Page 15 of The Gathering Storm

He barely hid his flinch. Trust Casey to hit the nail on the head. “I’ll be fine.”

“Sure.”

“Really.” He stood and walked around the desk, then knelt beside her, one hand on the back of her chair, the other on her knee. “I won’t let things get out of hand. You know I won’t.”

“Maybe you won’t be able to help yourself,” she said in a tiny voice. “Maybe she’ll smack some immortal Daughter mojo on you and you’ll forget all your resolutions and I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” he asked gently.

“I’ll lose the best brother I ever had.”

“I’m the only brother you’ve ever had.”

She cut a side-eyed smirk at him. “Yeah, so you’re also the worst, but who’s counting?”

He laughed and smacked a quick kiss to her cheek. “Go on. Get back to work.”

“Can’t keep the customers waiting,” she muttered as she scooted off the chair and stood. “Especially those old as Eve Daughters.”

“Smart ass,” he said, and she grinned and blew a kiss to him, and flounced out the door looking much happier than when she’d entered.

Will dug into the paperwork with a light heart and slogged through as much as he could before the shift change. Five minutes before he was due in the bar proper, he slipped into the employees’ bathroom and changed into his work clothes, a polo with the Omega’s logo embroidered on the front, left-hand side, khakis, and tennis shoes.

Eric Reed, a mundane mortal who tended bar part-time, waved at Will as he stepped into the bar proper. “Hey, man. How’s tricks?”

Will grinned and flipped open the bar’s barrier. “Still doing. Busy lunch?”

Eric shrugged one muscled shoulder. “Good for a Monday in winter. Some new faces today.”

Will grabbed a bar towel and bunched it up in his hands. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, you know.” Eric shrugged again and his brown-gold gaze drifted across the sparse crowd dotting the room. “Young, hot women. Strong as ox men.”

Will followed Eric’s gaze to a table holding two women and a forty-something man, and a quartet of women ranging in age from late teens to matron sitting halfway across the room from the first group. Concern warred with curiosity. Tellowee got its share of People drifting through, but he usually knew most of them or was warned ahead of time. These faces were completely unfamiliar.

He snagged Eric’s elbow and jerked his chin at the newcomers. “You mind hanging around a little longer? I need to go make nice.”

A grin flashed across Eric’s face, contrasting a white smile against his honey colored skin. “Sure, man. I can use the duckies.”

Will tucked the towel into his back pocket and wound his way from behind the bar toward the first group. Their conversation halted as he drew near, and three sets of brown eyes focused on him, razor sharp. He stopped a few feet away and smiled. “Welcome to Tellowee. I’m Will Corbin, the Omega’s manager.”

The man stood, held out a calloused hand, and said in a guttural rumble, “Saul the Beguiler, grandson of Pari Bakhshesh. This is my mother’s sister, Chana Wolfbane, and her Daughter, Favi Soulbleeder.”

Will clasped Saul’s hand and shook it, measuring the other man as he was being measured in return. Saul was lean and tough. His dark eyes were hard flints in an expressionless face. Former military, probably. Most Sons were. If not for his parents’ ownership of The Omega, Will would have given a career in the service serious consideration.

He let go of Saul’s hand and nodded to his two companions. “If you don’t mind my asking, what’s your business here in Tellowee?”

Chana’s tilted eyes regarded him solemnly over a pint of amber brew. “We hoped to renew a recent acquaintance. Jerusha Mankiller?”

Rebecca’s youngest Daughter by birth and a good friend. Jerusha and her now-fiancé Drew Martin had returned from a trip to Turkey not long ago, bearing one set of the Bones of the Just.

Will looked the trio over again and made a snap decision. “My cousin. She lives about an hour from here. You want, I can call her for you, have her come up.”

“Tell her to bring the hottie,” Favi said in a soft, accented voice, and Chana’s mouth quirked into a grin.

Will returned the grin with a saucy wink. “Sure thing. Help yourself to the menu. Today’s on the house.”

Saul’s firm mouth twitched, not quite reaching a smile. “Thank you.”

“Anytime. Let me know if you need anything.”

Chana’s smile turned secretive and her black eyelashes fluttered down, partially covering her beautiful eyes. “Oh, we will, sheereen-am.”

Will left the table smiling and headed toward the other group of visitors, dismissing Chana’s harmless flirtations as soon as he turned away.

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