“We as in humans? Or we as in people who do magic?”
“The second one. Ordinary humans would react just like him.”
“You passed out too. How come?” I was fascinated. I knew almost as much about magic as I knew about shaving goats.
“Healing yourself is harder than healing others, and I’m not good at it in the first place,” Damon said. “It also makes me hungry. I need to eat, and then I’ve got something I need to show you.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
He frowned. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“Starved.”
“Then why aren’t you moving?”
“I can’t leave Ajax alone.”
Damon nodded and didn’t disagree, which added a big checkmark on my imaginary list of reasons to like him. That list was getting longer and longer, but the big question was, did I trust him?
“I can order pizza.” He didn’t sound remotely enthusiastic.
“Don’t you like pizza?” My tone sounded like I’d just accused him of not washing his hands after using the bathroom.
He smiled. “I’m not a food snob, but I was hoping for steak or prime rib.”
“There’s room service.”
He made a face. “I’d rather have pizza.”
“Why don’t you go out, then? There’s a good steakhouse not far from here. You could bring back a couple of doggie bags for Ajax and me.”
He started shaking his head before I got all the words out. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to,” he said, totally spoiling my reply. I’d been expecting something about me being in danger.
“Just how long do you expect to glue yourself to my side? Because I don’t see this as a viable plan.”
“I’ll do it until we find whoever came after your shop.” His tone said he wasn’t going to listen to any arguments. Not that that would stop me.
“And if we never find the person?” I rolled my eyes. “Having you hanging around will put a serious crimp in my sex life ... when I get around to having one.”
His gaze sharpened, pinning me in place and sending shivers through my lungs. The air between us heated. Even though he stood two feet away, I felt the intensity all the way down to my bones. In that moment, it felt like I was his entire world.
“Maybe I’ll be the one to get you into bed and then just keep you there so you can’t get into trouble.”
It took a few seconds for his words to sink in. I really hadn’t let myself go there before. I hadn’t mentally undressed Damon or considered how his skin would feel against mine, or what it would be like to have him kiss more than my lips, much less how it would be to have his weight on top of me and his dick inside me. Now my mind hitched an express ride to Orgasm Town, and all of that flashed through my head, with memories of his naked chest in the river, the play of his muscles, and the touch of his tongue on mine.
I think I drenched my panties. My nipples actually hurt, they wanted his touch so bad. My brain, however, was trying to stand up against the torrent of desire sweeping over me.
Whatever Damon had expected for a comeback, it wasn’t silence. And something on my face must have revealed how hot he’d made me. He smiled a lazy, smug smile, his eyes practically glowing with the fire of hunger.
“Better answer quick,” he rasped softly. “Because in ten seconds, I’m going to take you into the bedroom and this time I’m not stopping with kisses.”
The flames inside me roared higher. My naughty places all ached, and I nearly tossed Ajax aside and flung myself into Damon’s muscled arms.
Then a bucket of cold water.
A loud knock sounded against the door. I started and Damon swore. Receding desire left me shaking, my heart racing. Damon stomped to the door and yanked it open. Mason waited on the other side.
“I’ve been looking for you,” he said then glanced past Damon at me. “You too.”
“I needed a nap,” I snapped because my entire body was swimming with cock-blocked hormones and because I didn’t trust Mason in the least. The two combined with an empty stomach and too little sleep took me a long way up the cranky meter. Plus, I didn’t want Damon blurting out what had happened with Ajax. It was none of Mason’s business. Of course, he was bound to notice the dog was unconscious and not asleep since Ajax hadn’t acknowledged the knock at the door, much less the man standing in the hallway.
Mason walked in to Damon’s suite without waiting to be asked.
“I hope you’re rested now?” he asked me, and I couldn’t tell if his concern was genuine or a slick veneer. In fact, that was the whole problem with him. I couldn’t tell anything for sure about him. I could ask him what his favorite color was, and I wouldn’t know if he was lying.
“Better than I was.”
He nodded and looked at Damon. “We need to gather the supplies.”
“I was about to order up dinner,” Damon replied.
“We’ll eat on the way.”
I guess I didn’t get to have an opinion. I still didn’t move. I kept praying Ajax would start waking up before Mason noticed him, which he did when I didn’t move.
“What’s wrong with the dog?”
I looked at Damon, pleading with my eyes for him not to tell Mason. He must’ve got the message.
“He fell off the stairs when we were at the shop,” he said smoothly. “I hadn’t had a chance to stabilize them yet. He broke a rib and did some other damage. I healed him. He’s sleeping it off.”
Mason nodded as if that made sense, which to be fair, it did, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but notice how easily Damon lied and that he faked truth really well.
“Then you and I will take your truck and pick up what we need. We’ll bring back dinner for Rebecca.”
Would they never get it through their thick skulls that my name was Beck? At least Damon got it right part of the time.
“Ahem,” I said loudly. “Do you know how rude it is to keep calling someone a name she’s especially asked you not to call her? I’ll tell you how rude it is. Very. Insultingly so, in fact. Enough that a person could be forgiven for assuming the insult is deliberate. Like my opinion of my own name doesn’t even matter. Do you think that’s a fair assessment? Uncle?”
Mason had the grace to look a little taken aback. “I’m very sorry ... Beck. I won’t forget again.”
“That would be a pleasant surprise.”
I wasn’t expecting his smile.
“Point taken.” He looked at Damon. “Are you ready to go?”
Damon scowled at me. “I don’t like leaving Beck alone.”
Mason nodded. “I understand, but it’ll take both of us to load the supplies. We have to do it tonight.”
“Do what?” I asked.
“We’re going to put the gargoyles back together,” Mason said as if it were a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
“Why?”
“That’s what I was going to show you after dinner,” Damon said, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.
“I’m confused. What exactly were you going to show me? And why on earth are you two planning to piece the gargoyles back together? I’d have thought you’d just buy new ones if you wanted to put them back up, though I have no idea why you’d want to. Aunty Mommy generally had very good taste in decorating, but those things are hideous.”
Mason chuckled. “Gargoyles are supposed to be hideous.”
“If you say so, but that’s no reason to put them on her house, and why pick ones with giant penises?”
Mason made a choking sound, and now it was Damon’s turn to chuckle. I guess my new uncle wasn’t used to hearing words like giant. Or maybe he’d taken issue with penises. So hard to say.
“There’s an explanation,” Damon said.
“But now isn’t the time,” Mason said. We need to pick up supplies before the stores close, and I have to gather two more spell ingredients. There’s no
moon tonight, which will help a great deal. If we wait until next month, pieces will disappear. I want to be ready when full night descends.”
Damon nodded as if all that made sense.
“What spell?” I asked, completely confused.
“I’ll explain later,” Mason said. “Let’s go.” He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.
“We’ll be back as soon as we can,” Damon said, following reluctantly. “Lock the deadbolt when we leave.”
“Sure.” I couldn’t help the acerbity in my voice. I was feeling a whole lot like a mushroom—kept in the dark and fed a lot of shit.
Damon paused in the doorway. “Order up room service. We’ll be back sooner if we don’t stop for food. Be sure to check the peephole before you open the door for them. Charge it to the room.”
I waited until they left then I slid out from under Ajax, bolted the door, and called down to the kitchen. I ordered three cheeseburgers, one for me, two for Ajax. After a moment’s thought, I added a green salad and a strawberry milkshake.
I waited with Ajax until the food arrived about forty-five minutes later. I dutifully checked the peephole, took the tray from the server, then signed the bill, adding a generous tip.
I set the tray on the little dining table. That’s when Ajax woke up. He lifted his head, sniffing, ears perked.
“So that was the trick to waking you up? Food?” I shook my head. “Men are so easy sometimes. But you only get to eat if you promise not to bite Damon again. Or anybody else, for that matter.” I considered. “Only if someone actually hits me. Then you can tear them to shreds.”
Ajax staggered a little as he came over to me. I was sure he had to go outside for a nature call, but he still needed to steady up. Maybe by the time he ate his dinner, he’d be up to it.
I needed a run. A long one along the river. I needed to push myself and fall into the rhythm of my muscles stretching and clenching. Unfortunately, I didn’t have running shoes. Or leggings. Or shorts.
I cut Ajax’s two hamburgers into quarters and removed the vegetable matter, then scraped the fries onto the tray before setting the plate on the floor for him. He bolted his burgers as though he hadn’t eaten in days. Then he sat back on his haunches and looked longingly at mine, licking his chops.
“I know you ate,” I told him. “I fed you this morning. I’m not sharing mine with you.”
In the end, I gave him half my hamburger because I’m a sucker. The salad, milkshake, and fries were more than enough to fill me up.
I hadn’t put a leash on Ajax before. I didn’t know if he’d put up with one. Or a collar. So far he tended to stick by my side, but after the incident with Damon, I didn’t know if I could trust him in public. Not that I had any sort of leash.
“All right,” I said after making sure the water bowl Damon had put down on the floor at some point was full and Ajax had lapped up all he wanted. “Let’s go outside but you’d better behave yourself.”
I didn’t have a key to the room. I debated whether or not to close the door, and decided that I’d better. I didn’t want to be responsible for Damon’s getting robbed. Ajax and I would wait in the lobby for him and Mason to return. But first, a walk.
Chapter 29
The evening wrapped me in a balmy hug. This time of year, the sun wouldn’t go down until nearly nine o’clock. I decided I’d take Ajax to a nearby park.
On the way, I called Jen, who assured me that everything at the shop was fine. The adjuster had come and gone and left her card for me. The window guy had taken measurements and would have a bid to me within a few days. Kenny had called an employee meeting for ten the next morning and then had started cataloging the destroyed pieces, taking pictures and tagging them with their assigned number in the ledger.
The man was a gem.
The park was only a mile from the hotel. It covered around forty acres and held within it a baseball complex, basketball and tennis courts, and a bunch of walking trails beneath a mix of oak, maple, and ash. Mosquitoes swarmed near the creek, so I took Ajax around the opposite side of the park, where the grass grew taller. Much to my relief, Ajax refused to go far from me, staying within a fifteen-foot radius.
He made the people around us a little nervous since he wasn’t on a leash and had such a wolfish appearance, so I decided not to stay very long. We’d cross the back end of the park and then head back toward the hotel. He wasn’t interested in any of the other dogs except to give them a perk of the ears and an assessing look. He was on guard duty. He wasn’t even distracted by the taunting squirrels.
I headed for the rose garden in the corner of the park where I planned to exit. I took the bark path circling around its border, breathing deep of the flowers’ rich perfume. That was one thing I still wanted to do: plant flowers and maybe put in a vegetable garden on the land behind the shop.
I’d nearly reached the parking lot on the other side of the rose garden when a young man stopped in the center of the path, looking around himself as if lost.
He turned when he saw me. I could see the confusion on his face turn to certainty.
“You’re her,” he said, taking a step toward me.
Ajax stepped into the path between us, a low growl rumbling in his chest, his head dropping low in wolflike fashion. The man stopped in his tracks.
“Do I know you?” I asked.
He shook his head, making a face as if that were a ridiculous question. “No. Of course not. You’d remember me. I make an impression.” He flashed a cocky smile, and I realized he probably wasn’t quite out of his teens.
He looked me over. “What happened to you? Did you fall into a garbage disposal?”
I glanced down at my arms. The cuts were mostly red welts, and the bruises were an ugly shade of yellow. I was remarkably healed, but I still looked pretty awful. I looked back up at the kid. “I had trouble using the can opener.” I didn’t crack a smile.
For a second he just stared, half believing me, and then he laughed.
“For an Osterraven, you’re funny. They don’t usually have a sense of humor.”
That caught me up short. I’d heard that name only once—earlier this morning when Mason had told me about my family.
“What did you say?”
“I said—”
“I heard you. How do you know who I am? Or where to find me?”
“The e-mail today. Once I got into town, it was easy to track you. You’re not even shielding.”
“What e-mail?”
“The one to the Proclamation Server. Early today. You know.”
I had no idea what he was talking about. “What did it say?”
“It said that a third child from the contract between Elena Wyler Symms and Ethan Osterraven had been located here. I go to college only an hour or so away, so I decided to come and find you.”
“Why?”
He clearly thought that was the dumbest question he’d ever heard. “Because you’re Osterraven–Wyler Symms and nobody knows anything about you. I wanted to get here first and get the scoop.”
I understood then. He wanted to be the one who’d met me and got to be the center of attention because he knew things others didn’t. I’d gone to high school with kids like that. They earned their glory by gossiping.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Ben Sharpentier.”
Clearly he thought his name should mean something to me.
“Okay, well nice meeting you, but I’ve got to get back.” I veered off onto the grass to go around him, Ajax trotting at my side. I put my hand on the dog’s back, maybe to grab him if he tried to lunge, maybe to reassure myself I wasn’t vulnerable. I’d told Damon I could protect myself, but the truth was, I didn’t know. I’d never had a reason to try to use my magic that way. Ben had found me because I wasn’t shielded. Who else was looking? Is that how the vandals had found the shop?
Too many questions and too few answers.
“Where are you going?” he asked, turning to par
allel me, though giving Ajax a healthy cushion of personal space.
“And that’s your business how?”
“It’s not,” he said cheerfully. “But you don’t get answers if you don’t ask.”
He had a good point. “This Proclamation Server—what is it?”
Ben gave me a startled look. “You don’t know?”
“Of course I do. I’m also an idiot and ask questions I already know the answers to.”
He flushed and then grinned. “You’re funny. Okay. The PS is a way for all the families to contact the rest of the families.”
“So all the families know about me now?” This didn’t sound good.
“Whoever reads their e-mails. Well, texts too. You can get notified however you want. But yeah. Everybody’s buzzing about it.”
“Who sent the e-mail?”
“Said it came from Adriane Wyler Symms. That was weird because she’s been gone so long, I didn’t think she even had access to the PS.”
“She’s dead.”
“Really?”
“So if that e-mail came this morning, somebody else sent it.”
He nodded then shrugged. “Whatever. The thing is you exist.”
“Why’s that a big deal?”
He stopped and stared. “Are you kidding? You’re Osterraven and Wyler Symms.”
This conversation was beginning to give me a headache. It’s like we didn’t quite speak the same language. “So?”
“You’re of breeding age. Everybody wants a contract with the Osterraven and Wyler Symms clans.”
“They’re shit out of luck, then, because I’m not having anybody’s babies.”
He gave me a don’t be ridiculous look. “It’s not like you get to decide.”
“Excuse me?”
He shrugged. “You either contract or the family withdraws protection and whoever’s strong enough to capture you does and you end up doing it for free. Well, there’s a minimum payment for any child produced from any family, but it’s not that much, so if you’re going to have to do it anyway, it’s better to let the family negotiate and split the profits.”
By this time, I was both too shocked to speak and livid beyond words.
Putting the Fun in Funeral Page 23
