“Not exactly,” Louie responds shyly, her face burning bright red.
Something happened while we were in the powder room, but I won’t press the issue.
She’ll tell me when she’s ready.
“The wee hound just needs time. Everything is there and workin’ properly; she just needs to work through her initial training again. Lots of meditation and practice. Should be right as rain.”
Iain’s gaze slips to Louie as she taps her foot impatiently on the carpet runner, kicking up years of dust.
Louie looks pissed, but Iain just looks like a lovestruck wrakh ready to commit violent atrocities if it made the tiny hellhound smile.
“The grumpy prick suggested we practice together. He said we might progress faster that way.” Louie shoots Iain a look of pure disdain.
The eddies flicker in amusement. One of them slithers toward Louie’s foot, but she catches it mid-air, swatting at it like a misbehaving puppy.
“Piss off, you little shadow creep,” she mutters.
The shadow retreats, absolutely delighted by her frustration.
The wrakh, however, looks completely unbothered. He grins as if getting decked an hour ago was a flirtation and blows Louie a kiss.
The tension between them crackles, threatening to burn Iain’s already cursed house to the ground.
Which, considering the state of it, might not be the worst thing to happen.
Eventually, Iain comes back to reality and somehow seems even angrier than when we first arrived.
“Fuckin’ hell. I know you’re here for more than a magical drum circle, so out with it, you shadowed piece of shit.”
There’s the charming prick I know.
“Fucking second sight,” Ezra mumbles under his breath. “I need protection wards placed on my property to keep Aurora …and
Louie … safe.”
Ezra knows exactly where to press.
“Yeah, fine. I’ll come over tomorrow evening to put those up. You lookin’ for warning shots or shoot-on-sight wards? I can do either,” Iain says in a bored tone.
“We just want to know if someone is on the property, right?” I ask, keeping my voice steady.
I don’t want to hurt anyone. What if someone wanders through there by accident?
“Yes, Aurora. You’re correct. Between the three of us, we should be able to take down just about anything that poses a threat. And I don’t want to mess around with clearing bodies from my property because of a magical mishap,” Ezra says, totally unfazed, as if body disposal is part of his morning routine.
“Ah, you’re no fun, Ez!” Iain exclaims. “Where’s the bloodlust from our first meetin’ gone?”
Ezra smirks, but before he can answer, his shadows move with slow, deliberate intent, coiling around me in silent accusation.
Iain snorts. “Oh, is that right? Blamin’ the missus for makin’ you soft?”
He leans forward, smirking. “Can’t say I blame ya. Gettin’ your dick wet’ll do that.”
The eddies lash out in a blur of shadows, the supernatural equivalent of “Run that back, motherfucker?”
“Aww, did I hurt the wriggly little gobshites’ feelings?” he grumbles, swatting at them. “Ez, get your wee beasties in check before I hex them into submission.”
We move into the kitchen, the shadows slinking ahead like they own the place.
