Chapter 6
Jaxon
“Tisiphone, wait up!” I called after her as she escaped the conference room before any of us even stood from our chairs and hurried down the hall.
She disappeared into the front office.
Don’t let her get away.
I almost crashed into her as I walked through the office doorway, but she took a step back to save the basket in her arms from being crushed between us.
Those honey-brown eyes blinked up at me, wide and full of alarm. My beast rumbled a growl meant to soothe her, but Tisiphone took another step back.
Gods, she was beautiful.
It hit me like a brick every time I saw her.
The luscious curves of her frame. Her gentle smile.
The way my wolf wanted me to drag her into my arms and inhale her soft, feminine scent.
The smell was comfort. A home I’d never known, but longed for since I was a child.
Except Tisiphone wasn’t a pup anymore. She’d grown and changed over the years, filling out in all the right places and becoming a full-fledged female.
One I couldn’t touch.
“Apologies.” I tried to make myself smaller, less intimidating, as I leaned against the doorframe. “I wasn’t trying to chase you.”
“I know you weren’t.” She thrust the basket toward me. “And I wasn’t running. These are for you. Happy birthday.”
“For my…” I swallowed, feeling my Adam’s apple catch, “Birthday?”
She remembered.
Trish’s cheeks flushed as she looked everywhere but my face. “Don’t make it weird.”
But it was already weird.
We had unwritten rules to this dance between us. Lines that weren’t often crossed. And it was usually me who broke them, unknowingly, causing Tisiphone to slip just out of reach again.
Rule one: Nothing serious.
“These smell good.” I lifted the basket and sniffed. “What’s in them?”
Trish huffed. “You’ll have to ask my mom. She made that batch.”
“Your mom made me cupcakes?” I arched a brow.
Sage’s powers were known far and wide, especially regarding her food.
A witch of intent, she could influence the intentions of others or force her intent with only the touch of her hands.
The food she made was infused with her magic, making the café she ran the hit place to be when she was feeling extra festive on certain days.
I sniffed the cupcakes again.
“She wore gloves,” Tisiphone laughed. “There’s no magic in those ones.”
I frowned, even though I loved to hear her laugh. “Was there magic in other ones?”
Her eyes widened when she realized her mistake. “Nope. No other ones.”
“Why would your mom make me cupcakes?” The minute the words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back. Too serious. Too many prying questions.
Tisiphone’s eyes darted around the room like a scared, cornered animal and I was blocking her clear exit. Damn it, not again.
Gentle… No sudden movements.
“I… Uh… Burnt…” She stuttered. “I ruined the first batch. Mom offered to help.”
My wolf cocked his head to the side. She cooked for us.
But Trish was already inching toward the door and I panicked, blurting out the first thing I could think of.
“Your hair,” I said. “It’s blue.”
“Very astute.” She rolled her eyes.
“It looks nice,” I said, then quickly caught myself. “How long did it take you to figure that spell out?”
I didn’t mean for it to happen, but I couldn’t argue with the results. Tisiphone stood up straighter and glared at me, no longer a wounded wolf, but the powerful—and pissed off—witch I knew she could be.
“I’ll have you know that getting this particular teal color involves some magical finesse that not even a powerful Alpha warlock like you could figure out.”
“I believe it,” I grinned, grabbing a cupcake from the basket. “Is it intentional?”
“Of course it is.” She did a little dramatic flip of hair over her shoulder, and then finally relaxed.
I felt the tension ease from my shoulders too. “So… What was my birthday surprise going to be?” I studied a cupcake in the light. “I got yet another new travel bag, by the way, and the strap already broke.”
Trish giggled a little. The sound was music to my ears. “I seriously don’t even know how that happened. And the cupcakes wouldn’t have been so bad.”
“Not that bad?” I placed my hand over my heart, offended. “No magical bout of mange? No mildly annoying and stubborn ten-pound weight gain? No… Bunny tail?”
“I’m not that cruel.” She was still smiling. “Besides, attacking the Alpha of Cadejo might be considered an act of warfare. I just thought you could use some extra sparkle in your life.”
“Extra sparkle?” I asked.
“Yep.” Tisiphone sighed. “It would’ve been the perfect spell. One bite of cupcake and the world would sparkle everywhere you looked.”
“That would be…” Diabolical, my wolf grumbled. But I knew how sensitive Trish was about her magic, so I searched for a better word, “Entertaining.”
“Very.” She nodded as we eased into our familiar dance while the magic around us dulled to a soft background noise. “But I made sure Mom was intention-free in the kitchen this morning, so you can enjoy your cupcakes in peace.”
“Thank you.” I bit into the confection, trying not to make anything weirder between us, and hurried to chew as she stood there watching me. “It tastes good.” I licked a bit of frosting off my thumb. “But there’s no sparkle.” I winked.
Trish blushed as she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was all business. “I was serious in there about you not needing to go to this festival thing… If you didn’t want to, I mean. I know you’re a busy Alpha now. Please don’t let Kera make you feel guilty.”
I wanted to tell her that this had nothing to do with Alpha Kera. I didn’t care about the festival or the summons. I had ulterior, selfish motives for agreeing to go.
But I couldn’t say all that, so I shrugged. “We’ve got a few weeks until the harvest. Might as well take a vacation after all the work I put in this year.”
Tisiphone exhaled slowly. “If that’s the case, go enjoy yourself. But I don’t need you to protect me.”
Not again.
Like a punch to the gut, I remembered the day we stood graveside at Lisa’s burial. Tisiphone was all knees, elbows, and quick tongue back then.
Not that I was complaining. I liked her wit, and it wasn’t always sharp. She could be kind, especially to an abandoned wolf-witch alpha pup who had nowhere else to go.
When Lisa made me promise to protect Tisiphone as her dying wish, I didn’t hesitate to agree.
“I don’t need your protection,” Tisiphone had cried, tearing both me and my wolf apart. How many times had she echoed that sentiment over the years?
My wolf gave a soft whine.
I had to be careful with what I said. “I’m sure it’s not as big a deal as everyone thinks anyway.”
Trish nodded. “Right? How crazy would this Vincent warlock have to be to start something with all those powerful witches and warlocks around?”
“Absolutely insane,” I agreed, relaxing against the door frame again.
Tisiphone’s smile lit up the whole room as she lowered her voice, “Don’t tell anyone, but it might actually be nice to get out of here for a while.”
I couldn’t help but lean closer, drawn into the game of her conspiratorial whisper, “Only if you promise not to tell anyone that I’m also looking forward to the break.”
We stood there, sharing the same air and secret. A reminder of the silly children we were once upon a time before grief and responsibility and life got in the way. In moments like this, I could almost pretend that everything was exactly—
“There you are!” Megaera Cerberus, the female alpha shifter, burst into the room beside me. Her eyes swept between the two of us, hesitating for only a second, before she grabbed her sister by the arm. “Tell me you didn’t just volunteer us for war.”
“I did not!” Tisiphone smiled apologetically as she was pulled straight past me with Meg and Alec arguing a mile a minute, pausing only to say, “Happy birthday, again, Alpha. Guess I’ll see you soon,” before her sisters swept her away.