Page 9 of The Alpha’s Midnight Witch

Through the window, Maren hauls a box toward the back of the shop. The cat trails after her with his tail up like a flag. My wolf eases back. A little. Only while she's in sight.

"I'm telling her," I say.

"No."

"She already knows something's wrong."

"She doesn't know what. That difference is the only thing keeping her calm."

"She watched thirty-seven candles light themselves. She thinks she's losing her mind."

Silence.

I go still. "How do you know about the candles?"

Evelyn doesn't answer fast enough.

"You've got someone in her shop."

"We're monitoring the awakening."

"You're monitoring Maren."

"For her protection."

I hate that phrase. People do all sorts of things and call it protection.

"You told me I was the one assigned to her."

"You are."

"Then why is there a second set of eyes?"

"Because you're compromised."

My wolf hits the inside of me like a door in a storm. My claws press at the tips of my fingers, wanting through.

"Careful," I say.

"You know I'm right. Your attachment makes you likely to tell her too much before she can handle it."

"She's thirty-two. Stop talking about her like she's a child who'll drop the truth and cut herself on it."

Evelyn goes quiet.

Good.

"Maren gets the truth," I say.

"Not yet."

"Then when?"

"When we understand why her power is waking early. Not before."

I’m pissed and I hang up on the leader of the Lantern Coven. Probably a mistake. I don't have it in me to care.

Ten minutes later Maren comes out her front door dragging a plastic skeleton taller than she is.