Chapter Six

“I don’t understand.” Ceno glanced between them. “Wouldn’t it be easier to buy it from you? It would be faster.” He shoved a piece of pie in his mouth and closed his eyes with a moan. “I would think that driving people from their land is not only risky, but it's also time-consuming and expensive.”

“Easier?” Sela handed Clyde his desert. Her brows drew down, and she pressed her lips together as she cut herself a small piece of the pie. “He’s just trying to kill two birds with one stone. He doesn’t want me living here because my mama was black.”

“Now, Sela. I don’t think that’s it at all,” Clyde said at the same time Ceno spoke up.

“What has that got to do with anything?” He nearly growled at the thought that anyone would dare to harass his mate, not to mention find her lacking for any reason.

As long as they had lived on Earth, Ceno still didn’t understand the people outside of Magic. Maybe it was because he rarely left the small town, or perhaps, they were as backward as Reno had always claimed before he found his mate, Birgit.

The small town in New Mexico, where he and his brothers called home, embraced people’s differences. Sometimes, a citizen of the town knew how to enhance the things that made them different. Other times, as with Ceno and his brothers, the people in Magic could hide what made them stand out so they might live a life closer to normal among the humans.

No matter how different, or strange, someone might appear to be, the people of Magic never held a person’s appearance, magical abilities—or lack thereof—race, color, or nationality against them.

“Most people don’t care that one of their own married a black woman.” Sela carefully cut her pie with her fork. “But some people put stock in the color of a person’s skin, and white is the color of choice to them.”

“And you?” Ceno watched as she chewed the small bit of pie and then swallowed.

“Me?” Sela stopped with her glass halfway to her mouth, met his gaze, and held it. “I wouldn’t give a damn if a man was purple. It would have no bearing on whether I could call him a friend or attractive enough to call him a lover if circumstances flew that way. I don’t look at the outside.” She put a hand to the center of her chest. “It’s what’s inside here that counts.”

“And if I were blue?” Ceno couldn’t help but ask. Beneath the magic cast over him, before he left Magic, he was blue.

Ceno and all of his brothers were a light shade of blue with darker blue stripes from the latent beast within them. As with all males from their world, when they met their mates, Reno and their father both gained the ability to shift their shapes. When they shifted into their other forms, they resembled the extinct saber tooth tiger of Earth’s distant past.

As much as he would hate to leave and never see Sela again, he had to know if she could handle the fact that he wasn’t from Earth. If she couldn’t accept him as he was, he would have to leave her, no matter how much it would hurt.

“Blue, green, purple... white,” she said eyeing him pointedly. “Color doesn’t really matter. What matters...” She paused with a shrug. “Is whether a man sticks around when the going gets tough. That he’s gentle, compassionate, and dependable. Most of all, that he doesn’t run away when I tell him I’m pregnant.”

“You’re pregnant?” Her grandfather stood quickly, his chair tipping over behind him. He narrowed his blue eyes, and if looks could kill, he’d be wanted for murder. “Who is the lousy bast—”

“Calm down, Gramps. I’m not pregnant. That was a bad example.” She grabbed his pocket again. “Sit down and finish your pie.”

“How can I eat now? You practically gave me a damned heart attack. Don’t you know you shouldn’t do that to an old man?”

“Then stop jumping to conclusions.” Sela gave him a narrow-eyed look. “Besides, this is the twenty-first century. If I want to have sex with a man, I will, and if I get pregnant, it’s none of your beeswax.”

“What? None of my...” He glared at Sela. “You can’t just run around sleeping with every man you meet. Think of the babies you might have. You can’t have children with just anyone.”

Her grandfather stared at her, as though they shared a secret. What were they hiding? Perhaps he should get them back on topic.

“I came to Arkansas looking for gold.” He took a sip of his drink. “My brothers and I specialize in repairing automobiles. However, we dabble a bit in computer technology. We need gold for designing and making circuit boards.” Ceno scraped the last bit of pie off his plate and popped the final bite into his mouth.

Gods, the woman can cook. He stared across the table, knowing he would have her for his mate, even if she burned water. She was perfect with her coffee-and-cream complexion, her eyes—a strange mixture of blue, brown and green, he’d never seen before—and her hourglass figure that drove him crazy.

If he wasn’t mistaken, she was a better cook than his sister-in-law, though he’d never tell Birgit that. He wouldn’t want to hurt her feelings, nor would he want to make her angry. His brother was a force to be reckoned with since he’d met his mate and finally shifted into his beast.

Their animal half gave them the power to tie themselves to their chosen female for life. It was something he didn’t want to do unless Sela chose him. It wouldn’t be fair to her. He itched all over, his beast trying his will, though it knew he couldn’t change until he mated or his mate’s life was in danger.

His mouth ached where large teeth would push through his gums, and his fingers and toes hurt where claws would eventually grow.

“That was a delicious meal, Sela. Thank you so much for inviting me to dinner.” Ceno took a deep breath, leaned back and smiled. “Did you say you had a bunkhouse here?”

“You’ve invited a stranger to stay in the bunkhouse?” Her grandfather stared at them, wide-eyed.

“Of course I did.” Sela stood, grabbed their plates and placed them in the sink.

“Do you need help with those?” Ceno pushed his chair back and stood.

“A man who does dishes?” She placed a hand on her chest. “Be still my heart,” she said with a laugh. “No. I’ll rinse them and set them in the dishwasher later.”

“As long as you’re sure.”

“She said she didn’t want any help, boy. Stop showing me up and get on out to the bunkhouse,” Clyde said as he stood, scratching his backside. “I got me a nice bottle of whiskey with my name on it.”

“After pie?” Sela wrinkled her nose. “Go on and drink yourself into a stupor then.” She shook her head. “Don’t come complaining to me if you don’t remember anything come morning.”

“How will I remember you said that? Hee hee.” He shook his head and left the room.

“That man...” Sela shook her head. “I love him to death, but he’s old, crotchety, and set in his ways. Though I do wish he’d quit drinking. But he’s an old man, and he has so few pleasures these days.”

“That’s why you keep buying the whiskey, isn’t it?”

“What makes you think I buy it for him?”

“He doesn’t seem the type to go to town often.”

“He used to.” Sela sighed. “But now that Cal Johnson has made life nearly impossible around here, he rarely leaves the ranch. It’s as though he’s afraid Johnson and his men will take over if we both leave the land together.”

“Perhaps he would.” Ceno followed her through the door and out onto the porch. “Where is your bunkhouse?”

“It’s behind the barn.” Sela skipped down the steps. “Come on, I’ll show you. There’s a water heater I’ll have to turn on for you.”

“Just show me where it is. I’ll do it. I don’t want to be any more trouble than I already have been.” He followed her around the barn and stopped when he saw the long, low building. “It’s big.” He shot her a glance. “How big is your ranch?”

“According to the will, it’s nearly a thousand acres.”

He whistled. “That’s a big spread.”

“Yeah. Which is more likely why Cal wants it. Our ranch is up river of his property. I’ve no doubt if the situation were reversed, he would have dammed up the river and kept us from watering our cattle.”

“You have cattle?”

“Yeah. We have about a hundred head. I wish it were more, but they keep disappearing. I think Johnson’s men are rustling them, but I can’t prove it.” She sighed as she took a key from her pocket and unlocked the door. “This isn’t much. It’s definitely not a four-star hotel, but it will keep the rain off you, and it’s free.”

“No. I’d like to pay you rent.”

“Nope. Not happening.” She shook her head. “I’ll tell you what. You find that gold, and we’ll split it fifty-fifty.” She held out her hand. “Deal?”

“Deal.” He took her much smaller hand in his and shook it once before letting her go. “First off, I’ll need a map showing your property, so I can figure out where the most likely spot for gold would be.”

“And you’d know that how?” Sela crossed her arms and gave him a level stare. “I thought you said you were a mechanic. Then, you dabbled in technology; now, you’re an expert on finding gold? Just who the hell are you?”