Page 26 of Destined for Shadows
Of course, they couldn’t since Emily was immune to magic so she couldn’t be flashed anywhere. Sensor abilities didn’t always work in their favor. They couldn’t be healed by magic, either.
Bartol worked his jaw. “I don’t want her involved in this anyway. Go back to the cabin and make sure she gets home safely. Have Emily call Melena on the way as well and tell her we’ll be there soon.”
“Okay.” Tormod disappeared in a burst of light.
Bambi rubbed her eyes. “Well, if ya got this, I must head home. Me new lover’s still tied ta the bed where I left him this mornin’, so I should probably free him and put some food in his belly.”
“Why did you tie him up?” Cori asked, curiosity getting the better of her. She’d long since learned to get over the troll’s graphic sex play descriptions because the more offended you acted about it, the more she’d tell you.
“Baked a crow pie last night and told him not ta touch it,” she replied, eyes flashing in annoyance. Cori and Bartol didn’t interrupt to ask if there were actual crows in the pie. “He got into it while I was fast asleep and ate the whole thing, so I tied him up and baked another afore leavin’ ta work. Wasn’t about ta let him eat the fresh one, too.”
That was troll logic for you. “Thanks for your help, Bambi.”
“Don’t think you won’t be owin’ me somethin’ fer it,” she said, starting to waddle away. “I don’t do nothin’ fer free.”
“But I didn’t ask you to do anything,” Cori argued.
Bambi glanced back. “That don’t matter ta me.”
“Great,” Cori mumbled. “On top of everything else, I owe a troll a favor now. God knows what she might want from me.”
“I wouldn’t worry she’ll call it in soon,” Bartol replied. “Trolls like to make you wait a while before asking for whatever they want to make you nervous. It could be weeks or months.”
Cori shot him an incredulous look. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“It should be a relief that she likely won’t ask you for anything until the situation with your former husband is resolved,” he said, still standing in the same spot where he’d arrived about ten feet away from her. “Trolls have a certain degree of honor.”
Cori wasn’t going to bother arguing about that. “The tow truck should be here soon. I’m not sure how you plan on getting me out of here if we don’t have a car, though.”
“Melena asked me to take you to her place—using my usual method of transport.”
Cori froze. “Don’t you have to touch me to do that?”
Bartol’s face was an emotionless mask. “I will survive.”
While she was glad he was willing to break his no touching rule to get her to Melena’s, she hated to force him into it. “I can see if I can get someone else to give me a ride. You don’t have to take me.”
“As long as it is nighttime, and your former husband is still out there,” Bartol said, tone implacable. “I will not leave you alone outside your home again without ample protection.”
“It’s not your job to protect me.”
He gave her a hard look. “It is now.”
“But that’s…” The sound of her friend’s tow truck pulling into the lot interrupted her argument.
After she waved at Ned, he pulled around so that he could line his truck up with her damaged vehicle. The whole time, Cori and Bartol traded angry glances with each other. She should have appreciated the fact he was helping her, but she couldn’t understand why Melena would send him instead of Lucas or someone else.
Ned, a slim guy with dirty-blond hair and a thin beard, got out of his truck and came over to look at her vehicle. “Damn, somebody really tore into this.”
“Yeah, they did,” she said, grateful to see her old high school friend. Cori was buddies with his wife as well, which was partly why they’d stayed in touch over the years. “Thanks for coming.”
“It ain’t no problem. The kids are fighting about having to go to bed, so I was happy to get out of there.” He gave Cori a smile. “The oldest has her seventh birthday party coming up if you want to come.”
She pushed back a lump in her throat. “I wish I could, but…you know how I am about that.”
“Right, sorry.” He gave her an apologetic look. The people who’d known Cori most of her life were well aware of the daughter she’d lost and that she couldn’t handle being around young children much anymore. It brought back too many painful memories.
“Maybe someday,” she said. “I’m just not ready yet.”
