Chapter 13 #2
Stone and Rune glanced around, saw that no one was watching them, and turned invisible. Then they followed Tasha into the room. Lizzie went inside also to take her seat. Vesper turned invisible and followed them inside. Then he sat on Lizzie's lap.
The poor girl. Stone and Rune sat on a table at the back of the room.
The class was about geometry; some students listened, some doodled in notebooks, and one was actually sleeping on his desk.
Stone wanted to knock Vesper off the girl's lap. Stone had never felt such animosity for another wolf before he met him. He didn't know why he bothered him so much. But he did. Maybe because they were both total alpha males and were butting heads in this competition.
And because he’d led the attack with the three other wolves against Stone in his glen.
When class finally ended, Tasha and her friend left the room. "Hey, are you ready for lunch, Lizzie?"
"A cute guy asked to have lunch with me." Lizzie looked around for the guy, and Stone suspected she meant Vesper. "Oh, there he is. We're walking over to the Burger Stop."
"I'm headed over there too. Nothing appeals to me at the school lunchroom today."
"Uhm, we're just going there together."
"No problem," Tasha said. She looked around as if she was searching for her new fae friends.
Stone and Rune headed out of the classroom in their human forms and joined her. Tasha got close to Stone, acting as though he was her new boyfriend, annoying him.
Rune smiled at him, seemingly amused.
Stone was not amused. No way would he ever be interested in a fae seer, or a human.
But they all headed out of the school and walked to the nearby Burger Stop. It was a good thing it was within walking distance. He hadn't wanted to borrow a car to take them there.
They went inside and found a booth to sit in, though he wanted to sit in chairs located around a table to keep his distance from Tasha. But Tasha corralled him in the booth, and Rune sat opposite them.
The processed bun and caramelized onion, meaty hamburgers, grilled chicken, french fries, sweet ketchup, spicy mustard, and egg-scented mayonnaise filled the air.
The place was packed with teens getting a fast lunch before returning to the high school for their afternoon classes. A five-year-old nearby was having a meltdown when the mother wouldn't let her have a sugary drink; good for her.
"What does everyone want?" Rune asked. "I'll go get the food."
"Oh, I'll have a cheeseburger, fries, and Sprite," Tasha said.
"Same, except water for me," Stone said, wondering what Rune was up to.
Rune hopped up from the table and took off for the counter.
"Well, thanks for coming with me to the Burger Stop."
"I'm watching out for your friend," Stone said.
"Lizzie. The fae who has targeted her—"
"Vesper is persistent. It's a competition, as Rune said."
"You heard us talking?" Tasha asked.
"We have excellent hearing. And as wolf shifters, even better. We can see at night also."
"Wow, okay."
Lizzie sat at a table with Vesper after getting their burgers, smiling and laughing. Vesper had really won her over. He could definitely win this competition.
Then some more teens walked into the Burger Stop, laughing and talking. Tasha said, "Oh, no! They’ll be able to see you're one of the fae. You have to get out of here."
Stone turned invisible and joined Rune. She had just gotten their food. She could see him as if he were fully visible. They couldn't hide from the fae unless they had some other magical gift that would hide their faeness.
"Fae seers just entered the burger place," he warned.
She smiled at him. "They're using the restroom first. We can deliver Tasha's food to her and leave."
The guy nearby her was staring at her like she was crazy, since it appeared Rune was talking to herself.
She brushed past him and left Tasha's food for her. "We'll catch up with you later."
Tasha gave them her home address. "Meet me there after school. My parents and brother aren't fae seers, but they won’t be home for a couple of hours anyway after school lets out."
"All right." Rune left the shop.
Stone was still invisible, but he turned back into his visible self, took his sack from her, and they went to a nearby park to eat their lunch.
"Well, going to school is weird," Rune said.
"I know. I'm glad we don't have to do that. What are you thinking about with making friends with a fae seer?" Stone asked, taking a bite of his hamburger.
"I didn't want to play the game. And when I saw the fae seer watching me, I figured I would see if I could befriend her."
"And she could have put you in iron manacles and taken you away."
"Yeah, but we can't transport ourselves anyway, whether we're fitted in iron or not."
Stone let out a breath of exasperation. "You're missing the point."
"I was curious about her, and she seemed curious about me. She didn't pull out her phone and text someone. That's what my advisor said they would do if a fae seer group came after our kind."
"You were just lucky."
"And then when Vesper went after her friend, Lizzie, we thought we would deal with him."
Stone drank some of his water. He shook his head.
"Well, what are you doing following me around? Why aren't you targeting your own human?"
"I don't want to play the game either."
"So you're bugging me."
He chuckled. "I might be saving you. Or not. I have to admit you're fun to watch. I'm curious about how you're going to deal with Vesper and save Tasha's friend."
"Well, you know if he doesn't get his way with her, then he loses," Rune said. "So it's a two-for-one plan. Save the girl, and thwart Vesper. He would be furious. I would say that's a great play, don't you?"
Stone allowed himself a small smile. They might not have learned to play like the fae who had been raised in a pack, but Rune sure was good at coming up with plans that made it seem like she'd been doing this for ages.
"So what do you think?" she asked, then bit into one of her fries.
"I think you're trouble."
She laughed.