Frost & Bothered (9 page)

“I know, right? The dogs are going to love it.” Unbuckling my seat belt, I was out the door before he’d shut off the engine. “Come on.”

“Right behind you.”

I giggled the whole way to the front door, unlocked it, and stepped inside. Most of the first floor was an open plan, and I scanned it, hardly able to believe it was really mine. “That’s my fireplace, and my kitchen. Ooh!”

“Wow.” Logan had come inside. “This is really nice. I like it.”

I spun around with a smile, and my jaw dropped because he was carrying a picnic basket and a blanket. “What’s that for?”

He tilted his head toward the fireplace. “Soames mentioned you’d have a fireplace. I brought wood, thought we could have a celebratory lunch.”

How thoughtful, and kind of...no, it was pretty much romantic, unless he’d packed cheese sandwiches. “You’re awesome. But first, the grand tour, okay?”

“Sure.” He put down the basket and blanket, and I immediately began leading him around.

It took half an hour, because I wanted to coo over various things. Logan went outside after we’d returned downstairs, and brought in the wood. He began building a small fire after checking out the fireplace.

“You can make it bigger.”

“It’ll burn for hours.”

“I can put it out when we’re ready to leave.”

“Right,” he said. “Tiger Lady is also Psychic Lady, with Amazing Fire Powers.”

I laughed and opened the basket. “Holy cow, dude.”

The basket was packed, with two wine glasses and a nice bottle of pinot noir front and center. I pulled it out. “How did you manage this in just a couple of hours on a Saturday?”

No brightly colored plastic plates or paper napkins to be found. The plates were bone china, the silverware heavy, and the napkins were linen. Even the food was packaged in nice, glass serving dishes. My mouth began watering as I unloaded them. Coq au vin, green beans almandine, and parsleyed potatoes. There was cheesecake drizzled with chocolate for dessert, two mugs and a black thermos full of coffee, too.

“I pulled a few strings.” He’d turned around. “One of the clan works at a French restaurant. I hope the food’s good.”

“Are you kidding? This is fantastic.” I couldn’t believe he’d gone to that much trouble. Well, okay, he hadn’t had to cook any of it, but still...I felt my eyes narrow and cocked my head. “You wouldn’t happen to be trying to seduce me, would you?”

He blinked, a strong feeling of genuine surprise emanating from him. “No, why?”

“Because there’s candles.” I pulled them out. “There’s wine, and a fabulous French meal. Plus the cozy fire. It’s all quite the romantic setup, dude.”

Logan surveyed everything. “When you put it that way, I guess it is, but I swear my intentions are pure. I just wanted a nice lunch, since this is a special day for you.”

“This is an extremely nice lunch.” My God, how sweet was he, doing something like this without an ulterior motive? “Thank you.”

He smiled. “You’re welcome.”

“Come eat before everything gets cold.”

A
n hour later, I savored the last bite of cheesecake and sighed. “Yum. Absolutely delicious.”

“The French have gained a new fan. That was fantastic.” Logan held up the thermos. “More coffee?”

“I’m good, thank you.” I checked my phone. “It’s almost two.”

“And you have a case to work on.” Logan began repacking the basket. “What’s your next step on it?”

“I don’t know. Someone would’ve called if Rico had turned up.” I checked. “He’s alive. The last place he was seen was Dreamland, and you know how much luck we had there.”

“Yeah.”

“About the only thing I can do is try to find more of his friends to talk to, unless something pops up on the psychic radar.” I looked out the front window. “And it’s still freakin’ snowing.”

“You can use my truck. Or my services as a chauffeur, because Soames has zero winter driving experience.” Logan scowled down at the basket. “This isn’t working. How the hell did they fit it all in here?”

“I’ll help.” I moved to my knees to assess the situation, and began rearranging dishes. “You don’t have stuff you need to do?”

“Garage is closed due to inclement weather. Alanna is chaperoning Terra and our other teens.” He handed me the wine glasses. “I’m not allowed to supervise the play dates because I intimidate the boys.”

“Imagine that. I bet you stand where you can see everyone, with your arms crossed and that super serious look on your face.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah, yeah. I guess I do.”

Laughing, I closed the basket. “There, all done. I’m going to guess it doesn’t help that you call them hanging out together ‘play dates’ either.”

“They’re children.”

“They’re teenagers, Logan. Entirely different. Also, Terra is Queen.”

“True. I just,” he sighed. “I don’t want her to get hurt. She’s mooning over Devon and he’s not remotely Consort material.”

I sat and pulled my knees to my chest, hugging my legs. “Is there a rule that the Queen can’t play the field until she figures out what she wants in a guy?”

Logan opened his mouth, closed it, and swallowed before answering. His expression wavered between surprise and a little sick. “No, but she’s just a kid.”

“See, there’s where you’re going wrong. Sure, she’s a teenager, and unless shifters develop way different than humans, there’s hormones and stuff running wild, but she’s also a young woman.” I held up my hand when he started to speak. “A young woman who is aware of what’s expected of her, and who desperately wants to make good decisions.”

Logan thought about that for a minute. “You’re saying I’m worrying too much.”

“You’re worrying too much. She might get her heart a little bruised, but that’s part of growing up, and life in general. You can’t protect her from it. When she’s ready, I have no doubt she’ll make a good decision.” I frowned. “I don’t know if she’ll make it for herself and the clan, or just the clan though.”

He had to think about that too. “We want her to be happy.”

“Might want to make sure and tell her that. A lot.”

Logan studied me for a few seconds. “It sounds like you may have been worrying about her too.”

I shrugged. “I like her, and we kind of have stuff in common. I mean, neither of us signed up for the gigs we have. Both of us kind of wish we were normal girls. The big difference is that I was a normal girl for fifteen years. Terra’s never been a normal girl.”

Very quietly, he said, “I know.”

“Not that being a normal girl is all fun and games. But she doesn’t know that.” Heck, I realized I didn’t even know any “normal” girls anymore. My friends were witches and shifters. Oh, and one elf: Alleryn, Thorandryll’s healer.

“What can I do about it?”

Perfect time to make good on that promise I’d made to Tonya. “You can’t do anything, except okay her going out with Tonya and me. We’ll do fun, normal stuff. Hit the mall and shop. Stuff like that.”

He began to shake his head, stopped, and looked me straight in the eyes. “You’ll keep her safe?”

“Duh.”

A half-smile appeared on his face. “Would you be insulted if I wanted Alanna to go along?”

“Nope. I like her too. She’d probably have fun.”

“Okay, but I’ll warn you that I’ll probably be a nervous wreck until she’s home.”

I released my legs and moved to my knees again. Leaning over the picnic basket, I crooked my finger at him. “Come here.”

Logan leaned forward. “What?”

I kissed him. Just a quick smackeroo on the lips. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Trusting me. My first meal in my new home. Being a total sweetheart. Take your pick, dude.”

He turned slightly pink while I spoke. “Oh. Uh, we’d probably better get going.”

“Right.” I climbed to my feet and looked at the fire. A little concentration, and no more flames. I added a touch of cryokinesis to cool the remains. “Let’s go.”

A
clan member I didn’t know by name yet was on guard duty at the door. He greeted us before saying, “Soames wants to talk to you. Something about your case.”

“Okay, thanks.” I wondered if I’d missed a call and pulled out my phone to check while following Logan to the stairs.

“You’re neglecting your duties.” We both stopped and looked up. Danielle stood at the top of the flight. She looked pissed, her eyes narrowed and her lips a thin slash across her face. She glared down with her arms crossed. “Your place is with the Queen.”

“I know my place, and my duties to our Queen.” Logan’s voice was the same silky growl he’d used to stop us from sniping at each other while we were searching for my mom. I shivered, and he added, “Apparently better than you do.”

“Ooh, burn,” I murmured.

“Discord.”

“Sorry.”

Danielle growled. “You fail to show proper respect.”

I didn’t know if she meant me or him, but Logan responded as though she meant him. “I’ve shown you nothing but proper respect since you joined the clan.”

“That’s the problem,” I said, and they both looked at me. Oops. “Sorry. My mouth isn’t always under my control.”

The guy on guard duty chuckled. Danielle’s face reddened. “And you. You don’t belong here among us. You’re an insult to our status, parading around in your sad excuse of tiger skin, pretending yourself an equal to our Queen.”

“That’s enough,” Logan said.

“No, it is not,” she yelled, and I flinched. Danielle had a serious set of lungs on her. “She’s an affront to us. Makes us a mockery to others. She weakens us, and she weakens you.”

Her shout had opened doors on the first floor. People began gathering in the hallway. Down at the far end, I saw Terra come out of a room, with Alanna and other teenagers on her heels.

My mouth ran away with me again. “Wow, you really are a queen. A drama queen.”

Logan sighed. “Discord, please.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m not helping, but holy freaking crap.” I dropped my phone into my purse. “I hate drama. You,” I pointed up at Danielle. “Don’t like me. Fine. That’s something I can deal with. But back off of Logan.”

“I am a queen of this clan.”

“Newsflash: I am too.”

Danielle laughed, and it was a nasty, sharp sound. “You’re human.”

“Eh, there’s been some debate about that.” I waved my hand. “Point being, whether you like it or not, we’re equals here.”

“You’re not my equal.” She dropped her arms, her fingers flexing.

I sort of lost my mind as Ginger appeared behind her. My delusion pulled a theatrical vampire pose, baring her teeth and lifting her clawed hands in the air as though she were about to attack Danielle. “Yeah? How about you come say that to my face?”

Totally the wrong thing to say to her. Logan grabbed my arm when Danielle snarled and leaped, shifting as she came toward us. I threw up my hand, stopping her in mid-flight with my telekinesis. She thrashed, her tail thumping off the wall and railing, her claws shredding air.

Logan released my arm and stepped back. I took a deep breath, trying to figure out what the hell I should do now. Letting her go before she calmed down wasn’t an option. She’d rip me to shreds. Apologizing was, but it’s not like I’d ever done anything to her to start the whole mess.

Terra was halfway down the hall, and she did not look happy. I decided to wait until she reached us before doing anything else.

Danielle stopped snarling and clawing the second Terra stepped into view. The teen looked up at her before looking at me. “Put her down.”

I obeyed, relatively certain Danielle wouldn’t charge down the stairs now that our Queen was present. She didn’t, but she did crouch down, glaring at me with slitted, orange eyes.

Terra looked at Danielle again, and I felt a curious sense of pressure. The older woman shifted from tiger to human again, and stood naked as the day she was born in front of us. The teen asked, “What’s the problem here?”

“Danielle doesn’t like me, and she used that as an excuse to jump all over Logan when we got here.” I heard Logan mutter something, but couldn’t make what he said out. Not that it mattered, because my explanation was the truth.

“I call for a queens’ council to discuss the Protector’s neglect of his duties.”

That set off some serious whispering among those watching our little drama unfold. Terra’s shoulders twitched, and her pale green eyes shot to Logan before settling on Danielle again. “Go put some clothes on. We’ll meet in the conference room.”