Gargoyle (Woodland Creek)(12)
Isaac stirred next to her, and I felt his eyes on me. He was quiet for a long moment, then ever so casually relaxed back on his chair, his head cocking, making his hair rest against his cheek. His voice was calm and smooth. “What did this wizard look like that gave you the package?”
I mirrored him, making myself relax like his calming tone. “She had black dreadlocks and golden eyes,” my gaze slowly traveled to his, and I held his composed stunning green gaze, “and she had a lot of power. She wasn’t trying to hide it.” I shrugged a shoulder. “She said her name was Hanna.”
One of the rich townsfolk grunted at the end of the table. “Hanna Clipton.”
Isaac glared at him. “I believe I understood who she was speaking of. Your commentary is unnecessary.” Isaac’s Gargoyle had huffed before his attention snapped back to me. “What did Hanna say to you?”
My brows rose. “Nothing abnormal, if that’s what you mean. She just called in for a courier. I was on-call, so I went. She paid cash up front and told me to deliver the package to the address I went to. That was it.” My nose scrunched with an absent memory. “Actually, she did mention something about darkness coming. Since it was already night time, I just brushed it off as crazy wizard bullsh—” I stopped abruptly, pinching my lips together. “Sorry.”
Isaac’s brows slowly raised his tone hinting on amused. “You don’t like wizards.”
“No.”
“And shifters?”
Honest. “No.”
His lips gradually curved up. “And how can you tell the difference between a shifter, wizard, and human?”
Not so honest. “I have no idea. I just can.” I cleared my throat and then glanced at my watch. “I really do need to be going.” I turned my attention away from him to Mrs. Stone. “Have I answered all of your questions?”
Her brows were still slanted together, but she waved a bored, absent hand in my direction. “That’ll be all.” She turned her attention to her oldest son, Isaac, muttering quietly to him, “What the hell did Hanna have delivered there?”
I stared a beat longer after she had dismissed me like a lowly servant. Arrogant shifter bitch.
Isaac ignored her, instead, stopping me as I started to turn away again. “Exactly what are you?”
My lips twitched as I noticed everyone at the table as they took an avid interest in the question. Glancing at each one of them, my eyes landed on the wizard, Caleb. I stared expectantly, not saying a word.
He merely shook his head, wiping his mouth, having finished his macaroni. “That’s yours to tell. It seems they need to hear it from your mouth, even after I removed the spell placed on you.” He winked. “It was Hanna who put it on you that night, by the way.”
I chuckled quietly and then turned my attention back to Isaac. “I’m human.” My grin grew even broader as his expression turned quiet at the verification. I repeated his earlier comment, but there was no humor in my tone. “You don’t like humans.”
He merely stared nothing showing in his expression.
“Well…well…well, it appears fortunate I needed a new sweater,” a rough masculine voice stated loudly, and all of our attention snapped to the man walking up to the table. His arms were spread wide, a bag from the same store as mine dangling from one of his hands. “What are you all doing here? Having a secret pow-wow that I wasn’t invited to?”
My spine stiffened even further…as my heartbeat started to race madly inside my chest as grief and loss threatened to break my control. I placed a smooth hand on the back of Mandy’s chair to keep from crumpling in a sobbing heap.
Emotional scars? Yes, I still had them.
It was Council Member Jonathan Frank, his new recruit walking silently behind him.
Jonathan was looking everywhere but at me. His leather pants molded delicious to his strong thighs as he maneuvered through two tables, his expression as fake as could be, a shit-eating grin on his face finding everyone here—apparently, to his surprise. He lowered his arms, his plain dark gray t-shirt tugging to perfection on all of his torso muscles as he came to a stop at the head of the table, only Mandy between us. His tone was smooth as his red brows lifted, glancing at all the city council members, and then the Mayor and his mother. “Care to explain why I wasn’t invited?”
It was Isaac who answered, his tone exasperated and bored. “We’re here to discuss the road leading to St. Dymphna’s Convent. It’s been flooded recently by heavy rainfall, so we’re talking about issues of reconstruction on it.” Sure they were. He snorted softly, running his gaze up and down Jonathan’s casual attire. “And you had the day off, so we didn’t call.”
Jonathan’s nostrils flared. “You are beginning to piss me off, Mr. Mayor.”
Isaac smiled. “You’ve already pissed me off.” A black brow quirked. “One too many times.”
It was silent for the longest moment as they stared one another down. Then, ever so slowly, Jonathan’s eyes crept in my direction. Black and ruthless, they landed on my aqua blue gaze. The first time I had seen him in a month. His expression quieted, an even scarier vision knowing he was still furious. Long seconds ticked by, the noise of the deli court zoning out to a foggy buzzing in my ears as I held his gaze. Neither of us said anything for a full minute, then his wide lips opened and he muttered in the quietest whisper, “What the f*ck are you doing here, Kennedy?”