“Three of them. Kind of good-looking, but really creepy and obnoxious and kind of dumb.”
Fionnulla and Juniper looked at each other and nodded. “Three? That wouldn’t be the three royal idiots, would it? Royal, Earl, and Duke?”
“I…think so?” I sank down into a chair.
“Let me get you a cup of tea and call Killian. He’s the local alpha that our coven works with. We’re not that fond of the Iron Claw pack. Wait, did this happen in our town or their town?”
I smiled weakly. “It’s a really long story. Please don’t call Killian. Also, I left my purse and cell phone behind and I don’t have any money for tea. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, girlfriend! Tea’s on me. Or coffee? You look like a coffee girl. Milk and sugar, amirite? And a pastry.” She hurried off. I followed her over to the counter, with Fionnulla trailing behind me, and waited while she set a Danish on a plate and poured me a coffee.
“You are an absolute lifesaver.” I took a long sip of the coffee. “Mmm. Tasty. While I’m imposing on you, do you think I could use your phone?”
She produced a cell phone from behind the counter, and I dialed my mother’s number and then realized that I would have no idea what to tell her. I had no idea where I was and Red Sands seemed to have disappeared.
And, given how snippy she’d been with me this morning, I couldn’t have counted on her to pick me up anyway.
It didn’t matter, though. The call didn’t go through; all I heard was static.
“You’re not trying to call anyone in the human realm, are you?” Fionnulla asked.
I hung up quickly and returned the cell phone to her.
The human realm. OK then. “Oops! I forgot.” I quickly took a bite of pastry, holding it up to hide my face.
“Oh, yeah, I do that sometimes,” she nodded. “Store phone’s ringing. I’ll be right back.”
A woman walked up to the register with a stack of books and a stuffed wolf toy, and Juniper hurried over to ring her up.
When Fionnulla returned, I’d almost finished my pastry and she had a serious look on her face.
“You’ve got about five minutes before Killian Barnstead shows up.” She squinted at the door and then looked at me. “Why is he looking for you?”
I winced. “It’s a really long story which I don’t understand at all. He, uh, apparently also wants to kidnap me. Wait—why is he coming to the shop?”
She heaved a sigh. “He asked if you were here. Well, he said that someone had reported that they saw a smokin’ hot half-shifter chick with a great rack come in here, and he wanted to know if you were still here, so I lied and said no. I’m coven, not pack. I don’t have to answer to him.” Her voice took on a sulky tone when she said that. “But anyway, I don’t think he believed me, so if you don’t want Killian to kidnap you, you’d best skedaddle. Because he’s back in this realm and he’s looking for you.”
So much new information was coming at me that my head wanted to explode.
What came out of my mouth was, “He said I’m smokin’ hot?”
Really, Daphne?Not the time to let my vajayjay do the thinking.
“Yep. Why, just for the sake of argument, don’t you want him to kidnap you? I mean, I know he’s supposed to have a mating contract with Aurora, but still. I’d let him kidnap me every day of the week.”
“And twice on Sunday!” Juniper called out. She’d just finished ringing up her customer, who was leaving the store and glancing over her shoulder to stare at me. Juniper came back out from around the counter and stood next to Fionnulla.
“If only it wasn’t for Aurora,” Fionnulla sighed. “Lot of ladies around town were disappointed by that mating announcement.” Juniper nodded in agreement.
The hot, bitter jealousy that exploded through my body was completely irrational. Royal and his gross friends had mentioned an Aurora. Who the hell was this wench and why did I hate her without ever having met her?
“Wait—who’s a half shifter?”
Juniper frowned at me, puzzled. “You are. Obviously. Half shifter and also part witch. A lot of alpha shifters mate with powerful witches because that’s how they get magic in their bloodline.”
Of course they did.
So many questions. I didn’t even know where to start. “How can you tell I’m half shifter, part witch?”
