ... wow.” I extended my fingers to brush against the surface of the shield but there was nothing there to touch. “How did you figure out you could do this?”
She shrugged. “A long time ago, when we were on a mission to save my parents, Aric said we were going to have to camp. He also said I was going to have to hike miles upon miles with a heavy pack because of the tents. I suggested creating a magical dome mostly on a lark, but it turned out to be something I could do.”
“I didn’t know if she’d really be able to pull it off,” Aric said.
He seemed relaxed, as if we were taking a stroll in the woods rather than heading into battle, but I knew he was ready to rush to the forefront at the snap of his wife’s fingers. This was normal for them, which was a sobering thought.
“Believe it or not, my Zoe has never been the patient sort. Learning how to use her magic in a structured setting was out of the question. Yet she knew just what to do when it came to the domes.”
“Do you use them at home?” I was naturally curious. To me, it seemed like the best way to stay safe was to basically live under a dome.
“Only when absolutely necessary. We’ve used them for protection a time or two.” Zoe turned a rueful smile toward Aric. “Perhaps if we’d been under one the other night we wouldn’t have had to run.”
“Don’t do that, baby,” Aric chided. “You couldn’t have known. Living under a dome twenty-four-seven isn’t feasible. That’s not really living, and you know it.”
I hadn’t considered that. Living under a dome would be incredibly isolating. “When did you figure out you could make one to walk under?” I asked.
“Not long after I created the first one, the one we camped under. That was harder to get the hang of. We’ve been using them ever since. They’re tremendously useful.” Her eyes landed on me. “They’re also something you might be able to do at some point. I mean, you basically created a dome at that speakeasy. We don’t know what your magic entails. Something tells me you’ve been limiting yourself. We can figure it out together.”
I nodded. “Sami can obviously do them, right? When did she start figuring it out?”
“When she was seven.” Zoe grimaced at the memory. “She saw me put up a dome to avoid my mother-in-law one day. She was fascinated. She also ratted on me to Aric.”
Aric chuckled. “Ah, those were fun years. She ratted on both of us left and right. What a tattletale we raised. I didn’t think it was possible she could be my daughter.”
“I’m pretty sure anybody who has ever seen the two of you together would argue that point,” I laughed.
“Yeah, she looks like me.” He slid his arm around Zoe’s shoulders, giving the impression that they were doing nothing but taking a walk in the wilderness. “She’s her mother’s daughter, though.”
Zoe barked a laugh. “Please. She’s a daddy’s girl. I saw her trying to butter you up at the fire.”
“She feels helpless,” Aric told his wife. “She’s allowed to feel what she feels. We knew life with her was never going to be smooth and easy. She understands why she can’t go. Her heart is as big as yours, though, and she’s terrified at the thought of us coming back without him.”
“We’re not coming back without him.” Zoe’s eyes flashed with impatience. “I’ll kill every single one of them to get him back.”
“She knows that in her heart. She’s just got a lot of feelings.”
Zoe snorted. “That’s a nice way of putting it.”
Before Aric could respond, Gunner cleared his throat and sent them a quelling look. “I don’t want to be the downer of the group but maybe we should, you know, zip it.” He mimed closing a zipper over his lips.
Zoe’s smirk was mischievous. “What if we don’t want to zip it?”
“Then I can’t force you to be quiet. You’re stronger than me and you’ll kick my ass.”
Zoe preened. Gunner pointed to Aric with an annoyed look. “I expected more from you, though. You’re a shifter. You should know better.”
Aric didn’t appear bothered. “The domes are soundproof. Nobody outside can hear us.”
Gunner looked taken aback. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Oh.” Gunner’s gaze was accusatory when it landed on me.
