Their gazes lifted from their phones, and met over the table again. “Then?” he asked.
She made the same despairing gesture she had made to Livy on the front porch yesterday: the sweep up her whole body, ending with a toss of her hand in the direction of the woods. Frustration tightened her face.
“Then you started feeling like this,” he said softly.
She made one of her side-tilted half-nods. True but not the whole story. He’d learn the whole story before long.
His blue eyes held hers, intent. “Was there something that happened to you?”
Livy had asked, of course. Her therapist Morgan had asked. Everyone had asked. Every time, she was unable to nod or to shake her head. Maddening for all involved.
She held his gaze, begging him to read her mind, if by chance the magic went that far.
“Can you show me, if you can’t tell me?” His words were quiet, treading delicately.
She stood and reached for his hand.
They put on coats and shoes. She led him into the woods.
But you couldn’t summon goblins unless you came alone, and couldn’t do it in the daytime. Nor did she exactly want to. Still, she brought him to the spot on the trail where the magical path had opened up to her—which in turn wasn’t far from where she had met Grady a few days back.
She stopped there, let go of his hand and crossed her arms, and looked off into the trees in frustration.
Grady glanced around too, his breath clouding in the chilly air. “Something happened here?”
Again, she couldn’t nod or shake her head.
“If someone attacked you, if there was anything illegal—look, you’ve got to tell someone. You’ve got to find a way.”
Now she shook her head, irritated. Illegal? The law didn’t even address what had happened to her. Or rather, it had happened under a different set of laws, and it was legal under those. Her own stupid fault for calling out to them, and for accepting their invitation.
“I’m sorry.” He sounded crestfallen. “I don’t understand. I want to help, but—”
She stepped forward and grasped his fleece coat, leaning up to his face.
His eyes locked onto her. He fell silent. Their breath mingled in misty white clouds. The mate-magic was stronger out here; he must have felt it too, though probably not as strongly as she did.
He gave in with a whimper, took hold of her shoulders, and kissed her.
She clung to him, drinking in the kiss. His lips were so soft, balanced by the scratchy little points of stubble surrounding them, which scraped pleasurably at her face as she nipped his lower lip and trailed kisses up his cheek. He was breathing fast, his eyes heavy-lidded, dark lashes veiling the blue as he watched her. She curled a hand up around his ear, and would have smiled in fondness at the way those ears stuck out a bit, if she could smile.
Grady ducked his head and began kissing her neck. “What is it about you?” he murmured. “Why am I so obsessed?”
Skye clung tighter to him, closing her eyes in pain. Because I’m destroying you with magic. But the pain was mingled with sweetness. She felt terrible for it, but she did still prefer to be linked with mate-magic to him than to any of the goblins.
They kissed on the path for several minutes, draped in wet, cold, fir-scented air, arms wrapped around one another. It took all her restraint not to pull him deeper into the woods and become his proper “mate” on top of one of these fallen logs. Just as well that an elderly couple appeared, out on a walk along the path.
Skye and Grady disentangled, and Grady smiled at the couple. “Afternoon.”
They said hello, beaming as if they knew perfectly well what they’d interrupted.
After they passed, Grady sent a sheepish glance down at Skye, then squinted up into the trees. “It’s weird. I almost do understand why you brought me out here. How it’s…something to do with the forest.” His words became thoughtfully indistinct. “Or at least I will understand. Same way it feels right with you.” Then he gave her a brighter, clearer smile. “Now I’m the one not making sense. What time is it?” He checked his phone. “Crap. Almost two. Didn’t you say you had to work at two?”
She nodded and laced her fingers into his, turning back toward town.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
WALKING TOWARD THE GARAGE AFTER DROPPING OFF A REPAIRED CAR AT ITS OWNER’S HOUSE, KIT SPOTTED LIVY’S Forester parked in the small lot at the marina. The low afternoon sun turned the clouds pink, and sparkled on the water between docks. He gave in to impulse and veered down there.
She wasn’t in her car, so he strolled down the aluminum gangway, steep now since it was low tide. He stepped onto the wooden boards of the marina, which bobbed a bit with each step. He didn’t have to search long. In less than a minute, Livy came out from the marina’s small tackle-and-gift shop, carrying a paper cup with a black plastic lid.
She chuckled upon seeing him. “Got to stop running into each other.”
They stopped beside one of the thick posts, upon which barnacles and mussels and sea stars clung up to the height of his head. At high tide, he knew, the whole marina would rise and cover the critters completely, and the gangway would be almost horizontal. “I was on my way by,” he said. “Saw your car. Thought I’d let you know Grady and Skye seem to have survived the day together.”
She smiled. The cold wind whipped the ends of her long curls; the sunlight turned them reddish-blonde. “I know. I texted her to make sure. She’s working this afternoon, and I guess she got there all right.”
Kit lifted his eyebrow. “He walked her there.”
“Oh really?” She sounded intrigued.
“Yep, told me so. Came to the garage afterward. He’s holding down the fort while I run errands.”
“She didn’t tell me that part. Just said ‘Fine’ when I asked how it went.” Livy’s smile became wistful, and she looked down at her cup. “Even in texts she hardly talks lately.”
“Sounded like Grady got a few words out of her, at least. Maybe they’ll be good for each other.”
“I hope so.” Livy looked up again. “What brings you down here?”
“Taking Edna Burke’s car back to her.” He nodded southward. “She had a flat, plus the brakes needed adjusting.”
“You make house calls? Good service.”
“Eh, I wouldn’t for everyone, but she’s getting on in age, and it’s not far for me to walk.”
“Considerate of you.”
Yeah, least he could do for his neighbors, since occasionally he stole from them. Usually not from the people in Bellwater maybe, but from someone’s neighbors, in other towns. He looked away, at the bare sailboat masts lined up in the marina docks, a forest of white poles swaying as the water moved. “Gives me an excuse to go wander around the marina instead of doing actual work.” He smiled at her. “What about you? Shouldn’t you be doing actual work?”
“I was, kind of. I went to a meeting, then I had a conference call, which I decided to take out here instead of cooped up inside.” She lifted the paper cup. “Then I was freezing by the time it was done, so I got some tea.”