Chapter 13
THORNE
Nothing works up an appetite for aggressively seasoned meat and deep-fried carbs quite like getting pinned against a door and letting your estranged husband thoroughly devour you.
Okay, perhaps not thoroughly. There were parts of me still quivering with need and the kiss had shaken me. But not in a my-knees-are-shaking-because-of-a-mind-blowing-orgasm way.
My hunger stemmed from biology. At least, that was the lie I kept telling myself as we reached Hex Mex.
After all that adrenaline, feral growling, and rather expressive tongue-wrestling, my blood sugar had completely bottomed out.
Or maybe I was using tacos to fill a different need—one currently not being met.
But hey, I didn’t need to psychoanalyze myself right now.
Right now, I just needed food.
And if it didn’t happen in the next five minutes, I was going to start chewing on the next meaty thing I saw. Thankfully Calder walked behind me, so he was currently safe from my appetite—the nutritional kind and otherwise.
I reached for the pane glass doors and practically tore them open in my search for something to stuff in my mouth. The second we entered, the scent of deliciousness slapped me in the face and made my stomach growl.
To the Eternity Falls residents, Hex Mex wasn’t just a restaurant.
It was where we came to guiltlessly stuff our gullets with more refried beans, melted cheese, and magically infused tequila than the owner could sometimes provide.
It wasn’t easy running a food establishment in a town heavily occupied by countless shifters.
Our metabolisms—along with other biological processes—ran hot.
The only species that could out-eat us was, interestingly, pixies.
I’d learned from a young age not to let their four-inch statures and sparkly wings fool me.
A single pixie could house three platters of nachos and a pitcher of margaritas before you could even blink.
They were fueled entirely by spite and malicious mischievousness.
Everything they did defied the laws of physics.
Valentina, a succubus who looked like she belonged in a Paris fashion show, manned the hostess stand. She pushed her silky, long black hair behind her shoulder the second she looked up from the seating table and smiled at us.
“For two?” she purred, snagging a pair of nearby levitating menus.
“Yes, and if you put us near the kitchen where I can smell the fryers, I will name my firstborn child after you.”
Valentina offered a dazzling, perfectly glossed smile, and turned on her sleek heel to lead the way.
Calder and I followed her through the arched stucco doorway that separated the small lobby from the main dining area.
Above us, enchanted string lights shaped like fat jalapenos bobbled near the ceiling, currently glowing a cheerful, vibrant orange.
In the corner, a mariachi band consisting of three animated skeletons strummed an upbeat, acoustic rendition of a nineties hip-hop song.
I hadn’t bothered checking the music theme tonight, but they switched every week.
And seeing as how Eternity Falls residents tended to live, well, forever, the themes cataloged all the different eras of music.
My favorite so far had been the Y2K boy band era.
Watching three literal bags of bones try to execute the Bye Bye Bye choreography without dislocating their pelvises had been the absolute highlight of my year.
I followed Valentina into the main dining area, and it didn’t take long before the atmosphere erupted.
“Thorne!”
It started in a booth near the front and rippled backward like a wave.
My gaze snapped from person to person as they shouted my name and raised their glasses in a warm welcome.
Classic taco night at the Hex Mex. The entire town would show up at some point tonight, ready to strap a feedbag on.
It was the ultimate everyone knows your name vibe, and I loved it.
Until Calder stepped through the archway behind me.
Instantly, the vibe changed—the floating jalapeno lights collectively flickered before settling in a somber gray; the cheers died a swift, unnatural death; the skeletal trumpet player missed a beat, resulting in a horrific, off-key screech of brass.
And then, the groans started.
It wasn’t a vicious, grab-your-pitch-fork kind of reaction. Eternity Falls didn’t really operate like that. But it was a synchronized, highly vocal display of supernatural displeasure.
“Booooo,” a werelion hollered around a mouthful of guacamole.
A banshee threw a handful of rice in our direction, the tiny projectiles falling short by a few feet.
Next came a crumpled-up napkin that sailed through the air.
Then, someone near the bar escalated things.
A half-eaten taquito flew across the room, bouncing harmlessly off Calder’s broad chest. A lime wedge followed—though their aim was off, considering they hit me in the shoulder. Or so I chose to presume.
Yeah, that was enough of that.
I planted my boots firmly onto the floorboards, halting my march toward the holy grail of melted cheese, and slowly pivoted around. I swept a withering glare across the dining room, letting just enough gold bleed into my eyes to remind them I wasn’t just the friendly local bartender.
I pointed a sharp fingernail directly at the high-top table by the bar. “Barnaby, you might be a two-hundred-year-old vampire, but I know your mother. She plays canasta with mine every Thursday. Do you really want me to tell her you’re out here wasting perfectly good taquitos?”
The vampire in question visibly and slowly lowered his arm, ducking behind his menu.
“In fact,” I continued, raising my voice to carry over the mariachi skeletons. “I know almost all your mothers. And if I have to call them and speak to them about your atrocious manners, absolutely no one in this room will be happy.”
A heavy, terrified silence fell over the restaurant. Supernatural creatures didn’t fear much, but maternal disappointment was a universal terror that transcended species.
“Furthermore,” I added, because my blood sugar was crashing fast and my patience had officially expired, “if anyone else throws a single grain of rice at my table, I will personally ban you from Love Bites for the rest of the calendar year. Am I understood?”
A collective, apologetic murmur swept through the room. The banshee ducked her head, suddenly very interested in her rice and beans, while the werelion offered a sheepish, placating wave.
Calder didn’t say so much as a single word in his defense.
He just stood there with his hands casually tucked into the pockets of his leather jacket, silently taking in the animosity and my tirade like any other Tuesday.
Though, if I wasn’t mistaken, the faintest glimmer of a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.
I narrowed my eyes at him, silently promising violence if he actually smiled, before turning back around.
Valentina had sensibly waited out the impending bloodbath with a polite, glossy smile.
Satisfied that I’d quelled the mob, I marched after her toward the cracked-red vinyl booth she was pointing to.
I didn’t make it to the seat.
Before I could slide into the booth, the air behind me displaced. Something massive moved with the kind of speed that defied physics. Two giant, tree-trunk arms wrapped around my waist from behind, lifting me completely off the floor.
“Finally decided to stop hiding from us, hey?” a deep voice rumbled right next to my ear.
I let out an undignified squawk as Ricky spun me in a half-circle.
“Put me down, you oversized yeti!” I smacked his forearm, which felt exactly like slapping a steel girder.
Ricky chuckled, the sound vibrating through his massive chest, and set me back on my feet. He ruffled my hair, purposely wrecking my curls with a grin that was all teeth. “You’re getting slow, Thornicle. You should have smelled us the second you stepped foot inside this building.”
My gaze shot to my other two brothers. They sat in the booth closest to me.
Cassian leaned back, his arm slung over the back of the cushions, while lazily twirling a toothpick between his teeth.
His dark eyes glittered with a distinctly lethal intent.
Felix lounged opposite him and swiped a jalapeno popper from a floating appetizer tray that was trying to make its way to another table.
Between them sat a pitcher of water and four empty plates, as though they’d known to expect me.
Greaaaaat. The unholy trinity.
“Don’t blame me,” I sniped. “Your stench covers the entire town. Showered lately?”
I stared at my twin and noted how his eyes didn’t once stray from me. As though he was purposely avoiding looking at Calder—which he probably was. Much like Calder, he seemed to think he too had say in my life. I was always quick to disabuse him of that notion. Violently, if needed.
“What’re you three even doing here?” I demanded.
“Taco night. Duh,” Felix said around a mouth stuffed full of pilfered food.
I reached over and slapped it out of his hand. “God, can you be civilized for once?”
“Nope,” he mumbled back.
“We’re here for tacos, just like you,” Ricky said, though his voice was too smooth.
Why did I have a feeling these fuzzy menaces had followed me to Calder’s inn, then stalked us here?
They certainly didn’t seem surprised to see me here with Calder, based on the way they were passive-aggressively not looking at him.
Mm-hmm, they were icing him out. Treating him like he was entirely invisible, which was laughable, considering how clearly they wanted to rip him to pieces.
The sheer volume of weaponized testosterone radiating off the four of them was enough to make my eyes water.
Calder didn’t say a word. He just stood there, a dark, immovable object meeting an unstoppable force, accepting the brunt of their silent hatred.
“Okay, enough.” I rolled my eyes, stepping between my idiotic, posturing brothers and my frustratingly stoic husband.
Ricky’s jaw ticked, clearly itching to rip me away from Calder.
“Listen to me,” I said, keeping my voice low but lacing it with enough alpha command to make them pay attention.
“I know you’re pissed. You have every right to be pissed.
You don’t have to like him. You certainly don’t have to forgive him.
In fact, if you want to hold a grudge until the sun burns out, be my guest.”
I pointed a finger at Ricky’s chest, then swung it toward Cassian and Felix.
“But here is how tonight is going to go. We are going to sit down. We are going to order an obscene amount of food. And there will be absolutely zero murder, maiming, or bloodshed before I have eaten my weight in tacos. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”
Silence stretched between us, thick and heavy.
Cassian shifted his weight, his dark eyes finally sliding past me to lock onto Calder. He didn’t reach for the blade I knew he kept strapped to his thigh, but his hand hovered dangerously close.
“But afterward, yeah?” Cassian asked, his voice deadly quiet.
“You can try all you want,” Calder said coldly, “after she eats.”
I whirled around and glared at him. “That’s not helpful.”
He shrugged unapologetically.
“Sit,” I ordered, pointing to the cracked-red vinyl booth Valentina had abandoned us at.
I took a step forward, fully intending to slide onto the bench next to Felix, leaving enough room for Calder to sit next to me. If I sat beside him, I could act as a physical barrier between my estranged mate and my homicidal family. It was the only tactical choice that made sense.
Cassian had other plans.
Before my knees even bent, my twin hooked an arm around my waist, hoisted me into the air like I weighed no more than a bag of flour, and unceremoniously deposited me onto the opposite bench right next to him.
“Hey—!” I started, scrambling to slide back out.
I didn’t make it two inches. Ricky immediately squeezed into the booth beside me, his massive, tree-trunk thighs boxing me in completely.
“I’m going to start biting noses off,” I threatened, glaring at my brothers.
Neither of them cared. They were too busy staring down Calder.
Calder didn’t miss a beat. His expression didn’t so much as twitch as he smoothly slid into the opposite side of the booth. Which meant he was now sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Felix.
Felix, to his credit, didn’t immediately try to stab him. He just shifted as far into the corner of the vinyl booth as physics allowed before reaching into the next booth and pilfering another taquito before anyone noticed.
“Felix!” I hissed.
He dropped onto the bench and winked at me. “I’m hungry.”
Thankfully, a moment later, our waitress—a young, trembling dryad—appeared.
She dropped a massive basket of tortilla chips, three bowls of salsa, and three beers onto the center of the table.
Then she squeaked out a, “I’llgiveyouafewminutestodecide,” and practically sprinted away to avoid the crossfire.
I grabbed a chip, aggressively dunked it into the spiciest salsa, and crunched down. The burn was immediate and glorious. It grounded me just enough to remember why we were actually here.
“Alright,” I said, talking around the chip. “Since you three insisted on crashing my dinner, you’re going to make yourselves useful.”
Cassian didn’t take his eyes off Calder. “We’re always useful. Right now, we’re providing security. Keeping the vermin away.”
“You’re providing a migraine,” I grumbled. “But fine. You want to be involved in my life so badly? Welcome to the fold.” I took another chip, briefly closing my eyes as I reveled in the salty goodness.
Only when I swallowed it did I open my eyes and pin the three of them with what I called my ferocious stare. The one I’d learned from my mother half a century ago. The one that always put my brothers in their damn places when they needed it.
“Calder is here to do a job. A very important job—and before you ask, no, you don’t need the full details.
Not yet. All you need to know is”—I swiped another chip and hummed my pleasure around the delicious salsa—“we’re robbing the Ravenspell estate tomorrow night. And you three bozos are going to help.”