Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
Mom’s booze proved popular with the locals. Hours later, Moira and I had claimed a table toward the back of one of the downtown pubs, our glasses filled with her newest brew, some type of delicious berry ale.
I was half-drunk already, idly munching on a handful of spiced nuts. Moira was a little drunker and flirting outrageously with every shifter in the bar.
“Hey!” she called to a devastatingly handsome one who’d been eyeing her all night. “Come over here and sit on my lap, and I’ll tell you a story!”
I snickered.
The shifter’s eyebrows lifted. An amused grin tugged his lips up. He set his pool cue down and sauntered over.
“Oooh,” I said under my breath. “He’s a beaut.”
“Eight out of ten,” Moira whispered. “I reserve the right to adjust the scale up or down based on what’s behind that zipper.”
I choked on my ale or mead, or whatever the fuck Mom had cooked up this time.
“Shit,” she breathed as the male came closer. “He’s fucking huge.”
I gaped. “Huge-mongous.”
Moira barked a laugh. “It would be a crime if I had to adjust the scale down.”
“The gods would never be that cruel.”
“Shit,” Moira said. “They’d definitely be that cruel, but the gods didn’t make the shifters, so maybe I’ll pray to their gods instead.”
I slid a glance toward her. “Do the shifters have gods?”
Her lips curved in a smile as the enormous male stopped at our table. “That’s what this handsome fella will be screaming for in a few hours, so I’ll let you know.”
I burst out laughing and clinked my beer glass against hers. With a wry look at the shifter, undoubtedly one of Rowan’s from the warm tug in my chest, I patted him on the arm.
“Good luck.”
The shifter grinned. “Hope you wished your friend the same,” he said good-naturedly.
“Moira?” I laughed. “She’s not the one who needs it.”
Just as I was walking away, I saw Moira patting her slender thigh.
“Come sit on Mama’s lap,” my best friend cooed, dark eyes sparkling from drink and mischief.
The shifter’s eyes widened with alarm. I gave him a cheery grin and walked away.
Someone shouted my name as I navigated through the thick crowd. I turned to see a mop of red hair and a friendly face.
“Evie!” Hope called again. “Come sit with us!”
I swayed her way, trying unsuccessfully to keep from spilling my ale and failing. Hope snapped her fingers at someone, and by the time I made it to the table, someone had taken my glass and pressed another full one into my hand. Hope shooed some people over to make room for me to sit.
At first, I was happy to be taken in, but the memory of earlier today crept in. Some of Rowan’s people—my people now—were frightened of my power. The same thing happened with Caelan’s people, leading to our eventual sundering.
Rowan was my mate. We couldn’t be separated. But how could I live in a place where I knew his people wondered if I could control my power?
Hope leaned in. “Evie?”
I blinked. “Oh. Sorry. Hi!”
Rowan’s Omega touched my arm. Her soothing magic flowed into me, washing away my doubts. She smiled and leaned her forehead against mine. “Rowan called me earlier.”
At my look of alarm, she shook her head. “He didn’t tell me what happened, only that I should keep an eye out for you if I saw you.”
The other shifters were ignoring us, well into their cups by now. Hope had kept her voice low enough for only me to hear. “I know how difficult it is to be different in a place where everyone is the same.”
“None of you are the same.”
“We are all shifters. Not all wolves, not all bears, but shifters just the same. Different animals, same biological urges, for the most part.” She winked. “Unless you are a Lord mated to a fae queen.”
I blushed.
“But you, Evie, are different from everyone. You are not a shifter by definition of the word, nor are you a true fae as we know them to be. Your power is unknown, stranger than anything we’d ever seen before.
Some of us will be fearful.” She cupped my chin.
“But that is why you have to show them your heart. Show us who you are. Shifters have too much love not to want to share it. We already love you because we love Rowan. We love you because you have given us the gift of children. But we want to love you because we know your heart. Show it to us, Evie, and your life will never be the same.”
My lower lip trembled. “Rowan is my heart.”
A soft smile but Hope shook her head. “No. Rowan is in your heart. Show us what your heart is made of.” She pressed a kiss to my cheek and clinked our glasses together.
“Also, we love your mother. We would like her to move into the Keep. Tell her we will build her a brewery to rival the gods as long as she keeps producing whatever this deliciousness is.” She raised her glass. “To Cliona!”
The shifters around the table roared. “TO CLIONA!”
I lifted my glass and cheered with them.