Easy Bake Coven (11 page)

“I should have known that if Cheney was involved, you were back,” Sy said. “What happened, Selene?”

I turned toward him. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what’s going on. Did we know each other?”

Sy raised an eyebrow. “You could say that. Your father and my mother were siblings.”

 I sat down. I had family. Cheney didn’t mention that. “So we’re cousins?”

“What exactly’s going on? Why does she look human?”

I didn’t notice that Cheney had sat down next to me until he spoke. “It’s a long story. You and Sy are related on the elf side,” he said to me, then directed his next words to Sy and Femi. “Selene doesn’t have her memory.” He gave a quick rundown on how I became a changeling and why he was here now.

Sy nodded. “I’ll do what I can to keep the bounty quiet. You know who posted it, don’t you?”

“I do.”

Sy took a deep breath. “And you’ll take care of her?”

Cheney’s jaw tightened and he didn’t look pleased. “I’ll guard her with my life.”

“Okay, okay, okay. Let me see if I have this straight. So you,” Femi poked Sy in the rib with her claw and he jumped, “are related to her.” She winked at me. “And you, how do you factor into this? It’s my understanding half-elves and regular elves don’t mix a lot.”

“Cheney and Selene have history, Femi,” Sy said, not making eye contact.

“What type of history?” she asked and Sy gave her a quelling look.

I cleared my throat. “I’d like to know as well.”

 “It’s better if you remember for yourself.” Cheney stood and prowled around the room. “So how many bounty hunters know? Should we leave now, or can we wait for the awakening?”

“You probably have a week or two before others catch up,” Femi said.

“How’d you find them so fast?” Sy asked her.

“I’m just that good.” She smiled and hopped back to her feet. “Selene, can I talk to you?”

I nodded and followed her into the store.

She started talking, her back to me. “Look, I don’t know you and usually when I go out on a limb for someone I don’t know, I either get stabbed in the back for my effort or land in a shitload of trouble.” She whirled around, startling me. “But you mean something to Sy, and Sy is the first friend I made after leaving my people. I wouldn’t hurt him for the world, so I’m going to let you go.”

“I was never going to let you take me,” I said. Who did this crazy woman think she was?

She laughed. “That’s cute. Anyway, I believe that you have no clue about anything that’s happening. Here’s the deal: while Cheney does weave an interesting tale, I think there’s more to this story. He’s not telling you everything.” Femi leaned over the counter and fished around by the register. She came back with a pen and paper. “If you get tired of the elves, this is my number and a number for someone who can help you. She doesn’t deal with elves, but she’s all about humans—you’re half so I think you count.”

I took the paper with no intention of calling a complete stranger. “Um, okay.”

“And don’t let her boyfriend scare you either.” She laughed again. “You know how jinn are. I’ll let her know you might be calling.”

“Do you think I shouldn’t trust Cheney?”

She gave me a half-hearted shrug. “Who knows? I stay as far away from elf politics as I can, but you seem to be dead center right now. The faster you learn that everyone has an agenda, the better off you’ll be.”

“What’s your agenda?”

“Relax, Hermione.” She winked at me. “I track down bounties strictly for the cash. No purer motive than that. Now Sy’s gotten involved because you’re family. But Prince Charming in there? Well, I don’t know what he gets out of this.” She arched a thin eyebrow. “Watch your back. Don’t take any apples from strangers.” She patted my arm and almost knocked me over.

I rubbed my arm and rolled my eyes. “Holy fairytales, Catwoman.”

“Catwoman? Shit, Catwoman’s a pussy.” She chuckled and sashayed through the door in her leather pants and four-inch heels. “I think I might like you, Selene,” she said.

At the door, she paused and called out, “Sy, you owe me another bounty,” then she strutted away and was gone.

“What is she?” I muttered.

“A Sekhmet. She’s great, isn’t she?” Sy rested an arm over my shoulder in a familial way. “I’m glad you’re not dead, cousin.” He handed me a card. “If Cheney doesn’t treat you right, give me a call. I can help.” He kissed my temple again, then vanished.

Ugh. This world was so weird—and overwhelming. Cheney stood in the doorway, staring at me.

“So you forgot to mention I have family.”

“Let’s go home, princess.” He followed me to my car in heavy silence.

“Have you heard from Gram?” I asked, hoping to penetrate his mood.

“No, I can check on her if you like.”

“Thanks.”

The lights flitted by in the darkness as I drove the familiar path home.

“Selene . . . ” Cheney started, then stopped.

I raised my eyebrows, glancing over.

Cheney shook his head. “Don’t run off again. No matter how mad you get at me, don’t make me chase you. Had it been a different bounty hunter, we wouldn’t have been so lucky.”

I stopped at a traffic light and turned my head fully. I was just about to respond when a memory clouded my visions and my thoughts.

Cheney and I were nose to nose. His eyes gleamed with fury.

“There’s no fucking way I will allow you to leave!”

“Are you going to stop me, prince?” I growled back, spitting out the word “prince” like it was an insult.

“Damn right I’m stopping you.”

“I don’t think so. You don’t have the guts. You won’t stand up to your father or do what’s right. I’m doing this whether you support me or not.”

“I need you to have patience.”

“I’m done with patience. I’ve waited for you for two centuries. Maybe it’s best if I go with my own kind.”

“I am your kind.”

“You have no idea how much I wish you meant that.” I brushed my hand down his cheek, then strode toward the door.

“If this is a ploy to get me to chase you, it won’t work. I won’t come after you, Selene.”

I turned back to him. He stood in the middle of the room, proud as ever. “Good,” I said.

“I mean it.”

I nodded and walked away from him forever.

I opened my eyes with a cry of pain. My head throbbed and heart ached. He was gone.

“Selene.” Cheney’s voice broke through the excruciating pain.

“
Cheney
.” Something dormant inside of me recognized the sound of his voice and took over. My hands grabbed his face. He was here; he was real. I hadn’t lost him. My heart sang with joy. I pulled him to me, smothering him with desperate kisses, trying to drown out the more practical voice in my mind demanding attention. It asked what I was doing. It told me
I
hadn’t almost lost Cheney—that was someone else.

Cheney kissed me back with equal passion and tried to pull me from my seat to him, but my seatbelt kept me in place. Horns blared behind us. It meant nothing. I had him.

Red and blue strobe lights pulsed outside of the windows, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t kiss him enough. Each kiss was further reassurance that my heart was not going to stay demolished. I ignored the loud knock on the window, but Cheney pushed me back.

“It’s the police,” he said as if the words should mean something to me. Who cared about the damn police? “Outside the window. Roll down the window, Selene.”

I did as he said. A young police officer stood on the other side of the glass, trying to maintain a serious face though a grin obviously wanted to break through. “Are you having problems with your car?” The cool night air snapped me back to reality. My cheeks flushed deeply. I couldn’t believe I’d attacked Cheney like that. “Are you all right ma’am?”

Cheney leaned across me. “She fainted, low blood sugar. I think she’s still a little out of it. I was trying to move her to the passenger seat when you came up. If you wouldn’t mind helping me?” Cheney said smoothly.

The officer looked back and forth between us, doubt evident. I didn’t have any problem looking dazed though, since that’s exactly what I was. “She shouldn’t be driving,” he finally said.

“I know. If you help me move her, I’ll take over.”

The officer opened my door and undid my seat belt. Cheney got out and together they lifted me over to the passenger seat while I played the drooling idiot. Cheney shook the officer’s hand and said a few quiet words to him. A moment later he was in the car and driving us home, neither of us saying a word. When he put the car in park, I was out of the vehicle as fast as humanly possible and in the house, making a beeline for my bedroom. I slammed the door, locking it behind me.

Holy crap, I made out with a stranger I disliked in the middle of a public intersection! What the hell had gotten into me? I had a fiancé. I couldn’t do things like that. Yet the memory of us together felt so real, it was like it had just happened. Emotions floated like landmines in my head, waiting for me to step on them.

A slow, soft knock on my bedroom door tore me in two. One half wanted to hide under the covers and ignore it until it went away. The other half wanted to throw open the door and pick up where we left off. I went for a compromise.

“I don’t want to talk, Cheney.”

“What was
that
?”

“I. Don’t. Want. To. Talk.”

“Are you serious? You kiss me like that, then you want to ignore it?”

“Yes,” I said lamely. I couldn’t talk to him about what I didn’t understand.

“Selene.” I could hear him struggling for patience. “You know I don’t need you to open the door to come in there.”

“I’m engaged.”

“You aren’t going to marry that human.”

“Are you going to stop me,
prince?
” I said in the same mocking tone I used in my memory. It was so fresh in my mind, it just slipped out.

“If I have to—wait, what did you call me?” A moment later Cheney was inside the door. I pressed myself against the wall on the opposite side of the room from him.

Cheney didn’t say a word—just began advancing.

“Stay away from me,” I warned, feeling energy begin to collect underneath my skin.

Cheney paused and looked at me hard. “
Try
to control yourself.”

“Then
you
stay back.”

“Who am I, Selene?”

“Cheney Hunt.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “What happened in the car?”

“I had a memory,” I said weakly. “We were fighting about me leaving, and you told me you wouldn’t chase after me. And then I left you . . . forever.”

Cheney nodded slowly without commenting.

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“Oh, I remember it well.”

I let that sink in. “But you did come after me, didn’t you? That’s why you’re here now?”

“Yes,” he said in barely a whisper.

“That’s why I kissed you. After the memory, I was crushed. I could hardly breathe, then I heard your voice and—”

“It started to mend,” he finished for me as I nodded. “Is that all you remember?”

I nodded again.

“Have a good night, princess.” He unlocked the door and walked out like a normal person instead of just disappearing.

“Don’t call me princess,” I said to his back. He paused but said nothing, then left, closing the door gently behind him.

I wasn’t even remotely tired, but I didn’t want to be out there with him while I was feeling like this. I pulled out my cell phone and called each of the girls, individually talking to them about nothing important. It felt wonderful to pretend to still be normal. I missed them. I missed being twenty-six with nothing more to worry about than what I was doing Saturday night. After that, I called Michael and we chatted until the wee hours of the morning, reminding me why he was perfect for me. When I finally felt tired, we said goodnight. Michael was the one I wanted. I just had to remember that.

However, he wasn’t the one who occupied my thoughts and dreams the rest of the night.