Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
Two men stood outside the shop when I arrived the next morning.
One was an unfamiliar shifter, who did not smell like a wolf.
The other was some sort of paranormal, not fae, not shifter.
I stopped at the entrance to the shop. “Excuse me.”
Neither moved. I stilled, keys in my hand. Both were handsome, but the kind of handsome that felt perfect and therefore made you suspicious. Soap opera perfect, even lines and angles, high cheekbones, perfectly crystal blue eyes. No hint of lethality, only a disturbing sense of psychopathy.
I didn’t want to get caught in a dark alley with either one of these guys.
The first one, brown hair with blue eyes, smiled. His teeth were white, perfect, teen vampire drama perfect. “Hello. Are you Evie?”
“Depends on who’s asking.”
“I’m asking.”
This guy made my skin crawl. “And you are?”
The smile widened. It didn’t reach his eyes. “Your new husband if things go well.”
I’d heard this term recently called “the ick.” It meant when a guy did something that seemed innocent on the surface but gave you a gross feeling. Things like a dude failing to take his socks off when he’s trying to seduce you or ordering for you at a restaurant on a first date.
Can you imagine a dude with his wang hanging out wearing nothing but striped athletic socks?
Or ordering you a rare prime rib when you’re a vegetarian?
Basically, things that made your vagina desiccate.
Consider my vagina desiccated.
The other guy snickered. I turned my gaze to him. “You hoping to be my husband, too?”
He swallowed. I’d obviously taken him by surprise. Not used to it, his brain locked up like anti-lock brakes on a new vehicle. “Um. Well. Err. Yes.”
“I bet written exams are hard for you.”
It took him a few seconds for the insult to hit, but when it did, his eyes narrowed, and his cheeks flushed scarlet.
The first dude laughed. “You’re clever. I like that.”
This fucking guy… “Yes, I constantly seek approval from strangers in the wild. Now, please move. I need to get into my shop.”
“And if I don’t?” He leaned against the door and smirked.
Some women like men who smirk. I found it smug and superior, and I always wanted to punch the smirker in the kidney. I resisted letting the Chimera out to play because even my beast wanted to punch this guy. “I won’t ask you again.”
He laughed and held his hands up in mock surrender. “Oh, no! Look at me trembling in my boots.”
I looked around. It was early. Only one other shop was open, and it was across the street, several stores over. No one lingered on the street, and there was very little traffic. Moira, Ash, and Tess weren’t in yet, and Caelan was still in my bed crashed out.
The other guy laughed.
I sighed. “Last chance. Move or I’ll move you.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Do your worst.”
There was a reason I kept plants outside my shop.
Joy Springs had a cute downtown area, but the only trees were behind all the buildings, and there were only small patches of grass.
We were, for all intents and purposes, surrounded by stone and concrete.
Not exactly helpful for a Floromancer in a situation like this.
Thus, the reason for the two innocuous but large plants I kept in massive, immovable planters right outside the shop’s entrance.
My magic responded any time I called it, but I couldn’t risk tearing up the stone or concrete to access the earth.
Doing so would raise far too many questions, and as bad as I’d been about staying under the radar, even I knew it was a bad idea.
While both morons gloated, I let a sliver of magic out, both plants responding eagerly, sending thorned tendrils out to gently wrap around each male. They wore winter clothes and wouldn’t sense any intrusion right away. Not until I gave the command.
That was another thing most people didn’t know.
Plants might not be able to talk, but they were sentient in many ways.
And they liked these guys just about as much as I did.
I shrugged. “You’ve been warned.”
With a flick of my hand, the vines tightened to grip each male in a close to unbreakable grasp. I smiled, letting a little of the crazy out, and watched as both realized they were trapped.
The first lurched toward me, teeth pulled back from his lips. “You bitch. Let go.”
I snorted. “And if I don’t?”
His eyes flashed with fury. And me, tired of the game, flicked my hand up and down and then away.
The plants responded accordingly and smashed both men into the pavement, once, twice, then flung them over the buildings and far out of my sight.
To my supreme satisfaction, they screamed like little bitches all the way down.
They were too far away for me to hear the impact. The shifter would have several broken bones and some internal injuries. Nothing time couldn’t handle. The other…
“Fuck it,” I whispered, not feeling an ounce of regret.
Once I was safe and behind locked doors, I texted Caelan and told him what happened.
My phone rang less than ten seconds later. His voice was rough with sleep.
“Where are they?”
I squinted and told him the general direction.
Caelan snorted. “I’ll send some wolves out to find them.” He paused.
“Are they dead?”
One could dream. “No idea.”
Another pause. “Good girl.” Satisfaction rang in his voice.
His approval and those words sent a shiver down my spine. Praise kinks were real. “What time is your meeting?”
“A few hours from now. I’m getting up and heading to the Keep. I’ll let you know if I hear anything about your antics.”
I winced. “Let’s hope the snow cooperated. How’s Garrett?”
Caelan grunted. “Fine, but I plan to punch his face in later.”
“Ah. Too soon?”
“Wait at least two weeks before asking me about my Second.”
“Done.”
We hung up, and I tried to put my unease about the men at my door to the back of my mind.
Moira came in half an hour later, relief filling her when she saw me. “I wasn’t sure you’d be in today.”
“Healing takes it out of me, depending on the injury, but I feel fine today.”
She studied me. “What’s wrong?”
I told her about the men at my door. Moira frowned. “Should we make an announcement on social media?”
I blanched. “And say what? Sorry, Evie is not in the market for a husband. We’d like to discourage men from showing up at her shop?”
A shudder racked my body at the thought. “That will do nothing but encourage weirdos. I want to lie low and find the person who started this to begin with.”
Moira set her bag down and started counting the drawer. “You don’t think the order came from the Lords?”
“It’s possible. Even likely, but until I know for sure, I don’t want to react too strongly.”
Moira laughed. “As in, you don’t want one of us to get Garrett almost killed again?”
I rubbed a hand over my face and sighed. “That was too close. But I still can’t figure out how Thorvin knew exactly where we were.”
Moira tugged off her jacket and cap and hung them on the rack. “Me too. It’s possible he picked up my scent around the house, but I usually move too fast for any to linger. Still doesn’t explain how he fired with such unnerving accuracy.”
“Caelan warned us about him. All the Lords actually. Which we already knew. But if the others can do what Thorvin can, we should refrain from trespassing on their property.”
But Moira didn’t look deterred. She shrugged. “This just means we need to be more careful next time. We can go in on foot and do surveillance before we move in.”
I eyed her. “You sound like a military dude planning a siege.”
Her eyes lit up. “Yeah? Cool.”
“Err. Not cool.” I poured her a cup of tea and a cup of coffee for me and carried it to the register area.
She cupped her mug and lifted it, bringing the tea up to her nose and inhaled. “Mmm.”
But I wasn’t finished. “Are you alright? You’ve been different for a while?”
Her easy smile fell away. “I’m fine.”
Which told me she was anything but fine. “You haven’t been the same since…”
My voice trailed off as I thought about it. “Since that night at the Keep.”
The night I’d turned into the natural form of my Chimera and sent magic flooding through Caelan’s lands.
But I wasn’t the only powerful being there flinging magic everywhere.
Rhona and Finn were there, my mother, a powerful goddess in her own right, and my father, Cernunnos, the Fae King. My look turned thoughtful.
“Something happened to you.”
At her silence, I knew I was on to something. “Moira. I’m your best friend. If you can’t trust me, who can you trust?”
“It’s nothing,” she said breezily.
“If nothing happened, you would tell me that. Saying ‘it’s nothing’ tells me it’s something.”
She sighed and put her mug down. “I got hit with a few stray…somethings. It’s not a big deal.”
The shop door opened, and Tess and Ash breezed in laughing. Moira slapped a smile on her face and gave me a warning look.
Okay then. I was the only one who suspected something was up.
“We’re not finished with this,” I said quietly before turning to greet the rest of my team.
Whatever was going on with Moira was not nothing, and I planned to get to the bottom of things sooner rather than later.