Page 42 of Wedding the Werepanther

“I am! I’m Dewdrop!” He launches from my shoulder to land on a stack of books, tilting his head to look down at the fox. “Who are you? Will you be my friend?”

“This is Finn, my familiar,” Hannah says, making introductions between them. Her witch power is being able to talk to animals, so she can understand all of the familiars, whether they’re bonded to her or not.

Finn yips and does a hopping spin in front of her, and Hannah laughs. “Yes, I’ll tell Dewdrop you’re Ferndale Fall’s first familiar.”

“That’s very impressive,” the dragonet says, and Hannah translates.

Skye enters, carrying cupcakes. Her calico cat, Princess Buttercup, makes a beeline for me, rubbing all over my calves and meowing.

“Umm.” I stare down at her big eyes. I never got to have any pets growing up because my father dislikes animals, and I’m not sure why the cat likes me so much.

Skye’s tinkling laugh fills the room. “Princess Buttercup wants to know if you love her yet.”

“Uh, sure?” Everybody always expects someone who’s awkward with people to be great with animals. Not me. I offer equal-opportunity awkwardness, no matter the species. If you’re not a character in a video game, it’s gonna take me a hot minute to figure out how to interact. Games are easy—everyone has a role, and once you figure it out, you know exactly what to expect. Real people and animals are a helluva lot harder.

My heart tugs as my familiar says a sweet hello to the cat. Dewdrop’s the one exception. Him, I loved immediately.

Autumn enters, carrying canvas bags of drink mixes over one shoulder and a squirming mini-goat cradled in her arms.

Babybelle gives a loud bleat and launches herself toward Dewdrop, hitting the bookshop’s wooden floors in a thunder of hoofbeats. She sidles up to him with a series of hilarious little sideways hops.

“Babybelle wants to play chase,” the redheaded witch says.

I translate for Dewdrop, who shrieks with so much excitement the sound goes past the upper range of human hearing.

Everyone laughs as Babybelle tears across the bookstore, weaving around the display tables and bookshelves, Dewdrop flying overhead. Finn yips and immediately gives chase, while Princess Buttercup holds out for a full thirty seconds, all cat confidence and playing it cool. Then she gives in and joins the others.

“Don’t knock anything over!” Hannah yells. Then she says in a normal voice: “Naomi has a date tonight with her husband, so she returned to Faerie early. I told her I’d watch the store during our meeting.”

While Hannah referees the animals, Skye and Autumn get the snacks ready, leaving me to greet the new arrivals.

“Yo, Witch Bitches!” Jasmine bursts through the door with so much energy you could bottle it and sell it as a Power-Up Potion. She wraps me in a hug, only letting go when Violeta enters the shop.

“My turn,” the shorter witch says, catching both of us in her arms so we make a three-sided hug.

More of the witches filter in, the ones I don’t know well enough to hug, which is a relief, and no lie. I’m already feeling a bit overstimulated.

“Come and get it!” Autumn yells, and I line up with the others to grab one of her signature cereal milk cocktails. I should probably try a cinnamon crunch or a crunch berry cocktail sometime, but the cocoa puffs white Russian screams my name.

“Mmm,” I hum, taking a sip of chocolaty goodness before snagging one of the matching cupcakes.

We squish onto the comfy velvet couches with Violeta and Jasmine on either side of me.

“I call this meeting of the Witch Bitch Spicy Book Club to order,” Hannah says.

“We all know what we’re talking about tonight.” Violeta grins at me. “And it sure isn’t a book!”

“But hopefully it’ll be spicy!” Skye says, blushing bright red.

“That’s right, girl. Spill,” Jasmine bumps me with her shoulder. “You have to tell useverything.”

“Well, first came the Datepocolypse.” I tell them all about the date from hell and follow it up with a blow-by-blow of the Weddingpocalypse until everyone’s laughing. “The dress”—I wheeze in between bursts of laughter—“the dress was the flippingworst! You should have seen it!” Then I pull out my phone and show them the selfie I took.

“Mierda, that’s bad.” Violeta shakes her head. “And I’m saying this as someone who’s seen some pretty questionable quinceañera dresses.”

“You look like a cupcake that got attacked by balloons.” Jasmine squints at the screen. “Or a cupcake that ate some balloons. Could go either way.”

“I know!” I cackle and knuckle tears from my eyes as the phone continues to make the rounds.