“Get out!”
IN AN effort to put distance between Luke and myself – okay, and Kade and Raven – I decided to spend the afternoon walking the perimeter. Ostensibly I was checking for holes in the dreamcatcher. That’s what I planned to tell anyone if they asked. The woods seemed a pleasant place to spend an afternoon. More importantly, they were quiet and I was sure not to run into Raven or Kade when I wasn’t ready to face them. I’m a coward. Sue me.
I hydrated thoroughly and munched my way through most of the McDonald’s breakfast before hopping in the shower. I downed four aspirin and decided to let my hair air dry during the walk because I didn’t have the energy to put up with the half hour it would take to manually dry it and I thought the hair dryer would sound life a leaf blower with my hangover. It wasn’t a work day, so I wasn’t particularly worried about letting my hair go wild.
Given our proximity to the woods, Omaha’s fairgrounds situation was a mixed bag. Unfriendlies could hide in the woods without fear of detection as long as they didn’t cross the dreamcatcher boundaries, but we also were sheltered from prying eyes if something big should happen.
I was halfway around the perimeter when something on the ground caught my attention. I glanced around and mentally scanned the immediate area looking for danger. As far as I could tell I was alone. I moved toward the object and knelt down, frowning when I realized what it was.
“Are you picking up roadkill now?”
I cringed at Kade’s voice. How did I miss him on my scan? The alcoholic fugue must have been dampening more than my flirting skills. That’s all I could figure. “What are you doing out here?”
Kade didn’t answer the question, instead moving to my side so he could study the dead owl. Its insides were on the outside, creating a grotesque tableau in the middle of a serene background. “Did an animal do this?”
“No.”
“How can you be sure?”
“An animal doesn’t kill for sport,” I said, standing up and wiping my hands off on my pants. “An animal kills for food. Whoever took out the owl did it for sport.”
“Why?”
“It’s a warning,” I said.
Kade stilled, surprised. “How do you know that?”
“In folklore, owl blood was used to bolster the magic of some while warding off the magic of others,” I explained. “Whoever did this is using old magic – or at least he thinks he is.”
“Can owl blood really stop you guys?”
“No.”
“Someone thinks it can, though,” Kade said, rubbing his chin. “That’s what you’re telling me, right?”
“All this means is that someone – or some thing – knows we’re here,” I replied. “It doesn’t mean that we’re in danger, so don’t get your panties in a twist about that.”
Kade made a face. “Do you want to talk about last night?”
“Not particularly.”
“Well, I do,” Kade said, falling into step next to me as I started walking again.
“I’m not sure we have anything to talk about,” I said. “You said it yourself. It was … a mistake.” The words burned my tongue. How did I get this bitter in such a short amount of time?
“I said it was a mistake last night,” Kade countered. “I stand by that. You were too drunk to know what you were doing.”
“Well … there you go.” I refused to meet his studied gaze.
“I don’t regret kissing you,” Kade said. “I regret that you were too drunk to know what you were doing. I’m not going to take advantage of you, so you should get over that.”
“I didn’t ask you to take advantage of me!”
“You would’ve been perfectly happy with it,” Kade shot back. “I’m sorry I embarrassed you and hurt your feelings. There! Are you satisfied?”
How was that supposed to satisfy me? That made me sound weaker and more pathetic than before. I swiveled in his direction, my finger extended. “You didn’t hurt my feelings. You didn’t embarrass me. I’m perfectly fine with you walking away. Don’t let your ego get away from you.”
Kade rolled his eyes. “You’re embarrassed and I get it,” he said. “You don’t have to be. I wasn’t letting my ego get away from me.”
“Whatever.” I returned my attention to the dreamcatcher line, something only I could see now that it had settled. If I thought I was going to return to my solitary walk, I was sadly mistaken.
Kade grabbed my shoulders and turned me so I had no choice but to face him. “I’m talking to you. Stop acting as if you’re twelve and the boy you have a crush on sat next to someone else at lunch. It’s not an attractive quality.”
“I’m doing no such thing!”
“You drive me crazy,” Kade snapped. “You’re a pain the ass. You’re rude. You’re petulant.”
“Then why are you out here?” I sounded defeated, even to my own ears. Everything he said was true. It never bothered me until I heard the words come out of his mouth.
“Because I can’t seem to stay away from you and I have no idea why,” Kade replied. “Despite all those things I just said, you’re also funny, witty, charming, and loyal. Do you know when I like you best, though? When you’re unguarded. That doesn’t happen a lot, but it’s worth hanging around for.”
“I … .”
“Shut up! Shut up for two seconds.”
I snapped my mouth shut, stunned by his vehemence.
“I am too old to play high school games,” Kade said. “I like you. I have no idea why right now, but I do. You’re driving me to distraction, though. I’m going to go nuts if this goes on for another day. I can’t take it.”
His words knocked me off balance. I didn’t know how to respond. With nothing better to do, I did the only thing I could and grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked his mouth down so I could kiss him.
After an initial bout of surprised reticence, Kade sank into the kiss. Unlike the previous evening, this one was softer.
When we separated, Kade rubbed his hand through his short-cropped hair and stared at me for a moment. “That was the best answer you could’ve come up with,” he said finally.
“Maybe we’re both crazy.”
“Well, we picked the right nuthouse to set up shop in,” Kade replied.
Twenty-Three
“Are you sure the owl was eviscerated?” Seth asked a few hours later, handing me a box of foil so I could start wrapping ears of corn before grilling. “It could have been an animal.”
“What animal do you know that guts an owl and then leaves everything out to rot instead of eating it? Plus, what’s prowling around Nebraska that eats owls? There might be some predatory birds out here, but I can’t think of one animal that kills for sport. That’s for humans and the monsters who hunt them.”
Seth pursed his lips, tilting his head to the side as he considered the conundrum. “I know it’s weird. Still, I don’t want to jump to conclusions. Maybe there was something tainted about the owl. Maybe it was sick.”
“That still doesn’t explain the wound pattern,” I countered. “It looked as if a weapon was used. The edges were straight and clean. The owl didn’t look sick.”
Seth furrowed his brow. “We have scouting reports before we come to any town,” he said. “Did anything stand out about Omaha?”
“Nebraska is one of those states that has a high shifter population, but as we all know, the shifter population isn’t usually evil,” I said, tapping Seth’s chin for emphasis and making him smile. “The wolf and bear shifters like it out here because it’s open territory and easier for them to hide.”
“What about tiger shifters?”
“We all know tiger shifters are much too exotic for Nebraska,” I teased, jostling him with my hip. “It’s mostly wolves and bears here. There are a lot of packs in Nebraska, and they run together. That naturally cuts down on other paranormal populations because they don’t want to deal with the packs.”
“I don’t want to jump to conclusions before we have
to,” Seth said. “Even if something sensed us, killing the owl might simply have been a way for a frightened paranormal to protect himself.”
That was certainly a possibility. Still … . “Then why leave it so we could discover it?”
Seth furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”
“If something paranormal was trying to hide, like you say, why leave the owl out for us to find?” I pressed. “We’re not stupid. We’re going to know what that means. Unless the paranormal in question is stupid, there had to be a reason to leave the owl out.”
“And what do you think that reason is?”
“It’s a warning.” I don’t know how I knew, but I did. My body tingled from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. That was usually a sign I was right – or that Kade was around and my heart was going to start doing that weird flopping thing it was prone to these days, but that’s another matter.
“A warning about what?” Seth asked, his face serious. He wasn’t prone to fits of histrionics, although, much like Luke, he did enjoy being the center of attention. He was pragmatic when necessary, though. You couldn’t be a paranormal today without at least something of a pragmatic streak. That’s how we stay alive – and under the radar.
“Someone wants us to know they’re watching us.”
“How can you know that? Did you get a vision?” Seth pressed.
“I don’t get visions.” It was as if he didn’t even know me. “How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t get visions? I get feelings and glimpses of the past and future. Those aren’t visions.”
“Probably the same number of times I have to tell you that I don’t get fleas and I’m not interested in doing a Frosted Flakes commercial,” Seth shot back. “Stop telling people my name is Tony when I’m in tiger form, by the way. I don’t like it.”
I knew he didn’t like it. That’s why I kept doing it. “Fine. I won’t call you Tony.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll call you Tommy.”
“Tommy the Tiger?” Seth wrinkled his nose. “Can’t you pick a cool name?”
“I like the alliteration,” I said. “Can you think of a cool name that starts with a T?”
Seth tilted his head to the side, considering. “Tennyson.”
Now it was my turn to make a face. “Seriously?”
“That’s the name I like.” Seth crossed his arms over his chest. I guess that meant I was supposed to infer that he was serious.
“Fine,” I said. “Tennyson it is.”
Seth and I returned to our tasks, Seth enthusiastically seasoning the chicken breasts while I wrapped the corn. Naida and Nixie joined us not long after, chattering aimlessly to each other while occasionally lobbing questions in our direction. Nixie put the finishing touches on a pasta salad while Naida lent a little bit of her magic (not literally) to the strawberry shortcake. Before long, dinner was ready and I was left with nothing to do but nervously await Kade’s appearance.
I didn’t wait long.
I felt him approach and lifted my head, scowling when I saw Raven at his side. She was in the middle of some story, her hands waving animatedly. Kade listened raptly to whatever nonsense she spouted, stopping her a few times to ask questions and then snapping his mouth shut to let her continue. They appeared to be having a great time.
Yup. There went my night.
I forced an even smile as I helped Naida and Nixie deliver the food to our hungry co-workers. Kade settled on one side of the picnic table – and I wasn’t surprised to see Raven settle comfortably next to him. Kade lifted his eyes, as if sensing my stare, and gestured toward the open spot on his other side.
Instead of answering, I shot him a dirty look as I sat down on the wooden bench between Luke and Seth. They were in the middle of a conversation, and Luke lifted his eyebrow when I barreled between them, while Kade wordlessly studied me from a few feet away.
“What’s up with you?” Luke asked.
“Nothing is up,” I said, spreading my napkin in my lap and pretending I wasn’t imagining a million different ways to separate Raven’s head from her shoulders. “Why does something have to be up?”
“Because you usually like a little elbow room when you eat,” Luke replied, nonplussed. “I’m not calling you a pig but … well … you’re kind of a pig. You eat as if you’re in prison and they’re going to cut your rations.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that. Unfortunately, I definitely wasn’t in the mood for it today. “I’m sorry to upset your delicate sensibilities,” I snapped, moving to get to my feet.
Luke grabbed my arm and jerked me back down, all pretense of amusement fleeing from his features. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kade slant his gaze in our direction.
“All right, you complete and total pain in my ass,” Luke hissed. “What is the matter with you?”
“Nothing is the matter with me,” I shot back. “You’re being mean to me.”
“I’m never mean to you.”
“Oh, puh-leez!”
“I’m the only one with the patience to put up with you,” Luke argued. “I may tease you, and I enjoy doing it, but I’m also the one who deals with all your crap. Either tell me what’s bothering you or sit there and shovel food in your mouth quietly.”
“There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Good,” Luke said, leaning back so he could watch me pile a mountain of food on my plate.
He wasn’t wrong about my eating habits. Going without nourishment for long stretches of time as a teenager helped turn me into a food hoarder in some respects. It was something I continued to work on, although it was slow going.
“Seth and I were talking about the owl,” Luke said, seamlessly changing topics. “What kind of entity uses the blood of owls to protect itself?”
That was a good question. It was also much safer to focus on instead of picking at my eating habits or staring daggers in Kade’s direction as Raven offered bite-sized morsels from her plate – with her fingers. That wench. “There were various mages in history who did that,” I said, my voice even despite my inner turmoil. “That was mostly in Europe, though. I think some turn-of-the-century witches did it here. The history of that time is scattered, though. I’m not sure how reliable it is.”
“Can owl blood do anything to hurt us?”
I shrugged. “Anything can hurt us if the person using the item as a weapon is strong enough to wield it.”
“Did you just explain something to us?” Luke asked. “You talk down to us in a way that makes us feel as if we’re idiots sometimes.”
I made a face. “I was merely saying that if the being is powerful enough we have no idea what limitations – or lack thereof – its powers are relegated to,” I said.
“So, basically, you have no idea,” Luke finished.
He was starting to bug me. “I think it would be smart to take regular patrols in the woods,” I said. “I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I don’t want to be caught off guard.”
“What should we be looking for?” Seth asked.
“Footprints, more dead animals, strange scents,” I replied. “In essence, anything that grabs your attention is something for us to focus on.”
“If you really want me to go around sniffing things then I’m going to have to shift,” Seth warned. “How are we going to explain that if a local sees me?”
“Take Luke with you,” I suggested. “He’s our animal trainer, after all. I would suggest taking a leash, too. At least that way it will look as if a human is in control if someone sees us.”
“That’s a good idea,” Luke said. “We’ll do a quick sweep after dinner and a longer one in the morning. The trees are dense enough here that I don’t see us having a problem with wandering locals – unless they’re hunters.”
“If someone tries to shoot me I’m going to eat them,” Seth warned.
“Duly noted.” I sawed into my chicken, risking a glance in Kade’s direction only to find him staring back a
t me. Raven didn’t miss the exchange, and she didn’t look happy with it. She tugged on Kade’s arm to draw his attention back to her. “She’s the freaking Devil,” I muttered.
Luke glanced across the table and sighed. “I’m taking it your conversation didn’t go well this afternoon. Do you want to tell me why?”
“Who told you we had a conversation?” The Mystic Caravan gossip mill kept on churning.
“Naida saw him follow you into the woods earlier,” Seth chimed in. “There’s a pool going for when you two … um … you know.”
“I don’t know,” I said, trying to control my anger. “Why don’t you tell me what everyone has a pool on us doing?”
“Um … .” Seth looked as if he’d been caught in a trap and was ready to gnaw his leg off to escape.
“The pool is for when you and Kade start batter-dipping the corn dog,” Luke supplied.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” I snapped.
Luke arched a confrontational eyebrow. “You didn’t like that one? I thought it was inspired given the fact that we serve corn dogs here. How about navigating the forested chasm?”
“You’re so sick.” I punched Luke’s arm, causing him to cry out.
“It’s not my fault you’re giving me so much time to come up with them,” Luke protested, rubbing his arm. “Good grief, woman. Just get some and I’ll let it go.”
I tried to punch him again. Luke was ready this time and caught my hand, holding it in place as he reached around to tickle my ribs.
“Let me go,” I spat, fighting him. He was stronger. Even my overt meanness can’t overcome his strength when he’s putting his full effort into holding me down. “I will hurt you, Luke!”
“You’re already hurting me, love bug,” Luke shot back. “You’ve punched me and hurt my feelings. It doesn’t get much worse than that.”
“It’s going to,” I threatened. “I … .” I was cut off when Luke’s grip on my wrist lessened and he was yanked from his seat and thrown to the ground behind the table.
Seth was on his feet, his eyes furtive as his gaze bounced between Luke and his assailant. He was waiting for instructions. I was nowhere near as patient.
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