“Sorry, I don’t want to bother Talon today. He looks so peaceful up there.” I shoot him another glance and he’s still lost in the music. “Let’s walk around some more. You’ll still be able to hear the music.” I scratch her ears the way she likes, and she turns to lead me down another path.
We crisscross around the gardens for what feels like hours, but I don’t tire of it. Frankie sniffs every plant and bug she sees.She scares a few critters, but she just wants to play. I don’t think she’d hurt a soul unless someone tried to hurt one of her people.
“Wren!” Warwick and the born witch Ethan stop me just as we’re leaving to head back to Lark’s.
They hold hands and grin so brightly. I love that they have each other again.
“Hey, what’s up?”
Wick looks to Ethan before taking my arm and walking me to the front of the garden. “I have a proposition for you.”
4
TALON
I wake up before my 3:30am alarm. The automatic coffee pot just finishes as I step out from the bathroom in my towel. The scent always perks me up. I fill my favorite handmade mug, then take a swig. No add-ins for me. I wince as it goes down wrong instead of the hot, smooth slide I’m used to. I sputter into the sink and try to catch my breath.
This doesn’t bode well for a good start to the day. I wipe my hand through my beard before giving it a quick rinse with the kitchen sprayer.
Once I’ve coughed out all the coffee I swallowed, I take another drink. This time the bitter brew goes down much better.
Birds chirp loudly outside and, combined with the gentle wind chimes, I find myself more awake. The birds always cheer me up, probably because I’m a griffin. And the wind chimes always bring peace in my world. Maybe today will be a good one, not that I really have bad days.
No, most days are pretty great. I just get in my own way. Which is frustrating, because I’ve been in Hex for over a decade, and I should know more people, but I stick to myself. Mostly because of what happened in the Fae realm when I was younger. No one really took a liking to me. They thought I was toofeminine, that I should just stay in the kitchen if that’s where I really wanted to be. And I mean, itiswhere I wanted to be. I love baking. My grandmother is the one who showed me how to get the dough to do what I want. She instilled within me passion and fire and drive to make the best baked goods I can make. The other griffins didn’t understand. I still don’t think they understand. But it doesn’t matter. I chose to leave the Fae lands to live my truth.
Before joining Warwick’s Wicked Bakery, I worked at Hex Grocer, but as soon as Wick put out his help wanted sign, I practically demanded to be given an interview. I brought my special creamsicle swirl sugar cookies and I think I had him floored with the first bite. He gave me a recipe to test on my own. Of course, I did it, but I made it my own. I also improved it just a little bit, which made Wick change his recipe to mine. Well, to my grandmother’s.
I’ve quite enjoyed working for Warwick. He’s a good boss, and I love watching his and Ethan’s love blossom over the years. Magic tore them apart years ago, and I can’t imagine having to go through life knowing you have someone, but you can’t see them. Warwick fought for years to find Ethan, and finally, they could be together. I don’t know when they’re getting married. I don’t know that they’re in a rush or anything. And I don’t really ask.
That’s the problem with me. I don’t really talk to many people. I find people fascinating. And I love going to the community gardens to just sit and people watch. But I much prefer the music productions. The wood nymph is a musical genius, and any time I can catch a show, I do. Last night was one of the best ones in many months. Though I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad show. I usually go and sit in the very back and just listen.
Most of the time there’s a visual show going on with the music, but I just need to feel the sound move through me. It does something for my inner griffin. I don’t know if it’s the eagle part or the lion part, but it settles the beast inside. It doesn’t even matter what kind of music.
Well, metal or rock music doesn’t reallysettle, but it does help with the anxiety in my head. Sometimes I fall asleep at the community gardens because I get so relaxed, but then I get so embarrassed I rush home.
I’m a griffin, and griffins are born to protect not run away. But I never thought of myself as a guardian. Which is why I had to leave the Fae lands. I just want to bake. I don’t want to have to watch Fae nobles. It’s just not my calling. But tell that to my family. You’d think I’d murdered someone. But no. I just want to be myself. And I can be myself in Hex. No one bothers me and I don’t bother them, but some days I’m incredibly lonely.
I just want someone to talk to. But I’ve built myself into this hole of just being a grumpy baker behind a wall. I don’t interact because I don’t trust people not to tear me apart. That’s all I knew before moving to Hex. I know I should probably try to trust the people of Hex. I’ve never truly had a bad experience here, but it’s difficult to shed this shell built from heartache and ridicule from my past. So I don’t think about it. I don’t acknowledge that it’s still there packed away. Not unless it picks at me like a certain flirty Fae.
Fae used to flirt with me all the time back home. They’d laugh. They’d talk about how I was too shy for anyone to want me. It hurt back then. Now I don’t want to think about that hurt. I just want to live my life. And I should probably give Wren a chance, but he’s Fae and a courtesan. All he knows how to do is flirt and fuck, but he sure is pretty.
I need to shake this melancholy and get ready for the rest of the day. Today we’re focusing on a new flavor of sugar cookie for the Summer Festival.
Wick said that I could come up with something on my own, and we could tweak it together. I’m thinking something fresh and lemony would be nice, but also safe. So, I’m trying to come up with other food combinations that would taste good together. Something like my creamsicle cookies would be sublime. But, I still haven’t decided if I want to try raspberry or blueberries as well. I have so many ideas swirling in my head as I get dressed. I try to decide if I want to go back to the community garden just to grab some fresh ingredients, but choose to head on to the bakery.
There’s always so much to look at on my path. I’m not in Hex proper, like a lot of residents. I live out in the woods, nestled between trees and an open field because that’s where I feel most at home. I like all the critters in the trees and tunneled in the ground. I feel a sense of kinship with them. I may have a huge lion body with eagle wings and head when I shift, but we all play in the open fields.
The air is soupy and warm and I tend not to care, but today feels extra humid and I swear my hair and beard frizz out more than I’d like it to. My skin’s a bit itchy because I forgot to oil the beard today. I’ve contemplated shaving my face, but then I’m left with a sweet baby face, and that just doesn’t go well with my grumpy exterior.
The birds twitter loudly, and I whistle a happy little tune with them, but don’t let anyone hear it, because I will deny that I was this chipper.
It’s 4am and the rest of Hex’s residents are still asleep and will be for several,severalmore hours. This is the best time of the day, if you ask me, when nothing but the birds are awake,unless you have a job like mine that requires you to wake up early. I do so enjoy the mornings.
My path switches from dirt to gravel to finally pavement as I make my way to Wick’s. I unlock the door and something isn’t quite right. There’s a wintery honey scent.
And I know exactly who that is. Wick smells like toasted marshmallows and it always makes me hungry, but that’sWick’sscent. Everybody has their own interesting signature scent. I don’t know if I notice because I have griffin senses or if it’s just how everybody is. In the Fae lands, everyone usually smells sweet. But in Hex, everyone has an interesting scent. I like to figure out whose scent is whose.
I get two steps into the building and Wick comes in from the back room with none other than Wren trailing behind him. It’s still a shock to see Wren with such short hair but I think the look suits him much better than the long hair ever did. He’s already wearing a hairnet and I give Wick a glare.
