Sebastian (Bowen Boys, #5)(41)
“I will. Christ, I wish I could be there with you now. I bet your eyes are glowing as bright as an emerald.” She looked down at her ring. “Want to play in the woods after I get home today? We could end up by the pond again.”
She felt her body respond to the memory from last night. She looked at the other women at the table and flushed because she was pretty sure they could hear him. She told him that she had to go and closed the phone. She felt him touch her mind, and he told her he loved her.
“I love you, too. I’m with your sisters and your mom. Can you behave?” She looked at Jonny and Caitlynne as they joined the rest of them. “Sebastian, I really love your family.”
“I’m glad, but they’re your family, too. So don’t try and pawn all of them off on me.” He laughed. “I’m sorry, babe, but my truck is here. If Daddy Dearest shows up or tries to contact me, I’ll tell him to behave or I’ll sic you on him.”
She looked at Corrine. “You feel better now? Sometimes just talking to your mate can make a world of difference. I’m so happy he and you found each other.”
“So am I. So am I.”
Chapter 12
Wanera paced the tiny office again. Where had the faerie gone to? He wondered. It was a business day, wasn’t it? And there were people within his walls that would purchase his things. He saw the woman come into the room again and sit down. He watched her closely this time. There was something decidedly evil about her.
When she took out a key and put it into a drawer, he walked behind her, glad that she couldn’t see him. She took out a medium-sized box and set it on the desk. He was about to go back to his pacing when she suddenly stood up and went to the door and closed it. It wasn’t that that had him waiting, but the fact that she locked the door and brought her purse to the desk with her. Yes, he knew then that she was up to no good.
The little key that she took off a chain around her neck fit into the box. When she opened it, he leaned over her shoulder and looked as well. Money, the human form of currency, lay in the box in neat piles. He was amazed at the amount in the box, and when she took it out and began putting it into more stacks, he sat down on the cabinet behind her.
She counted all the stacks, then took some of the larger denominations off the top of each stack and put them into another stack. When she had a considerable amount of money in the last one, she gathered up the money again and put it back in the box, locked it, then put it away. When she leaned over to lock the drawer again, he blew across the stack she’d left on the desk and counted the money there, also making note of the serial numbers on several of them. When she put the nearly five thousand dollars into her purse, he sat back and watched her put her purse away, then unlock the door and leave. He was still sitting there when the faerie came in ten minutes later.
Wanera wasn’t thrilled about appearing before the man, but he needed his help. He knew as surely as he was sitting there that Lady Darkness wasn’t going to wait the entire month. She was going to demand that he take a bride. He knew now why she was doing it. She would have to run the realm if he did not find someone to take over or have a child.
The large faerie looked at him. Wanera was sure he couldn’t see him, but he didn’t move all the same. When he sat down on the couch across from his desk after closing the door and locking it, Wanera thought the man was smarter than he had first thought.
“Bill came to see my mate yesterday.” Wanera’s whole body seemed to chill. “He asked her to help you. He told her that a woman by the name of Darkness was going to hurt you, and he wanted her to help you find a safe haven. He said…. Would it be possible to show yourself? This is a little weird.”
Wanera materialized before him. He was still sitting on the file cabinet and liked the distance between them just fine. The faerie didn’t move either.
“You’re not going to attack me again?”
The faerie shook his head and said, “For now.”
“I’m not here to take your bride. I’ve decided that I don’t want her.”
That hadn’t come out right, and the man seemed to know it. He laughed a little and stood up. Wanera tensed but didn’t move. When he went to the small white box in the corner and opened it, Wanera’s curiosity got the better of him and he went to see what it was.
“It’s cold.” He stepped back from it, afraid of the thing. “Why would you have such a thing in here? You don’t think to put me in that, do you?”
“No. I keep drinks in it. I like my drinks cold. I understand from Bill that you like things hot. I can give you a coffee if you’d like. It’s all I have here.” Wanera looked where the man pointed. “If you’ve never had it before, it could be a little much. Bill liked the tea that my mate served him. She’d meant to give him some to take back.”
“Tea. Yes, he mentioned tea, but he never said where he’d gotten it.” Now that he thought about it, he never said where he’d gone when he asked him either. “He visited your bride yesterday?”
The man nodded and sat back down. “He was there to ask for our help in keeping you and the others safe. That’s why I’ve not tried to hurt you as yet. Monica and my mother said they believed him, as did Ama.”
He’d given their names to him. He wondered briefly if he’d done that on accident and decided that he hadn’t. The man was sharp. He bowed slightly before him.