Page 8 of Perfectly Charmed Pixie

Divia’s laughter lit up the atmosphere more than the sun. I wasn’t swayed by sirens, but I did enjoy hearing her joy. “Perhaps. Wouldn’t it be marvelous if his alpha showed up too? I believe Phil bonded to his mate’s home and the wolf himself.” Divia obviously knew more than me.

“Don’t hold me responsible for other pixies’ taste,” I answered haughtily.

I had no desire to be permanently bonded to anyone. The more who loved me, the better. I couldn’t imagine narrowing down that possibility to a single individual.

“Such a brat.” Divia smacked me on the shoulder. “Our ride should be here soon. Mr. Moony arranged for safe travel out to Mulligan’s Orchard. My understanding is that he had to spend the night at Dusk and won’t be there today. That’s why we’re going out in the morning and not waiting until evening.”

“Is there a problem?” It seemed strange that Lucroy would stay away from his beloved, even for a single night.

“Not that I’m aware of. But I doubt he would have told me if there were. Vampires are secretive and with good reason. They aren’t nearly as invincible a species as they would like the world to believe.” This time, Divia’s smile was anything but pleasant and placed her predatory nature on full display.

A large SUV pulled up, and an even larger troll stepped out. The left side of the vehicle rose a few inches when the troll exited. I thought I heard a mechanical groan but probably imagined it. Regardless of its inanimate nature, I felt sorry for the SUV. Trolls were heavy.

“Hey, I’m Pete. I work for Mr. Moony. You guys the TV crew?”

“Guilty as charged.” Divia grinned.

Pete didn’t so much as flinch at her dangerous smile. “Cool. Mr. Moony asked me to take you out to Peaches’s place. You three ready?”

“Ready and eager,” I happily chimed in, forcing joy into every ounce of my persona.

It wasn’t overly difficult. Most days, I actually did like my job. I liked it better when there wasn’t a cloud of sprites waiting to munch my dust. I didn’t care if my dust had no known purpose, if it dissipated into nothing within seconds of production. The point was, it wasmydust. No one else had a right to it, and I’d swat down any sprite that thought otherwise. It wouldn’t be that out of character. Pixies weren’t known for their love of sprites. It seemed Peaches was an anomaly in more ways than one. Vampire lover aside, his tolerance of the sprites infesting his orchard was mind-boggling.

Regardless of my feelings about the sprites, we all clambered into the SUV. Nerves ate at me. The chafe of the charm wrapped around my thigh was a constant reminder that I needed that delivery from Lance. He knew damn well how important those charms were, and I’d already paid good money for them. Half at the time of order and half at the time of delivery. That was the deal we’d struck years ago.

I pushed the pulsing unease away. Lance hadn’t let me down yet. The charms weren’t always perfect, but he never ghosted a delivery. It would be fine. It had to be fine.

ChapterFour

Vander

Sometimes I wondered why I even bothered putting out theopensign. I couldn’t figure out if age was jading me or if the different species roaming Gaia’s green earth were truly devolving into shades of despicable treachery. Had everyone sold their soul? And if so, what was the going price?

“Well, can it be done?”

This was starting to sound a lot like the conversation I’d had with Vera less than a day ago. The difference was this was no human customer, and the werewolf darkening the other side of my counter wasn’t comfortable enough to sit. Instead, he loomed.

A beta wolf. The most common werewolf designation. Alphas weren’t exactly rare, but they were far fewer, and that was a good thing. Most had heard the phrase “too many cooks in the kitchen.” Alpha werewolves fit that saying too.

I stared at the beta wolf who’d yet to give me a name. I thought about asking, but considering I had no intention of attempting what he wanted, it wasn’t relevant. Besides, therequesthadn’t truly come from him. An alpha out there was pulling his strings. Given the area of the country I lived in and the nature of the request, I could probably guess who that particular alpha was.

Mirroring my customer, I remained standing, arms crossed over my chest. Most beta wolves weren’t as large as alphas, but this guy wasn’t small. Still, my warlock genes placed us at eye level.

Grinding my teeth, I contemplated my answer before I shook my head and said, “I have no idea. Nor do I want to know.”

As expected, that answer didn’t go over well. “Are you telling me you aren’t powerful enough? I was told you’re the best in the area. Was I lied to?”

I shrugged. “I suppose it depends on the area your informant was talking about. Regardless, I don’t think you were intentionally lied to.” I didn’t want this were’s disappointment coming back to bite anyone on the ass.

“I don’t understand. My alpha’s willing to pay. Handsomely. Name your price.”

It took everything I had not to roll my eyes. Where in Gaia’s name was everyone getting all this money? And why didn’t I have it to throw around? My conscience spoke up and reminded me it was the reason I was barely scraping by.

Pulling on every ounce of patience I possessed, I reached behind my back and gave Byx the hand signal to activate the protective charms around the front counter. Most likely, I’d win a one-on-one fight with a beta wolf, but I didn’t feel like taking any chances. Besides, I wouldn’t come away unscathed and didn’t want to waste healing charms on myself. Those were some of my top sellers.

I relaxed when the protective magic washed over me.

Leaning on the counter, I repeated what the beta wanted, hoping I’d misunderstood and yet had little hope that was the case. “Let me get this straight. You want me to formulate a magic charm that will destroy a home-and-hearth pixie’s bond. Is that right?”

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