Page 51 of Enspelled

He hesitates.

“It was a rhetorical question. Let’s go. We have to go back to my house so I can—” The grocery store door slides open and I snap my mouth shut.

A dark-haired man in a blue t-shirt with bulging muscles, and a piercing green stare scans the interior before his eyes finally lock on Bodie.

From the almost inaudible growl that emerges from his throat, it’s clear what he is. Wolf.

I dart a glance at Ian O’Neale, the shop owner's son who greeted us when we walked in the front door minutes before.

With his full attention on the cell phone in his hand as he leans one hip against the front counter, I’m guessing he heard nothing.

Or maybe he’s just lived in Madden Grove long enough to keep his head down and pretend not to have seen anything that might draw attention from Liam Wolfe.

My gaze returns to the wolf, who still hasn’t turned away from Bodie. He picks up a bag of chips and moves to the next aisle, his unblinking stare trained on Bodie.

I shift my focus to Bodie, who’s eyeing a candy bar with a frown creasing his brow. “Do I need another—”

Grabbing his shoulder, I haul him toward the counter so we can pay as fast as possible and hopefully get out before the fight I can feel brewing starts.

Halfway there, Bodie jerks to a halt and swings his head toward me. “I didn’t ask if you wanted something. Did you—”

I drag him the rest of the way, my eyes searching the store to find that the wolf has stopped a couple of aisles away. From his unblinking stare, he only came in here for one reason, and that reason was not to pick up snacks. “Nope. I’m good.”

“Fair enough,” Bodie says, continuing to the front. He opens his arms, sending his bags of snacks spilling across the counter.

As I study him, I wonder how he can be more concerned about running out of food than the wolf staring at the back of his head.

Maybe he’s not as smart as you thought he was back in your bedroom.

Sure, he made some intelligent comments when I was giving him an overview of the Madden Grove inhabitants. But maybe I was just overtired, and I gave him more credit than was due.

He glances over at me, and his smile is bright, if a little vacant.

Yeah, I must’ve just been overtired.

Luckily for us, Ian has worked in the store for long enough that it takes him only seconds to bag up all of Bodie’s snacks. But then watching Bodie fumble in his pocket for his wallet nearly makes me scream when I feel the shifter approaching.Finally, Bodie finds his wallet and pays before gathering up the paper bag and turning to leave.

I wait for him to comment on the shifter standing less than a foot away, staring right into his face. But nope. Nothing. Bodie just looks through him as if he isn’t there.

As he steps around the shifter, I hold my breath, my mind rapidly picking through spells that could inflict enough damage on a determined shifter so we can make our escape.

But the shifter lets him—lets both of us—pass. We step out of the grocery store and head toward my car at a pace that’s just slow enough to drive me crazy.

“Do you think we could maybe move a little faster?” I prompt Bodie, casting an anxious glance behind us.

Good, the shifter hasn’t followed. At least not yet.

“Why?”

Bodie’s question has me swinging my head back around to stare at him. Incredulous. “You have to be joking.” Silence. “Right?”

He blinks, and then understanding flashes in his eyes. “Oh, I get it.”

Finally.

He speeds up a little. Not as fast as I’d like, but it’s a million times better than the snail's pace he was moving at before. We get to my car with the shifter still in the store, Bodie reaching the car a step before I do. He opens the door and places the bag in the front seat before slamming the door shut again.

My eyes narrow. “What are you doing?”

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