Yew Queen Trilogy, стр. 35

Hekla grinned. “With a great ass.”

“Truth.” Ami nodded.

I faced her. “Wait, how do you know? You didn’t see him.”

Ami pointed a chocolatey finger. “She told me what he looked like.”

Hekla did a little shimmy. “I’m good at describing things.”

I downed the rest of my water, the cool liquid reminding me of the breeze in the pines. “He’s from Italy. I think. Sort of.”

“He did have a fab accent,” Hekla said.

“He has a couple of brothers.” I kept an eye on her to see if she remembered anything, but her face was open and curious. Wow, was I glad she was safe from all those baddies. I wondered if my mage blood protected me from the memory loss of the lure. “One is a jerk but the other one is pretty cool. They’re only in town for like a month.”

“Oh,” Ami said, “that’s the negative five part, right?”

I pressed my hands over my closed eyes, breathing in the familiar scent of the bakery, longing for a little comfort. “Sure. Yeah.”

“A month isn’t nothing.” Hekla elbowed me as the bell on the front door jingled. The lunch rush was beginning. “You can get a lot of loving done in a month.” She winked, and it reminded me of Kaippa’s wink.

I touched my neck. I hadn’t even thought about whether the mark of his fangs would be visible.

“You can’t hide it now,” Ami said, leaving the kitchen to go to her battle station at the register. “We both saw the signs of a hickey.”

I almost laughed, nearly tearing up. More than anything, I wished it was a mark from a simple make-out session. Little did Hekla and Ami know that a couple hours ago I was not having a sweet little morning. I’d been trapped between two monsters, giving up my magical blood and golden aura.

Regardless, the day was wonderful and oh so normal. Other than that ongoing sensation that someone was watching me, I loved rolling phyllo dough alongside Hekla in the kitchen. The layers came out just right, and the customers loved the zucchini and feta filling. Being here, with my friends—it was heavenly. My whole body relaxed as we finished the day with a round of ginger-spiced carrot cake cupcakes and another argument with Nancy Striffer about Hekla’s brother—both gals cared too much about real estate ventures.

In the dim kitchen, I hung my apron up and grabbed my keys and Hekla’s. Ami had already taken off and locked up out front.

“Want to go to my Krav Maga class with me?” I asked Hekla. She’d gone twice and loved it, and I kind of wanted to kick the shit out of some things and get some frustration and fear out of me. The bakery had done the lion’s share of helping me feel like myself again, but working out would really finish the job.

“I could be talked into that. Is it okay that I’m just wearing these?” Hekla snapped the waistband of her leggings.

“Totally. Can we walk?” Titus’s place was only a block and a few turns away.

The stars twinkled overhead as we walked down Main Street, enjoying the painted pumpkins and garden gnomes that decorated the windows of Yarrow Acres—a fabulous plants, bath goodies, and general feel-good gift store. I stared at one of the gnome’s pointed ears, my mouth going dry. How much of our silly mythology had its roots in reality?

I shook my head, determined not to think about it tonight. Tomorrow and the next day were for planning.

Hekla nudged me as we approached the crossroads. “Some dude is following us.”

My stomach dropped. I whirled.

“Holy crap, Coren. Calm down. I doubt he’s like a serial killer. He might just think we’re hot.”

“I’ve had enough of strange men lately. I want tonight to be you and me. That’s it.” I didn’t see anything in the shadowed streets or behind the maple trees that grew at regular intervals along the sidewalk. I led Hekla to the next street.

“I get that.” Hekla smiled. “Bitches before bros, hmm?”

“One hundred percent.” I linked my arm in hers, and soon we were in Titus’s gym, ready to kick some targets and generally make idiots of ourselves.

Titus met us at the door and opened it wide, letting out a blast of hot air that smelled like a blend of armpit and plastic. “Hey, Coren! I didn’t know you were coming tonight.”

“Me either. Spur of the moment. Hope that’s okay.”

Titus nodded his head of bleached-blond hair. “Oh, yeah. And good to see you again, Hekla.”

“You too.” Hekla eyed the heavy bags hanging from chains across the room and raised her eyebrows at the pile of rubber knives and boxing gloves near the far wall. Titus wasn’t the tidiest.

He led us to a row of folding chairs. “Set your stuff anywhere. The rest of the class will be here in a minute or so. We’re doing a little escrima stick tonight.” He handed us each a length of bamboo and began showing us the Modern Arnis strikes, his feet moving expertly on the soft, black flooring that covered most of the gym.

For an hour, Hekla and I laughed our way through trying to wallop one another in the knee and attempting to block strikes to the head.

“Watch your control, Hekla.” Titus jerked his chin at us. “You don’t want to accidentally pop Coren.”

I extended my escrima stick at an angle toward Hekla’s temple, pulling back to an open stance.

“What about her?” Hekla frowned at the near miss.

Titus grinned. “Don’t worry about Coren. She is wild, but she controls herself really well.”

It reminded me of the last time someone had mentioned my self-control. I was suddenly very warm, and it wasn’t only because of the stick fighting.

A stick to the elbow snapped me out of thoughts of Lucus and his bedchamber.

“Ow! Hekla!”

She threw her weapon onto the mats and rubbed my elbow. “I’m so sorry! You spaced out, girl.”

“I did. It’s okay. Hey, let’s finish up here and take in that rerun of Shawshank