Laurette straightened.“Speaker, please.”
Theodore nodded.“Hold on, I’m putting you on speaker.I’m here with everyone.”He held the phone up to the table.
“—s everyone?Where are you?”
“Corvin, this is Peter.Care to tell us where you are?”
The exhale was audible, and somewhere in the background on Corvin’s end, Peter heard Michael say, “Peter’s there?” before Corvin continued, “Mike came here to look for you two.He said you were really scared when you called him, Theo.”
Theodore sniffed.“I wasn’t…scared.”
“Whatever.He said you were, so he did the white knight thing and came over here.Because he’s the best.We’re hiding behind the bushes in front of the cafeteria because there are a bunch of super-hot guys here, except Mike says they’re Fae and thus very bad.Definitely no touching, he says.This isn’t what I thought my afternoon would look like.”
“Well, this is a development.”Laurette leaned toward the phone.“Hello there, this is Laurette of the Silver Moons.We haven’t met, and this is an inopportune moment if ever there was one.You say you are safe, hiding in the greenery?”
“Yeah, pretty much.Who are you?”
Laurette stood.“Not important now.I’m headed your way to assist with your Fae problem.There must be a nest, as they say.Can you and your partner keep an eye on them without getting too close?Like you would watch a cockroach or a spider.”
There was a pause.“Mike is nodding.I’m game so long as there are no zombies.”
“Goodness, let’s hope not.Theo is going to give me your number, and I’ll be in touch when I get closer.Peter, you’ll be driving us back there, I’m afraid, and—”
“I’m coming,” Theodore said.
“Coming from where?Where even are you?”
Theodore turned his phone around while they all stood.“Celeste’s.But we’ll be there soon.We’ll be right there.”
“’Kay.See you then.”
He hung up, and Peter got to his feet.“Theodore.”
His beloved glared at him again.“I’m not staying here.”
Peter, in a daring mood, placed a careful hand on Theodore’s elbow.“You’ll be staying behind me.That’s all I’m asking.”
“Aw, aren’t you two just so damncute,” Laurette said.“We should get going though.Peter?”
Carl-Conrad cleared his throat.“If it’s okay with you, boss, I’ll tag along with them.Help out.”
Celeste nodded absently.“Go ahead.This isn’t going to be a worse problem?I’m not an expert in dealing with Fae, Lord Laurette, but they shouldn’t be hanging around on campus, should they?”
He shook his head, coiling a pink-purple strand around his finger.“No.We’ll get to the bottom of that particular mystery.”
Peter inclined his head.“The first Fae—”
“Cloudtree.”Theodore crossed his arms.“He said his name was Cloudtree and something else or other.”
“Well, Cloudtree mentioned he had family waiting when I lured him out of the cafeteria, but I assumed that was him trying to get me not to tear his head off right away.”
Laurette shrugged.“Let’s ask him before we head out there.Worst case, we stop by my place and pick up a sword or two.Peter, you know your way around a sword, don’t you?Or is your only skill making a man swoon while you dance with him?”
Laurette made his voice seductively low, and Peter could almost hear the sparks those words ignited in his beloved’s mood.Theodore, as it turned out, could turn his glare up even higher still, and Laurette happily ignored that.
Celeste clicked her tongue.“None of that here.Take it outside.Go on.”
She was good at herding the lot of them, even without a crop, and before long, they’d made it downstairs where Laurette’s pixie servant was overseeing Cloudtree on his knees, polishing the hardwood floor around the bar.Some of the employees were watching, some of the clients too.Cloudtree had a nice ass.
