Page 25 of Frayed Owner

“I’m going to start recruiting at the colleges like the other security firms,” Taylor told me. “Now that we’re going to keep your contract forever and be your people basically. I talked to Tracey about having housing on this land so we could offer that to—talking to Winter opened my eyes. Those with large familiars really are in a tenuous position.”

“One the top-tier families exploit, so you’ll go right up against them,” I warned. “And more than we knew.” I told him what I learned from Winter about Hughes and his right hand.

“That’s a useful card to play later, so let’s keep it in our back pocket,” he muttered.

“My thoughts exactly,” I agreed. I decided to ask what I wanted to before we got to his stuff with Cheese.

Taylor told me what Emma said basically and time was the only way to settle with killing someone. He didn’t tell me the specifics about his first time but did say there wasn’t anything helpful to me talking about something so cursed.

So clearly he carried it, but he left it in the past, and it didn’t seem to haunt him. That was something I would gladly work towards.

Gladly.

I spent the last two miles interpreting for them and was glad that things seemed to be going better for them. But then I had to take a break when my period started and I felt what all women do—we knew that feeling.

Great.

Well, at least I could take a hot soak after I finished my run now.

7

I finished my run with another of Taylor’s guys while I interpreted for him and his familiar and he agreed to help me with something later. My magic was telling me something and I wanted—I had an idea. I had no idea if it would work, but since I was working with Mrs. Reid and Wyatt soon, I thought it was worth trying.

So it surprised me to find Wyatt waiting for me… And looking pissed.

“Good morning?” I hedged and reached for the sports drink waiting. I groaned and grabbed my side. I stepped away when Wyatt was suddenly there about to touch me. “What?”

“I was going to heal you,” he explained. “You’re hurt.”

“Oh, no—my period started,” I mumbled, my cheeks heating, and I hoped my flush from working out hid it. “I just should have hydrated more last night. I wasn’t paying attention to the calendar with… Everything.” I felt better when Emma snorted. “Thanks though.”

“Stretch better than normal,” Emma reminded me, nodding when I promised her that I knew and would.

“You’re early,” I said to Wyatt, my question implied.

“Someone wanted to talk to you before I had my appointment with you as your power assessor,” he informed me, nodding down to Quinn.

He’d been quiet and half hiding behind Wyatt’s leg which wasn’t like him.

“Are you okay?” I asked Quinn, worried about the huge shift in his behavior. “Are you not feeling well?”

“I don’t like you being mad at me,” he admitted, focused on the ground. “I was going to bring you flowers, but it seemed rude to pick them from your own land. But I didn’t—Derek thought I was telling him to buy you flowers from him. I wanted to get you flowers as my apology.”

“That makes more sense,” Wyatt sighed when I told him. “Okay, we’ll pick flowers for her from you, Quinn. Sorry. I—I’ve been tied up too.”

Quinn immediately jumped up on his shoulder and snuggled with him in comfort but was still focused on me. “Can we talk a bit while you eat breakfast? Please? I would like to talk and apologize.”

“I would like that a lot, Quinn,” I accepted. “Thank you for checking.”

“My stomach hurt with you being mad at me. I didn’t like it,” he admitted. “A lot of people have hated us, but it hurt when you hated me.”

“I didn’t hate you. I hated how you were behaving.”

“It feels the same.”

“Yeah, it does sometimes,” I accepted. “I’m sorry it did.”

My next surprise was going inside to find ahugespread all made for breakfast… And Clare cooking in the kitchen.

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