Page 80 of Silver Claw

“I hope he finds a way. I don’t think Emma will ever stop looking over her shoulder, not as long as he’s alive.”

“I have to get to work,” he said. He lingered, though, watching me. Finally, he murmured, “You look different, somehow.”

Deep inside me, the new magic mixed with the old, and I smiled.

Because maybe I felt a little different, too.

Chapter Thirty-One

Mayor Hedrick called just as Sam and Lucy returned from town. They came into the kitchen, their arms full of shopping bags. Ash ran to greet them, wiggling his little butt off, impatient for whatever treasure Lucy had brought back for him.

I stood so I could pace while I talked. I had a lot of food energy. “Mayor,” I answered. “Everything okay?”

“Hello, Kait! Everything’s fine here. How are you?”

“I’m great,” I said. “I’m looking forward to seeing you and Amy Sunday.”

“That’s why I’m calling, actually. We had something come up Sunday, and I know it’s short notice, but I wondered if there might be a chance you were free this evening instead?”

Lucy gave Ash his present, and he plopped down on the floor to chew on it, content. She put some of her bags on the counter, blew me a kiss, then hurried back out of the kitchen. Lucy was like a tiny whirlwind.

“I could come before work,” I told the mayor. “But that might be too early for dinner.”

“No, no. Early dinner is good. Shall we say four-thirty?”

“I’ll see you then,” I told him.

I was just dropping my phone into my pocket when Rick’s phone rang. “The mayor,” he said dryly, then answered the call. “I’m with her now, Louis. Yes. I’ll be there.”

I laughed after he ended the call. “Is he matchmaking, Rick?”

He grinned. “He thinks we belong together.”

His gaze snagged on mine and held it fast, and finally, Sam’s chair scraping the floor as he pulled it back broke us apart.

“Zach and I will meet you at the office since Rick will be with you at the mayor’s,” he said.

“And Remy,” Zach said, carrying his coffee cup to the sink. “Though he’ll probably be slow at getting there.”

“I’m getting an itchy feeling,” Sam told us. “Something’s going to happen. We’ll want to stick close. Maybe we should wait outside the Hedricks’ place just in case.”

I trusted gut feelings, but I doubted Gavin Voss was going to show up at the mayor’s house to cause trouble. “No sense in that,” I told him. “I’ll see you at the office.”

He didn’t argue. “I have something I need to take care of anyway. If you need me, call me. I won’t be far.”

I was afraid I knew what he needed to take care of. I didn’t look at Rick, but I could feel his narrow-eyed attention on Sam. The shapeshifter had stopped killing close to home, though, so maybe he just had some more shopping to do or something equally benign.

Zach crossed his arms. “I’m riding with you to the mayor’s,” he said. “What time are we leaving?”

“Zach,” I said. “I just said you don’t need to—”

“I’m coming with you,” he told me. “I’ll walk around outside the gates while you visit.” He gave Rick a nod, then left the kitchen, Sam at his side.

Rick was already on his phone. He murmured into it for a few seconds, then smiled at me as he put his phone away. “Louis says Zach is more than welcome to join us for dinner.”

“Thanks, Rick.” I shook my head. “He’s overprotective.”

“You saved his life.” He walked to me and stood close enough to touch. “You save a lot of lives. And we’re all going to be a little protective.”