Page 9

T hanks. You couldn’t have been just a little more subtle?

Retreating into sarcasm wasn’t the most helpful approach, Ethan knew, but he thought he deserved a little vent, even if it was just an internal one.

This whole situation had devolved into a complete shitshow within the space of five minutes.

Not only was he at risk of losing his job and further disappointing his father; not only was he being haunted by a confused specter that was making his pegasus even more insufferable than usual; not only did his mate just drop him squarely into the not-even-friends zone, which stung way more than he could have ever imagined…

But now, an overly friendly bookstore owner just had to go and blab to all and sundry that he was in the company of a ghost. In front of his human mate, no less. Just because his life couldn’t get any stranger.

Does that woman have no filter?

Margot wasn’t a shifter, he could tell that much. But that didn’t mean a whole lot – there were plenty of non-shifters who knew about things outside of the normal human experience.

And Margot’s bookstore did pretty much scream ‘outside of the mainstream’.

There were some definite… vibes in here.

His pegasus was also feeling some suspicion toward her, though he suspected that that was more due to snobbery than any particular threat she posed.

Well, beyond the threat to his sanity, anyway.

On top of all that, Curtis was also wandering around and poking his nose into everything, making comments that Ethan knew he couldn’t answer without looking like a crazy person in front of Chloe.

The four separate conversations he had going with his mate, his pegasus, his ghost, and his…

whatever the hell Margot was… were really starting to get tiresome.

He wondered if he could get away with Margot’s slip-up. Laugh it off. Haunted? What are you talking about? Of course there’s no such thing as ghosts! Don’t worry, Chloe – she’s just a small-town kook with an overactive imagination!

He opened his mouth to speak.

“Oh, shoot!” Margot exclaimed. “I really should be more careful about these things.”

That, my dear, is an understatement, the pegasus muttered.

“Forget I spoke,” Margot continued hastily.

“I don’t think I’m going to do that,” Chloe said firmly. She turned to Ethan.

Oh, crap.

“Haunted? What’s she talking about? Are you saying that there’s a ghost following me around?” Chloe said, the smile on her face clearly strained. “Is this… a joke or something?”

Ethan swallowed hard as he desperately flailed about in search of the best possible answer.

He couldn’t lie – not to his mate. Not only did he not want to, but his pegasus wouldn’t allow it.

Even being evasive was out of the question.

He’d already pushed its tolerance for that to its limits, reasoning with it that he had to get to know Chloe better before he told her about the ghost following them around, or she’d never accept him as her mate.

In the end, he supposed that he would have to go with the truth. They’d already gotten off to a rocky enough start. If she thought he was nutty, well, then, at least he’d be honestly nutty. And at this point, he was starting to doubt the sanity of this whole situation, anyway.

“Technically, the ghost isn’t following you around,” he said, trying to sound offhand about it, like this kind of thing happened every day. “It’s following me .”

Chloe blinked, before narrowing her eyes. “Well. In that case, it’s absolutely fine, then. Carry on.”

Our mate is using sarcasm against us! She thinks that we are fraudulent! the pegasus whinnied. Convince her otherwise!

~I do not know what a ‘mate’ is, but I agree that you should assure Miss Chloe that I am real, and pose no threat,~ Curtis chimed in… before looking down at himself as he swiped his arm right through his incorporeal midsection. ~Well,~ he said sheepishly. ~Somewhat real, anyway.~

Only years of experience kept Ethan’s reactions to any of this from showing on his face, though he suspected that his eyelid might be twitching ever so slightly. Wait – Curtis, are you saying that you can hear the pegasus?

~Am I not supposed to be able to? My apologies. I did not mean to intrude.~

Ethan shook his head tiredly. No, no, it’s fine. Maybe it’s even a good thing. You two can sort your own problems out, instead of making me be the middleman.

He turned his attention to the pegasus. And now maybe, finally, someone else will see what a pompous, self-centered jerk you can be.

~While I do not entirely disagree that our pegasus friend can be… somewhat disagreeable,~ Curtis said musingly, ~He is quite magnificent.~

The pegasus preened, and Ethan had to refrain from slapping himself in the face in frustration. He wasn’t sure which was the worse option: his pegasus being scared of ghosts, or his pegasus being in cahoots with a ghost.

“Hey! Earth to Ethan!”

He jerked back into the real world, where his mate was snapping her fingers in his face and looking pissed. And fair enough, he supposed.

Letting out a deep sigh, he squared his shoulders. Might as well let it all out into the open.

He looked into the depths of her gorgeous hazel eyes, locking his gaze with hers. She looked irritated, but also confused, curious, determined… and stunningly beautiful.

Our mate deserves to know everything, his pegasus insisted, and for once, he had to agree with it.

“Ghosts are real, Chloe,” he said gently but firmly. “I’ve been haunted by one for a couple of months now. His name is Curtis.”

Beside him, Curtis raised a hand, and Ethan cleared his throat. “He’s, uh, waving.”

Chloe’s eyes were as wide as saucers at this point, but she dutifully turned more or less in Curtis’s direction, waving back. “Uh, okay. Hi Curtis, I guess? Nice to meet you.”

Curtis beamed.

“He’s harmless,” Ethan went on, watching intently as Chloe turned back to face him, an expression that could only be described as extremely skeptical on her face.

Ethan could feel the need to babble rising up within him – to say something, anything , that might convince Chloe that he was telling the truth.

“Something has summoned him back to the world of the living and attached him to me – why, I have no idea – and so we’ve come back to where he used to live, in order to see if we can find out why he’s here. ”

“Oh, I see!” Margot broke in again. “Yes, I understand now. Usually when ghosts haven’t moved on, it’s because there’s some kind of unfinished business that needs attending to. Is that the case here, Curtis?”

~I honestly couldn’t say, Miss Margot,~ Curtis said thoughtfully. ~To be honest, I rather thought that I had moved on. But it seems that now I am back – though for what purpose remains unclear to me.~

“Hmm.” Margot looked thoughtful. “This is a new one to me – although, I must say that I don’t have a huge amount of experience with ghosts. I would be more than happy to look into your problem and see if I can find anything out, though, if you would like?”

~If it really would not be too much trouble, then there is nothing I would appreciate more,~ Curtis said gratefully.

“Of course,” Margot said, her face lighting up in a smile.

Ethan chanced a glance at Chloe, who did not look thrilled with all of this… and he couldn’t really say he blamed her. Not only had she just been confronted with the existence of ghosts, but she was also the only one in the room who wasn’t privy to the full conversation going on.

She narrowed her eyes. “As much as I would like to believe that what you’re saying is true, you do realize that I realize that you could both be talking to thin air just to mess with me, right?”

“I… suppose I can see how it might look that way.” It was painful to have his mate doubt him like this, but Ethan knew that he preferred a mate who would be skeptical and do her due diligence over one who would blindly believe everything he said.

Our mate is of strong character, his pegasus said approvingly. A woman who must be won over! Wooed! Convinced we are the right choice for her!

“Oh, I’m so sorry – how rude of me,” Margot exclaimed. “I can’t believe we were just having this conversation in front of you! Curtis, may I bring you into Chloe’s view?”

~I… suppose so?~ Curtis said uncertainly. ~If such a thing would be possible?~

“One moment! I’ll be right back!” Margot said, and dashed back through the bookshelves.

The room settled into what had to be one of the most excruciatingly awkward silences of Ethan’s life. Even his pegasus and Curtis seemed content to let him stew in his own juices while Chloe stood there, arms crossed, foot tapping, jaw set.

He wanted to talk to her, he really did, but it felt like anything he said at this point would seem like he was trying to force her to see his point of view. Better to just wait and see what tricks Margot had up her voluminous sleeve, and then work from there.

“‘Bring Curtis into my view,’ eh?” Chloe said coolly, completely ruining his intricate plan of ‘ wait and do nothing ’. She raised an eyebrow. “Now, what could that mean?”

Ethan was pretty sure at this point that it meant that Margot was a witch – he did believe in those after all, however unlikely it was that one would be living here in Girdwood Springs – and that she’d gone off to stir her cauldron or gyrate under the full moon or something…

but he couldn’t exactly tell Chloe that.

It was hard enough trying to convince her that ghosts existed – he was pretty sure that she’d march right out the door if he casually dropped witches into the mix.

For once, however, the fates were in his favor, and he was saved from having to give an explanation by the sounds of Margot stumbling and bumping her way through the shelves, followed by Margot herself, who was almost entirely hidden behind an armload of ancient books, unidentifiable herbs, and who knew what else.