Page 10 of Creatures of Chaos

Ensley doesn’t seem to mind the snub, she’s too busy drinking him up with her eyes. But I mind. It’s just rude.

Becks nods. “Yeah, sure.”

Talon turns to leave, but his gaze flicks to me right before he does.

“Later, Freckles,” he says under his breath as he passes.

Suddenly, something coils around my ankle and starts to slither its way up my leg. With a squawk I jump out of the booth, furiously patting my leg to brush off whatever creepy crawly is trying to scale me, but there’s nothing there.

My friends, as well as diners in the booths around us, stare at me in shock. Deep chuckles reach me, and when I look over Talon is standing at the diner entrance, his smirk telling me everything I need to know. That was his little trick he played on me.

I scowl at his smile, and then he shoves through the door and is gone.

Three

“Locklyn, sweetheart, is that you?”my mom calls from another room as soon as I shut the front door behind me.

My parents and I live in an apartment above the rare books and antique shop they run. It’s not a large home like Becks and Ensley’s, but it’s the only one I’ve known, and I love it. It’s cozy and filled with memorabilia from my childhood. The clay sculpture of a dragon I made in art class when I was eight, framed photographs of my parents and me on family vacations, my favorite signed collection of fairy tales. And since my mother is a fae there are plants everywhere.

I drop my backpack in the foyer, keeping my gym bag hefted on my shoulder as I enter the living room, where my mom stands on a bookcase ladder thumbing through a giant leather-bound tome. Our living room is part-library, part-greenhouse, and is hands down my favorite room in our home.

“Hey, Mom,” I say, stopping to say hi before dumping my gym bag in my room and jumping into the shower.

“Sweetie,” she says, a smile breaking out on her face as she shuts the book and re-shelves. “We missed you for dinner tonight.”

“Oh shoot, I’m sorry. I got caught up at Peet’s and then Becks stopped by and asked if I wanted to grab something with him. Ensley met up with us. I should have called to give you a heads-up. I hope you weren’t worried.”

I have a phone, I just rarely use it. Just another way I’m totally different than every other teen I know. It didn’t even cross my mind to pull it out to call my parents.

Gah, I’m an awful daughter.

Turning from me, she climbs the short distance down the ladder to the floor and waves off my concerns. “No, of course that’s fine. We figured that’s probably what happened. Besides . . .” She leans in and lowers her voice, casting a look toward the kitchen where I can hear my dad cleaning up from their dinner. “Your father cooked tonight, so you dodged a bullet.”

My parents are well aware that I have trouble making friends, so they’ve always been extra supportive of my relationships with Becks and Ensley. They’d never give me a hard time about hanging out with either of them. Any time I’m not with Becks or Ensley, I’m with my parents, so we get a really good amount of family time.

“I heard that!” my father calls from the other room. “You said the vegetable stew was delicious.”

“Oh, honey, it was,” my mom calls back, but she looks at me with wide eyes and shakes her head, letting me know the truth. For added effect she sticks her tongue out and squeezes her eyes shut, making a gagging face. Unfortunately for her that’s the moment Dad walks into the room.

“Zia,” my dad says, his face stricken. “But you love root vegetables.”

“Oh, babe. I do. It’s just the combination of all that cinnamon with the heavy cumin was . . .” Her nose scrunches as she searches for the right word or phrase. “Perhaps just a little too adventurous for me.”

Dad’s shoulders sag in defeat. My dad is six-foot four and burly with dark brown hair and eyes, and a short beard. It doesn’t stretch anyone’s imagination to know that he’s a bear shifter. My mom, in contrast, is petite like me but an inch shorter at five foot two. She has a mane of glorious red hair that I would have killed to inherit, and bright green eyes. Likewise, her delicate elvish features and slightly pointed ears are a dead giveaway that she’s fae. They’re a picture-perfect example of opposites attract. My mom, like most fae, is a vegetarian. My dad, like most shifters, is not, and when it’s his night to cook he always tries really hard to come up with dishes she’ll enjoy—but usually fails.

Mom goes on her tiptoes to press a kiss to the corner of Dad’s mouth, and his face softens. “Don’t worry, babe. I didn’t marry you for your culinary skills.”

“I know exactly why you married me,” my dad says suggestively as he wraps my mom in his arms and pulls her close. She giggles when he buries his face in her neck, and the sounds coming from Dad makes me think he’s kissing her.

It’s my turn to gag. “Come on, you guys, seriously? There’s a child present.”

Mom only giggles more, and Dad informs me I should leave if I don’t want to be scarred for life. I make a show of covering my eyes as I leave the room and then head toward my small bedroom.

My parents are disgusting, but in the best way possible.

My heart’s a little wistful as I drop my gym bag and head to the bathroom to shower. My parents may look like anodd match, but they couldn’t be more perfect for each other. Someday I want what they have.

An image of me wrapped up in Becks’ arms like my mom was in my dad’s pops in my head, and I don’t immediately swat it away. I close my eyes, imagining what it would feel like to be held by him. To be kissed by him. Both take a little stretch of my imagination because I’ve never even held a guy’s hand before, let alone been kissed. My lack of romantic experience isn’t a secret. It’s obvious to everyone who knows me I come up short in that department. But even so, I know being in Becks’ arms, having him look at me like I’m the only girl in the world, would be as close to divine as a creature can reach on this side of heaven.

---