Isabelle turned and glanced around the living room. Now she had a home. She hadn’t had an actual residence since…ever. In childhood she’d never known what it was like to live in the same place for more than a year or two at a stretch.

In adulthood, Isabelle had always prided herself on being able to pack all her belongings into a suitcase. She lived in hotels and rented villas wherever she traveled. Having this condo meant she could no longer do that unless she sold it. Selling it, since it had been Angela’s, was out of the question.

So, in a way, she was no longer free.

At the thought, her throat closed up and her heart pounded. A memory swelled. Closing her eyes, she took a deep, hitching breath, relegating that old pain to the same place where her sister’s mangled body lay. The deep recesses. The small, dark places she never ventured. It was better that way. Far safer.

Isabelle stayed away from small, dark places.

Isabelle shook her head and swore under her breath. She did not need this self-indulgent shit right now! It was time to pack a bag, pay some bills, and get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow she was leaving for the Coven.

After stuffing the ice cream container back in the freezer, she pulled a duffle bag from the hall closet, laid it on the bed in the master bedroom and started packing.

When Thomas Monahan had offered her the chance to come to the Coven and aid in finding the demon, Isabelle’s heart had leapt into her throat with joy. She’d acted cool and a little reserved in accepting the offer, but there had been no chance in hell she would’ve turned him down. The Coven had far more resources than she had on her own.

She shoved some clothes into the duffle bag and then stood there, her mind suddenly awash in thoughts of Thomas Monahan. He was an interesting man, the head of the Coven. Unyielding and a control-freak. She could see that in every inch of his ultrafine, muscled body, even if she hadn’t known him by reputation.

And Thomas Monahan had quite the rep in the witch world. Protective to a fault, stubborn, quick to temper, and totally devoted to his responsibilities. From what she’d heard, the man didn’t have a life outside of his job. He’d devoted everything, every aspect of himself, to the Coven.