The sound was slow, steady, and created a warmth under my ear that made the world feel less piercing. The loft window threw a slice of pale gold across the ceiling, and the cottage creaked the way it always did after the gargoyles changed posts with wood settling, a kettle whistling, and stone remembering.
I lay there, tracing the scuffed seam of his T-shirt with my fingertip, pretending we had all the time in the world to be ordinary.
“Keep doing that,” he murmured, voice rough with sleep and something softer.
“Tracing or pretending?”
“Both.”
A smile snuck onto my face. “We have a very long list today.”
He tightened his arm around me, not quite ready to let the list win.
“Then we should start by ignoring it.”
“Tempting.” I rolled so I could see him properly. The light found the gold in his hazel eyes, and caught on the new scruff along his jaw that really ought to be illegal on weekday mornings. “But.”
“The terrible but.” He tried to look put-upon and failed. His mouth kept finding its way back to a smile. “Say it.”
“Before we follow trails and dead ends, we should snoop in Luna’s shop.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“Snoop,” he echoed, like he could taste the word. “You’re going to make Twobble’s century with a task like that. Add in a criminal element and he’s yours for life.”
“Luna, just…” I chuckled, but quickly sobered, because even saying Luna’s name pinched something behind my ribs.
It was just so hard to believe she would have betrayed us the way she had.
“If she left anything that explains why she walked out with Gideon, it’ll be in the yarn.”
He didn’t argue. Of course, he didn’t. He only brushed a thumb along my temple and kissed my forehead like he was sealing a protective sigil there.
“Then we start with her shop,” he said. “And go from there.”
“I just don’t want the other shopkeepers worried,” I explained.
“We’ll do our best to blend in, but you know Stonewick is full of gossip. Between the tourists and locals, wild rumors get started every second of the day.”
“Then we’ll need a distraction,” I mused.
“As in Stella in full vampire,” he said, deadpan.
I kissed his cheek, stretched, and rose from bed before climbing down the steps from the loft where Twobble had crashed on the sofa.
We were out the door in five minutes, half-dressed, half-awake, fully unprepared and hustling toward Stonewick’s main street like a mismatched parade.
Frank was in his bulldog form, because apparently, when the world tips sideways, he instinctively returns to four paws and pure determination.
“Would you slow down?” Twobble whisper-yelled. “Some of us have delicate ankles!”
Frank did not slow. Frank did not acknowledge the existence of goblins, pedestrians, or natural laws. He bulldozed ahead, snorting like a tiny, flat-faced general who had discovered a new purpose.
Keegan huffed a laugh. “Your dad’s going to break in before we get there.”
“He won’t,” I said. “He has manners.”
“Does he?” Keegan’s brow lifted.
