Page 28 of The Librarian’s Familiar

He’d also been asked to review the prison library, as that hadn’t been updated in nine years. He needed to be much more careful with the books he sent there, and the list needed to be approved. That was still on his to-do list.

At some point, he’d need to go out there to shelve the books, and he was not looking forward to that. There was a reason those witches were stripped of their magic and locked away.

His food arrived, and he gave the waitress a polite nod. He hadn’t even managed to take the first bite when a shadow loomed over his table.

“You don’t have to eat alone. You can join me and my brothers.” August’s voice was a low rumble.

Charlie glanced up at August. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

For a start, his brothers would be able to hear and smell every change in his body, and he couldn’t control the lust that zipped through his veins near August. Secondly, he wasn’t ready to meet his brothers.

“I told them.” August gave him a single nod and glanced at the table as if there was nothing more to say, and Charlie should know what he was talking about.

He could make an educated guess. “Ah, okay. Um…good for you.”

August shifted his weight as if uncomfortable. He pulled out the other chair and sat down. “I thought that’s what you wanted.”

His chips were going cold. He wanted to eat dinner. “Don’t do things because of me. Do them for yourself.”

“Obviously, I did that too.”

“Oh God, do they think you’re over here…” Charlie frowned, not sure how to phrase it carefully given how many shifters were in the bar.

“No…not unless they’re jumping to conclusions.”

Which they probably were. “I stopped in for a quick dinner because it’s been a long day.” He hadn’t expected polar bear to be on the menu.

August nodded, gazing at the table. “I’ll let you get back to it.” He pushed the chair back.

“If you were alone, I’d have joined you because there’s no point in taking up two tables, right?” As the words left his lips, he realized he meant it. It might’ve even been nice to have dinner with someone instead of on his own. He could still change his mind and join the polar bears, but it was a lot of effort to get up, and he’d have to make conversation, and he could not be fucked.

“They only stopped in for one drink before heading home. We only just got back into town.”

“You had a good time then?”

August smiled, and it lit up his pale blue eyes. “Yeah. Maybe don’t eat too fast?”

“Maybe tell them to drink faster?”

August held his gaze for a heartbeat, then turned and walked back to his table. Charlie wished he had shifter-sensitive ears so he could hear what they were saying about him. Was he only the new librarian, and someone August had run into?

Were his brothers now scheming in overdrive?

Ugh…small towns.

If he slept with someone new every three months, he was going to run out of eligible men real fast. And he did not want to be known as the librarian who gave extra services to patrons.

Though given the book return slot did not see much action from books, maybe it could double as a gloryhole. No, that was a bad thought. It was way too public. It was also cold and metal.

He nibbled on a few fries, trying not to think about August and glory holes and things involving both. He did not need every shifter in the place smelling the lust on his skin and wondering what was up. As nice as it was to be in a predominantly paranormal town, there were definite downsides.

As a distraction, he let his magic unfurl and create a little chaos out of order.

A drink got knocked over, and a button fell off a shirt and rolled over the floor. The thread on a sock finally gave up allowing the toe to start poking out. Charlie sighed with relief. Most of the time, he created the order for his magic to disturb. Lining up pens, stacking papers, even shelving books, but it was so much nicer to search for something that only needed a nudge over the edge.

A tray of glasses hit the floor with a crash.

Fuck, too much. It was always harder to reel it back in, but he didn’t want to be kicked out of the only bar in town. If things kept happening, they would rightly guess there was a witch making trouble.