A Little Street Magic (19 page)

“W
hoa.” I opened my eyes, catching Logan in the act of pulling back the cup of coffee he’d been holding close to my nose.

Which was running a little. Gross. I sniffled. “Sorry.”

“Let me get you a tissue, and a fresh cup.” He put the cup on the nightstand. I sat up and threw off the covers.

“I’ll get it. Have to use the bathroom anyway. Oh.” I was naked. So was he. “We can’t start your cooking lessons nude. Something important could get burned.”

Logan smiled. “I was hoping we could hold off for an hour or so before starting them.”

I returned his smile while leaving the bed. “Hold that thought until I get back.”

T
wo hours later, we were finally dressed and in the kitchen. I felt fantastic, relieved we hadn’t had a repeat of the inadvertent mental linkage when his moment arrived. “The biggest trick is selecting the right temperature to cook with. Get in a hurry and turn up the heat too much, and you’ll be scorching or burning food left and right.”

“I’ll remember that.” Logan poured the whipped eggs into the waiting skillet. “So he knew about the hex and forgot to tell you?”

“That’s what he said.” I’d told him about Sal’s visit, during our after cuddles, but had skipped the parts where we’d talked about him. “You don’t have to stir them constantly, but don’t let them sit too long either.”

“Okay.” He traded me the bowl for the spatula I was holding. “How do I know when it’s time to stir?”

“Watch the edges.” I went to the sink and rinsed out the bowl, not caring how domestic we were being. “Give the eggs a good stir when the edges start looking a little dry.”

“Right.” Intent on the skillet, he said, “Sounds like the Morpheus thing would’ve gone sideways if he’d asked pretty please.”

“Sal made it sound that way.” I looked out the window over the sink, checking on the dogs. They were playing. Logan’s backyard didn’t have a fence, but a line of tall shrubbery marked its dimensions. The sun was shining, and it wasn’t too cold to hike to the meadow. I wondered what the weather was like outside the territory.

Returning to the stove, I hugged Logan from behind and peeked over his shoulder at the skillet. “Doing good. I have a question.”

“Which is?”

“Can you get your pocket realm to pass you secret messages?”

Logan stirred the eggs. “Our pocket realm. Yes, and it’s necessary, to keep everything maintained properly.”

“You heard me asking Thorandryll about ward alarms, right?”

“I did. Yes, he probably does have his realm letting him know when you show up unannounced.” He patted my clasped hands. “If I’d known you were wondering, I would’ve told you once I learned about that.”

“No problem. I wasn’t actually curious about it until last night. But I have been dying to know how he always has the right number of chairs for guests, even when he didn’t know I was coming, or who with.”

Logan laughed. “Remind me, you need to be hooked into our realm. It recognizes you, but it’s not going to respond much until you’re bonded to it.”

My forearms and hands were getting too warm, being close to the skillet. I gave him a final squeeze and moved to the side. “Gonna guess that blood’s required?”

“Yes, just a few drops.” He was not looking away from the skillet, and his seriousness was quickly becoming amusing. “If anything ever happens, and we’re invaded here, we all need to be bound to the realm. It’ll help, change to confuse the enemy, and other things.”

“Wow. That sounds, I don’t even know.” I frowned. “So it’s alive?”

“Not exactly. It’s more like,” he paused to stir the eggs again. They were almost done. “Like artificial intelligence. But magic artificial intelligence.”

“Go ahead and add the cheese.” I pushed the bag of shredded cheddar closer to him. Logan quickly sprinkled a healthy handful over the eggs. “Let it melt, give the eggs a good final chopping stir, and they’re done.”

“Okay.” Someone knocked on the front door, and he looked at me. “Can you get that?”

“Yep.” I left the kitchen, smiling, but also hoping he didn’t let the cheese melt too long. Reaching the front door, I opened it wide. “Hey.”

Terra’s scowl become a big smile. “Hi. What are you doing...oh. Ooh.”

Laughing, I pulled her inside and into a hug. “Logan’s cooking breakfast. Come on in.”

“You do know he’s worse at cooking than I am, right?” She flipped her pale braid over her shoulder. “I mean, than I was. I’m better now, thanks to you.”

“He decided he needed cooking lessons too.” We walked back to the kitchen, to find Logan moving the skillet to a hot pad while turning off the stove. “Okay, let me see the results.”

He’d gone stiff, and moving back to let me check the eggs, half-bowed to Terra. “My Queen.”

“Stop it!” She was suddenly in tears. I tried to make myself as small as possible as the tension in the room ratcheted up twenty notches. “Stop being so, so...”

Logan went to her, pulling her into a hug. Terra sobbed on his shoulder. “I hate fighting with you.”

“I don’t like fighting with you either.” He stroked her hair, beginning to rock slightly. “I love you, and just want what’s best for you. I want you to be happy.”

“I am,” she wailed, her hands clenching into fists against his back. “Except for us fighting over it.”

He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, and spoke slowly when he did. “If you’re truly happy, then I’m okay with it.”

Terra pulled back, her hands relaxing, to look up. Her face was pink and tear-stained. “Really?”

“Yes.” He pulled her back against his chest and kissed the top of her head. “Really.”

I tiptoed across the kitchen and slipped out the back door to give them a few minutes alone.

W
e’d forgotten our morning engagement with David, and were on our way to the Blue Orb to make up for it. Logan slowed the car for a turn. “Sorry breakfast was cold.”

“It warmed up nicely. Microwaves are useful things. Besides, I’m just glad you and Terra are good again.”

“I’m sorry, it sounds like Logan cooked breakfast.” Dane leaned forward to look at him. “Did you cook breakfast?”

“Under her expert eye.”

“And neither of you thought to invite me?”

I kissed his cheek. “Sorry. It was a private breakfast.”

“Why was,” he paused, sniffing at me. Turning his head, he sniffed at Logan. “Oh.”

As my face began warming, Logan elbowed him in the chest. “Do you remember that talk we had about behaving like humans in public?”

“Yes.” Dane eased all the way into the back seat, out of his reach. “But Cordi’s clan.”

I was currently a rather red-faced clan member. Logan patted my thigh, and shot Dane a Look via the rearview mirror. “We do not sniff at each other in public.”

“Sorry, Cordi. I won’t sniff you again.”

“I’d appreciate that. Um, does that mean we smell like...” Sex, I was going to ask, but Logan answered before I finished.

“Our scents are mingled. That’s what he smelled.”

“Oh.” We’d taken a shower together before cooking breakfast. Good to know we didn’t smell like stale sex, because eww. “I guess that means everyone with a good nose can smell us on each other?”

“Yes.” Logan glanced at me. “It happens with everyone. We’re simply able to smell it.”

I remembered Nick smelling Thorandryll on me, the day the elf had macked on me. “I knew that, just didn’t occur to me right then.”

“It’s stronger when two people have...”

“Dane,” Logan warned.

“I’m not going to tease. When two people have been intimate, their scents mingle more.”

“I see.” Basically, every shifter we were around was going to know we’d had sex. I was not exactly cool with that idea. No one needed to know what was going on in my personal life, unless I chose to share it with them.

On the other hand, I kind of liked the idea that Thorandryll might pick up on it, at our four o’clock meeting. “How good are elf noses?”

Dane laughed. Logan grinned, guiding the car around another, slower vehicle. “Not as good as ours, but better than humans’.”

“Does the uh, scent mingling get stronger, the more often we’re intimate?”

“Yes.”

“Is that what you meant about marking territory?”

A choking gurgle came from the back seat, and Logan flushed, but gamely replied. “Yes.”

I grinned. “I thought you wanted me to bite you.”

More gurgles, and the sound of a fist pounding the back seat. Logan’s flush grew darker. He was practically tomato red now. Which is why I wasn’t expecting him to say, “Oh, you can bite me.”

I began laughing. Dane seemed to be having a fit of some sort, and I twisted around to take a look at him. He had his head back, face bright pink and contorted. Tears slipped from the corners of his eyes, his teeth were clenched tight, and he was pounding on the seat with one fist. His chest was heaving. “You okay?”

That apparently did it for him. Roars of laughter poured forth, and before I knew it, Logan and I were laughing with him. I don’t know how we didn’t end up in a wreck, but we made it safely to the shop.

“O
w, I hurt now.” I wiped my eyes, my cheeks aching. I had to rub them next. “Do I look like a raccoon?”

“No.” Logan’s eyelashes were damp. “Little smear under your right eye.”

I flipped the sun visor down to use the mirror. “I don’t even know what was so funny to you, Dane.”

“All of it.” He sighed. “I needed that. A good laugh clears the head.”

Logan moved in his seat until he could see Dane. “Trouble?”

“Nothing major. Sheila and I had a difference of opinion last night. A political one. She thinks Thorandryll as mayor would be awesome.”

“Why?” I flipped the visor back into place.

“Because he’s an elf and must be smarter, and wiser, than any human candidate. She also mentioned that she and all her friends think he’s hot.” Dane frowned. “I don’t talk about how hot other women are when we’re on a date.”

Ouch. I couldn’t think of anything to say to him. Logan could. “Stop seeing her.”

We both stared at him. He glanced at me, but met Dane’s eyes. “I’m serious. You can be overly exuberant at times, but you’re respectful to women. Doesn’t sound like she’s returning the favor.”

“But I like her.”

“Then tell her how it made you feel. How she responds will tell you all you need to know.” Logan moved to face front again, and opened his door. He got out, and I followed suit, pulling my seat forward for Dane to exit.

Little harsh on the advice side
, I ‘pathed to Logan.

He met my eyes over the top of the car.
You didn’t meet his last girlfriend
.
I’d fill you in, but that’s his story to share, if he ever wants to
.

And I’m not a shifter
.

Logan’s lips parted, and he shook his head once.
I didn’t mean...

No, I was reminding myself
. That I needed to have a good sit-down with him, and walk away with a better understanding of what it meant to be clan.

We went into the shop, which wasn’t busy. Tonya was in one of the aisles with a customer, because I could hear her answering a question. Jo and David were behind the counter, unpacking stock. “Six red-pillar style.”