There were so many special touches that it far exceeded his endeavors in filling my closet with expensive outfits. On top of the nightstand, the small wolf that Finn had carved sat beside a bottle of expensive peach lotion. I rarely wore that brand anymore, mostly because I’d unconsciously been letting go of who I was as a human, and some things reminded me too much of that life. Justus had no need to verbalize his feelings for me; his words filled the room.
“There’s a walkway back there,” he said, pointing to the other side of the room. “It goes around to a closet behind the wall of your bed. I’ve already laundered your clothes and they’re neatly folded and hung. We share a bathroom in the hall, so keep all of your personal items put away—especially those pink razors.”
I won the argument when I threatened to quit shaving.
“Join me in the workout room early tomorrow; you’ve slackened in your training. After seeing what you can do, we’ll practice on some of your skills,” he said, touching his belly where the sword had gone in. “Studies will continue afterward.”
My life was in a perpetual state of transition, and I was beginning to look forward to the change instead of fearing it. Nothing is ever the end of the world; it’s just the beginning of a new chapter.
“You may want to dress up. Guests will be arriving this evening and Logan called.” Justus turned his back to leave.
“What did he say?”
He looked over his shoulder. “You were to keep your trip confidential, Learner.”
“I
did
.”
“Then why did he ask who Christian was?”
The word
shit
repeated in my brain about three hundred times after the door closed.
Chapter 23
I sat wide-eyed beside Simon, gawking at the giant television in front of us. He leaned over and whispered, “I’m
so
buying a video game system for this thing.”
“I’m so never moving out,” I replied.
“Finish up with your eyegasm so we can eat,” Christian yelled out.
“I’m so going to kill him,” I grumbled, getting up.
I took a seat on the bench of the long dining table with the hammered finish. Justus claimed the chair to my right, facing the entrance. Candles illuminated the painting behind him and demanded everyone’s attention. He’d invited Novis as a courtesy for giving us a place to stay; Adam declined the invitation.
Novis dragged the chair out on the opposite end from Justus and glanced at Simon, who was sitting across from me and plunking his finger in the wine glass.
“Where did you learn your table manners?” I turned my mouth to the side.
He leaned in and stuck out his long, pierced tongue, lapping the wine from his glass like a dog. Justus slapped him on the back of the head and some of the wine dribbled on the table. Normally Justus wouldn’t have cared about Simon’s flippant behavior, but a Council member was present.
“Haven’t had a meal in over a year; pass the potatoes,” Christian said in a deep voice, sliding to my left.
“Who invited you?” I murmured.
“Your man did a knockout job, Novis.” Justus raised his glass, offering his appreciation for the extra security.
“We’ll get Silver set up in the system later tonight. Everything is switched on and you’ll need to do periodic tests to ensure that the equipment is running efficiently,” Novis said, slicing into the seasoned pork chop.
“No need to test it out,” Justus replied. “Logan will be here shortly and I think we will have our first test run.” The two of them laughed and Novis almost snorted.
My fork hit the plate. “What do you mean by that?”
“Logan,” Justus replied, wiping the corners of his mouth with a cloth napkin. “Novis, we should get him before he wanders off into the traps.”
“You’d better get him!” I yelled out. “And turn off the alarm!”
My legs were spread over the bench as I laid flat on my back. Christian peered over his shoulder. “That doesn’t look very vanilla.”
I speared him with my glare.
A second later, the alarm stopped screaming. “I’m going to hear that in my sleep,” I groaned, pulling myself back up.
Using the tongs, I dropped some fresh salad onto my plate. Someone had made the radishes look like roses. “Does this house also come with a personal chef?”
“If you want to hire me, I’ll draw up a contract,” Simon replied cockily.
“You just got here thirty minutes ago.”
“It’s not rocket science to slice bread and use a microwave. Maybe one day I’ll show Justus how to cook a proper steak.” Simon laughed heartily. “I’m afraid the rest of us have to find talents to get
our
women into bed. Of course once they’re there, I have other talents that keep them right where they are.”
“Handcuffs hardly count,” Christian said offhandedly.
“If you mean the ladies cuffing
me
to the bed so they can explore Hunt Island,” he said, rubbing his chest, “…then point taken. These hands are capable of making any female climax by the mere brush of a pinky across her bare breast.”
“I must have gone to the wrong island,” I said with a private laugh.
The front door opened and the butterflies grew restless. I wanted to snip off their wings because no matter how many times I saw Logan, he summoned those damn things like a spell.
Novis threw a leg over his chair with a silent grin and took a bite of his pork chop.
“Jiminy. That’s some system you got there, Mage,” Logan said from the hallway. I grew fond of some of the words he used that were often old-fashioned; it became one of his idiosyncrasies. Especially hearing it come out in his sultry, rich voice.
“Good thing you avoided the outer perimeter,” Justus remarked, crossing the room to his chair. “A word to the wise: stay on the path.”
When Logan entered the room, his fervent gaze fell on me and concealed layers of words that he would never say aloud in the company of men.
Then again, he just might
. His intoxicating stare sent a blush to my cheek.
He arrowed his gaze at Christian—the unfamiliar face in the room.
Better that I get it over with. “Logan, this is Christian Poe. Christian, that’s Logan Cross.”
Simon snorted. “If I introduced my penis to a vagina that magnificently, I’d never get laid.”
I hurled a carrot at his head and it bounced into his cup. Novis released a short laugh and everyone settled in their seat.
Except for Logan.
The tension was electric when he crossed the room and stood behind me. Boyfriend or not—every Mage in that room perceived Logan as a dangerous enemy by the way they eyed him indirectly.
He brushed my hair away from the left side of my neck and bent over. “I think I’ll skip dinner and go straight for dessert.”
Logan stepped over the bench on my right and sat down.
In a span of ten minutes, I discussed the details of my trip to Texas. Logan only knew a fraction of the details and this was my chance to come clean with him. I left out the part where my mother denounced me as her child.
Dinner progressed to dessert and several cheesecakes slid around the table. A chocolate wedge sat on my plate and I picked at it with my fingers while Justus and Novis discussed the security system.
“So that was one night,” Logan said. He cut the sharp knife into a cherry cheesecake and set the dessert on his plate while staring at Christian from across my shoulders. “What did you do with yourselves the rest of the time?”
That damn text message germinated in his mind like a virus. Logan wanted to know if the Vampire was competition, and his inability to scent Christian’s emotions must have been maddening.
“I ran into Marco. We were in one of his bars without knowing it and I tried to get him to work with us.”
Justus listened attentively with a frown that pressed a vertical line into his forehead. While I’d discussed the trip with him, I hadn’t mentioned that part.
“My cover is blown; he knows who I am.”
Justus twirled his gold ring between his fingers and stared at a candle impassively.
“I made an offer that we would help find his woman in exchange for information.”
“You did what?” Justus said in a furious whisper.
“He wasn’t receptive. Now that we’ve moved, I don’t know if he could find us even if he changed his mind.”
“Marco knows how to get in touch with me,” Justus muttered. The disdain he harbored for his Creator colored his face scarlet.
“How long was that meeting?” Logan inquired.
“Why don’t you just ask me what you really want to know?” I bit out sharply.
Simon shifted in his chair and cut in. “I’m hitting a dead end—pun intended—on my search. The higher up the list of names I go, the more tombstones I discover. I don’t believe the ones I found were turned, but it’s impossible to tell if they’re really dead, or if it’s a cover-up.” His eyes floated up. “Unless the graves are empty.”
“If I see you with a shovel, I’m calling the Enforcers,” I said. “That’s in bad taste.”
“As is everything I do in life. Your point?”
Logan caught his wrist and squeezed it until he dropped the piece. Christian made no move to retaliate, even though he was the stronger of the two.
“Do
not
take from
my
female’s plate.”
Not a breath stirred in that room as the admission was clear. Logan just announced in front of everyone present that I was more than just a girl he was courting.
“Fair enough, Chitah.”
After dinner, Novis surprised us with a housewarming gift—his game system. Justus may have installed a television, but I had doubts that a satellite dish was on top of the garage. The entertainment system was perfect.
I curled up beside Logan on the sofa and talked about my stay with Novis. Despite his strained relationship with Adam, he listened with interest when I mentioned the change in his personality.
“We’re less accepting than humans when it comes to physical deformities. They select a Mage based on his strength and other impressive qualities, so few exist with defects unless they acquired them as an immortal.”
I needed a change in subject. “What happens when Finn shifts into his animal?”
Logan’s laugh was a deep rumble. “The first time it happened, we almost killed each other, as you know.”
“Cats and dogs?” I smiled warmly and watched the glint in his golden eyes.
“Something like that. We’ve established territories within the house whenever he’s in wolf form. He shifts at will, but if he lets his temper get the best of him, then he’ll shift uncontrollably.”
I hadn’t told Logan about Finn shifting at the theater and decided not to mention it. I didn’t want one isolated incident to overshadow the fact that he was making a lot of progress.
“He told me once that when his wolf wants to come out, it feels like something scratching at the door. I’ve heard if they don’t let the animal shift, then it tries to take over.”
“Is that what it’s like with you?”
Logan looked uneasy. “Sometimes I feel it coming and I can hold it back, but that’s why they call it flipping a switch. Most of the time it happens and we can’t stop it.”
“But you can learn to control your emotions.”
“Some emotions cannot be controlled,” he muttered.
“Do you ever let Finn’s wolf outside?”
“No,” he replied, stretching his arm over the couch behind me. “Finn’s wolf can’t be trusted. Most Shifters have no memory outside of the first few minutes after it occurs. Wolves typically live in packs and become trained enough that they can roam free.”
“Is he housebroken?”
“Remember the chair you so fondly loved?” he asked facetiously.
I threw my head back and laughed.
“The day he shits on my floor, I’m building him a doghouse.”
“I’m really glad that you took him in, Logan. He deserves to have a good life and someone to call family. I liked him from the get-go and saw how much he wanted to connect with someone.”