Chapter 2 #2
“She was more likely to be in the thick of things, swinging her fists or screaming at the top of her lungs.” Fayne’s attention returned to me.
“Liesel was loud, fierce, and a terrible cook.” She exhaled one more time, and the energy cut off between us.
“She gave Deitrich food poisoning so often, I don’t know how he braved dinner every night. ”
“It sounds like they loved each other very much.”
“To a sickening degree, yes.” She scrunched up her nose. “They were true mates. Almost unheard of these days. The only known pair of their generation.”
“Because there are so few dragons.”
“Yes.” She released me. “We can fall in love the same as anyone else, and that love is no less valid than any other, but mates are two pieces of a soul cracked down the middle. They’re not whole unless they’re together.”
“That sounds beautiful.” I had to admit, “And painful.”
The sting of missing a vital piece of myself was a familiar one.
I had mourned the lack of a wolf my whole life, but it would be different if the part of yourself that was absent was a person.
With so few dragons, I wondered how many held out for lightning to strike, granting them that bond. Most likely not many.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
“Thank you.” I scuffed my foot in the dirt. “For the tapes.”
“You’re more than welcome. As soon as the wards come down, a friend is coming to visit who can burn them onto a DVD.
She’ll also upload them to your storage cloud as well.
I would prefer to have physical and digital copies of our old home movies, just in case, and the VHS tapes will need to go back in climate-controlled storage when you’re done.
” She checked a slim gold watch. “We should get going.”
“That’s all we’re doing today?”
Chuckling at my enthusiasm, she gave me a pat on the arm. “Give it a few minutes then ask me again.”
A few minutes became a two-hour nap. Oops.
I hadn’t doubted Fayne, exactly, but I had overestimated my own stamina.
The twenty or so minutes we spent on energy exchanges sapped me of my will to live.
I had sent Fayne ahead while I swung by the police department and gave them a heads-up on Old Man Jenkins, but I was dragging my feet by then, and his idea of a nap on the grass under the sun was starting to sound incredible.
I only woke when I did because Sloane bellyflopped on top of me, a habit I needed to break her of, claiming she hadn’t seen me burrowed under the covers.
“Take your punishment like a woman.” She twisted into a seated position, bouncing on my abdomen. “You sneaked out, and that’s not cool, bestie.”
The headboard thumping against the wall brought footsteps running. “What’s going on in…?”
Sloane had left our room door open, and Liam filled the gap, his jaw falling slack at her using me as a trampoline. “Just punishing a naughty dragon who ditched her security detail this morning.”
“In that case—” Liam leaned against the doorframe, “—carry on.”
“I was with Fayne,” I protested, wheezing, “and she left a note.”
“That’s the only reason Rían didn’t have a heart attack when he couldn’t find you.” Liam showed me no mercy. “Give her twenty more.” He snapped his fingers at Sloane. “It’s the least she deserves.”
“Hey.” Sloane landed with a thump beside me. “You’re not the boss of me.”
“I’m the maguri of the Walsh clan.” His lips curved into a devious grin. “That makes me the boss of you.”
“Um.” The color washed from her cheeks. “Burdock left out some fine print I really should have read.”
“Sloane.” A twitch started under his eye. “Are you saying you would rather be dead than answerable to me?”
“I mean…” She stared at the ceiling, her brow pinched, tapping a finger against her bottom lip.
“Mostly, I was afraid of leaving Ana alone. I didn’t want to die either.
Obviously. So, yeah. Those were the top two items running through my head.
I didn’t put much thought into the whole Liam is my new Mercer thing. ”
“You’re wrong.” Pivoting on his heel, he stalked back down the hall. “I’m nothing like Mercer.”
For a minute or two, we sat there, waiting to see if he would come back.
But he didn’t.
“I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings.” Sloane fell back on the mattress. “I just meant he’s my new beta.”
“Maguri,” I murmured the correction, aware she had to adapt to her new circumstances to find a place among the Walshes. That meant she had to learn their structure and the lingo to go with it. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much. His ego is titanium. He’ll get over it.”
“Yeah.” She rolled onto her stomach. “You’re probably right.”
“You actually care that you hurt his feelings?”
“No.” She scoffed, chin resting on her folded arms. “But I prefer to be more intentional with my aim.”
“Come on.” I nudged her with my foot. “I’m going to clean up GSG now that it’s empty.”
Thanks to Walsh clan teamwork, we got the Pampered Pooch clients to their pawrents after the police left, giving the employees a few days off to process what happened to them.
Jess, Rochele, and Mindy also managed to get GSG cleared out.
Even going so far as to offer home delivery for a few of the pets.
“Oh.” Sloane jerked upright. “That reminds me.” She pivoted toward me. “Clary’s available next week.”
“Really?” I squeed a little. “How did you manage that?”
Clary was a popular muralist around town.
Everyone was booking her these days, and it gave downtown an artsy vibe that blended our mishmash of buildings into one seamless community at a glance.
As small as Brentwood was, beautification projects were necessary to draw in visitors through word of mouth for our festivals and other events that kept the bills paid.
“She had a few postponements with the upheaval in Brentwood, so she slotted us in on her schedule.”
“Oh.” I withered on the spot. “I hope I don’t cost her any business.”
No two ways about it. The Walshes had come to Brentwood for me. All the lives they disrupted to make it happen? That was on me. Including any losses taken by local businesses while the wards kept the peace in town.
“Honestly, she sounded relieved to catch a break. She’s been running herself ragged keeping up with the demand. Since she never knows when the next job will come in, she’s been agreeing to all of them.”
“It must be hard earning a living as an artist.”
“Before you go feeling too bad for her, I should mention she’s also a lawyer in her spare time.”
“Huh.” I tilted my head. “Must have been one of those kids who grew up with parents who forced her to get a real job instead of encouraging her to pursue her passion.”
“Hard to say.” She shrugged. “Some folks are pragmatic but require a creative outlet.”
“Either way, that was rude of me. I have no right to judge her or her parents or their choices.”
Not when the man who raised me had killed my birth parents and lied to me about being a latent wolf.
“About that.” She nibbled her bottom lip. “Have you given any thought to watching the home movies?”
“I haven’t decided if I’m ready yet. Does that make me a coward?” A frown knit my brow. “I had my first lesson with Fayne and then I wiped out, but the sudden urge to clean? That strikes me as suspicious.”
“You do your finest procrastination in rubber gloves with a spray bottle of bleach, it’s true.
” She jabbed me in the thigh. “It doesn’t make you a coward, though.
Every aspect of your identity has come under fire.
You’ve had your whole life blown to bits.
No one is going to think less of you if you want to get a handle on Present You before you go digging into Past You. ”
An idea had wedged itself in my mind like a splinter, that I would only watch the tapes after my first shift.
As if I had to prove myself worthy of them.
But that was how Past Me would act. Present Me?
She was still figuring things out, but she had learned the only person holding her to impossible standards was herself, and that meant she could also choose to embrace her imperfections rather than be ashamed of them.