That’s something any reasonable person would be askingyou, buddy,he didn’t say. At least he could appreciate the forthright approach Levi had taken, rather than just staring at him like all the other guys in Girdwood Springs.
“I’m a half-shifter, but I can’t shift,” he said instead, hoping that that would be enough to placate him. He really didn’t care to get into discussing his apparent bad vibes, especially when there were much more important things going on.
“Huh,” Levi said, looking thoughtful. “I guess that explains it.”
He didn’t sound fully convinced, but it seemed like the explanation was enough to satisfy him for now.
Max wondered briefly if maybe his half-shifter status had something to do with the other guys in town giving him weird looks, though that would presumably mean that they had all been shifters as well, which seemed unlikely.
A town full of tall, muscular men who all happen to be shifters? That just doesn’t seem very realistic.
He didn’t really care about any of that, though, because Poppy was stirring ever so slightly in his arms, her eyelashes fluttering.
“Poppy?” he whispered, barely daring to hope. “Poppy, it’s Max. Can you hear me?”
Poppy let out an incoherent sound, barely more than a sigh, but it was music to Max’s ears. The relief that washed over him was staggering – literally. His knees wobbled, and it was probably only the fact that he was already knee-deep in snow that kept him from falling over entirely. He concentrated on standing upright and tightened his grip on her, determined not to let go.
Margot was still casting her gentle warming spell, and Max was content to continue to let her do so for a few more minutes before getting Poppy to safety.
That, however, meant that he was stuck making small talk, since Margot was apparently the chatty type, and clearly Levi wasn’t going to pick up the conversation’s slack. He gave some noncommittal responses, paying far more attention to the slight pinkness appearing in Poppy’s cheeks and the gradual deepening of her breaths than to whatever Margot was saying, before suddenly she had his full attention.
“I’m sorry, could you say that again?” he asked.
“I said that we came out here because I detected a powerful magical surge,” Margot said, with a cheerfulness that seemed entirely unsuited to the gravity of the situation. “I understand wanting to play around with magic where there aren’t any other people around to witness it, but you’ve got to be more careful about these things.”
“I… magic?” Max said in bewilderment. “I don’t know anything about magic. And I’m pretty sure Poppy doesn’t, either. We were just out for a walk.”
“Hmm,” Margot said lightly, apparently taking this development in her stride. Meanwhile, Max was confused, to put it mildly.
Iknewthere was something weird about that avalanche,he thought.I mean, I know that they can move at insane speeds, but there was just something about it that felt… unnatural.
“Well, there was definitely magic involved,” Margot continued merrily. “Quite powerful, too.”
“Do you have any enemies?” Levi said – he’d been so silent that Max had almost forgotten he was there. Maybe Levi had his own powers of social invisibility.
Max shook his head. “No. I have a pretty boring life, for the most part. Not involved with any shifters outside of my family.”
A thought occurred to him. There had been that distant figure he’d seen disappearing into the trees – although now, looking back, he couldn’t even be one hundred percent sure he’d seen them. Certainly he hadn’t caught any details. Maybe he’d just seen a glimpse of an animal moving through the trees, and his panicked mind had filled in the gaps incorrectly.
In any case, even if ithadbeen a person, and even if theyhadcaused the avalanche, who could it be? Like he’d said, he didn’t have any enemies. And even an environment as cut-throat as the restaurant industry wouldn’t go so far as to murder someone for a bad review.
He didn’tthinkso, anyway.
A movement caught his attention, and he looked down at Poppy, whose eyes were fluttering open. She blinked slowly, looking back and forth between Max and Margot, her eyes clouded with confusion.
“Poppy?” he said. “It’s Max. Can you hear me?”
She nodded ever so slightly, still not looking quite with it.
“It’s okay,” he went on, his face finally able to smile again. “Some people helped you out, and we’re going to get you to a doctor. Just rest.”
A dreamy smile ghosted over her face.
“Max,” she whispered, and her eyes slipped closed once more. But she was still breathing, deep and even, and she curled in against his chest.
Pulling his eyes up from her face, reassured for now that he wasn’t about to lose her, he looked at Margot and Levi – and realized that he’d been incredibly remiss.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” he said. “I never thanked you. Thank you both so much – I really mean it.”
