Nightwolf

“Yeah,” I say carefully, eying Wolf. “Bad dream.”

He gives me a tight, rather secretive smile that tells me he’s not about to divulge what happened last night. Thank god. I don’t need Solon or my mom to know I’ve been crying in the night like a child.

“Must have been a bad one,” my mother muses with concern, raising her voice to be heard above the loud espresso machine. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wake up past eleven before, not since you were a teenager, anyway.”

I notice Solon is staring at me in a thoughtful way as he sips his coffee.

“What?” I ask. “Reading my thoughts?”

He gives a tidy shake of his head. “No,” he says, though he doesn’t sound offended by the accusation. “It’s just that, with all due respect, Amethyst, you rather look like shit.”

I bite back a laugh. “All due respect, huh? Thanks.”

“I mean it,” he says, studying me.

“Oh, I know you do.”

“I think I have a solution though,” he says.

“Yeah, I have one too. It’s called makeup,” I tell him, walking over to the espresso machine. “I haven’t put any on yet. Didn’t realize I’d be getting an audience this morning,” I mumble under my breath.

“I’m sending you away,” Solon says.

The rest of us look at him in shock.

“What?” asks Wolf.

“Sending me where?” I say, feeling a bit panicked.

“No need to worry,” Solon says, putting down his coffee cup. “I think it’s the right solution. When’s the last time you went away? For vacation? January? Palm Springs? That’s almost a year, Amethyst. You need a break. A real one.”

“What about my mom, she needs one too,” I say, gesturing to her.

She shakes her adamantly. “Oh no, this is about you, and I one hundred percent agree with Mr. Stavig. You need, no, deserve a break.”

“I don’t want a break,” I say. I mean, it would be nice, and I sure could use one, especially just getting out of this increasingly haunted house for a moment but…

“It’s an order,” he says firmly, his blue eyes telling me he means business. “As my employee, you’re supposed to take a break. It’s mandated. Honestly, I think it’s for the best. I’m sending you up to the house at Shelter Cove. I’ll give you the keys to the Mustang, you can leave today if you wish. Stay a minimum three nights, a week if you can.”

Oh my god. Not only have I always dreamed of driving his Mustang (black as sin, sexy lines, built in the sixties), but I’ve practically been begging to visit his estate at Shelter Cove, located on the most desolate part of the Northern California coast.

“Wait a minute, she’s not driving up there by herself,” Wolf says to him. “And not in her state.”

I’m about to tell Wolf that I’m more than capable of driving when Solon says, “I know. That’s why you’re going with her.”

I blink. “What?”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” my mother says slowly, pausing the machine and plunging the room into silence.

“I’m going?” Wolf questions, brows up. “This isn’t about me.”

“Tell me why it’s a bad idea then,” Solon says, taking the time to look each of us in the eye.

Honestly, I’ve got nothing. Neither does my mom. I mean, I know why she thinks it’s a bad idea, but she’s not about to voice that to Solon. And, as much as part of me agrees with her, there’s another part that really wants Wolf to come along. Bad idea or not.

“Well,” Wolf clears his throat, “because I’m needed here. You can’t give the both of us time off. Who will run the bar? The Dark Room?”

Solon practically rolls his eyes. “The rest of us will cope just fine. There’s nothing planned in the next week, it’s fairly standard proceedings. I think we can handle it.” Then he flashes Wolf a wicked smile and I realize exactly what Solon is doing. The opposite of what my mother would want. “Sorry, Wolf, but this is an order, too.”

Wolf stiffens. I know Wolf isn’t actually an employee of Solon, it’s more that he’s a cog in the wheel that runs their safe haven, so Wolf sometimes has issues with being ordered around. That’s what happens when you have three alphas in the house together. “I don’t need a vacation.”

“You’re getting one,” Solon says, heading toward the door. “After all, you said yourself that Amethyst shouldn’t go alone. I agree. I’ll leave the keys on the kitchen table; take off any time you want. Normally I’d insist on you taking your Audi, but I don’t trust the electric chargers along the way. At any rate, I’ll make sure Emilio, the groundskeeper, has everything you need up there. You won’t want for anything.”

Then, satisfied that his word is gold, Solon walks out of the kitchen, leaving the rest of us in an awkward silence.