Cat sighed and the flame wobbled. “No trick.”
Magic. Real magic. Colin stared at the orange tongue of flame. “Is that why you’re here with that…man? He’s teaching you magic?”
“No!” The flame jerked sidewise, then steadied. “He doesn’t want me to learn. I’m trying to teach myself because I’m here.”
“But…” Colin swallowed nervously. “Do you want to be here?”
The flame juddered again, almost disappearing. “Let’s find your puppy,” Cat said brusquely. His arm was tense under Colin’s hand.
“Is that why you’re helping me?” Colin asked. “To get back at him somehow?”
“I’m helping you because I once had a best friend who was a dog,” Cat snapped. “It’s nothing to do with you.”
That stung a little. Colin might not have planned those kisses, but they had felt real. But Cat didn’t owe him anythin
