They led us to a large, multiple car garage. A large, dark SUV already waited for us, the engine running. Two bags sat by the driver’s side door. Christian and Pax each grabbed one.
“Excuse us for a moment,” Christian said.
He and Pax disappeared into the house.
“Do you think we’ll find him?” I asked in a low voice.
“With his wolves helping, there’s a much better chance than before.”
The two wolves stepped back outside dressed in t-shirts, joggers, and slip-on tennis shoes, the uniform every shifter adopted once they got tired of shredding clothes every time they shifted to animal form and back.
The quiet, blond wolf opened the back passenger door, gesturing for me to get inside.
“Thank you,” I murmured.
Pax said nothing, closing the door gently behind me. Once we were all inside, the vehicle roared out of the Keep.
Everywhere I looked there was white. The ground was a sheet of ivory, the trees skeletal, limbs bowing with the weight of snow. “I wonder if there are other Floromancers living here,” I said mostly to myself, but Christian met my eyes in the mirror.
“The weather proves challenging,” he admitted. “We had one several years ago, but she didn’t stay long. We’ve been unable to lure one here since.”
Caelan’s eyes narrowed, making the other wolf laugh. “I have no designs on your woman, Lord Caelan, but Floromancers are good for a wolf’s land.” He snorted softly. “Shit, they’re good for the world.”
I nudged Caelan. “I like him.”
Caelan snapped his teeth at me.
“For serious magic, I have to be connected to the earth,” I told Christian. “I can imagine it might be a challenge to do so with so much snow on the ground.”
“Do you require bare skin?”
I thought Caelan was going to lose it. “Yes, when I’m deep into my magic, at minimum, my feet are against bare earth. I usually try bare legs too, but sometimes, I lie down all the way. But there are other times, when the earth requires me to be completely bare, and I will wake up unclothed.” I chuckled. “I’ve lost some good pieces of clothing that way, though it doesn’t happen often.”
“If you know of any other Floromancers who seek a good home, Ben has proven to be a good Lord, and we would welcome one. Though, if I’m not mistaken, you and our Lord are familiar with each other?”
Caelan snorted.
“Yes,” I said slowly. “We’ve had our ups and downs,” I admitted, “though things are growing easier between us.”
Christian looked over at Caelan, his eyes lingering for a moment too long. “Ah,” he said finally. “I see.”
“You see nothing,” Caelan said softly. “Evie and Ben are acquaintances, that’s all.”
I sighed. “So dramatic.” Shaking my head, I met Christian’s eyes in the mirror once more. “I like your Lord, and if things would have been different, who knows what might have happened.”
Caelan let out a loud sigh. I grinned at him. “You know it’s true.”
“Yes, yes, now can you quit twisting the knife in? Otherwise, I might abandon this search and take you back home.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Let’s focus on finding him so we can get back home. It’s cold as hell here.”
Pax had stayed silent the entire time. He flipped his visor down and opened his mirror, his eyes trained on me. “You are the Floromancer who took on the gods, Miss Quinn?”
“Evie, please,” I said with a slight grimace. “And, yes, I suppose I did in a way.”
Pax had an unnerving intensity about him. Under his attention, I felt like he and I were the only people in the vehicle. “Is it true you were trapped inside of a tree?”
“Pax,” Christian hissed.
