Boundary Crossed (Boundary Magic #1)(46)

“What do you teach?” I asked. “No wait, let me guess: Occult Studies? Myth and Mythology? History of Witchcraft? No, that wouldn’t be in the science building . . . or would it?”

He laughed again. “Evolutionary Biology. That part is all me, but there’s actually a long history of witches being farmers. It’s one of the few professions where we can use our gifts and still stay under the radar.” He shrugged modestly. “Our crops just do a little better than some.”

“Do you live here, at the farmhouse?” I asked. “You keep saying ‘we’ and ‘our.’”

“Not really. I’ve got an apartment in town, near CU,” he told me. “But I grew up here, and I still stay over weekends sometimes, help when I can.” He flashed a grin, his teeth flashing in the late-morning sunlight. “There’s not a lot of testosterone around here, so I think my brothers-in-law appreciate it when I turn up. Two of them work the farm pretty much full-time.”

We walked on for a while, Simon letting me have some space. I wasn’t sure if he had suggested the walk because he knew the activity would make me feel better, or if it was just a coincidence, but I appreciated the exercise anyway. My head cleared up when I was moving. “You said your sisters were witches, too,” I said finally. “Are your brothers-in-law?”

“Nah. Statistically, almost all witches are female,” he said cheerfully. “Men who inherit the magic gene are few and far between. Sybil’s husband, Oliver, is from an old witch family; he just doesn’t have witchblood. Morgan’s husband, Tony, is human, so we’re not allowed to talk about vampires or werewolves in front of him. He knows that my whole family are practicing Wiccans, but we downplay the actual magic part.” He shrugged. “Tony thinks the Pellars have the equivalent of a really green thumb.”

“Hmm.” I tried to imagine telling my parents I was a witch. My live-and-let-live dad would do his best to ignore it; he would assume I was going through a weird fad. My mother would be so grateful that I was interested in something, she’d probably offer to be a witch with me. “What about your girlfriend?” I asked Simon. “Is she a witch, too?”

He glanced over at me, surprised. “How did you know I have a girlfriend?”

“In the hospital,” I said promptly. “Quinn told you to say hi to Tracy, who had gone home ahead of you. None of your sisters are named Tracy, and you’re not wearing a wedding ring.” I shrugged. “Ergo, Tracy is your girlfriend.”

He gave me a sly half grin. “Tracy could be my boyfriend,” he pointed out.

“No,” I said firmly, “You said ‘she’ in the hospital.”

He gave me a surprised look. “Good memory. Yes, she’s a witch. She’s been in our clan since we were kids.”

“High school sweethearts?” I asked, making sure my voice didn’t come out all wistful.

“College,” he said. “We complement each other well.”

That didn’t exactly sound like the basis for a thriving romance, but then again, what did I know? Maybe it worked for them. “What about you?” Simon asked. “Do you have someone?”

“No,” I said. “Most of the guys I meet are half-drunk college kids who come into the store to buy condoms at two a.m. Before that . . . I had a couple of casual relationships in the army, but nothing to write home about. Literally.”

He chuckled and pushed his glasses up on his nose with one hand. “Listen, about Quinn . . .”

I looked at him uncertainly, a little thrown by the segue. He wasn’t about to ask if I was interested in Quinn romantically, was he? I mean, it hadn’t escaped my attention that the guy was great-looking, of course. And, okay, it had certainly been a long time since I’d . . . let’s say, gone on a date. But Quinn was a vampire. A vampire.

Happily, Simon just said, “I heard you were helping him figure out who went after your niece. We didn’t really get a chance to talk about it before, what with my mom and all, but how is that going?”

So I filled him in on the case—what little we knew, anyway. “He’s picking me up tonight and we’re going to talk to Darcy’s . . . um, I don’t know the terminology, but the vampire she was sworn to,” I finished.

As we turned and walked back toward the house, Simon said hesitatingly, “Just . . . be careful, okay? Around Quinn, I mean.”

I paused, forcing him to stop and turn too. “I thought Quinn was your friend,” I said, eyebrows raised.

Simon shrugged. “He sort of is, to my eternal surprise. And I would trust the guy with my life . . . as long as keeping me alive was in Itachi’s best interests.”

I digested that for a moment, then resumed walking. “Vampires aren’t like us, Lex,” he said eventually. “You make your choices based on what’s best for you and the people you love. So do I. But Quinn has to do what’s best for vampires. Specifically, the one he works for. He doesn’t have a choice.”



Lily and Hazel were nowhere to be seen when we got back to the main house, and I realized that neither of them had been out front when we left for our walk, either. Simon must have noticed this when I did, because he dug out his phone from a pocket and looked at the screen, squinting against the sunshine. “Lily texted,” he informed me. “She’s taking Mom into town to run errands, maybe catch a movie. Lily’s really great at helping Mom get her mind off . . . you know.” He gave me an embarrassed smile.