The man outside the clothing store I worked in had me laughing more than a few times this morning while I covertly watched him through the glass windows watching me—not so covertly.
He was a tail.
Had been since this morning when I’d left an hour after Elder Merricks mad dash out of my apartment. The tail had tried not to be obvious when I raced from my apartment, the wind buffering me as soon as I had opened the door, but I mean, a man with a pile of burnt cigarettes outside his car door and sunglasses and hat on before the sun was even up was…well, obvious. Not to mention he was an air Elemental with bright yellow hair, at least six and a half feet tall, muscle bound, and extremely handsome, to boot. From the looks of it, he had been there all evening in the parking lot, and then had followed me discreetly to work.
“Hello? Sadie? Back to Earth!” Shelly stated loudly across from me, the water Elemental I was working with today. “You haven’t folded anything in the past four minutes.”
Oops. “Sorry,” I mumbled, glancing back to the new shipment of shirts on the counter I was folding, trying not to laugh at the air Elemental across the street, sitting at a table outside—in the cold—at the ice cream parlor, trying to disengage from someone who apparently knew him, the woman attempting to make conversation with him while he was on the job. “Just a little distracted today.”
She hummed to the—horrible—song playing over the intercoms, grinning at me. “Have a good night, then?”
My own grin couldn’t be diminished. “Actually, I did.” I folded a shirt. “I met someone really nice.” And someone I should back away from…really, probably run…but I didn’t think I was capable of it now…or…I just didn’t want to.
“Nice?” She snorted. “Nice is boring.” She waggled a shirt at me. “You need to find someone that’ll shake you,” eyebrows lifted, “if you know what I mean.”
I laughed outright. “You sound like you need to get laid, not me.”
“Well…that might be true, too.” She shrugged, and as I started folding again, she whistled quietly, staring out the window, a hand instantly going to her hair, fluffing it. “Oh, my God…I think…I think he’s coming in here.”
I peered out the window, my heart fluttering, idiotically thinking it was Cain with that type of reaction, but instead I saw Fergus exiting from the driver’s side of what was a shiny black BMW, Kincaid getting out of the driver’s side, and Venclaire and Nelson exiting from the backseats. I had to hide my grin, even if I was a little stupidly disappointed it wasn’t Elder Merrick—dumb, dumb—and a definite girly action. I glanced at the clock because they shouldn’t be out of school yet…and it appeared the four of them were skipping out during the lunch hour. All four made their way into the store, even though Kincaid looked like he wanted to gobble up the entire ice cream parlor.
Nelson waved. “Hey, Sadie.”
I waved absently as the other three said their hellos, all four making their way to the counter, two of them eyeing some of the men’s clothing. “Hey, guys.” Shelly made a noise in her throat, glancing at me in surprise, but I ignored her expression, and her wistful gaze at Fergus. “Shouldn’t you four be in school?”
Venclaire’s lips lifted a bit. “Maybe.”
Fergus tilted his head at the ice cream parlor. “Come to lunch with us.”
My lips pinched, and I shook my head. “I can’t. I already took my lunch a half hour ago.” I raised my brows. “Next time, give a girl a little warning.”
Kincaid grunted. “Take another.”
My lips trembled a bit at his sour expression. “Next time. I promise.” I waggled my finger at them. “And call first.”
Kincaid’s expression turned even darker, and he reached a hand into his back pocket, pulling a twenty out and thumping it into Fergus’s waiting hand, and a grin on his face. “Fuck. You.”
Fergus tapped his ear, still smiling happily as he pocketed the cash. “Listen better next time. She told us what time her lunch was.”
Venclaire and Nelson both nodded.
Brusque words. “I must have been in the bathroom.”
I laughed outright, shaking my head at them. “I am not an object for bets.”
“Everything, and everyone, is an object for bets.” Fergus stared out the window, squinting a bit. “I think someone’s casing your store.”
I snorted hard, doubling over, thumping a hand on the counter top. “Damn, he is so bad.”
“You know already?” Venclaire asked, scowling now at the window, too.
Gurgling, I nodded. “Yes. Elder Jacobs and Elder Merrick paid me a visit the other day. My answers weren’t clean enough, so Elder Jacobs is having me followed.” I shrugged a shoulder, every one of them glaring now. “I have no background. Do the math. They’re just looking out for you guys.”
Kincaid grabbed a piece of paper off the desk and started scribbling on it. “These are all of our phone numbers. Call us if the Elders or Kings bother you again.”
“They didn’t bother me,” I muttered, slapping at his writing hand. “I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
“Yes…well,” Fergus rolled his shoulders still glaring, “I’ll take care of this asshole right now.”
“Fergus,” I muttered as he started marching away toward the door, Venclaire and Nelson hot on his heels. Kincaid shoved the paper at me before he hurried after them. “Fergus! It’s really alright!”
He just waved an absent hand over his shoulder, storming out of the shop, Nelson turning on his heel back to me, stating, “We’ll see you tonight. We’ll bring the groceries.”
“If he does anything to him, or if any of you make a fuss about this, it’ll only make it worse!” I shouted. “He’s only doing his job!”
“We don’t like his fucking job at this current time,” Venclaire stated casually over his shoulder before he exited the building, the door swinging open a bit too forcefully.
Kincaid grabbed the door before it hit a poor bastard walking by, and Kincaid waved a hand at me where I stood with my mouth slightly gaping as Fergus walked sedately across the street—except his shoulders were stiff and I was fairly sure I could see rocks flying away from him, his power leaking harshly. “See ya, Sadie.”
I waved distractedly as he left, and then stared wide-eyed as Fergus said something offhandedly to the air Elemental across the street while moving past him…just as the earth shot up like a thick totem pole under the chair he was sitting on. I could hear his shout from inside the store, pedestrians stopping to watch in shock—even as Fergus calmly entered the parlor, not even glancing at him. Right when the earth appeared to eat the air Elemental, the totem pole of earth swiftly slammed back down into the ground, the chair, and air Elemental…just gone from view on the even concrete.
Shelly choked as we both stared at the even, spotless ground. “Sadie?”
“Huh?”
“That is definitely a man who can make you shake.”
“Yeah…I got that.” But, he wasn’t the one who made me shake. I reached across the counter to Shelly, using a smidge of my power, making her forget the conversation I’d just had with them, and my missing background.
Fergus, the calm, quiet man of 2035…hadn’t killed the air Elemental…not sure how he hadn’t…but three days later, Shelly and I both witnessed as the air Elemental, and the chair, were “spat” from the ground in the middle of one of my shifts. He was choking and coughing, dirty as hell, but alive to wobble away, holding his hand over his eyes, shading his peepers from the bright sunlight. He didn’t once glance in the direction of the clothing store. And if he did follow me again, he managed to do so without me noticing, although, I was fairly sure I had a fire Elemental tail now, rotating with an air Elemental and water Elemental, who were a hell of a lot better at their job. I did not once mention this to the Prodigies, although, I was fairly sure they also knew, but when I didn’t say anything, and they didn’t attack the tail, it dawned on me they might have reacted that way to the air Elemental because I had mentioned something, meaning to them, it bothered me. Because over the next few weeks of happily seeing them sporadically during lunches, nights, and every weekend, I noticed they were the protective sort, behaving with sound morals, and low morals, a scary four. And I enjoyed their company immensely, oddly, feeling like the glue that held them together sometimes when they started to bicker about ridiculous shit, and them, in return, doing the same if I got into an argument with one of them over something mundane. And God, I liked it. It felt like home.
And then, there was Elder Cain Alek Merrick.
And fuck, did I like our time together, too, just on a completely different variety.
During the first two weeks after meeting him here in this time, our evenings together had most definitely not involved a lot of sleep, the Elder walking in through the door, Cain erupting as soon as he settled down, always deciding to move his car and stay the night, then the Elder rushing off again through my window the next morning.
On the third week, while doing my laundry, I had found one of his shirts, along with two of the Prodigies, but I had also found a pair of his boxer briefs, which I most definitely did not find of the Prodigies, in my dirty clothes I had grabbed off the floor. When I had put everything away, I had hesitated for all of a moment before putting the shirt on a hanger, and scooting over my clothes in the closet, hanging his on the left side, a small place in my drawer for his underwear.
In the fourth week, I bought a toothbrush holder for multiple toothbrushes, adding a few more toothbrushes to it so the Prodigies were thoroughly confused, thinking I had some kind of fetish with oral hygiene, since Cain seemed to have an issue with leaving his out on the counter instead of putting it back in his gym bag he now carried with him on our nights together so he could shower at my place instead of rushing back so early of a morning. And I also found a pair of tennis shoes, worn with love, left on the floor, which I placed inside my closet next to my own under two more of his shirts and a pair of pants that had accumulated through doing laundry. The man, not a very tidy individual, to which he had yanked the shirts off the hanger one morning when his were all wrinkled in his bag, of course, forgetting to take the wrinkled ones with him.
During the fifth week, it slowly began to dawn on me when I rolled over after he had left one morning, my head landing on a different pillow on my bed—a black satin one smelling heavily of him—that I seriously didn’t mind so much him leaving his stuff behind.
Then, the day of reckoning came.
Standing in line for the boxing match we were attending I heard Venclaire mutter, “What the hell are they all doing here?”
As one, the other three Prodigies and I glanced where Venclaire was staring, but I couldn’t see a thing recognizable, so I asked, “Who?”
“The Kings and Elders,” Venclaire grumbled, his eyes narrowing. “You’ll see them in a few seconds.”
I barely kept my heart from escalating, thinking of my calm, cool place, more than happy I had researched what the Kings of this time even looked like, a bit thrilled Elder Merrick would be near, but more than freaked I wouldn’t act right. So…yes. A white solace of nothing was what I coated myself in as I saw them. King Townsend, the Shifter King, was on the far right. King Bridges, the Vampire King, was to the left of him. King White, the Elemental King, was next, also in the middle. King Samson, the Mage King, was on the far left. And Elder Merrick, taller and wider than all of them, walked sedately behind them with Elder Jacobs as people, Commoners and Mysticals, sort of shuffled, or damn near leapt out of their way, as the group came through.
I’d had a feeling the Prodigies were being watched, only non-intellectual Kings letting their heirs go roaming about without protection in the background, plus, every single one of them were eyeing me, confirming my assumption. I knew right then this was going to be a real interesting night of word play on my part as they came to check me out, more than likely already having done their own background checks. I glanced at the Prodigies, all of them scowling, seeing where their Kings gazes had landed, and when they started to step in front of me, I quickly stepped forward, whispering harshly, “They’re just protecting you. Get over it because I have.”
They all kind of grunted, and their scowls turned quiet…watchful.
Like a damn tiger just waiting for the right moment to pounce.
I sighed heavily, then turned my attention back to the Kings, seeing King Bridges’s eyebrows raised a bit at me, apparently having razor sharp hearing, so I raised my own eyebrows, returning the gesture, and I swear I saw a bit of excited cunning challenge dash across his expression.
Wonderful.
Maybe I should miraculously turn into a statue now or grow wings to fly away quickly, because there was brutal intelligence swimming in those eyes.
I actually debated running for a moment, worrying I wouldn’t be able to escape quickly enough with a group like this, but I still had the Primal Diamond, so my get out of free jail token was still in play. So, instead of running, I calmly shook each of their hands when they introduced themselves to me with a dry palm, steady gaze, and an even voice. A bit surprised, King White turned and introduced Elder Jacobs and Elder Merrick to me, and I quickly hooded my gaze, dumbfounded they hadn’t told the Kings they had already met me, but in the blink of an eye I had that white solace wrapped back around me, my momentary shock, in the Kings’ eyes, could be contributed to who they were, not that I already knew them. After shaking their hands, only saying their names in greeting, King White smiled generously, and waved an arm toward the entrance of the building we had yet to see since the line was so long. “Shall we? We have a box reserved.”
And so, with the Prodigies fucking flanking me, going all protective, we moved around the waiting line, cutting way up to the front, which I seriously wished now, seeing Elder Merrick dressed in black wool pants and a gray V-neck cashmere sweater, the sleeves pushed up to his forearms, that he hadn’t come. I had a damn death grip on my white solace, trying really freaking hard to control my libido, when all I really wanted to do was turn around where he walked directly behind me, wrap my hands in his soft, black curls and pull his lush lips down to mine, but, instead, I got a rude awakening at the gate.
I blinked at the security woman who confronted me, all the men—kindly—letting the lady go first. The blood practically drained from my face when the woman motioned to a damn metal detector I was going to have to go through. And since I had a small arsenal on me it wasn’t a great time to have the Kings and Elders around.
Bitch asked gruffly, “Is there a problem, ma’am?” She glanced behind me, surveying who I was with—for the third time—before her hard gaze came back to me, her own protective nature coming to the fore. She gestured to a side door. “I can take you in there and search you myself, if you prefer?”
My lips thinned, feeling a little dizzy, but I shook my head quickly. “That won’t be necessary.” I licked my lips. “I do have a few weapons on me, though, for my own protection. I would hate to lose them.”
She grunted, crossing her muscular Shifter arms. “We have a section set aside for any weapons confiscated.” She grinned. “They’ll be taken to the police, and you’re more than welcome to try to retrieve them there.”
I shifted my boot the barest bit, barely grazing her toe, and opened the barest bit of my power, just a tiny sliver. I floated in the cosmos, connecting with her, grabbing her tether, and bringing to my lips swiftly. I whispered, “Agree with me.”
I cut the connection instantly, and then stated clearly, “I would prefer to have them back at the end of the night. I’m sure there’s a safe somewhere you can put them in, right?”
She smiled, and it was instantly friendly. “Actually, yes, we do. I would be happy to do that for you.”
“Thank you.” I moved to the table next to the metal detector, and unzipped my purse, still completely mortified as everyone watched silently. But I swiftly removed my gun, popping the clip out, asking the woman, “Do you have a bag I can put my stuff in?”
“Yes.” She nodded once, smiling at me and taking off her own bag crisscrossed over her shoulders. “Will this work?”
“Perfect,” I mumbled.
I counted the silver bullets I let drop into my open palm, barely flinching, wanting to make sure I got the right amount back, before putting them back into the clip and tossing the gun and clip in the bag. Next, I pulled out the beautiful, silver wicked blade I had inside at the bottom of my purse, dropping it inside as it gleamed under the horrendous yellow light. The next silver knife was at the bottom of my purse, a smaller blade, but no less deadly. I unzipped the hidden compartment, and pulled out the small diamond blade I had and the diamond bladed knuckles, dropping those into the bag. I reached behind me, pulling out a gun from the back of my jeans that I had stolen here in the first three months, not real interested in those bullets since they weren’t silver, but I pulled the clip on it, putting both of those in the bag. I patted my jacket, realizing I had both knives in the inside pocket, also not silver, but I took those out and dropped them in absently. I lifted my right boot onto the table, lifting my jeans a bit, pulling out the other gun I had stolen, taking off that holster. Up came my other leg next and I removed that knife. I zipped my purse up and slung it over my shoulder. I mumbled into the dead silence, “That should be it.” And I tried to walk through the metal detector.
It beeped. Loudly.
My chest heaved, and I instantly walked backward, and turned to face the guard, who was still smiling at me. I tapped my lips lightly with my finger, trying to remember what else I had on me. I ran a hand over my left arm, but I didn’t have a knife there. Even felt under my breasts, but there was no weapon I may have placed there. My brows puckered, staring at Smiling Bitch, and then I snapped my fingers. “I know.”
I kicked my right boot up on the table, clunked the back of it perfectly, and the silver knife tipped with a diamond sprung out from the toe of the boot. Gritting my teeth, I gripped the silver with one hand, and finagled the latch inside the boot to release the knife. I dropped that one in the bag, wiping the sweat that had beaded on my forehead off with the back of my hand, then kicked my left boot up on the table, hitting that latch right, and proceeded to pull it out. During that process, I remembered the bullet I had thrown in my purse that had stopped me here in the past. I held up a finger, then unzipped my purse, rifling through it until I found the little bugger, still blood stained and all. I kept my hand around it as I dumped it in the bag. At the last minute, I took out my keys, setting them on the table.
Blessedly, I walked through the metal detector without it beeping.
Grabbing my keys off the table, I plunked them in my purse. My attention honed on the guard. “I’m sure you’ll want to take all of that to the safe now, and make sure no one touches or looks at it, and then, you’ll find our box as soon as the match is done, and bring it all to me, right?”
She nodded once, zipping the bag. “Yes, ma’am. That sounds like a splendid idea.”
“Right,” I muttered, brushing my hair out of my face, watching her walk away with my goods, my items, until I couldn’t see her anymore. Then, I slowly turned to the group still standing mute. I smiled ever so sweetly at the Kings, looking at none others. I asked bluntly, “So…how hard is it going to be to convince the four of you I have no ill intentions toward your Prodigies now?”
And dammit, I heard Elder Jacobs start choking down a laugh on the left side of the group, where he would have had the best vantage point to witness my humiliation, and I saw him quickly walk away, muttering curtly, “I’ll be back in a moment.”
But, it was King Bridges’s lips which tilted as all four Kings stared at me with silent eyes, and he stated quietly, “Well, I believe it will be fun to see you try, Ms. Farrow.”
My own smile altered, mimicking him again. “I do believe we’re in the correct place for a match.”
He actually grinned with those quiet eyes. “Indeed.”