Page 3 of The Bookseller and the Alpha
I shook my head although now she said it, a memory stirred. Was it in my contract with the Council? I hadn’t looked at it for years. “I've never had a crime in my shop before.” I took another step. The wards, I had to disable the wards. I laid my palm flat on the door and murmured the words Electra had taught me. My ears popped as the magical field dissipated. Opening the door and moving inside, I bent to pick up the first book in my path.Pride and Prejudice. Mechanically, I smoothed the crumpled pages and closed the cover.I’m sorry Lizzie. I’ll find whoever did this to you.
I heard Marcie follow me inside, and she put a gentle hand on my arm. “Come sit in my shop. You’ll have to leave things as they are until the investigator gets here.”
“I don’t see how tidying a few books is going to make any difference.” I waved my arm at the destruction. “This is going to take days to fix.” My voice choked. Poppy whined, and I took a deep breath, trying to settle my feelings. I turned to face my two friends. “I appreciate your help. I really do, but can I just be alone for a while? I just need some time to process this.”
Marcie looked at Harold, still standing on the stoop, who looked at me. “All right, lass,” he said. “Take your time. Just shout if you need us.” They tiptoed out and left me alone. I crumpled to the floor, Pompy clutched to my chest.
This was too much. On top of a recurrence of The Dream, the memory of my failure, my emotions were raw, jagged pain digging into my chest. I slumped against a chair and I cried. I cried for the young hopeful woman I’d been when I started this bookshop. Craving my mother’s attention. Wanting her to see that I could make a success of my life without magic. I loved my shop. I really did. But I was so tired. So fucking tired of not getting ahead. Of working six days a week. With my insurance deductible and the days of business I was going to lose while I cleaned up the mess, I’d be skipping more meals than usual to make ends meet. I certainly wouldn’t be putting aside any spare cash to save for a bigger apartment in a nicer part of town. Or even a car.
The cry was cathartic, settling some of the roiling tension inside me. No-one was hurt and insurance would cover the damage. I’d cope. The enforced diet would help me shift the stubborn ten pounds that refused to budge. But not today. I savoured the almond croissant, knowing it was going to be the last treat I could afford for a while. The outside was crisp and flaky. The inside perfectly gooey. My eyes just about rolled back in my head and I was grateful that there was no-one around to see my foodgasm. Food in my stomach helped improve my moodfurther. It was bad, but it wasn’t a disaster; not in the way that a fire or a flood was a disaster. It would take time, but I could fix it.
I texted Electra to tell her there’d been a break-in at the shop, that I was fine, and she should stop worrying. She’d texted back soon after to say that someone was on their way. Then I took photos of the downstairs and of the circular stair before I began to clear a path across the floor to the stairway. My brain had finally started working again. I needed to get upstairs to see if anything had been taken.
Had it been a random act of vandalism? Why my shop? As I sorted books into piles, creating a path through the room, I thought back over my customer interactions the previous week. Had there been any angry customers? That seemed like the sort of thing the investigator would want to know. The new university semester was about to start and I’d been busy with filling orders for textbooks both over the counter and online. I had stock of all the prescribed textbooks for the Witch College and the local University and no-one had left the shop unhappy. I had no ideas.
Chapter 2
Luc
My phone rang, my brother’s name flashing on the screen. I held a hand up in apology to two of my team members, Sam and Billy, sitting on the other side of my desk. They nodded. Calls from my brother were always given the highest priority. I checked the clock on the wall. He was in Europe, and the time difference meant that it was still the middle of the night for him. My gut tightened. Something was wrong.
“I need you to look into something for me,” he said, without preamble. “Electra’s sister runs a shop that was broken into overnight.”
I sighed. Standard crime wasn’t my jurisdiction. “Give me a moment.” I logged into our secure database, bringing up the day’s reports. “It’s been called in as possibly magic related. Someone will be over later to check it out.”
“Can you please do it, Luc? I know you’re busy finalising security arrangements for the Summit, but Elie senses that her sister is in danger. Can you do it as a favour for me?” There was a muffled female sob from the other end of the phone line and I heard him murmur, “Shh Elie, it’s okay.”
Elie? Electra?“Is that Electra?” Electra was a Witch and one of my brother’s bodyguards. She had strong pre-cogabilities, as well as being a telekinetic. She was gorgeous, but she had a diamond-hard exterior. My mind was momentarily sidetracked by the fact that my brother had a nickname for his bodyguard.That was sort of cute. Weird but cute.She’d probably kill me… slowly… if I tried to call her Elie. Then I processed that she was crying. Electra. Crying. I’d never seen her composure crack. Not once. They didn’t call her the Ice Queen for nothing. Adrenaline hit my system. “What’s wrong? Are you all right?”
Electra answered instead. She spoke directly into the phone, and I pictured her grabbing it from my brother. “I need you to get to my sister. She’s in trouble. Indanger.”
I promised Electra that I would get there as soon as I could, but it still took some time to get to the location, even with Sam breaking the traffic rules as he drove. With Billy sitting in the front seat beside Sam, I used the drive time to find out about Calypso. I’d pulled her files, both Council and mundane police. I already knew that she was a human female, Electra’s twin (age thirty), but now I knew her education history (impressive), her personal life (lived alone, no boyfriend) her medical history (broken arm as a child) and her police check (two traffic infringements). The photo on her file showed her as a softer version of Electra; same raven hair and green eyes, but without her sister’s harder edges.
Somewhere, deep inside my psyche, my Beast rolled over, half waking from his enforced slumber.Mmm pretty.
Sleep. I pushed him back down. I agreed with him though. I studied her photo. How had she reached thirty without some lucky bastard putting a ring on her finger? I checked her file again: gender orientation female, straight. Were all the men she knew idiots? Even with her Null rating, she had magic in herblood, which would make her an attractive choice for supes and mundane men alike.
I sighed. It must have been hard for her; growing up in Electra’s shadow. Talent was unpredictable. Sometimes the magic skipped generations or manifested in some children in a family but not others. Despite generations of Witches giving genetic samples for study at universities and research institutions around the world, no one had identified the genetic markers that turned on for magic abilities. Perhaps it was just as well. If we found a way to identify which babies had talent before they were born, someone would surely abuse the system.
Idly, my finger stroked the photograph on the file. In the photo, labelled as her university graduation, Calypso was smiling, awkwardly balancing on high heels in a graduation gown and cap, standing next to her sister and mother. She looked young and hopeful. Her eyes drew me in. Even in the photograph they were mesmerising. Electra’s eyes were like emerald chips; brilliant but hard. Calypso’s eyes were the green of the sea, hinting of undercurrents and secret depths.
***
Caly’s bookshop was in a pedestrian-only arcade, so Sam parked the car in a nearby parking garage. Hit by a feeling of urgency, I barely waited for the engine to turn off before I was out of the vehicle. Sam and Billy would catch up with me.
As I stepped out of the car, Beast sat up under my skin. He pushed power towards me. Everything was immediately brighter, sharper. I was hit by the stench of gasoline, sweat and concrete. But there was something else. My nostrils flared as I inhaled deeply. There was the faint trace of a different scent in the air. Tantalizingly sweet. Suddenly there was a prickling sensation all over my body, my skin was too tight and my cock swelled and hardened. I couldn’t get enough air. Beast stirredagain, sniffing the air with me. Searching for the source of the delectable scent. Distracted, I didn’t push him back to sleep. I needed more of the scent. I set off towards the arcade at a near run, Beast lending me stamina, as I scanned my surroundings, looking for… her. The woman nearby who smelled like no other.
The arcade sat on the fringe of the Magic Quarter, straddling the boundaries of magic and mundane, and the shops were upmarket and well maintained. The eclectic mix of businesses catered to all customers. A chocolate café rubbed shoulders with a clothing store selling office wear. Opposite the café was a tea shop, with a display of fanciful teapots and what looked like handmade tea cosies in the window. A small sign in the corner advertised the availability of spell components.
I caught another whiff of the scent as I passed a café with outdoor tables. Slowing, I scanned the customers sitting at the tables. Given that it was a weekday morning in winter the outdoor area wasn’t busy. An older couple, a woman with a toddler in a pram and a dog. My gaze travelled over her and she looked up at the same time. Her eyes widened, but I was already looking away.
No, not her. Thank fuck. There was wedding ring on her finger and I would never make a move on a married woman.
Sam and Billy caught up to me, breathing heavily. “Boss, is there a problem?” asked Billy.
“Just keeping you on your toes.”Yes, there’s a problem. I’ve lost the scent. Fuck.
“Which shop are we going to?”
