Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
Caelan left after his second cup of coffee, saying goodbye with a kiss so scorching, Moira screamed she was going to get the fire extinguisher to break us apart. When the door shut behind him, I let out a satisfied sigh.
Moira came up behind me and propped her head on my shoulder. “I’m glad you’re happy,” she said softly.
“I am.”
“Caelan seems to have gotten his shit together.”
I laughed. “He hasn’t asked me to marry him in months.”
“Oh noes,” Moira said lightly. “He must be cheating on you.”
I swatted at her face. “He knows it makes me nervous.”
“As it should. Proposals should happen once and only once. It loses its meaning if the guy keeps popping out from corners trying to rope you into matrimony.”
“He wasn’t quite a jack-in-the-box,” I said, feeling the need to defend him. Caelan had gotten grumbly and possessive, but he’d turned over a new leaf after I almost died.
Moira grunted and craned her neck to keep watching Caelan. “Damn, Evie. Give that ass a nice smack for me tonight.”
“It is a nice ass,” I said wistfully.
“Can you please stop talking?” Tess muttered. “You’re grossing me out.”
Moira grinned and walked over to Tess to ruffle her pale hair. “One day you, too, will ogle your boyfriend as he walks away.”
“I like the front better,” she said in a serious tone. “My neck would hurt from looking down all the time.”
“That’s just part of the fun, dear,” Moira said.
Ash finally raised his head from the bonsai and made his way over to us, stopping abruptly when we all shut up. He huffed a breath. “You’re either talking about me or sex.”
“Can’t we be talking about both?” Moira said and batted her eyes.
Ash snorted and made himself a cup of coffee. “I don’t like the look in your eyes. What are you planning?”
“Moi?” She lay a hand over her chest and let her eyes go wide. “Absolutely nothing.”
“Mm hmm.” He turned and leaned against the wall. “Do you need an alibi?”
Moira straightened. “Are you willing to give us one?”
“Us?” I asked, not having a clue what was going on.
“Depends on how bad it gets.” Ash grinned at Moira’s crestfallen look.
He leaned over and tugged on a lock of her dark hair.
“Of course I’ll give you an alibi, but I hope after all these years I wouldn’t have to.
If you can’t sneak in, screw shit up, and get out again without getting caught, are you even half the vampire you claim to be? ”
Moira sniffed. “I don’t claim to be anything other than what I am.”
“Where are we screwing shit up at?” I asked.
“First, we need to go track down some of those fliers or online chat rooms announcing you’re in the market for a husband. Then we need to find a witch.”
I snorted. “You can throw a stone out the front door and hit a witch.”
“A good one. Someone who can create a failproof locator spell.”
My eyebrows lifted. “You want to go after the Lords.” I mulled the thought over and decided I liked the idea.
“Quietly,” she corrected. “I want to inconvenience the hell out of them. Nothing harmful, especially since you and Caelan are on steadier ground. We can’t risk jeopardizing his position.”
I chewed on my lip. “I can’t use my magic. They’ll know.”
All the Lords recognized my magic and would peg me for the culprit the second they stepped outside. Plus, how many Floromancers angry at the Lords were currently walking around?
None.
“You won’t have to,” Moira said, eyes sparkling as she grinned. “I’ll meet you at your house tonight at nine. You don’t need to worry about anything other than bringing snacks.”
“Can I come?” Tess asked.
“Absolutely. Bring a thermos of coffee.”
“Done.” Tess floated away, and Moira and I pretended not to notice Ash watching her.
Right before closing time, a delivery man carrying a long white box showed up. On her way out, Moira held the door open.
“Evie Quinn?” he asked.
She pointed in my direction. “At the register.” One of her eyebrows went up. “You got it, Evie?”
I waved her away. “See you later.”
She grinned. “Can’t wait!”
He set the box on top of the desk and pushed a clipboard and pen over. “Please sign.”
I frowned at the label on the box. “Someone is delivering flowers to a flower shop?”
The address was from the next town over, a small outfit run by a human. They did good work, but I hadn’t a clue why they’d be delivering something to my place.
“I just drop the boxes,” the man said, his expression flickering with annoyance. “Sign so I can get out of here.”
I blinked. “Busy day, I take it?”
His lips thinned.
“Fine,” I grabbed the pen and scrawled my name. “You win more flowers with honey, not vinegar.”
“Good thing I don’t give a shit about flowers,” he said as he snatched the clipboard.
Ash barked a laugh.
The delivery guy gave him a little salute and sailed out the door.
I didn’t say anything for a moment as I tried to wrap my head around the guy’s behavior. “Yeesh,” I muttered. “That guy was sour.”
“Everyone’s a little sour these days,” Ash said, clipping off a tiny piece of a maple bonsai he was working on.
“True.”
“What’d you get?”
“Something from a flower shop.”
Ash’s brow furrowed. He set his scissors down and came to stand beside me. “Now I’m curious.”
“Me too.” I reached for the box opener and cut the tape.
“Did you make them mad?”
I laughed. “Not that I’m aware of.”
“Good.” Ash touched the box. “I don’t sense anything other than…flowers.” He shook his head. “What in the world?”
“Exactly. What can they send me that I don’t already have?”
The arrangement was wrapped in pretty white and gold tissue paper. A card in a heavy vellum envelope lay on top. I opened it and read the message.
“It might be cheesy to send flowers to a florist, but a little birdie told me it would be a great idea!”
“Noooo,” Ash said, voice laced with horror. He put a hand over his chest and closed his eyes.
The note was signed Your Secret Admirer.
“If those are carnations, we’re taking everything outside, including the box, and burning it.” He shuddered. “Then we’re going to sage the shop.”
I snorted. “Anyone who knows me wouldn’t dare send me carnations.”
“A peasant flower.”
“Ash!” I snickered. “Carnations get a bad rap, but they’re a versatile flower and perfect for spring arrangements.”
“This announcement brought to you by Big Carnation.”
Shaking my head at his antics, I unwrapped the tissue paper.
To our mutual horror, a large bouquet of wilted roses and dyed carnations lay before us.
Ash’s chest rumbled with laughter. “You should put this online and shame the poor bastard who thought this was a good idea.”
I sighed and took the poor arrangement from the box. “It’s not the flower’s fault.”
Holding them up to the light, I frowned. “These guys are in rough shape. I’ll put them in some water and let them live out their natural life cycle.”
“In the back, I hope?”
I laughed. “In the back. I might be a Floromancer, but I do have taste.”
Once the arrangement was heavily watered and resting in a vase, I grabbed the rest of my stuff and headed out.
“Don’t stay too late,” I called to Ash as I was about to walk out. “There’s more to life than work.”
He waved me away, not even looking up from his bonsai.
Sympathy rolled through me. Tess had broken something within him.
While I didn’t think the two were ever end game, this might have been his first real heartbreak.
Though I didn’t fault Tess for not being as broken up as he was about the situation.
Ash couldn’t accept her as she was, and she had every right to move on as she saw fit.
I just hoped he’d stop beating himself up over how he’d handled things and move on, too.
A strange car sat in my driveway. Rowan’s guard, a young shifter, was long gone, pulled back by the Lord after my disappearance and never restored to duty. He was a good kid, but I liked keeping my private life private. In times like this, though, I missed having my own personal alarm.
The car was sleek and silver, the windows tinted too dark to see inside. While my senses were better than average, in human form I was somewhat limited. I could smell nothing but gravel from the driveway and the coolant dripping from the bottom of the vehicle.
Carefully pulling my magic taut in anticipation of a strike, I slid out of my vehicle and leaned against the driver’s side door, waiting for the stranger to show themselves.
I didn’t have to wait long. The top of a dark head revealed itself moments later, coalescing into a handsome but dangerous stranger.
A shifter of some kind, based upon the golden tinge ringing his eyes, but no Lord I’d seen before. Caelan would have told me if they’d replaced Donovan. But since we’d found out he was still alive, would they have done that already?
I crossed my arms over my chest and stayed silent.
A slight tug of the man’s lips as he came around the car from the passenger’s side.
Having a driver pegged him as either important or wealthy, the two not always related. I withheld judgment.
“Miss Quinn?” He wore a suit, light gray with a white button down underneath it, no tie.
Dark belt, dark shoes, and, thankfully, socks, which meant I could take him at least partway seriously.
There wasn’t a man on earth I’d take seriously if he wore pants without socks. Fifty-fifty on the no-show socks.
Then again, it was winter, and the suit was too close to white. Maybe I’d judge him a little until I figured out why he was here.
“Depends on who’s asking,” I answered.
A flash of teeth, the amusement there and gone. “My name is Dario Sanchez. I’m here to introduce myself to you.”
“Why?”
“Right to the point. Refreshing.” He leaned against his vehicle, an action that took me by surprise. He didn’t care if he got his fancy, pressed suit dirty. “I’m in the running for Donovan’s former position, though my intel has given way to an…odd rumor.”
“Oh?” Another new Lord. Goody.
He tilted his head and studied me. Dario was, like most shifters, very pretty.
Olive skin, green-dominant hazel eyes, full lips, high cheekbones.
Tall and with a swimmer’s build, and a mop of unruly dark hair, Dario looked like he walked off the set of one of those circa 2000s teen dramas.
Too pretty for my taste. I liked my men a little less polished and a lot more dangerous.
“You’re a Floromancer, yes?”
“You’re a stranger on my property, Mr. Sanchez—”
“Dario, please.”
“Dario, you’re a stranger to me. I’m not in the habit of telling strangers anything. And don’t you know it’s rude to ask someone about their magical heritage?”
He snorted. “They told me you could be prickly.”
Anger sparked in my veins. “Insult me at your peril, Dario.”
Brighter gold flashed around the ring of his iris. “Feisty,” he murmured. “I see now why you’ve won the heart of a Lord.”
“You’ve got about five seconds before I throw you and your fancy car off my land,” I said in a low growl.
He laughed, the sound low and husky. “Forgive me, Miss Quinn.”
I did not tell him he could call me Evie, so at least he wasn’t reaching too far for informality.
“I’m here because you appear to have claimed Donovan’s territory.”
“And if I have?”
“I’m here to see what it will take for you to give it back.”
I blinked. “Um. You aren’t a Lord yet. Why are we discussing this?”
“My appointment is merely a formality. I hope you understand how stepping into a Lord’s position without full dominion of his assigned territory could be detrimental to their rule.”
“The Lord’s problems have nothing to do with me. I claimed his land because I’m more powerful and the land responded to me.”
His eyebrows flicked up with surprise. “Interesting.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Donovan’s lack of strength aside, do you believe you are more powerful than the other Lords?”
I sighed. “I have no idea, nor do I care. I’ve asked the Lords multiple times to leave me alone, and they continually fail.”
His eyes sparked with amusement. “And if they did succeed in leaving you alone?”
“I’d throw a big ass party.” Adjusting my purse over my shoulder, I pushed off the car. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to start dinner.”
“Is Caelan coming over?”
“If you ask me another question like that,” I warned, “I’ll show you exactly how powerful I am.”
Dario’s laugh followed me all the way inside.
A shiver of trepidation crawled up my spine. Even as I watched his car pulling out of my driveway, I had a feeling the potential Lord was not finished with me.
Great. One new thing to worry about.