Chapter 33 Olivia
THIRTY-THREE
Olivia
The excitement was palpable in the safe house when we returned, the rest of the pack having heard the good news by phone that we’d found the goblins, finally.
“Man, if I’d known that taking a day off would get the job done so quickly, I’d have done it last week.” Elodie stepped up, hugging me around the waist and spinning me around like a top until I begged for mercy.
“Fine, fine. Did you four have fun out there?” The question was innocent enough, but her primly arched eyebrow told me she wanted to know if their meddling between me and Lucien had been successful.
“We had some good conversations.”
It was true. I wouldn’t say that I was certain we were solid, but we were inching closer, hurdle by hurdle.
After what Lucien had shared with me, I suddenly no longer minded the slower pace. It was a miracle that he was even willing to try after what he’d been through.
My life growing up was no ice cream sundae, but at least I knew my father loved me unconditionally. My mother? Not so much. But there was no point thinking about her now; she’d abandoned me as an infant and never looked back.
“Excellent.” The grin she shot me was wicked.
“Well, I’m going to go finish my trashy TV until it’s time to get going.
I found a show where a whole bunch of different guys all vie for the one girl’s attention.
We’ve made it to the top four, and personally, I’m team why choose.
It’s just now starting to heat up, and who knows when we’ll have a free afternoon again.
Feel free to join us.” One last wink, and she disappeared up the stairs.
“A shower and a little veg time sounds pretty damn good right now,” Fiona said with a tired groan, kicking off her hiking boots and making her own way to the stairs. “You coming?” she asked.
I turned to face Lucien. “We’ll talk again soon?”
The tender kiss he pressed to my lips was a promise, and I carried it upstairs with me like the treasure it was.
After no small amount of disagreement—mostly between Bri and Kane—it was decided that the entire pack would go to meet the goblins and, hopefully, their leader.
True to their word, Tork and Wheelie were waiting exactly where they said they’d be when we arrived five minutes early to meet them. There was an older, sterner-looking female goblin with them who seemed significantly less excited to see us walk up the small path.
Lucien and I led the way, since we were somewhat familiar faces. We shook all three of their hands and quickly introduced them to the pack.
“And that’s Galyna, Gael’s sister.”
“I am Batten. You have brought two warriors with you, and many alpha males, for a social expedition? Seems suss.”
I blinked at the modern slang, surprised to hear it from an obviously mature goblin. “We were all traveling together, and it seemed rude to exclude anyone in our party.”
“I see.” She looked down her nose at us, an impressive feat given the difference in our relative heights. “Well, come along. The feast has been prepared, and our clan is waiting to greet you.”
She strode off into the woods with impressive speed, but Tork and Wheelie dropped back to our sides.
“We are very sorry about Batten. She is our lead scavenger, and she did not believe that we saved the clan from you two trying to populate our forest with small wolves. She is, as the humans say, suss-being,” Wheelie whispered by way of explanation.
After that, we walked and chatted, but unease grew in my stomach with every step.
Had I made a mistake by coming up with a nonthreatening cover story?
They were such small beings, and I knew they were often treated poorly by other supernatural species.
I just wanted to put them at ease, not make them suspicious.
My healer instincts rarely failed me, but this felt like a pretty large screwup based on the frequency with which Batten kept turning to glare at us. Suss-being, indeed.
The goblin city—Wrenchet, Tork told me it was called as we reached the perimeter—was far less grand than Nisí Mythou, but it had the quaint sort of charm you might find in a small Midwestern town, only shorter.
Goblins of many hair colors bustled about, all yelling and cartwheeling and carrying in things willy-nilly, or at least it seemed so to me.
But there was a general funneling happening toward the far end of the pint-sized city, and that was where Batten led us. Our pack spread out, each of us talking to any goblin brave enough to strike up a conversation.
We were midway through Wrenchet when a tiny goblin no higher than my knee in a fluffy purple dress darted into the stream of goblins, chasing a runaway ball.
A larger goblin carrying a heavy tray of some round, baked sweets saw her coming, but couldn’t stop his momentum in time to keep from bowling her over.
He tried to dodge, but still she went flying, half his tray of pastries toppling heavily to the ground as well.
It didn’t bode well for their taste that they sounded like rubber bullets as they landed.
“Button! Button!” A mother goblin raced after the tiny sprite, weaving more carefully through the foot traffic.
Little Button’s tears were already welling in her big, lavender eyes as I left our party to kneel in front of her. “Hey, Button, is it?”
The little girl nodded, bottom lip trembling with a pitiful warning. Tears were imminent unless I pulled out some magic.
I spied a weed growing a little to our left, a sturdy thing despite the goblins trampling the area quite thoroughly. It was white and scrawny, but it was the only idea I had.
“Do you want to see a trick? It’s really cool. I think you’d like it.” I tried to sound aloof, not like I cared too much.
It worked; she was intrigued. Cautiously, she nodded.
“Watch this plant very closely now.” I winked at her, then pressed my fingers into the earth around its base, closing my eyes to concentrate on the green tendrils of plant life I could faintly feel.
There. It only took a moment. I found the little weed and sent it warm thoughts of growth, of blooming. I fueled it with my own energy, visualizing a trickle of power from my fingertips directly into the roots.
A delighted gasp made me pull back and open my eyes.
“You grewed it so fast!” Her voice was little and squeaky and positively precious. She clapped her hands excitedly, scooching up onto her knees to coo at the flower as she looked closer.
Flowers, I should say. The plant had grown to half her height and was positively bursting with new blooms. To my surprise, they were in a rainbow of colors, not just white.
The little goblin’s mother finally made her way through the crowd, scooped her up, and gave her what sounded like a solid scolding in Goble.
When she turned my way, she bowed as if I were some kind of royalty. “Thank you for seeing to my Button. She is a very busy little girl. Always getting her pretty dresses dirty.”
The edge of scorn in her voice saddened me. I’d been a little girl once who was always getting dirty in my garden. I couldn’t imagine how different things would have been for me if my father had berated me for following my interests.
Focusing on Button, I leaned forward, whispering, “Me too, Button. Don’t feel bad. Sometimes you have to get a little dirty to have a grand adventure. But stay with your mama, okay?”
Button giggled, all traces of tears gone as her mother carted her off, clutching a lavender bloom in her little green fist and thankfully no longer being scolded.
A strong, masculine hand appeared to help me up, and I took it, glancing up gratefully at Lucien as I dusted off my own knees. My pants were smudged, but they were dark, so hopefully no one would notice.
“You’re very kind, you know that?”
“I try to be. I think the world could use a lot more kindness than it has right now.” I shrugged, feeling the urge to blush even though it was a very safe compliment.
“Yeah, but other people talk about being kind. You’re the real deal.” He paused, stopping us both amid the stream of goblins. “It’s a gift.” He stroked his thumb over my cheek, looked like he was about to say something more, when I was bumped from behind and nearly knocked off my feet.
Harried squeaks in Goble were all I got by way of apology, making Lucien growl lightly as the offending goblin rushed out of reach.
“Come on, I’ve got to get you out of here, or they’re going to carry you away like ants with a lollipop.”
He wrapped his arm around me, letting out just enough of his alpha dominance that he thought I wouldn’t notice.
But I definitely noticed the wide berth we received from our hosts for the rest of the walk, and the far-too-pleased smirk Lucien wore.
It was way sexier than it should have been.