Chapter 10
MAGIC IS REAL AND OTHER SURPRISES
PARKER
There were things in life I hoped I’d never experience, and, although I’d never been a Boy Scout, I’d decided years ago that I would be prepared for them. Just in case. I don’t know if I’d always been like this or if it was leftover programming from those summers with Nana.
So, if I ever was stuck in a broken elevator where I was plummeting to the ground? No worries, I had a plan. Coming face to face with a shark? No problem, I had a plan. Swarmed by a group of ninjas determined to assassinate me? Again, I’d be okay because I had a plan.
I will admit that my plans weren’t always practical or feasible. But… meh. Whatever. The important thing was that I had a damn plan.
Lately, my imaginary emergency planning focused on practical problems.
Like, what if the restaurant caught on fire and my stairwell collapsed before I could escape?
How would I get out of my apartment? How long would it take to tie my bedding into a rope?
Should I buy a pre-made rope ladder now, so I didn’t have to waste that time?
Or would one of those chute things be better?
How would I save Sushi and the rest of the fishy gang?
Could I get them into a plastic bag in time?
How would I climb down a rope with my bag of fish?
Who else had a fish tank in town where I could board them until I got another?
What else should I grab on the way out the door?
Once I started thinking about things like that, the questions nagged me until I had some kind of answer for each one.
It helped me feel prepared, even though I worried I’d be too frozen in shock to do anything at all if something really did happen.
But at least I’d thought about the scenarios, right? That had to be a little useful.
But, of all the situations I’d ever imagined, discovering Willow Lake had talking cats that sounded a lot like two of the Rivers brothers was not something I’d ever considered.
How short sighted of me.
“Uh… Levi?” I shuffled closer to him. He still hadn’t moved.
His shoulders lifted and fell rapidly. The only sounds to break the quiet were his panting breaths.
I set my hand on his back, which was damp with sweat.
A strangled noise twisted out of him. And he started panting faster, like he couldn’t catch his breath.
“It’s okay. Come over here and sit down.” I steered him into his desk chair. “Now lean down until your head is between your knees.”
Levi was a big man. And apparently, he wasn’t very bendy. He hunched over, but his head was nowhere near his knees.
“Okay. I’m going to find a bag. It’s going to be okay.” I patted him on the back. “It’ll all be okay.”
I opened a few cabinets in his office looking for something to use, but I didn’t find anything. Maybe the receptionist would know where I could find something. I poked my head out the door. She didn’t even put down her phone as she continued to chatter away.
“Hey, uh, Jasmine?”
She held up a finger to shush me.
“Jasmine,” I said with more urgency.
She frowned at me, her gaze darting to the mirror, probably wondering where Levi was. God. He’d hate it if anyone saw him like this. I pulled the door closed to block her view.
“Hold on a sec,” she said to whoever she was talking to. She pulled her phone away from her ear a fraction. She skewered me with an impatient frown. “What?”
“Is there a bag around here somewhere?”
“A bag?”
“Yeah. Like a paper lunch bag or something?”
“Nope.” She pressed her phone to her ear again.
I returned to the office. Levi’s eyes were so wide I saw white all the way around his irises. He also moaned in a distressing way that reminded me of the sound cattle made. I made sure the door was shut and locked before I went over and kneeled in front of him.
“It’s okay. You’re doing fine.” There had to be another way to deal with this. I read something on the internet one night… What was it again? Oh, right. I remembered now. “Okay. Now pucker up your lips…”
His eyes went wider. I hadn’t thought that was possible. His hands gripped the arms on his chair.
“I’m not kissing you.” Even if I had dreamed of doing exactly that more times than I could count. “It’s to help you breathe. Pucker up. That’s it. Make your lips into a tight circle like you’re going to blow out a candle. And breathe slowly through that little hole.”
And why was it, now that I had said something about kissing, that every word seemed to have some kinky alter-ego? Pucker? Tight circle? Little hole?
Jesus. I was a horrible person.
“Good job. You’re getting there.” I patted his knee. “Don’t worry about anything else. Look at me and keep breathing slowly.”
Some of my favorite fantasies about Levi involved me on my knees before him. Unfortunately, I didn’t think any sexy times would be happening today.
When his breathing was under control again, I reluctantly stood and retrieved one of the other chairs and brought it around so I could sit closer to him. Levi’s gaze flitted to the window where the cats had been a few minutes earlier, but he didn’t say anything.
“Are you feeling better now?”
His cheeks darkened, but he nodded. “Sorry about that.”
“Can we talk about what just happened?”
He cleared his throat. “Uh… I couldn’t seem to catch my breath for a minute there.”
I lifted one of my eyebrows. I wasn’t as good at that as my grandmother, but it made my point. Levi squirmed and rubbed the back of his neck as I stared at him.
“Not about that. About the talking cats.”
His gaze darted around the room like he was looking for an escape. But I knew for certain he wouldn’t be able to climb through the cat flap, and I was between him and the office door. I wasn’t moving until I had some answers.
“Were those two cats Clive and Warren?”
I felt ridiculous suggesting such a thing, but this moment was a lot like lining up for a shot in pool.
Balls reacted in predictable ways. If you wanted to make your shot, you had to evaluate the whole table.
Sometimes there were other balls in the way, and you had to find a new route to the result you wanted.
In this case, I’d wanted to discover Willow Lake’s secrets for eons now.
And my biggest obstacle was apparently that until a few minutes ago I had no idea cats could talk.
And if I found a way around that, I’d be closer to my goal.
But I figured there were a few more unknowns lurking out there before I got to the pocket.
Levi rubbed his hands over his face, then he nodded ever so slightly.
“Use your words, Levi. Let’s talk about this.” I put my hand on his knee again. It felt right to have that connection with him. It might be all in my imagination, but I swore he relaxed a bit when I touched him too.
Levi sucked in a deep, shuddering breath. “Magic is real. Shifters are real. Please don’t tell the hunters.” He gripped my hand tightly. “Please, Parker. Please don’t betray us. Please don’t let them kill us. ”
I leaned back, pulling my hand away from him. “What are you talking about?”
“Your cousin and his friends… They hunt supernatural beings.” Levi pushed the heels of his palms into his eyes like he couldn’t bear the thought of Fin and his friends.
My jaw dropped. “My cousin? Finley? That cousin? He isn’t a hunter. He doesn’t even eat meat.”
“But that woman and that other guy… I think… I think they’re paranormal hunters. I’ve run into their kind before.” His whole body shuddered at whatever memory his words had dredged up.
I wanted to refute what he was saying. But how could I? I didn’t know anything about anything, apparently. If talking cats existed, what else didn’t I know? Jesus. Was I wrong about my grandmother too? Was that why she’d arrived with that tactical case?
My stomach twisted.
“I need to know more.”
Levi nodded and pushed a shaky hand through his hair. “I’ve thought about telling you… But I always thought it’d be better if you didn’t know.”
“Better for who? You?”
Levi averted his gaze.
“Something happened, didn’t it? In your past. Is that why you pull back every time I think we might be getting closer? Did hunters come after you before?”
Levi squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. When he opened them again, he sat up straighter. “I don’t want to talk about the past.”
“Okay…” That was fair. This was a lot to take in. I di dn’t need all his secrets today. He was obviously uncomfortable enough already. “So, what do you want to talk about?”
“Supernatural beings live alongside humans,” Levi blurted.
I waited for him to continue. I could have peppered him with questions, but I knew Levi well enough to know that would make him clam up. He needed to get to things at his own pace. My patience worked.
“We always have. We try to keep our magic a secret though, because humans don’t react well to knowing there are people around who are more powerful than they are.
Willow Lake has a higher supe population than most places.
I think the Eternal Magic is attracting the people here that she wants to bless, but no one really knows for sure. ”
“The pub,” I said, piecing things together. “That’s where the—what do you call yourselves?”
“Supes. Short for supernatural beings.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “Is that where they hang out? Is that why the place makes my skin tingle sometimes?”
“Whenever there’s a high concentration of magic, like when a bunch of supes gather in one place, humans usually steer clear. But you seem to be the exception.”
“Magic.”
He nodded.
“So, are you a cat person too?”
“They’re called shifters, and no, I’m not a cat.”
When he didn’t volunteer anything more, I leaned forward. I put my hand back on his knee. My pulse was racing. “What kind of magic do you have, Levi? ”
His gaze darted from my eyes to my hand and back to my eyes again.
“I’m a minotaur,” he whispered.
And there went my jaw again, dropping open like I was a Venus flytrap trying to grab my lunch. “Did you say minotaur?”
He nodded, even though he was squirming again. He didn’t look like he was half-bull…
Oh, fuck. All those mugs Carter gave him. That’s why. And I was the weirdo who saw those mugs and thought he collected everything cow. I’d always thought that was a strange thing… But my mother had gone through a rooster phase, so I’d tried not to judge.
Did that mean Carter was a supe too? Because he obviously knew about Levi being a minotaur. Did they sit and laugh at me behind my back?
“What?” Levi caught my hand when I went to yank it back again. “What are you thinking?”
“I bet you all had a good laugh at my expense… I can’t believe I bought you all that cow stuff.”
He squeezed my hand. “I’d never laugh at you, Parker. Believe me.”
The sincerity in his eyes and his words doused my anger and embarrassment as quickly as they had arisen.
“You don’t look like you’re part bull. Or do minotaurs not always have bull-like heads?
” I glanced down at his pants. “Do you have hooves in your shoes? Is that why you never wear shorts in the summer? How would your shoes stay on? Wait… You took off your shoes when you came to my place.” I studied his feet again. “Do you have prosthetics? ”
“Holy Magic.” Levi shook his head. “You sound like Jeremy.”
I frowned. “Jeremy is a supe? Is there anyone in town—besides me, obviously—who isn’t a drinking buddy with Merlin?”
I crossed my arms. Seriously. What the fuck? Had the entire world discovered the way to Narnia except me? Why hadn’t anyone told me I needed to go poking around in wardrobes?
Levi leaned back in his chair. “I know it’s a lot. And I don’t want to talk about anyone else until I know what you are going to do now that you know about us.”
“Jesus, really? You think I’d let someone go after my friends?”
Levi’s chest rumbled in a weird, animalistic way. “It’s just… Hunters can do a lot of damage. Your cousin and his friends are probably only scouting the place. When they discover there are people with magic here, they’ll return with a platoon of people to either capture or destroy us.”
I rubbed my chest. That awful prediction had made it ache. “I swear, Levi. I swear I wouldn’t do that. Do you want me to take a polygraph or something? I don’t know how I can convince you…”
“Oh. That’s a good idea.” Levi nodded quickly. “Would you feel comfortable talking to Van or Dillon?”
“Why? Do they have lie detectors at the police station?”
“Something like that. They can tell when someone is lying. ”
“That’s a fun party trick.” How would that even work? But then again, how did any of this work?
Magic. It sounded like something from a movie.
“So, would you?”
“Yeah. I’ll do whatever will help.”
“Thank Magic.” Levi visibly relaxed.
“But after I’ve talked to them, you and I are going to sit down and have a nice long chat.”
Levi’s gaze snapped up to mine again. “Oh?”
“Yes.” I nodded.
Because I was feeling bold or reckless or just completely unmoored, I got up and crossed the scant space between us.
I braced myself on the arms of his chair and leaned over until my face was level with his.
His gaze dropped to my lips. His mouth moved like he was trying to bridge the gap with his lips, like he was trying to taste the air I breathed.
Ha! I knew this attraction wasn’t one-sided.
“And you’re going to quit avoiding me.”
Levi swallowed. His Adam’s apple bobbed. I wanted to lick it. His pupils were blown, and I’d like to think that was because he liked what he saw, but was that true?
Huh.
I’d always thought I knew Levi. That I understood him. Now I wondered if I ever knew him at all.