Page 1 of Wanted: A Roommate Who Isn't Evil

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Violet Miller and the Week After She Declared War

One could learn a lot from simply watching people. Violet eyed Lily standing by the exit of Fae Café in her police uniform. The officer’s sleeves were rolled up, and her arms were folded. She leaned against the door, ready to leave for work, putting on a show of being annoyed that she had to stand through Shayne’s fashion show before she could leave. Yes, she seemed very impatient.

Seemedimpatient.

Yet every time Shayne came strutting from the staircase flaunting a new outfit that would make the she-humans’ hearts melt on his upcoming vacation, Violet spotted a subtle quirk in the cornerof Lily’s mouth. It was the truest sign of a person doing everything in their power tonotsmile. No one else would have noticed it. No one else was looking closely enough.

Violet smirked to herself and took a sip of her hot mocha as she jotted a quick note in her journal. She wasn’t exactly an inconspicuous spy, but she’d learned to write things down that she noticed throughout her day. The habit was quickly becoming her trademark, something Shayne had made fun of her for in the beginning. But Violet didn’t care. Besides, no one could guess when their memories might get swiped away in the blink of an eye—especially when keeping company with fairies. It was better to take notes for insurance.

Rain made the Toronto streets sparkle, sending heaven’s tears crying their way down the windows of the café. Everything inside became cozier in the storm—the hot drinks, the crackling fireplace, the faint taste of a cool, approaching autumn in the air…

Violet stole a look at Dranian slumped in a chair by the window. The fairy’s arms were folded, and his bottom lip seemed more jutted out than normal. He remained quiet as Shayne pranced around, notably uninterested in Shayne’s outfits. Possibly feeling a bit moody about something.

Shayne soared from the stairwell again—in swim trunks this time. He held his arms up and flexed like he assumed everyone in the room wanted him to. Violet couldn’t help it; she snorted a laugh. It brought Mor to glance up from his novel where he read by the fireplace. Mor’s gaze flickered from Violet to Shayne, thenback to Violet. Once more to Shayne.

“Put a shirt on before that glare off your chest blinds us all, you fool,” he said.

“Don’t waste your breath, Mor. You know scolding him only increases his determination to disobey,” Cress muttered as he turned the page of the cookbook spread atop a bistro table. His finger dragged down each page as he read the recipes he’d put together. His new cookbook was scheduled to be published right before Christmas, but he hadn’t bothered to tell anyone about it until yesterday morning. Since then, it was all he’d talked about.

Violet pursed her lips, resolving not to laugh at Shayne again. Though Mor denied it, Violet could tell her forever mate was still a little touchy about how Shayne had enchanted her. Several times. With kisses. The fact that his enchantment had saved Violet from a psychotic fox-fairy seemed to have been forgotten.

Shayne strutted the length of the café until he met Lily by the door. “What do you think about this one, ugly Human?” he asked her. He leaned forward a little too much, gazed at her a little too deeply, and when his lips tugged into that infectious smile, even Violet’s heart fluttered a little.

Lily though, scowled up at him. “I’m with Mor. Put your shirt on,” she said.

Shayne smiled wider. He smacked a hand against the window at her back, trapping her as he tilted his face, putting it nice and close to hers. “Is that a flush in your cheeks?” he asked.

Lily’s eyes widened. She shoved Shayneback so hard he nearly tumbled over a chair. He caught himself against the wall. “Ah. Yes. More ugly hatred. How predictable,” he said, flashing Lily a tantalizing smile.

“Unreal,” Lily muttered as she pushed outside to brave the rain. The door slammed shut behind her and Violet watched her pull her hat on as she walked. Lily got drenched almost instantly in the downpour.

“Yes, that’s right! Go walk through the cold rain and get sick, Human!” Shayne shouted after her. “I hardly care if you get the shivers, or the sniffles, or…” He brushed nonexistent dust off his bare shoulders. He seemed to forget his thought and went to steal a quick glance out the window, taking a particular interest in the dark storm clouds.

“Queensbane, Shayne,” Mor said as he leapt off his chair. He looked around.

“It’s by the door,” Shayne told him in a voice that was slightlytoouncaring for someone who didn’t actually care.

Violet didn’t know what Mor was looking for until his gaze locked onto a yellow umbrella resting on the hook by the window. He grabbed it and disappeared into the air.

Outside, Violet saw him materialize beside Lily and open the umbrella. He returned to the café in the blink of an eye and headed straight back to his comfy chair, patting wet drops off his shoulders and shaking out his hair.

Shayne stepped to the door and spied out in the direction Lily went. “You all saw that, right?” he asked. Then he looked back atthe other fairies. “She went red-cheeked.” A fresh smile broke across his whole face. “I think she’s fallen for me.”

Three deep fairy grunts lifted from around the room in disagreement.

“It makes sense.” Shayne glanced down at his nails. “A human can only fake date a handsome fairy for so long before her heart starts to melt like hot butter—”

“In the name of the sky deities, Shayne, I’m trying to read,” Cress piped up. His face was inches from a page in his cookbook like he’d spotted a spelling mistake and was drilling it to death with his eyes. Mor smirked from the fireplace.

Shayne sighed and skipped off to the stairwell, seeming ready for his next outfit. “And just so we’re clear—you all know Ilether shove me like that, right? I’m thrice as strong as that thin, inky-armed human.” He paused by the stair entrance and tapped his chin. “Though, brute strength aside, you have to admit, it feels like she’s hiding something these days, right?”

No one objected this time, and Violet looked around at the fairies in surprise.

Her pen knocked lightly against her notebook as she waited for someone to tell Shayne he was being ridiculous. That he shouldn’t accuse Lily of keeping secrets. But to Violet’s right, Mor lifted his novel back to where it belonged. Cress flipped another page of his cookbook, and Dranian hardly moved a muscle from where he sat pouting by the window.

Either none of them had heard Shayne’s claim,or none of them could deny his theory.

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