Gargoyle (Woodland Creek) (5 page)

That easy. No one asked who they had partnered up with that night.

It was the only way to move on.

Only doctors had been able to do anything, dosing patients up with enough drugs to sedate them. Anyone else not a child or elderly had just been screwed. Literally.

My own bruises—I’d had many—from that night were now healed, but the emotional ones still lingered. The Mayor,
him
, had somehow finagled a way with the world’s outside press. The world officially thought Woodland Creek was the horniest town in the United States. Even more tourists were showing up.

Stupid humans.

Jackie, my best friend along with Rachel, still fought her own personal demons for whatever had occurred to her that night. So with the town emergency now stopped, Rachel and I had decided Jackie needed shopping therapy on High Street. One of her favorites in Old Town. It did seem to be helping, her arms laden with many bags. Rachel and I only had one a piece, our income taking a drastic hit after the ‘incident.’ Though my temporary job outside of town at Mimi’s Flowers and Balloons had now been secured, it becoming a full-on part-time gig just yesterday…since everyone was buying their loved ones flowers—constantly—to make up for their actions, even if unable to stop them. Guilt. It was a bitch.

We walked to Albrecht Drive, all semi-quiet. Rachel cleared her throat and pointed with her big sale bag to The Bread Basket. “I’m starving.”

Jackie peered up from her digging, having found the new pair of sunglasses she was apparently searching for, placing them on top of her head—almost dumping the contents of two of her bags onto the ground. “I’m hungry, too. They’ve got that amazing chicken breast sandwich there.”

I grinned. Her appetite had finally returned. “Let’s do it.”

Maneuvering through the many tables, I swiftly apologized to the woman that Jackie bashed with one of her bags, my gaze stalling the barest moment on the individual. She was polite enough, but it wasn’t her actions that made me pause. I blinked slowly, recognizing her.

My jaw started to slacken, but I quickly shut it, nodding respectfully to her, then to the rest of her group, who had paused in their munching to glare up. “So sorry to interrupt.”

The Mayor’s sister, Mandy Stone, nodded her head once. “As I said, you’re fine.”

She didn’t recognize me.
Thank you, God!

Mandy’s black brow lifted when I only stared.

“Right.” I peered to where my best friends were, almost to the line of the deli, not noticing my disappearance. I mumbled again, “Right. Sorry.”

“Wait a moment,” an incredibly gorgeous wizard stated, lifting a finger around his fork, even as he continued to stare at his lunch. He was the only one of the group I didn’t recognize. The rest were council members or rich townsfolk—all shifters. I paused in turning, staring at his forehead, waiting until his ocean blue eyes lifted up to me. He continued chewing the food in his mouth, properly closed, before he swallowed. He asked easily, “Miss…do you believe in fate?”

My blink was gradual. “Um…”
Huh?

“Fate,” he stated slowly, lowering his fork and steepling his fingers. He rested his chin on top of the tips of them. “Do you believe in it?”

I cleared my throat quietly, the shifters around the table still eating, but watching silently. “I like to believe that I create my own destiny. Not that it’s already decided for me.”

He hummed quietly, his head barely cocking. “A life filled with crossroads.”

I shrugged a shoulder, my bag rubbing up and down my leg. “I suppose that’s correct.”

A single brow lifted on his fiercely handsome face. “So if I said I had saved the seat next to me for you, would you sit down beside me or continue on with your oblivious friends for lunch?”

My blonde brows instantly snapped together, glancing once to the empty seat beside him. “You saved that for me?”

“Indeed.”

“Why?”

“Now…what fun would it be if I told you that?”

I snorted softly, glancing once to my friends, seeing they were truly oblivious, not even noticing I was gone as they stood in line and eyed the selection menu. My gaze returned to ocean blue, assessing him a moment. Wizards were frightening. “I think—”

“Choose wisely, miss,” he interrupted me, staring patiently.

My mouth opened and then shut. This was weird.

His lips twitched.

My face scrunched a bit at his action. All right, weird didn’t even begin to describe this.

“Excuse me,” a deep voice rumbled behind me, and then a body gently nudged me to the side, not touching me with his hands, more
bumping
me. Then the man who now stood beside me completely ignored me, even as I stumbled a step from the abrupt movement. “Please accept our apologies. We hit a traffic jam on the way.”

I blinked, gazing up at the profile of Mike Stone, one of the Mayor’s other siblings—a real S.O.B.

Feeling my eyes on him, he glared once at me, his gaze running up and down my body once, even sniffing in my direction. His attention snapped back and forth between the table and me, just realizing I had been speaking with them. “Am I interrupting something?” He looked at his watch. “I thought our meeting was scheduled—”

“You’re fine,” Mandy instantly stated, cutting him off. “Although this young lady may be joining us for our meeting.” That black brow lifted again in my direction, her head tilting in silent question, not arguing the wizard’s antics.

My blink was ever so slow. Mike had said ‘our’ and ‘we.’

My spine instantly stiffened at the implication, and I glanced behind me.

No one was there.

My gaze instantly scanned the rest of The Bread Basket…and stalled.

He
was walking through the front doors. Isaac Stone.

And he wasn’t alone.

Finn Stone, the last sibling of the Stone family, was also with him.

Along with Love Stone,
his mother
.

The Mayor and his mother were walking side-by-side, Finn on his other side. The Mayor and Mrs. Stone made quite the stunning pair. Son and mother utterly owned the space around them. They knew it too by the swagger and easy manner with which they greeted customers inside the deli. Finn merely kept anyone from getting too close to his brother, a hardcore bodyguard. He wasn’t just dressed to kill…he actually would kill you if he thought it necessary—quietly, of course.

A bare beat later, I saw Isaac’s nostrils flare and his head tilted back the barest bit. He inhaled deeply. The Gargoyle was
scenting
the air. His thin dark brows furrowed the smallest bit, and memories of our night together bombarded me, unwanted thoughts rolling through my mind. His green eyes narrowed the barest bit as his gaze began sharply scanning from left to right, eyeing each and every person inside the deli in swift fashion as he continued his stalk inside the room.

Until his search halted. Directly on me.

His blink was just as slow as mine had been, the intensity in his gaze abruptly cutting off now that his prey had been found, his gaze running up and down my frame, verifying it was me.

Our eyes held for the briefest moment before my gaze quickly moved to his right. His mom was talking to Finn quietly, not appearing to pay attention. That definitely worked for me.

Sucking in a quick breath, realizing I hadn’t breathed since I had spotted him, I casually turned my head to the wizard. Definitely frightening. My voice was polite. “Thank you, but I believe I’ll have lunch with my friends as planned.” I dipped my head once casually in farewell and turned to leave.

I slammed right into a Gargoyle wall.

Quickly, I took a step back, staring at Mike’s chest at my eye level. “Sorry about that.” I quickly took a step to my right, out of his way…but he swiftly moved with me, staying directly in front of me. Ever so slowly, I tilted my head back and met his direct gaze. His wasn’t as blank as mine was. He appeared curious before he hid it behind his hooded lids. “You’re…kind of in my way.”

No one at the table of shifters was speaking. I was pretty sure they had stopped eating too, just blatantly staring now. Not exactly a wonderful situation.

Mike didn’t speak, merely glancing over my head after eyeing me again. His gaze held for the barest moment above me. I knew he was staring at Isaac. Just as silently, his eyes dipped back down to me, asking quietly, “How do you know my brother?”

I was quiet for the barest moment, thinking quickly before I stated honestly, “I delivered a package once to a building not too far from here. He was there. We had a few
words
.” That was enough. It was just the right amount to imply we had argued.

Mike’s head cocked, inhaling deeply, his brows lowering. “I haven’t met you before, but you smell of flowers. What type of Garden shifter are you?”

I kept my expression serene. “I don’t know what you’re talking about and my friends are waiting for me.” I could now see them behind him, both glancing around, already at the register, having made their orders and noticing I was missing. I angled my body a bit so I could see behind him from the corner of my eye. The shifter ‘royalty’ were almost on us. “If you’ll please excuse me?”

He didn’t move.

Fuck
.

I tilted my body ever so slightly to edge around him, but he instantly leaned on a hip, indicating he would try to stop me if I moved.

Fuckity-fuck-fuck
.

My blink was slow when I saw the wizard push the chair out next to him in a nonchalant way, barely noticeable really, but it was just enough that I saw a bit of a reprieve. If I sat down, then waited for the shifter group to sit down, then I could easily excuse myself since the only other free chairs were across the table. I cleared my throat, and pivoted, walking around the table swiftly, mumbling to the wizard, “I guess I’ll stay for a bit after all.”

The wizard merely snorted softly, tilting to the side, whispering absently, “I’m Caleb.”

“Nice to meet you, Caleb,” I muttered, sitting easily on the chair before I sat my small bag on my lap and pulled out my cellphone that buzzed in my pocket. It was Jackie, her text simple. I typed a quick reply that I was in the bathroom, and I’d find them if they wanted to sit on the other side of the barrier dividing The Bread Basket’s room in two (by the windows)—it was far away from here. Placing my phone back into my pocket, I sat comfortably, watching silently as the shifter ‘royalty’ stopped at the table, and decent, respectful greetings were made.

It was then that it dawned on me that this was neutral ground for them.

Public. Supposedly, no guards. The shifters together…and the lone wizard next to me.

This was peaceful for them, the wizard safe from any harm.

Even if it wasn’t so peaceful for me. I kept my gaze off Isaac.

Although his company did not, as they took their seats, eyeing me with interest.

As soon as their asses were in their chairs, I quickly glanced at my watch, ogling the dial. “Boy, look at that. I can’t believe it’s already…” Yeah, it didn’t matter. I grabbed my bag on my lap and began to stand, glancing at the wizard. “It was a pleasure. Thank you so much for saving me a seat.”

His chuckle was ever so quiet, his blue eyes twinkling the barest bit in his merriment, seeming to take great joy in what I had said as he gripped the back of my chair and helped to pull it out while I stood, my exit now clear to my friends. “You’re most welcome.”

Though, he lifted a finger. “I’m sorry. Wait just a moment.” He peered to the group around the table and blinked so damn softly. His voice was quiet. “I want you to know this young lady, Miss Kennedy Kirk, is under my protection. Should any of you decide that she should be harmed in the future…” his smile was small, “just don’t.”

My jaw flapped. He knew my name.

Uh, frightening he was.

He wiggled his nose.

I jerked and barely caught myself on the table with one hand. A sensation like tiny snowflakes, falling and melting on my flesh made my shoulders shudder. I ground my teeth against the unwanted chill, my gaze slamming on the wizard. But, just as quickly, I altered my attention, not giving away I knew he had performed
magic
on me.

My lips thinned, but I quickly straightened, all of their sharpened gazes on me—except the wizard. My gaze landed on no one, just flying over the table, my words soft as I mumbled, “Um…goodbye, everyone.”

Mike made a gurgling sound inside his throat, staring at Caleb with quietly deadly eyes, then he jerked forward, peering around his brother—who I still wasn’t looking at—and hissed at Mrs. Stone, “Aren’t you going to do something?”

Mrs. Stone’s forehead wrinkled her confusion clear. “What?”

Yeah, it was my cue to leave. I quickly jerked to the side, holding my bag close to my chest, beginning to step a foot between my empty chair and Mandy’s. This wasn’t the lunch I had planned.

The most deadly growl stopped me in my tracks as it purred through the air, the hair on my arms standing up as goose bumps of fear raised on my skin, my heart rapidly beating a heavy thrum inside my chest. That growl was a sound meant for death. The silence before an outbreak of bloodshed.

It was The Mayor.
His Gargoyle
.

No one at the table moved.

Locking my legs that wanted to start trembling, my gaze slowly tilted to the left. To
him
.

I almost peed my pants. No shame in that when it was definitely the Gargoyle staring from his eyes. The only reason I didn’t, with death staring as such, was because he wasn’t watching me.

Those quietly glowing eyes were solely focused on Caleb. “She knows.”

To which, the—seemingly incredibly vain—wizard merely lifted his fork, pointed it absently at me, then forked another bite of his macaroni, holding Isaac’s gaze while he stated evenly, “She’s not a shifter—or a wizard—as you can clearly tell now with the spell gone since I know that’s what you’re really asking.” He smiled as Isaac’s growl abruptly cut off.

My lips wanted to thin, but I kept my expression as silent as the table, staring at the plate that the wizard was eating from. To run or to stay—and try to diffuse a possibly bad situation—were my only thoughts now.