I mouthed, “Never,” and held my hand out for the miniature horse.
“She’s skittish around too many people,” I apologized to the kids and moms who lingered.
As if on cue, Xtelle lowered her head, snorted, and pawed at the ground, trying to look intimidating.
“Then we should give her some space,” Mrs. Ingrath said. “Let’s go, class. Time to play.”
Most of the kids took off at a run, but a few dragged their feet in a pouty shuffle. Even so, Xtelle was finally free. She walked stiff-legged to stand next to me, her wide eyes trying to track all the kids at once like she’d never seen anything like them before.
Maybe she hadn’t. Unicorns were highly reclusive.
“Thank you, um…Officer,” the mom, a beautiful redhead who I knew had just broken up with her last boyfriend, said to me.
She stepped right up into Bathin’s space. “And thank you too…”
“You’re very welcome,” he said, even though he had done nothing but stand there and smile at her.
She liked him looking at her. Liked it a lot. And he was not looking away.
Fine. Maybe he’d kiss her and that would be enough to do the final step of closing the vortex. Then I wouldn’t have to. I’d prefer it, actually.
“All right,” I said loud enough everyone started and stared at me. Delaney’s eyebrows ticked down. She closed her eyes for a second, and when she opened them, amusement shone through.
I’d gotten that look from her a lot over the years. Usually when she thought I was being too stubborn.
She was always wrong, though, because I prided myself in being exactly as stubborn as the situation required.
“Have a nice day,” I barked. “C’mon, Xtelle, let’s go home.”
I spun away from them all, ignoring Delaney’s amusement, ignoring Bathin’s heated gaze, ignoring the lovely redhead swaying closer to Bathin as if she were in a blizzard and he was a bonfire burning.
I tromped down the hill to my car. Let the demon kiss someone else. Then I wouldn’t have to date him three times, either.
The tiny horse trotting along beside me nickered, something that sounded a lot like a laugh.
I strode to the cruiser. Stupid. This was all stupid. And what was up with my reaction to that woman flirting with Bathin?
I’d made it clear not only did I not want to be with him, I didn’t want him to be anywhere near Ordinary. But it didn’t stop my stupid heart from wanting what it wanted.
I groaned and leaned back on the trunk of the car, pinching the bridge of my nose and closing my eyes. “What is wrong with me?”
The tiny horse clopped around my cruiser as if getting a feel for the thing. She stopped next to me, leaning one hip on the side of the bumper. “Well, you’re human.”
“You’re not supposed to be talking.”
“No one is close enough to hear me.”
“That doesn’t matter. Horses don’t talk in Ordinary.”
“Well, I’m not a horse. I’m a unicorn. And unless you put the gag order on the other supernaturals who live in this town, I refuse to be silent.”
I held her gaze, but I could tell from the stubborn thrust of her lip, that she was not backing down.
She had a point. We never told any man, woman, creature, or deity to remain silent. We just told them they couldn’t reveal their true nature to the mortals in the town.
And yes, we’d had it backfire more than once. But we had enough powerful supernaturals in town to take care of anything that might cause an actual panic.
Ordinary was, for most people living here and for those coming here to vacation, a quiet, normal, possibly even boring, town.
