Page 22 of Shift of Heart (Shifter Lords #1)

Chapter

Seventeen

I didn’t call in Moira and the others, though she popped in a few hours after normal opening time and walked in with her mouth agape.

Moira’s eyes scanned the room, a furrow of confusion forming between her brows. “Did your mom come in and clean up or something?”

We locked eyes and started cracking up. My mother probably didn’t even know what a broom was. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

The vampire grunted. “Oh, I bet I would. This has the Shifter Lord written all over it.”

My shoulders slumped. “Yeah.” I shoved Jennifer’s price list at her. “I thought I’d write a check for everything, but the asshole hired a talented potter.”

Moira took the invoice, scanned the paper, her brows slowly inching higher with each line she read. “Whoa.”

“Yeah.” I laughed. “You can check out her work in the back. I brought in twenty new pots.”

“Still writing a check?”

“Thinking about it. He’s the one that broke them, but writing a check prevents me from owing him anything, and I didn’t have to report it to the insurance company.” But paying him in full would take a chunk out of the payment from the floral arrangements I made for Caelan and that chapped my ass.

“Meh.” Moira flicked her fingers. “You have plenty of money, and we’ll all chip in to keep him off our back.”

I wasn’t a millionaire, but I did alright. Writing the check would pain me, but it was the wise thing to do. “I’ll decide tonight.”

Moira grabbed an apron from the hook by the door, one of the few things that survived Caelan’s wrath without damage and tied it around her neck.

“You don’t have to work,” I chided. “Why don’t you take the day off?”

“Nothing else to do, and you know how much trouble I get in when I’m bored.” Moira tied her long hair up in a high ponytail, then dug around in her purse for a small, leather cosmetic case. “Now, let me see your back so I can pick the rest of the glass out.”

“About that.” I’d been thinking about it all morning and still couldn’t figure out what happened. “I went to sleep full of glass, and I woke up without any. It’s the damnedest thing.”

Moira stared. “Even in your ass?”

I barked a laugh. “Even in my ass. I’d feel it in there, but I can’t feel a thing.”

Her brows drew together. “Let’s go in the back. I want to double check.”

It was about time to close for lunch, anyway. After flipping the sign to closed, we headed to my office.

Moira twirled her finger. “Assume the position.”

I turned around and tugged my shirt off. This wasn’t the first time Moira picked glass or thorns or burrs from my skin, and I’m sure it wouldn’t be the last. The vampire hummed, her cool fingers skimming down my back, pressing in certain areas, before moving to my hips.

“Hmm. Tug your pants a little lower.”

“Your obsession with me is getting a little weird,” I drawled.

Moira laughed. “Yes, skinny pale asses totally do it for me.”

I tugged the side of my joggers down. Moira pressed a few more places, then clicked her tongue. “Nada,” she pronounced. “Should we be worried about that?”

“I didn’t sense anything in the house.” I pulled my shirt back on and fixed my joggers. “Maybe Mom showed up?” She could erase every trace of her scent if she wanted to.

“Yeah, but she digs through your shit because she’s a nosy bitch. You’d know if she’d been there.”

“True.” Mom had no ability to be stealthy. She moved through the world like she had the right to be anywhere at all, and the concept of private property did not compute in her fae brain.

“Plus, she wouldn’t heal you without making you pay for it.”

“Also true.” I slumped onto the couch and kicked my feet up. “So what happened? Did I fully absorb the glass and turn it to slush or something?”

“Mmm. I’m more inclined to lean toward a benevolent fairy godmother.”

We laughed again. Benevolent fae was fairy-tale cinema marketing and not based in real life whatsoever.

A key in the lock turned and Moira’s head jerked toward the sound. Her eyes narrowed. “It’s Ash,” she said before she plopped down in one of the chairs.

He popped his head in a moment later and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Thought you said the shop was destroyed?”

Moira grinned. “Our murderous Shifter Lord felt guilty. He paid to have everything fixed.”

Ash blanched. “In a period of twelve hours?”

“Try five or six. Almost everything was fixed before I got here this morning.”

The dryad and Moira exchanged a look I chose to ignore. He came in and took one of the other chairs. “I heard something I think you’ll be interested in.”

Moira sat forward, dark eyes gleaming. “Oooh. Gossip. Spill the tea, wood boy.”

Ash snorted. “As always, your nicknames are both demeaning and endearing.”

Moira grinned. “I try.”

“The Shifter Council met last night.” I met Ash’s eyes, and my stomach dropped to my toes.

“Oh shit,” I breathed.

Moira let out a cackle of laughter. “That was what the flower arrangements were for?” She put a hand over her mouth but couldn’t stop her belly laugh. “Oh, Evie. You beautiful idiot.”

“No wonder he was so pissed.” Guilt speared me. I knew there’d be important people at his banquet, but we usually heard rumors when the Council of Lords gathered. I assumed it was only local power and not Lords from all across the world.

“They’re fracturing,” Ash continued. “Rogue packs are beginning to form, and Caelan is under extreme pressure to either bring those to heel or expand his territory.”

“Or step down,” Moira murmured.

“Yes,” Ash confirmed. “Our Shifter Lord is progressive, and some in the Council don’t like his policies. The gathering was meant to be an informal peace summit.”

“Informal?” I blurted. “With all that money he spent on just the flowers?”

“He’s filthy rich, Evie,” Ash said, rolling his eyes. “The cost for him is equivalent to a drop of rain.”

“Still.” I thought about it. “Maybe I should have charged him more.”

The vampire reached over and patted my knee. “That’s our Evie. Business woman ’til the end.”

“There’s one more thing.” Ash rubbed his hand over his face. “I’ve heard some rumblings about divine magic popping up in some of the smaller towns.”

I froze. “What kind of divine magic?” Was my mother acting up again?

“No idea. But I think we should all be on guard. We all know what happens when the gods start walking the world again.”

Silence fell. Yes, we did. And I knew more than most considering one of them was my mother.