Page 29 of Evil Hearts

Fangs for the Help

Ours Evermore Short Story

RK Munin

Chapter 1

Cassi tried hardnot to look at the men standing on either side of the seated vampire. He was the one she’d come to see, Silas Winter. The other men were his flock and didn’t make the decisions. At least according to Jaynie, the harpy mated to her older sister.

At the moment, Silas was holding her tablet and swiping through the images and documentation she’d painstakingly gathered over the last week. She’d planned to take him to court, but now she hoped he would do as she asked instead.

On the wall behind him was a bunch of Valentine’s day decorations. In fact, the whole office building was decorated in pinks and reds. It was a lot for a holiday that no one got off, but maybe that was the appeal. She was surprised Silas the slumlord allowed his employees so much expressive freedom.

“As y-y-you can s-s-see, I’ve enough f-f-for a c-c-class action lawsuit,” she said. Had she really just stuttered that many words? She might stutter a word or two here and there, but usually not so much in one sentence. It had to be the fear and stress. She cleared her throat and focused on singing her words in her head before she spoke. That usually helped her control most of her stutters.

“If you do as I ask, I can make all this evidence disappear.” Yes! She did it. Grinning, she caught the eye of the gorgeous brown-haired man to Silas’s left. He was sitting, no, lounging in one of the chairs. He was seated at an angle with one leg thrown over one arm rest and his upper body draped over the other arm rest. Unlike Silas and the man to his right, this guy had smiled warmly at her the moment she came in. His amber eyes made her feel welcome.

It made her wish he was the vampire instead of Silas. According to Jaynie, this one was Reed, a wolf shifter, and the other man was Idris, a gargoyle. She didn’t know much about either man but they weren’t her worry. It was Silas she needed to convince.

Still, it didn’t hurt to be polite, so she smiled back at him.

“Are you thirsty?” he asked, his slight Texas drawl making him seem even more welcoming. “Silas tends to make people nervous and their throats go dry. We’ve got soda, beer, and all kinds of fancy waters. I could get you one.”

“You’re offering her drinks?” the gargoyle growled. “She’s here to blackmail Silas and you’re treating her like a favorite cousin? What’s wrong with you, Reed?”

Reed gave the gargoyle a quizzical look “You can’t smell her?”

Cassi startled. Did she stink? She’d showered this morning, but it’d been a long day, and it was nearing ten at night. Then she remembered that wolf shifters had heightened senses even in their human forms.

She felt her face get hot and all she wanted to do was snatch her tablet from Silas and run away.

“Don’t be upset,” Reed said, shifting position until his elbows and part of his chest were resting on the table. He was so close she could see gold flecks in his amber eyes. “You don’t smell bad, I promise. Very much the opposite. You smell good enough to eat.”

That was not reassuring. Her earlier embarrassment morphed into fear.

“Please don’t kill me,” she whispered.

Reed looked confused as he sat back in the chair. Grabbing the arm rests, he lifted his body and folded his legs under him.

“Now you smell afraid,” he said. “Please don’t be afraid. That’s a bad smell.”

Fear had a smell? She was learning all kinds of things about the magical community tonight that she could have happily never known.

She had nasty BO.

She also has a stinky fear smell.

Great, the only thing to top this off would be for Silas to sink his fangs into her and say her blood tasted like sour milk.

“Reed, what do you smell?” Silas asked, reaching over and cupping the back of Reed’s neck. The wolf shifter made a happy humming sound at Silas’s touch, his eyes fluttering closed and his body melting into the chair.

“She smells like mine,” he said without opening his eyes.

She smelled like his? That made no sense. Could wolf shifters be on drugs?

“I’m s-s-sorry, Mr. Winter,” she said, moving her gaze back to Silas. “I must be w-w-wearing a product that’s affecting Mr, uh, R-R-Reed.”

When Silas’s dark eyes met hers, she could’ve sworn they had a tint of red to them. “I don’t think that’s the issue, Cassiopea Miller.”

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