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priestess wasn ’ t
half as accommodating, however. “I specifically scheduled this conference call
for after dinner so that we’d all be rested and fed! It’s beyond rude that
you…”
    Morgan was no longer listening to her complaints. Brook was
on her way through the house. He’d sensed the shifting of her emotions from
frustrated and disgusted to calm determination during the past half hour. Calm
determination was worrying when he considered the source. What would a calmly
determined Brook do?
    When she appeared at the doorway looking as though hauling
and nailing plywood to his bedroom walls had been effortless, he decided it was
time to take the call firmly in hand.
    “Priestesses, please take this opportunity to formulate your
two most pressing issues. Send them to the digital list no earlier than
tomorrow at eight in the morning. We will hold another conference call at ten
Indiana time.”
    If he didn’t limit his priestesses to their most pressing
problems, they would hold him hostage on a conference call for weeks. By
forcing them to hold on to their issues until tomorrow morning, he asked them
to put several hours of thought into the items they chose. It wasn’t that he
wouldn’t eventually address all of their concerns, it was simply that some
would have to wait. He was only one man.
    Morgan uttered a polite parting greeting before the females
could argue. “Blessings of Neptune upon you.” And then he pressed his
speakerphone ’ s disconnect button.
Already his full attention was focused on the female who stood just inside the
office door.
    “You didn’t have to end the call on my account.”
    The delivery sounded stilted, as if she didn’t believe the
words she spoke. But his empathic link to her—a link she hadn’t disconnected in
the hours since the others had left—said she was still determined. Her icy eyes
had him locked beneath their unnerving gaze. He struggled not to fidget
uncomfortably. Morgan needed to recycle his discomfort and disquiet into a useful
emotion. He hadn’t the first idea what that emotion would be.
    “I didn’t end it on your account. We’d been going round in
circles.” Morgan set his hands atop each other. “What can I do for you, Ranger
Calder?”
    “We need to sign the Ranger-client agreement.” After a beat
she said, “Do you have a few minutes to go over it?”
    Morgan dumbly stared at her. Did he have a few minutes? For
her?
    He was torn on how to answer. While it was an epically bad
idea to ask her, of all witches, to protect him from this unknown threat, he
couldn’t deny she’d handled the recent incident better than he could have. And
that meant he owed her at least a few minutes of his time.
    “Yes, of course,” he said after little more than a second’s
pause. He joined her in the left portion of the office, gesturing toward his
small meeting table as he moved.
    The table was deliberately small. As evidenced by the
conference call he’d recently ended, it was rarely a good idea to have more
than two other Water witches involved in any important decision. They allowed
their feelings to cloud their judgment, especially if too many emotions flowed
in proximity.
    Brook’s crinkled expression as she neared the table
suggested she didn’t approve of his furniture choice. Nevertheless she pulled a
carefully folded piece of paper out of her pocket before she dropped into the
chair opposite him. She unfurled the sheet and then set it before him. Morgan
scanned the words even as she spoke them aloud in her husky voice.
    “This contract signifies that I, Ranger Brook Calder, will
do everything in my power—short of violating the basic tenants spoken in my
oath of fealty—to protect the client, Priest Morgan Seaton, from those who
would seek to harm him.”
    She didn’t have to explain the oaths she ’ d mentioned were those to be faithful
to her priest and the coven at large.
    “That I, Ranger Brook Calder, will work within the laws and
codes of