With her shoulders back and her head held high, Astra marched down the sidewalk to the office that housed the service. Though she was frustrated enough to have sparks flitting about her fingertips, Astra was determined to remain calm.
Typically, she would have handled something like this by phone, but she’d been too worked up to use hers. Zapping her phone every time she got pissed off was an expensive habit, one she had broken a few years ago.
Astra stopped outside the office and forced herself to take a deep breath.
Inhale calm, exhale anger.
She repeated the mantra to herself as she took three more breaths. Then, two more.
Finally, after the sixth breath, electrical energy stopped bursting out of her fingers.
Confident she wouldn’t accidentally shock someone, Astra pushed open the door and walked toward the front desk where Veronica Salt sat.
Though she wasn’t sure exactly what Veronica was, there was something about the woman’s eyes that made Astra feel as though her every thought and feeling was laid bare. It was unsettling.
“Ms. Falk,” Veronica said, a soft smile on her face. “How are you today?”
“I’ve been better,” Astra answered.
A frown replaced the smile and dimmed the light in her dark brown eyes. “I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can help you with?”
Astra halted in front of the desk. “Yes. I’d like to cancel my membership.”
The other woman didn’t even blink. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Do you mind if I ask why?”
Astra barely refrained from baring her teeth in a snarl. Instead, she ground her back teeth together before she finally answered, “You know why. We’ve spoken after every single one of my dates and you know that I have been less than impressed with my matches.”
Veronica nodded. “I understand that it’s frustrating, but please remember that finding a match takes time. With each date you go on, we get a better understanding of what you’re looking for in a potential companion.”
Astra shook her head. “They’re not getting better, they’re getting worse. The last guy expected me to open doors for him and then tried to hide behind me when he got into an argument at the sports bar over the baseball game on TV. He actually told the other guy that he was going to havemekick his ass!”
Veronica’s eyes widened. “Oh, my. That is terrible. Perhaps if we performed the intake interview again, we could see where we went wrong on finding your potential matches.”
“Why should I have to do it again?” Astra asked. “Can’t you people get it right the first time?”
She watched as Veronica’s eyes flashed from dark brown to black before the woman closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Whoa. That was disconcerting to see. Once again, Astra wondered what the other woman was exactly. Veronica’s brown eyes seemed human enough, but the deep eggplant color of her hair was definitely real and probably of fae origin.
When Veronica opened her eyes and looked up at Astra, she seemed calm, but there was something stirring in the depths of her gaze. “Ms. Falk, I’m going to say something to you that you aren’t going to like, and you won’t want to hear, but I want you to understand that I want to help you and sometimes that help comes in the form of honest words.”
Astra raised an eyebrow, surprised at the other woman’s temerity. “Go ahead.”
“You lied in your intake interview,” Veronica said. “When you aren’t honest with us, and with yourself, we won’t be able to find the type of match you’re looking for.”
For the first time in years, Astra was speechless. Her first instinct was to break the desk between them in half with her bare hands. The second was to tell the woman that she had no idea what she was talking about. But the last thought was the voice of reason. The one that always told her the truth. And that voice said Veronica was right.
Astra opened her mouth to say something, but the door behind Veronica opened to reveal Dominique Proxa, the owner of Mystical Matchmakers.
To her surprise, Astra liked Dominique. She might look like a fae ice princess, but the woman was warm and welcoming. And Astra’s sister, Sylvie, had said that Dominique fought like a Valkyrie when she came to Sylvie’s gym. Considering that Sylvie had an elitist attitude toward their species, this was a high compliment.
“Astra!” Dominique said, a smile spreading across her face to bring light and warmth to her eyes. “How are you?”
“I have no idea,” she answered with a shrug. “I’m still processing a difficult truth.”
Dominique canted her head to the side. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Maybe—”
Astra was distracted by movement behind Dominique. A lean man exited her office and stepped to the side. To Astra’s surprise, he was taller than both she and Dominique by several inches. He moved with a liquid grace that the martial artist in her appreciated.
