Page 143 of Moonlight Hearts

“Oh yes.”

I bit the inside of my cheek.“But Rae—”

“I was briefed on this ahead of time,” they said while walking past behind me with a gingerbread latte for Ben.

I looked at Soyer.“Did you get into the secret chat?”

“If I had, I couldn’t tell you about it because that defeats the purpose.”

Kasey looked out through the passthrough.“Oh, are you guys still here?You should get a move on.”

My mouth fell open.“Seriously, all of you?”I looked at Ben.Ben lowered his head in peak guiltiness.“You too, Brutus?”

Soyer pulled a key from his pocket and spun it around his index finger.“It’s for your own good, Amory.”

I looked around the Moonlight.It really wasn’t that full.There were a few werewolves having dinner at the corner table, and the reader was back, this time at table seven where he was engrossed in his newest romance.I still had to ask what he was reading, but for now, I was imagining that he was secretly a librarian, reading all the books that could suck you into their pages.He was a special librarian forces librarian though, so those books couldn’t suck him in.

I sighed.“Okay, fine.Do I need to change?”

Soyer shook his head.“Nope.”

He rounded the counter and stopped in front of the swing doors, holding out his hand to me in unspoken invitation.I took it.

We walked through to the back.In the storage room, Kasey stood ready with my coat—Elias had given me this one after he’d forced a shopping trip on me.He’d bought one for himself as well.We now matched, almost as if we really were twins.

Kasey beamed as Soyer took the coat from him to help me into it.

“Have fun,” he said, somewhat ominously, his snakes dancing around his head like a living halo.

Soyer unlocked the back door, and we headed out into the snowy night.A cab was already waiting for us at the end of the alley, and Soyer held the door for me.Once he’d slid in after me, the driver drove right off.

Soyer reached into one of his coat pockets, pulled out a small blue box and held it out to me.It had a sparkling silver bow tied around it.

“This is your Christmas present.It’s early.That was just easier logistically.”

“But it’s more than a week away still!”In my belly, excitement bubbled though, and I felt like a kid on Christmas morning.

“Who cares?Why wait?Come on, open the box.”

I took it from his warm hand and admired it first.It wasn’t heavy at all, so I was pretty confident it wasn’t jewelry or anything that expensive.Soyer had given me a new watch right away after he’d burned the old one, so it couldn’t be that either.

I pulled the ribbon open and lifted the lid, then stared at the black cloth in the box for a second before I pulled it out to better see what it was.

“A blindfold?”

Soyer beamed.“Yes.That’s the first part of your present.We can use that in the bedroom later, but that’s optional.Putting it on is not.”

I pointed.“You want me to put this on.”

“Absolutely.”

“Now?”

“Mm-hmm.”

I nibbled on my lower lip.“Okay, but it’s weird.It’s almost like you’re some creepy dude who got me into a car with him and is now blindfolding me so I don’t see your face or know where we’re going.”

“Oh, too much work.You’d just come with me wherever I told you to anyway.There’s no need to blindfold you to get you there.”