Page 9 of Prey

“Ah, yes, that would be Hoodie Guy. I told you some of what happened already, but when he refused to answer us, it wasn’t a human voice that came out of his mouth. We asked again, same answer in the same strange voice, and then… he just melted himself. Neither of us have ever seen anything like this,” I say.

She looks thoughtful. Walking over to the pile of goo, she holds out a hand as if she is using her magic to inspect the blob. Her face goes white, and she steps away quickly. “Black magic,” she says, looking at Emmett in fear.

Crossing my arms, I look at her and ask, “So do you think this could be tied to the death threat you got today?”

Shasta whips her head toward me, “How the…Loki, you little snitch.”

Loki just flicks his tail and blinks out of the room. Well, it seems he isn’t going to take responsibility and is just going to leave me with a pissed off witch. I’d almost rather he just attacked me or something. So much for feline solidarity.

“So, anyway, can we talk about the death threat?” I ask again.

Shasta sighs. “When I was unpacking books today, I came across a Mrtyu medallion with creepy magic. Mrtyu is the Sanskrit symbol for death. I put it in a magic canceling box and took it to my grandmother. She’s going to dispose of it. No clue who sent it or how it got in the box, though there were issueswith the original delivery of those books and Grams believes it might be related.”

We will have to investigate that for sure. In the meantime, I don’t think she needs to be alone just in case. But how is she going to react to me saying that? I don’t know but I can’t imagine she’s going to like it much.

“Shasta…,” I begin, but she holds up a hand to stop me.

“You’re most likely about to say that I’m going to have to always have someone with me. You probably also think I’m going to fight you on it, but I’m not. Dark magic is nothing to play around with and if this,” she gestures to melted Hoodie Guy, “and the medallion are related, then I’d love to have an escort, for the time being, until we figure things out. Especially since dealing with the Society never ends well.”

Sagging in relief, I look to Joaquin, who nods. “Well, the first shift is mine,” I say. “Joaquin, can you go back to the clubhouse and let Ethan know what’s up and tell him I’ll see him in the morning? Don’t tell him about the mate bond. I’ll tell him that part myself.” He nods and waves before heading out.

Shasta waves a hand and the goo disappears. Well, that's certainly handy.

Emmett yawns and says, “I’m gonna head back up. One of us has to work tomorrow.”

“Actually,” Shasta says, “we’re gonna close for the rest of the week. I don’t want something happening while we have customers here.”

“That’s actually a really good idea,” I say.

Emmett nods, “Well in that case, if Kadi is staying, I’m going to go home.”

Shasta laughs. “You just can’t stay away from Josiah.”

He smirks and then wags his ass at her on the way out the door. Their friendship is cute and I’m especially glad that mymate has a friend that she can trust. But now we’re alone and it’s awkward as fuck.

Rubbing my hand down the back of my neck I say, “Well what now?”

Shasta looks as nervous as I feel.

“I guess we can talk a little. I don’t really feel sleepy after all this. Do you want to come up?” she asks.

Swallowing, I think about being alone in her apartment with her. Yes, I’d like that very much but I’m gonna have to get control of myself before I do that. My body is instantly fired up. I never knew the mate bond would be so demanding. Hopefully it’s not just me feeling this way.

The drive to protect her from the danger happening is probably playing a large part in it, but I don’t think so. Shasta is gorgeous, around five and a half feet, maybe a little more and has a curvy shape on the bottom half. That booty will fit nicely on the back of my bike for sure.

“Actually, do you want to go for a ride?” I find myself asking her. “You’ll have to change into something a little more suited to riding. For now, jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and jacket will be ok. We’ll need to get you some real riding gear.”

Her face lights up. Shit. It’s like I’m seeing the sun shining for the first time in my life and it almost drops me to my knees. “Yes!” she says, doing a happy little wiggle and running out the door to go change.

I laugh, following behind her. This is gonna end up being a great night after all.

Chapter five

Vibrations, Peens, & Pajamas

SHASTA

His husky laugh after I agreed to go on a ride with him went straight to the va-jay-jay. Shivering a little, I throw onsome jeans and boots, grabbing a hoodie on the way out. He’s standing in the living room looking at the books on my shelves, a little smirk on his face. Well, I guess he must recognize some of the titles. At least now he knows what kind of things I’m into reading, I guess.

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