Her eyes snapped to me.Oops. Busted.
“What?” she said. “I can look.”
“Oh, I think you do a lot more than looking when it comes to that man.”
She dropped her head back, and her eyes fluttered closed. “He’s driving me nuts,” she whispered. “He’s everywhere. Where I sleep, where I dress, where I bathe.”
“Sounds like a standard relationship.”
“I don’t do relationships for this reason. They want to be in your...” She waved her hand in the air.
“Everything?” I guessed.
“Exactly.”
She swiped a hand down her face, took a sip of her tea, and narrowed her eyes. “What is that?”
I turned to follow her gaze. “What? We don’t all have supernatural senses.”
“You should, given your heritage.”
“What can I say? My spookiness comes from a hankering after souls and a walk with death.”
“Someone said souls?”Indigo said in a sleepy voice.
“Pipe down.”
Rebecca rose. “There’s someone waiting at the gates, Cora.”
“For what, an invitation? Because these days, my wards only keep out the worst of the worst.” I put my cup down and stood. I couldn’t see whoever it was, but I could feel them—violence wrapped in a pretty package. Who was under threat from this violence would determine their destiny. If they’d come for a fight, they’d get one. I strode down the stairs with Rebecca at my side and my power unfurling in my chest as a warning to whatever beastie waited for me.
The monster in question was a teenage girl with short dark curly hair, cut-off jean shorts, and a tie-dye shirt twisted into a knot at her stomach to show off a belly button piercing.
“I was thinking about getting my belly button done,” I said.
Rebecca chuckled. “Mid-life piercing crisis?”
“I’m hardly midlife, but as I prepare to become a wife, I suddenly realized I completely skipped my rebellious phase.”
“If you want to be brave, go for the nipple.”
My mouth dropped open. “Wait, you have?—”
“I do.”
“Did it hurt?”
“What do you think?”
My lips twitch. “And Ezra? Does he like it?”
She broke into a full smile. “Yes, I would say it’s contributed to his obsession.”
“Noted. Shiny metal in sexy body parts equals shifter infatuation.”
“You don’t need any help there.”
The teenage girl held out her hand, the note clutched in it fluttering in the breeze. Her brown eyes met mine. “Cora Roberts?” she asked.
