"I'll think about it," I said and Revel chuckled, taking another chug of her wine.
"You'll think about it, huh?" she asked, but this time, it was my turn to smile back, duck under the water, and watch the sunshine filter through the ripples.
Hours later, after Chris had bailed because he had a hot date with some sexy snake shifter, Revel was raiding my drawers again for something to sleep in.
“Cherry, all your shit is made for dolls or something. Do you have anything that wasn’t bought at Baby Gap?” She was hunting around in my crop top drawer, which was probably part of the issue, but I was too drunk to care. Maybe too high.
“I think I left some bed shirts in the bathroom,” I mumbled, cozying down into my pillow and tucking the blankets up around my chin while Revel hunted around my bathroom.
“Oh, this is such a pretty shade of lipstick,” she called out to me, and I mumbled something incoherent back.
She re-emerged from the bathroom, dressed in Mik’s shirt. It would have been weird to point that out though, so I kept my trap shut and she perched on the other side of my bed, chewing her lip.
“Thea … there’s something I need to tell you and I’ve kind of been putting it off.” She sounded uncertain for the first time since I’d met her and I struggled to stay awake long enough to chat a little more.
“Tell me,” I coaxed her. “I won’t judge.”
She laughed bitterly, twisting her fingers in her lap. “Okay, here goes. Uh, so … I can’t shift.”
“Huh?” Okay, the pot brownies and all the wine … it was definitely affecting my intelligence and that was the best I could muster up.
“It was just after I arrived and … with the vampire … then I don’t know …” Her words were blurring in and out of my ears as I started drifting to sleep, so I bit my lip sharply to stay awake and focus.
“Revel, you took tainted dust? Why would you do that?” I blinked rapidly to try and wake myself up more, but I was fighting an uphill battle.
“I just told you …” She faded out again and I snapped my eyes back open just in time to see a tear roll down her cheek. “Thea, I’m scared.” She whispered this, her voice choking with emotion and I pulled her down onto the pillow beside me.
“I know,” I whispered back. “But I’m going to fix it. I have a plan.”
Whatever she said back faded into obscurity as sleep pulled me under with merciless hands.
If I hadn’t been wined up and high as a kite, I’d have probably had a fit. Instead, a cold, dark unease settled over me, and I knew that I’d do anything … anything … to save this woman from her fate.
Even if it meant working with Nix fucking Locklear.
Bright sunlight poured in through my open curtains and I rubbed at my crusty eyes. Revel and I had stayed up way too late talking and drinking. Thankfully, I wasn't feeling any lasting effects from all the wine, which I could only assume was due to the quality of it.
Sitting up in bed, I ran a hand through my silky straight black hair. It was pooled around me on the mattress and I sighed. It really needed to be cut ... but not today. Today, it smelled of pine and oak, mixed with my own signature scent of cherry blossoms, so I decided to leave it down for once.
"Ziff?" I called out, seeing his little bed empty. "Revel?"
Silence met my voice and I frowned, looking around.
Propped up on my bedside table was a neatly folded note with my name scrawled over the front, so I picked it up and flipped it open.
Hey Cherry, I went out and grabbed Ziff some of those mice you said he likes. Gone back to my hotel now, but wanted to remind you I'm not giving up. You'll fuck me one day. Thanks for the cuddle, but I want to hear about this plan! Kisses! Revel
After her name there was a distinctive kiss mark in a deep plum lipstick that I knew she'd snaked out of my bathroom. Cheeky vixen. I was surprised she could be so goddamn cheerful after what she’d just told me. I wouldn’t let myself think about it too hard; if I did, I’d freeze. I’d lay down on this bed and I wouldn’t know how to get up. But I’d rather fight for my people, for all the shifters affected frankly, than wallow in misery or despair.
Hauling my butt up out of bed, I threw on some thigh-high woolen socks, a short pleated skirt and a buttery soft cashmere sweater. For some reason, today I was feeling particularly sassy, and wanted to look the part. Guess this was what pretending to be a superhero felt like? Hopefully I didn’t suck at it. If Revel went mad because of me, because I’d invited her over here … Fuck. I couldn’t even imagine. But if Nix Locklear had started this shit, he could damn well finish it.
"Ziff?" I called out again as I wandered down to my kitchen. No wonder he hadn't responded. When Revel said she'd grabbed Ziff some mice, she clearly hadn't understood how to store them so he didn't eat them all at once.
As it was, my little fennec fox was stalking a juicy little rodent around my kitchen island with his tail wagging like a battery powered toy turned to high.
"Ziff," I scolded, snatching his prey up and holding it out of his pleading reach. "How many have you already had?"
Ziff rose up on his hind legs, waving his paws at me desperately like he was some sort of starving Ethiopian fox. The bulge in his belly betrayed the truth of the matter though, so I wasn't buying it.
"No, buddy, you'll make yourself sick and then guess who has to clean it all up? Yeah, me. No offense but cleaning up your half digested mice is totally revolting." I gave him a stern glare and carried the rodent through to my butler’s pantry where I kept a container just for mice. After he was secure inside, I came back out and gave Ziff a suspicious look.
"Any more running around here that I should know about?" I asked him, and he chirped a sad sound, nudging the cupboard under the sink with his nose. "Good boy," I praised him, opening the cupboard and retrieving the other live mouse to join his friend in the pantry.
"Now come on, we have a deal to make with the devil." I gave him a sharp whistle and headed back through to my front door. With all the craziness the night before, I'd left Lola just sitting in my driveway rather than tucking her safely away in the garage. Poor Lola.
Once inside my car, I grabbed my makeup back from the glove compartment and touched up my face a bit. One benefit of my Japanese mixed heritage was that I had little need for mascara, but a little dramatic eyeliner and lipstick never went astray.
"Don't judge me, Ziff," I murmured, smooshing my lips together to even out the blood red of my lipstick. "It never hurts to look our best when striking a deal."
Ziff chirped something that sounded suspiciously like judgement, but I let it slide seeing as he was just a normal fox, and possibly didn't understand half of what I credited him with knowing.
Before pulling out of my driveway, I quickly checked the voicemail flashing on my phone screen. There had been some twenty-odd missed calls, all of which I cleared without bothering to check them seeing as there had only been one message left.
"Thea," Mik's voice reached my ear and I shivered. Fuck him for having such power over me, even on recorded voice message. "We need to talk." There was a pause, and my guts turned to ice. I was in so much trouble. "There’s a meeting next week with all of the guild’s higher ups. I’m going to fight for you, but I don’t know how this is going to turn out." There was another pause, and then the message cut off.
For a long moment, I sat there and stared at the phone in my hand, shocked at the coldness of his message. Then anger built inside me once more.
Gunning my engine, I took off back toward downtown Denver and the swanky restaurant that I somehow knew Nix would be waiting for me at. He was a smart guy … scary smart. He'd know that his offer was temping the hell out of me, so he’d deliberately be taking lunch at the same table every day in order to give me a chance to accept.