Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic Read online

  He chuckled. “So you choose the talking option even knowing where it leads.”

  He moved out into the alley. I didn’t step away, though I had to lift my chin as he neared.

  He looked up at the moon. It was a half sliver, low in the sky. The dim light softened his features, but with the sharp taste of his magic now so near, I wasn’t fooled. I wondered if the moon called to him, as I thought it might for Kandy. He was a cat, though, not a wolf.

  “I haven’t eaten dinner,” he said.

  “Is that an invitation?”

  “Yes.” No chocolate and flowers in his directness. But then, I could buy my own chocolate, and I thought cut flowers were a waste of money.

  “I’ll cook. I’m not dressed to dine out.”

  “We’ll order in.” Some sort of caution edged his reply. He didn’t want me cooking for him, but accepted the baking? I’d always been more of a baker than a cook, but I could put a meal together.

  He looked at me, then. With the moon behind him now, his features were cast into deep shadows. “I liked you better in the forest,” he said. He flashed a white-toothed grin.

  “The feeling is mutual.” I turned back to the bakery.

  He laughed and followed me. I was tired of talking, but I also had to restrain myself from having my way with him on the stainless steel workstation as we passed by it on the way to the apartment stairs. That restraint didn’t stop me from imagining the sequence of events in great detail, though.

  “A pizza,” I said. I folded the apartment wards around Desmond as we walked up the stairs without really thinking about it.

  “Three,” Desmond answered. “Five, if Kandy is joining us.”

  Right. My mother, the vampire, and my werewolf bodyguard were all upstairs.

  I turned around in the middle of the stairs and opened my mouth to say something cute and flirtatious. I couldn’t really see Desmond in the dark of the stairwell. I hadn’t even thought to turn on the light.

  He pulled me to him, his tongue in my mouth before I even invited it. I wrapped my arms and then legs around him, as I had in the forest. I was barely able to twist my fingers in the hair on either side of his head. I’d never kissed anyone I could cling to like that. My weight was nothing to him.

  His mouth locked on mine, he swiveled on the stairs and descended so quickly that we created a breeze. Obviously, I wasn’t the only one who’d fantasized about the stainless steel tables in the bakery kitchen.

  Desmond settled me on the edge of one of the workstations, and I arched my back and neck up for his attention. He obligingly nuzzled my neck, nipping my collarbone at the edge of my T-shirt while I tugged on his shirt and yanked it up and over his head.

  I ran my hands across his now-bare shoulders, over his taut skin, and curled my fingers in the pool of hair in the middle of his chest. In the forest, the hair there had been the same color as the fur of his mountain lion form, not that I could see it in the darkness of the kitchen.

  “Are you dampening your magic?” I asked, taking the opportunity to nibble on his neck. The dampening was a skill both he and the vampire possessed. Gran would be jealous.

  “Hmm,” he answered as he tugged my hips closer. My ass was practically hanging off the table, but I wasn’t even remotely in danger of falling. I assumed that was a ‘yes,’ but before I could tell him to stop it — I liked the way his magic felt underneath my skin — our mouths were locked again and I forgot the thought.

  He ran the heel of his hand up my spine and I arched back into it. The strength in that one hand should have been frightening, but it wasn’t.

  I leaned away from him to lie back on the table as he turned his mouth to my neck and shoulder again.

  My eyes had adjusted to the low light offered by the digital clocks on the ovens, and I caught a flash of white teeth as he grinned again. I liked this smile. It was completely unsuited to Desmond’s usual brusqueness, his all-business and no-play demeanor.

  He splayed his hand across my lower ribcage, then shifted his thumb up and over the mound of my breast to tease a nipple through my clothing. I moaned softly and tried to pull him closer with my legs.

  He pressed his other hand to my hip to hold me down, inadvertently covering my knife, which was invisible to him. He grunted, slightly surprised, but just shifted his fingers higher to curl around my waist.

  He tugged my T-shirt up and leaned down to kiss my belly. I moaned again.

  He laughed, his breath hot on my sensitive skin. Self-satisfied prick. He was completely confident that he could have me — that I would probably beg for it — right there and then.

  Well, I guess he was right. And the confidence made him more, not less, sexy.

  He continued to softly kiss my belly and abs, running the tips of his fingers along the top edge of my jeans.

  “I will not beg,” I said as I tried to not squirm. Or perhaps writhing was the better description.

  He laughed and looked up at me. “Begging doesn’t suit you, Jade. You taste good. Do you taste this good everywhere?”

  I freaking melted into a pool of hot, sticky desire. I knew he barely contained a monster beneath his skin. I had seen said monster in the flesh just yesterday. And still, here I was, all wet, pliant, and ready to writhe for him. I didn’t have a witty comeback, so I simply sat up, pulled my T-shirt off, and locked lips with him again.

  “I see the bond is misfiring again.”

  A cool voice cut right through the literal heat Desmond and I were generating, skin to skin.

  His hand stilled at the clasp of my bra as I — just barely — managed to not start shrieking obscenities at the intrusion.

  “Fuck off, vampire,” Desmond growled, but he didn’t turn around. Thankfully, he never gave a shit about being polite.

  Kett’s voice had come from the stairwell. I figure he had a pretty good view of McGrowly’s back and my legs from that vantage point. Not that I was naked, but I didn’t go around just flashing my bra — though it was terribly pretty, a light-blue demi-cup with white flowers up the straps.

  “Yes, of course. I understand the attempt to settle the bond. If this doesn’t work, my offer still stands.”

  “What?” I mumbled. My lips were actually swollen from kissing, a first for me.

  “This is not about the bond,” Desmond snarled. “And what fucking offer?”

  That last part was directed at me. I admittedly was still fuzzy from desire. Desmond was putting things together quicker than I was.

  “I would never have offered, shapeshifter. Had I known you were going to make a claim.”

  “I’m not a freaking piece of land,” I said. Then I started looking around for my T-shirt.

  “What did the vampire offer you?” Desmond asked. “To break the bond? Again?” By his growl, it was obvious he didn’t like to ask twice. Hell, he didn’t like to ask at all. He preferred having everyone jump at the snap of his fingers.

  “Is that why you were dampening your magic? You want to have sex to settle the bond?”

  “You initiated. Both times.”

  Yep, I had. I could also uninitiate, even without my T-shirt.

  I untangled my legs and pushed Desmond away. He stepped back, though voluntarily. I wasn’t sure I could dent him even if I tried. Maybe with the SUV.

  I snagged my shirt off the floor but didn’t bother wrestling it over my head. I was going for dignified, not mortified.

  “Dowser,” Desmond said.

  So I was back to being dowser, was I?

  “Get your own pizza,” I said over my shoulder as I reached the stairs to my apartment. “And don’t wreck my kitchen.”

  “We aren’t going to fight over you.”

  “You already are,” I answered. “Too bad it’s for all the wrong reasons. Otherwise, it would be the sort of thing that could turn a pretty girl’s pretty little head.”

  I climbed the stairs, deliberately laying my feet to each riser
and not stomping like I wanted to. My jeans chafed my inner thighs and groin. That pissed me off further. I was going to need a cold shower and maybe some quality time with the showerhead … except I wouldn’t be able to masturbate with Scarlett and Kandy in the apartment.

  So, cold shower it was then.

  At least I had the upper hand with both the vampire and the shifter. Neither one was getting back through my apartment wards without my invitation again.

  When compared to the sizzling make-out session, it was a dull victory.

  ∞

  So Scarlett cooked. I packed and grabbed three hours of sleep, which was all I seemed to need these days.

  When I got up, it was still dark out, but I padded down to the bakery to make double batches of batter and icing to lighten Bryn’s load on Sunday morning. The extra batter would keep for twenty-four hours, no worries. We opened early — at 9:30 a.m. — on Saturdays and always needed extra stock on the weekends.

  While I baked the cupcakes needed for the day I thought about Mory insisting that Sienna was still alive. I wondered how wrong it would be to ask the fledgling necromancer to go down into the basement and try to talk to her. I hadn’t been anywhere near the basement in three months. I would have nailed the door shut if it wouldn’t have come across as utterly cowardly. Though I wasn’t just avoiding the site of Sienna’s death — I was hiding from the portal. Yes, hiding. Yes, like a coward. The magic and promises it contained, though invigorating at the time, freaked me out in hindsight.

  It would be terribly wrong to drag Mory anywhere near any of that … Jesus, get your head out of your self-centered ass, Jade.

  I boxed a dozen cupcakes for the trip, remembered Desmond would be with us — I thought — and boxed another dozen.

  I fished my passport out of the small safe I kept in the tiny back office of the bakery. I tried to spend as little time as possible there, and I noted it really needed to be dusted.

  “I’m totally messing around with Desmond,” I muttered out loud, not knowing why — standing there with passport in hand — that thought had just occurred to me.

  Magic shifted behind me, announcing Kandy’s arrival. I felt the green-haired werewolf as she came in through the alley door, paused to steal something from the kitchen, then turned toward the office. I stuffed the passport in my back pocket and slammed the safe shut.

  “I like these,” Kandy said. She was leaning in the doorway, nibbling on a dark chocolate cupcake that I was testing chocolate-cherry buttercream icing on. It was supposed to be a Kiss in a Cup, but it wasn’t gelling for me.

  “Too sweet. Not cherry enough.”

  “You’re just too picky.”

  “Am I?”

  Kandy looked up at me with a genuine grin — not her predator smile. “Life is short. You should enjoy it more.”

  “Yeah, you’re really cutting it up. Hanging around here.”

  Kandy shrugged and licked icing off her fingertips.

  “See, it’s too moist as well. It dripped all over your fingers.”

  She laughed. “I like it here with you, Jade. You make treats. Your magic is tasty too. Worth protecting.”

  “Don’t you miss your pack?”

  Kandy shrugged again. “Wolves are … conformist.” Ah, Kandy was anything but traditional or conservative.

  “And cats?”

  “Wolves are the dominant species among shapeshifters. Most of the pack alphas are wolves. Cats are rare. They’re dominant, but usually prefer to run alone.”

  “But …” I definitely heard a ‘but’ in Kandy’s tone.

  “Desmond is alpha.”

  Alpha, spoken as if with a capital A. The subtleties of that were lost on me. “He makes the rules?” I asked.

  “Sure. And enforces them. Cats might be loners by nature when they hunt, but you can’t be alpha without the pack. Desmond worked hard to achieve his position.”

  “I’m not getting where you’re going, Kandy.”

  “He won’t marry you.”

  “What? You think I want to marry McGrowly?”

  Kandy grinned at the nickname. “No, but I think you’re the marrying kind.”

  I scoffed at the idea. Kandy shrugged her shoulders a third time, then retreated into the bakery kitchen. Todd, my other full-time employee/coffee aficionado, hadn’t arrived for his shift yet, though he wasn’t technically late.

  “These the rejects, then?” Kandy asked while stuffing another cherry-chocolate-iced Kiss in a Cup in her mouth.

  I nodded. Kandy happily boxed the extras, adding them to the two boxes I had already set aside.

  It was only just after eight o’clock when I started arranging the cupcakes in the bakery display case. A few people tried the door, then glared disappointedly at the posted hours printed on the glass.

  Crap. I had totally forgotten to text Joe last night. Damn. I fished my phone out of my pocket.

  It was going to be a long day.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Actually, the trip was smooth and practically effortless. It had been a while since I’d traveled with Scarlett, and I’d forgotten how easy everything always was around her. No traffic. No lines at the border. No petty fights in the car.

  Too bad I didn’t get any of that magic along with the indigo eyes.

  We traveled in three cars. Scarlett, Kandy, and I drove in the green-haired werewolf’s SUV. Kett inexplicably hopped into some sports car I’d never laid eyes on before, while Desmond thankfully drove in another beast of a vehicle. The idea of a vampire driving a sports car was hilarious for some reason. Then I realized the car belonged to creepy Hoyt, spellcurser extraordinaire.

  Given that he’d obviously driven up, why the hell Hoyt had bitched about driving rather than flying was a mystery. Many Adepts preferred to not fly — magic often didn’t get along with technology — but that had never stopped Scarlett from globe-trotting.

  Later, I discovered that Desmond’s pickup truck belonged to the young werewolf attending UBC who Sienna and Rusty had killed. It was this murder that had brought Desmond and the pack to Vancouver. Kett as well. Desmond had left the vehicle for Kandy, but the green-haired werewolf didn’t want to drive it. He was returning it to the pack now.

  I’d never thought about him settling the estates of his murdered pack members. I’d known that Hudson’s body had eventually been shipped back to the Midwest, but now I realized that I’d mourned him for three months and didn’t even know his last name. Now was not the time to ask. There never was a right time to talk about any of it, actually.

  As we’d loaded into the cars in front of the bakery, I thought I tasted Mory’s magic. Hoyt had been sullenly waiting, all blurry-eyed and sallow-skinned. He had only flinched — but not protested — when Kett took his keys. Desmond hadn’t bothered getting out of the idling truck as Scarlett and I settled in with Kandy. I was sure the young necromancer was fast asleep somewhere, and I’d just been imagining things. Surrounded by Kandy, Scarlett, and Kett, I wouldn’t be able to pick up any other magic, anyway. Hoyt didn’t even register on my senses.

  I demanded we stop at the first See’s Candies store we passed after entering the United States. We pulled off the I-5 at the outlet mall in Burlington, just before Mount Vernon, and spent far too much money. Kandy and Desmond included. Desmond had used his NEXUS pass to breeze through the border even faster than the rest of us, and was bitchy about having to wait the extra five minutes in the mall parking lot.

  The clerk calmed him down instantly by offering him a second sample of their scrumptious Dark Cocoanut, a creamy soft center with angel-flake coconut covered in dark chocolate … yum. She was smart enough to guess his wallet matched the size of his appetite. With my custom box packed and paid for, I contentedly commenced consuming and snoozing as we continued through Washington State toward Seattle.

  Kandy’s music taste was eclectic but road-trip worthy — Maroon 5 to Marianas Trench, Flo Rida to Paul Simon, Fleetw
ood Mac to AC/DC. Scarlett was poring over some spellbook in the front passenger seat. I’d never seen her study before. Her magic kept flaring, as if she was triggering spells but not following through with them.

  I sprawled out in the back seat and attempted to slip into a chocolate coma. I would have been more successful if I hadn’t been forced to eat lunch in Seattle. We stopped just off the highway at a diner I didn’t recognize, but the fries were tasty so I was appeased. Desmond and Kandy each ordered two meals, then cleaned off Scarlett’s plate, then cleaned off mine.

  Kett and Hoyt didn’t join us for lunch. Unfortunately, I ran into the spellcurser and his day-old magic outside the ladies washroom. He’d more than obviously been waiting for me.

  “They keep you pretty covered at all times, don’t they?” Hoyt’s tone was oily around the edges.

  “You might want to wonder whether that’s for my protection or yours, Hoyt.” Yeah, rude of me, but the spellcurser bothered me. I didn’t like the nothing taste of his magic.

  Hoyt smirked. “I know a lot about you, Jade Godfrey, and none of it has anything to do with you being dangerous. Though I hear your cupcakes are to die for.” His eyes flicked down to my chest on the word ‘cupcakes.’ Moron. My necklace was far more interesting than my breasts. And it wasn’t nearly as interesting as the knife I wore at my hip, though the spellcurser was nowhere powerful enough to see through Gran’s invisibility spell.

  I ran my fingers along the hilt of the afore-mentioned invisible knife and turned to the parking lot exit. I knew I should probably interrogate Hoyt — under the guise of flirting — to find out what exactly he knew about me, and what to expect when I met Blackwell. But instinctively, I knew he was a bluffer. He knew nothing of value, but was probably great at reflecting people’s reactions back at them — thus appearing more knowledgeable than he was. Plus, I couldn’t even pretend to like him. His dull magic soured my stomach that much.

  “You’re not scared of me, are you, Jade?” Hoyt jogged a couple of feet behind me, out the glass front door and into the restaurant parking lot. “Is that why I’m riding with the vamp? Because I wouldn’t hurt a hair on your pretty head.”