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“Only when it comes to plants and flowers.”

Over Kai’s shoulder, I see Sage round a wall of hydrangeas. He does a double take and stops dead in his tracks. His expression shifting from relaxed to confused, then enraged. I follow the trajectory of his glare and realize he’s staring daggers into Kai’s back. He must know who he is, or at least his family, because I’ve never met him before today. But I also hide out in my greenhouse and avoid social interactions altogether. Not a big surprise I didn’t know who he was when we first met.

Kai catches my distant expression and turns in his seat, catching Sage’s glare before he drops it to a flat expression. Turning back around Kai gives me a sheepish smile.

“I think I’ve taken up enough of your time. I’ll come see you again soon though. You can tell me more stories about nursery rhymes that have disturbing historical origins.”

He stands and smirks at me once more, flashing a fang, then he’s gone. Strolling past Sage and out of the greenhouse with the posy of flowers still sticking out of his back pocket.

“You shouldn’t be hanging out with him, Daisy. I know I told you to make more friends but not him.” Sage sits in the stool Kai just vacated and doesn’t look happy one bit.

“Why? What’s wrong with Kai? He seemed nice to me.”

“Oh, he’s very nice. With every female he meets. He’s a relentless flirt and slut. If he’s being friendly, it’s because he only wants one thing from you.”

My tail tightens around my waist and I try to see Kai as Sage sees him. Yes, he is very flirtatious, but as for being a slut? I couldn’t say. I don’t know his past. And so what if he is? There’s nothing wrong with having numerous sexual partners. Some of us aren’t lucky enough to even have one sexual partner. Not that I choose to still be a virgin at twenty-three. Well, in the sense that I’ve never been with a real male. My secret toy collection doesn’t count.

“And what exactly is it you think he wants from me? All he did was walk with me and then make a few flower arrangements.”

“Huh,” is all he says. Like it’s completely unfathomable a guy like Kai could be interested in me for any reasonotherthan casual sex. “I still don’t like him. He’ll only end up hurting you in the end.”

“Well, I liked spending time with him.”

Sage also doesn’t like that. “Just promise me you’ll be careful, Daiz. He has a reputation and I’d hate to see you become part of it.”

I stare at the flowers in the vase, ignoring Sages pleading eyes, and mindlessly move them around. We sit in silence for another minute before Sage gets up to help a customer and leaves me to stew in my thoughts of everything that happened today with Kai. Particularly when his tail stroked me.

Chapter 6: Kai

Stepping back into my family’s house hours after I left, I find my brother sitting on the couch watching TV, some action movie with loud explosions that he has to pause in order to be heard.

“You’re back. Where the hell did you go for so long?”

I cross the wide living room and plop down on the couch next to him, my head falling back onto the plush cushion.

“Finding my new mate.”

“Excuse me? I don’t think I hear you right. Your new mate?” Endo sits up straight and stares at me, his chocolate and gold eyes gleaming.

“Yeah. I took your advice and found myself a mate before mom could choose one for me,” I casually declare while kicking off my boots and dropping my feet onto the coffee table. Mom would cut off my ears if she saw the way we behave in the house when she’s not around.

“You’re serious? You actually found a female nymph to agree to be your mate? How?”

Pursing my lips, I bob my head side to side. “Not exactly. I’m not actually going to bond with her, and she hasn’t agreed to be my mate.”

“I’m confused. How is she your new mate then?”

“She’s not. I’m just going to tell mom she is. There’s no reason she has to know that.”

Endo shakes his head and leans back into the couch. “You’re a piece of work, you know that? Does this poor girl even know what she’s getting into?”

“Probably not. Oh, and she’s a half-breed.”

“What?! Are you out of your mind?” Endo practically shrieks, and I recoil at the shrill sound, his voice ringing in my ears. “You can’t tell mom you’re planning on mating a half-breed. She’ll disown you.”

“One can only hope,” I mutter under my breath while fingering my ear trying to regain my hearing.

“You want to be disowned? Truly?”