“Let me guess, I get to make another incident report?” I asked. “And testify that these bozos were high on wolfsbane?”
Hector gave me a sympathetic smile. “The Curia Cloisters is requesting it.”
“Great,” I grumbled. “This better make the case watertight—because I’m getting sick of all of this paperwork.”
“Take her home,” Greyson instructed Hector. “She can make her statement on the phone there.”
“Hey, thanks for asking my opinion!” I sarcastically grinned at Greyson and gave him a thumbs up.
“You must not be injured.” Hector held my backpack—which looked ridiculous with his suave, professor-y get up.
“You can’t smell it?”
“No. You’ve retained your refreshing sense of humor.”
“Oohh, nice one! See, Greyson? You should be taking notes—this is what fun looks like!” I took my backpack from Hector.
Greyson flatly stared at me, then switched his attention to Ember.
Hector beckoned for me to follow him down the path. “I do wish you hadn’t said that.”
“Why?”
“He is fond of you.”
“Fond of me the way dogs are fond of chew toys, you mean.”
“That I cannot deny.”
Chapter 18
Pip
“I can’t believe you’re here.”
I looked up from the computer where I was working on ordering another shipment of the little wolf keychains that howled. “What do you mean?”
Shania leaned over my hexagonal desk to peer at me. “You were attacked yesterday. And now here you are, at work—as if nothing happened!” She waved her hand around the welcome center for emphasis. “You should have taken off the rest of the week—or at least today!”
“Why?” I glanced at the visitors—three elderly ladies—who were checking out one of the displays. “Ember nearly force fed me a potion last night, so I’m not even hurt.”
“But it had to be traumatizing—to be attacked out of nowhere!”
“Oh. No, I’m pretty used to that, actually. And since the Fletchings are driving the entire Low Marsh Pack down to the Curia Cloisters, it’s not like I can do anything about the case. The Curia Cloisters will let us know when they finish questioning them.”
“Unbelievable.” Shania shook her head, then plopped her chin on her fist. “You complain about the wolves’ lack of sense, but you’re nearly as bad as them.”
I patted her hand. “It’s okay, Shania.”
“Why are you trying to placate me?” she demanded.
The bell on the door jingled, and together we turned toward it with bright smiles. “Hello! Welcome to Timber Ridge.”
Two new visitors entered, both possessing a beauty and sense of elegance that instantly marked them as fae.
My smile slid off in surprise when I realized I knew them. “Lord Linus? Lady Chrysanthe?”
“Ah, you do work here!” Lord Linus beamed at me as Chrysanthe took a picture on her phone with the flash on. “Chase told us you did, but he wasn’t sure if you’d be on duty today or not.”
Lord Linus had his perfect hair pulled back in a ponytail and was wearing slacks and a dress shirt rolled up to his elbows that—matched with his crooked grin—gave him a more casual appearance.
Lady Chrysanthe was a little more…intense. Even though she was just in jeans and what appeared to be a flannel shirt—a second glance made me realize it was actually a knit cardigan with a flannel pattern, and she had it belted fashionably at the waist—her innate elegance made her look more like a celebrity trying to blend in. But she was taking pictures of everything, and didn’t stop moving her head as she went from display to display.
“What brought you all the way up to Timber Ridge?” I asked.
“Officially, I’m delivering a report to your Alpha on some of the things he asked Chase to look into.” Lord Linus stuffed his hands in the pockets of his slacks and casually meandered up to my desk. “Unofficially, Lady Chrysanthe and I are here to see what kind of place shaped our dear Director of Security. Isn’t that right, Lady Chrysanthe?”
Lady Chrysanthe twisted to look back at us, holding her cellphone pointed at a wolf statue. “Yes.” Her testimony given, she immediately went back to her picture taking, oblivious to the three old ladies who were gawking at her.
“And there you have it.” Lord Linus slapped his hand on my desk, then delivered a devastating grin to Shania. “Hello.”
“Hi.” Shania blinked. “Director of Security?”
“He’s talking about Chase Washington, Ember’s younger brother,” I said. “Lord Linus and Lady Chrysanthe are members of the fae Night Court, where Chase works. Lord Linus, Lady Chrysanthe, this is Shania—a friend and coworker of mine.”
Lord Linus turned all his attention to Shania, his purple-ish, blue-ish eyes shining with curiosity. “It’s lovely to meet you, Shania. Tell me, what is it like living side by side with werewolves?”
I squinted at him. “Don’t you and Chase both live in the mansion? That means you live with a werewolf.”
Lord Linus rolled his eyes. “That doesn’t count. Chase is just one werewolf. I will admit I’m curious what life with a Pack of them is like. Are they all as regimented as Chase? Do they near constantly train and condition themselves? Or are wolves more casual than one would believe based on the same sample size I’ve encountered?”
Lady Chrysanthe paused her picture taking. “Lord Linus—they have a gift shop!”
“Really?” Lord Linus swiveled around so he could peer at it, and he watched as Lady Chrysanthe disappeared past the outer racks of keychains and other Timber Ridge memorabilia. “We should get some souvenirs.”
He pushed his elbows off the desk and looked ready to float away, but he had information I wanted.
“Lord Linus? Can you tell me what Chase found?” I asked.
“Hm?” Lord Linus yanked his gaze back to me. “I suppose so. Chase said Greyson asked for the information in front of you.” He glanced at the three old ladies.
The trio—bearing canes and a walker—clacked their way into the gift shop, undoubtedly following Lady Chrysanthe.
Shania bustled after them. “I can ring you up if you find anything,” she said. “And we might have more merchandise in the back if you want more than one of something.”
Somehow, Lord Linus managed to casually stand by my computer and appear relaxed, but lowered his voice so softly I think even a wolf would have had a hard time hearing him from the gift shop. “A cache of wolfsbane was discovered in Europe about two years ago. The Committee of Magic for that region thought they’d recovered all vials, and a few bottles were sent to the Dominant here in the USA for testing. He actually sent one to Pre-Dominant Harka initially for a few specific supernaturals in Magiford to look into, though she sent it back to him months ago.”
“Lord Linus, they have coffee mugs!” Lady Chrysanthe shouted from the innards of the gift shop.
“Any with wolves?” Lord Linus hollered back to her.
“They all do. There’s one that says, ‘I growl before coffee’.”
“Oh, get that one!”
“Got it!”