He pulled his truck to a stop in front of a big house and turned off the engine.“Do what?”
“Make me feel so special?”
“Because you are,Nightling.You’re special, and you’re mine.”
She swore the marks on her neck tingled.She freaking loved it when he called hermine.
“You’re mine too.”
“And?”he asked, brows high.
“And you’re special,” she said with a chuckle.She leaned over and kissed him.
“I meant you should say I’m sexy, too.”
“You are,” she said with a chuckle.“Let’s get out of here before we adjective ourselves into having sex in the truck.”
“I’d totally be on board with that, just not in front of my alphas.Who are both standing on the porch and waving.”
She leaned over and saw them, and they were indeed waving.She climbed from the truck and met Solan, who took her hand, led her up the steps, and introduced her to Adam and Cinder: Thorn Hollow Pack Alphas.
Adam shook her hand and welcomed her to town, and Cinder gave her a hug.“I’m so happy to meet you.Congratulations on your mating.Come on in, I made snacks.My baby is always hungry for snacks.”She patted her extended belly and grinned.
They walked into the house with the alphas.Cinder hooked her arm through Kaeli’s and said, “The guys are meeting with some of the security people to talk about what happened and how they can make the town safer.You and I are hitting the snacks.”
“Send some our way, baby,” Adam said.
Solan waved at Kaeli.
“We’ll see if there’s anything left when I’m done feeding your offspring.”
Adam snorted as he and Solan walked away.“There ain’t never anything left.”
The spacious kitchen had a large island, set with the largest charcuterie board Kaeli had ever seen.It was several feet wide, with clear sections for savory and sweet items.
“Holy crap,” Kaeli said.
“Right?I know how to put on snacks, and that’s why there’s never anything left for Adam.I made him one for later, though.So you and I can go to town.”She sat on a stool and pointed to the other side of the island.“Tell me every little thing, and then we can talk about you being a dual-natured witch, which is super cool.”
Kaeli felt something relax inside her.She hadn’t realized how worried she’d been that Solan’s alphas wouldn’t like her.He was right—they were nice people.
“So I guess my story kind of starts when my mom ran away with a Corners’ husband and left me behind…”
After they’d eaten their fill and left hardly anything behind on the big board, Cinder took her to the library in the house.She scanned the shelves and pulled a thick book from the second row.
“This one helped me when my lygisa powers first came to be.It’s kind of like a dual nature.People call me a wolf-witch, but I was a witch first.The lygisa power took over my witch and gave me a different kind of magic and also the ability to shift.”
“That must have been crazy.”
“And painful.But I get to be alpha female of a wonderful pack, and I’ve got a sexy fella as my mate.”
Kaeli smiled as she took the book.“I think Solan marking me has brought my magics under control.It doesn’t feel so much like I have two different magics, but one that’s doubly strong.They seem woven together, but it’s all so new to me.”
“Take a read through the book.It’s all about finding balance.I’d love to help you, if you’d like.I don’t want to overstep if you were planning to work with the Cleveland coven witches.”
“I haven’t made any plans with them.But I’d love your help.Lorene had said I’d need to start from the beginning and learn how to use magic all over again, because it’s different now.”
“That’s what it was like for me.I could still cast spells, but the way I went about it was different.We’ll start at the beginning, all the basic stuff.I can’t cast spells right now because of the baby, but I can coach you and be a cheerleader.Oh, do you have a blank spell book?”