The tiny vibration of her body the only indication of a laugh.
Should he tell her now? No. He needed her to trust him first.
Shit, what do I say now?
“So. Isn’t this against health code?” he said, as he looked around the kitchen, cupcakes on the floor.
She pulled away and instantly he missed her.
“I suppose so.” Her eyes lit up. “Just don’t tell anyone.”
As he watched her, her lips moved and as she stepped around the cupcake mess seemed to disappear.
“That’s pretty helpful, maybe you can...” he stopped. He was going to say she can teach his daughter, but not yet. That was much too soon.
Olivia thankfully didn’t notice. “This is simple. Anything organic I seem to be able to manipulate. So, moving the cupcakes from here to the trash is basic. I’m not very powerful, nothing of notice in the witching world.”
Ethan wanted to scream at whoever these stupid witches were. No one was allowed to make her feel less. She was his mate. She would not be made to feel like she was less.
His hands began to tingle as his wolf reared its head to play.
Fucking wolf. Settle down. I’m getting there.
Ethan ran his hands through his hair. His mouth opened, then it closed.
What the hell could he say to her?
Olivia studied the small iced model of what he imaged he looked like.
How could he tell her about his daughter?
“Ethan?”
He took a gulp of air, a hint of caution in his answer. “Yes?”
Maybe she really could read his mind?
“This pack. The one that came in? Do you need me to meet them? It sort of seems like I don’t have any choices or way of out this gig.”
He watched her lips pucker and a shimmer of air turn around the wolf. It yawned and started to pace.
“This would be a fun cupcake, don’t you think? Maybe I can bring a three-tiered cupcake tower with this little guy guarding it?”
He couldn’t turn away. If she were useless in the eyes of witches, she’d be a damn goddess to his three-year-old.
“What were you saying?”
He shook his head, clearing out everything but her.
“Wouldn’t he be cute on a cupcake tower? Maybe to meet the pack?”
Right. Pack. She needed to meet them. They needed to accept her.
“Right. About all that. Uh. Have you changed at all yet?”
She gently let down the little tiny canine and smiled over her shoulder.
“Change? I usually do that several times a day. I don’t enjoy my work clothes all day. I smell like icing.”
Fuck.
“No. Not that. I mean. Well. Have you felt the need to go running, or found yourself smelling things you’ve never noticed before?”
She turned around and crossed her arms. His pants tightened as he found himself struggling to look up and away from her perfect cleavage.
Fuck. What?
He needed to get his shit under control. He couldn’t bring her to the pack or his daughter if all he wanted to do was bury himself balls deep into her.
“Ethan? Hello? You still there?”
He nodded. Stupid dick. The damn thing needed to start thinking if it was going to hog all the blood.
“Any strange new stuff? Habits maybe?”
“I suppose so. Should I be worried? I also make it snow now too. Well once. I think I can keep that to myself.”
“I meant have you shifted into a wolf yet? I would assume you’d be a lot more freaked out if you had. Wait, what the hell does snow mean?”
She flashed him a puzzled glance. “Why would I shift into a wolf?”
“Let’s get back to that in one second. What the hell does snow mean?”
Her nose scrunched as she started to talk. “The other day. It started snowing in my house. I have no idea what it means, it's something else new. That wolf? He's new too. He's almost real. It's like ever since meeting you something woke up in me. "
“Watch this.” She held out a hand and whispered something he didn’t hear. Rain fell from midair into her palm.
"That's not normal for witches then?"
Her eyes didn't leave the tiny storm. "Not for me it's not." Something ghosted across her face, but he held back from trying to get into her head. They were making some progress, alright maybe a lot of development.
“You okay?" he asked.
She bobbed her head.
"You sure?
"Yes. I promise. I'm fine. What were you asking?"
"Have you shifted? Or felt something odd lately?"
She laughed. "Define odd. I mean. Everything has been odd."
He drummed his fingers on the counter. "Like your skin tingling. I always say it feels like a million bugs crawling up your legs. Just something that doesn't feel right. ”
She shook her head. “If that's what shifting is, then no wolf shifting.
"So tell me, why would I shift to a wolf?”
Her eyes narrowed, and the rain stopped.
“You've heard of a werewolf bite?”
That got her attention.
“Not worried though. I'm not a werewolf, that’s like a whole dark magic thing. But all shifters bite for mating, and I think the reason is the magic. How else would you claim your mate for your own? Anyway. You’d need to be a wolf too. I don't get it either. In fact non-shifter mates are rare. Someone outside of the pack is rare.”
Slowly stepping back, he felt his wolf cowering in the corner of his soul. Retreat was about the only logical thing to do right now.
Full retreat.
Her nostrils flared. Ethan's senses hit high alert.
“I’m a witch. What the hell, Ethan? So now you tell me that not only am I married to some testosterone-laden man and his lumberjack brothers but now I’m going to be hairy?”
He pursed his lips, hooked his thumbs in his pockets, and rocked back on his heels.
“Yup. About sums it up.”
That sounded better than what he might have said.
“You're kidding right?”
A flash of thoughts, disjointed and half animal rage flashed through his mind. Not his thoughts. Not her entirely. The wolf in him sat up, waiting.
Ethan sniffed the air.
“Maybe you should just take off your
