Page 24 of Faun Over Me

“What does ‘oak and ivy’ mean?”

“You need me to explain basic botany to you?”

“No, just—when you say it, it’s like a curse word?”

Cricket laughed, her ears perking in amusement. Avery’s gaze tracked their movement, her slight embarrassment giving way to a curious tilt of her head. Self-consciously, Cricket smoothed one of her ears down, eyes dropping to Avery’s hand, those long, strong fingers still curled around her fork. The down along her neck prickled, and she shifted where she sat. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Why ‘oak and ivy’?”

“Why ‘Jesus Christ’?” Avery straightened at the question, and Cricket rushed out, “I’m not belittling your faith. I was just giving an example. Why do humans say ‘Jesus Christ’ when they’re surprised or angry?”

“I don’t,” Avery blurted. “It goes against our teachings to take the Lord’s name in vain.”

Cricket exhaled, the curls on her forehead dancing in the puff of breath. “Okay, bad example.” She tapped the fork against her lip, unable to ignore how Avery’s eyes followed the gesture and then lingered. “It, uh, it’s important. Like Jesus Christ is to you. I think. In my family, we hold the white oak in high regard. Faun are married underneath their branches, and pregnancies are blessed with their boughs. We make wine from the acorns for our festivals; it’s—”

“Religious,” Avery cut in. “I think I understand. And ivy?”

“It’s sweet,” Cricket shrugged. “Most faun have a sweet tooth.”

“Do you?” A bit of minced meat gravy clung to the corner of her mouth. She swept it up with her thumb, the motion drawing all of Cricket’s attention to soft, pink lips.

“Yeah,” she rasped.What the hells is wrong with me? She couldn’t pull her eyes away. Avery was staring at her, waiting for Cricket to elaborate, but all she could think was how stupid she was being. There was no way Avery was into females, much less inhumans. The girl would sooner take her god’s name in vain than hook up with a monster. “And salt.”

“Salt?” Her tongue flicked the corner of her mouth, and Gods dammit, Cricket needed to look away because the longer she looked, the more likely Avery would notice and—oak and ivy, now she was blushing.

“Yeah,” she nodded tersely, shoving a cherry tomato into her mouth. “Was it a nice lunch?”

Avery leveled her gaze across the table, her fork hovering over sodden Texas toast. “What do you actually want to know, Cricket?”

“Alright. Who was that other man.”

“Why?”

“His car had Georgia plates.”

The fork lowered, then was set down perfectly parallel to her plate. “And?”

“And, the company buying up all the land in Green Bank is from is from Atlanta. And you said they went to Green Bank. What for?”

“I—” She wrinkled her nose, and that little line appeared between her brows. “Something about a pipeline? I wasn’t really paying attention, but my dad works with US Petrol, and they were talking about securing votes to claim eminent domain.” Cricket cocked her head, the words unfamiliar. “Have you heard of a monster killing cattle in Green Bank? A wendy-something?”

Her ears flicked up in alarm, and she slapped both hands down, leaning over the table. “Why?”

“Troy mentioned it,” she said offhand, then added, “my dad’s business associate. He said the locals were afraid of them but weren’t selling.”

“Damn right, they’re afraid.” She straightened and crossed her arms. “First of all, don’t say its name, and second of all, depending on who you ask, it fell through when we did, or it’s been here for centuries.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know.” She nodded, then frowned. Enough of the locals in Green Bank had mentioned a monster, and Cricket had been chased over the ridgelines by one just a few nights prior. But it couldn’t be a you-know-what. Could it? “But whenever they got here, they’ve been haunting these hills long enough for the legends to exist. I’ve never seen one, but it’s described as large and humanoid, with a skull for a face and massive antlers.” The hairs along her arms rose as she weighed what she had just said against the monster she had seen and descriptions of whatever it was stalking the people of Green Bank. “They’re either something that possesses humans and forces them to eat other humans, or it’s a monster that hunts humans, but either way, it’s insatiable. No matter how much it eats, it wants more.”

“Do you think that could be what chased you here?”

Cricket shook her head, mouthing, “I don’t know,” when she really wanted to say, “I sure as hells hope not.”

At Avery’s frown, she clarified, “I know something chased me over the ridgelines, but I never got a good look at it. I guess it could have been a you-know-what, but …” She pressed her lips together, keeping her next words to herself.

It wasn’t that she wanted to lob accusations or scare Avery into taking her side or anything, but her dad was involved with the Georgia company that was forcing Cricket’s family out of their homes. And they mentioned a monster at their lunch and had gone to Green Bank to do something with eminent domain, whatever that was. The pieces were lining up too neatly for Cricket to keep quiet.

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