Page 12 of Wanderer

“He’s a warlock. I can’t trust them,” I said firmly.

We spent the rest of the journey in silence. Fen didn’t try to convince me to give the warlock a chance, and for that, I was grateful. I wasn’t in a place to be reasonable and listen to any platitudes. No, what I needed was to take the night to formulate a plan and then get away from here.

Instead of taking me back to City Hall to face Hestia and what I’d done by running away, Fen took me to a diner and made sure I ate dinner. We talked about inconsequential things—sports, the weather—not Christmas, because that meant family, and that was too personal. He introduced me to people he knew, telling me about their supernatural species in an undertone. There were many stories about dragons. Tatsuya and Ryuu weren’t actually his cousins. Dragonkin called everyone not related by blood a dragon cousin. He told me they tended to mate outside of their species. Ryuu was married to a druid. Usually at least one dragon was born to that pairing, with the dragon blood being stronger.

Greyhaven was home to more types of supernaturals than I could even comprehend. I hadn’t thought about species that couldn’t blend in with humans easily. Hadn’t thought they were anything other than myths since I’d never seen a bodach before. Didn’t know they had a female version that was harmless. This sanctuary had a sibling pair of them, and one, the male, worked with Gareth.

It was easier to think of my mate by his name and not his species. Not that it really helped matters. Could I even be in the same room as him without my fight or flight instinct kicking in? I couldn’t fully separate the two—his species, and who he was to me—in my heart, like I could in my brain. Not now, anyway, and I had so little time here before the curse would kick in. I wasn’t sure if there was any point in trying to talk to him. What could I give him if I couldn’t break this curse?

“Are you going to be okay?” Fen asked when he dropped me off at my cabin. My trailer was parked up beside it, I noticed vaguely, the long day making my thoughts slow. He caught me looking. “Your car’s getting fixed up. The magic caused the breakdown, so we’re fixing it for free.”

A bullshit excuse for charity, but I hadn’t been working the last week, so I wasn’t in a position to argue. I had money, just not a lot. “Uh, thanks. Do you know how long it will be?”

“Nah. You’ll need to go see Walt in the morning. He’s a cyclops, they’re great with anything mechanical. He and his clan live here.”

Fen gave me directions to Walt’s garage and patted me on the shoulder before he got back in his car. He waited until I was inside, the door securely locked, before he drove away. I wondered if he thought I was going to vanish in the night. I was still tempted, though life would be much easier with a working car.

The warmth of the cabin seeped into me. I’d been unable to shrug off this chill since Fen had found me on the side of the road. Even sitting in the diner, I’d felt cold to my bones. Here, inside and finally alone, I was able to relax and let the heat in.

Rather than undressing and getting into bed feeling utterly bone weary, I shifted into one of my comfort forms after checking there was no one spying. My fox form was an unusual one, since it was mainly black with patches of orange rather than red with black and white. Climbing onto the bed, I hopped up on top of the wardrobe with a blanket between my teeth. It took me a few moments to get it situated, then I curled up, my bushy tail as a pillow, and went to sleep.

Everything, all my worries and fears, could wait until morning.

Six

Gareth

The mayor just stared at me. “I… Well, I didn’t think he would react like that.”

I rounded on her, angry for some unknown reason. Part of it was a feeling that she’d wronged my mate somehow, and I felt the need to avenge him. “What the fuck just happened?”

“Gareth, I think you should sit down and have some more tea.” Hestia didn’t react to my outburst, just sat back in her chair and took a sip, prompting me to do the same. Awkwardness filled the air. My remaining tension and my bitter dismay hung like a cloud around me. “Riley has a history with a warlock. I felt he could overcome it to begin the process of breaking the curse on his family. I was wrong.”

A goddess admitting she had made a mistake was rare, so I bit back any retort that wanted to slip from my tongue. “What do we do now?”

This felt insurmountable. Other things, like my appearance or job, could be changed. What I was couldn’t, and until Riley could cope with having a warlock as a mate, we had no chance of building anything.

“Did you sense the magic all over him?”

“There wasn’t much time…”

“Being wrong twice in one day is unheard of for me.” Her lips twisted into a smirk. “I am sure that Riley is under two curses.”

“Two?”

She set down her tea with a clack. “Without him here, I feel it’s inappropriate to discuss it further. His reaction to you was not about you.”

“Yeah, right. You said he’s afraid of warlocks.”

“I believe it goes beyond that. That this is a layer of compulsion.”

“Compulsion?” My cup lingered in the air halfway to my mouth.

Hestia let out a hum. “Again, until he is here, I think it’s best we wait to work this out.” She made it sound so simple.

How could I get him to be in the same room as me after his initial reaction? The idea of it seemed impossible. My heart ached, and I set my cup down to rub at it absently. Now that I knew he existed, now I’d seen him, I wanted to be everything for him.

Hestia frowned and picked up her cup once more. When she spoke, regret was heavy in her voice. “Riley must have hidden some of his trauma from me. I really didn’t think it would upset him that badly. The compulsion on him must be strong.”