Free Familiar Desires: 5 (Protective Affairs) by Rebecca Airies

someone with magic. No one here was
going to aid her in going against the Council’s wishes. They wanted her here
and with these men and apparently she’d be staying here.
    “Aren’t you talking to us?” Michael’s fingers trailed back
down and he gave her hand a squeeze.
    “I’m not answering stupid questions. How would I get out of
town? The Protectorate isn’t going to send someone up here to straighten out
what’s basically a civic problem, especially since I can do some of the work
from where I’m at and I assume the Council will find a way for me to do the
rest. I know for sure that none of the witches here are going to take the
chance of trying to break that spell for me so what’s to answer?” She glared at
him. They made her so furious.
    “Well, the breaking the spell part, no, but I think you’ll
find that you won’t be as limited as you think you will be in your search.
There’s a lot you don’t know about the situation.” Kane took her hand and
turned it so the palm was face up. He laced his fingers with hers.
    With each touch, she could feel the Familiar link connecting
and stretching. It felt stronger now than she could remember it feeling when it
formed. The way they were touching her threw her off a little. She didn’t
understand. It wasn’t so much an outright claim, although their very presence
did that. It was soft, sweet, and endearing. The hand-holding and the light
touches made her want more. It was almost courtly.
    “What do you mean my search won’t be as limited as I think?
What do you know that I haven’t been told?” Alana turned to face Kane and
narrowed her eyes on him.
    He didn’t appear intimidated. Okay, she couldn’t maul him or
zap his ass. It was one of the parts that sucked about being a bonded Familiar.
They couldn’t hurt their witch either with powers or shifter abilities.
Sometimes, wizards needed an attitude adjustment.
    “We’ll get to that once we order and get our food. The day’s
business is not going to be easy and you’ve already changed the forecast once
today.” Michael’s palm cupped her chin and turned her face a little so that she
could see him.
    “Yes, food first and then we’ll tell you more.” Kane nodded
and then glanced past his brother. “Here come the menus.”

 Chapter Five
     
    Alana sighed and turned to face the table again. She couldn’t
interrogate him when they were likely to be interrupted. Not that she’d get
very far with his brother right beside her. She’d seen twin wizards work
together before. Not quite in this situation. The result probably wouldn’t be
that different. Michael would run interference if it was necessary and she
wouldn’t get the answers she wanted until they were ready to give them.
    The menus arrived and her eyes strayed to the coffee
selection. She pulled her eyes away from the temptation. Even if she ordered
it, the cup would never be brought to the table. The only way she’d get coffee
here was to steal a cup, and it wasn’t worth it. She perused the list of options.
All of the descriptions made her mouth water. Shifting kept her metabolism at a
high point, which meant she needed extra food. She’d gotten to the point where
when necessary she’d order one of the smaller selections and try to get more later
in order not to draw attention to the fact that she was shifter. Sometimes what
she was drew hostility.
    The waitress came to take their order. She ordered a
normal-sized meal, but Michael and Kane added a few extra items and then placed
their orders. Alana simply stared at them.
    “Do you two even know how annoying that is?” She drummed her
fingers on the table and tilted her head while she looked at Michael and then
swung her gaze to Kane.
    “What?” Michael frowned and drew his fingers over the back
of her knuckles.
    “Seriously, you don’t even know what you were doing wrong?”
She raised an eyebrow. Were they that blind? Or was it simply that they thought
it was what they