Page 10 of Slaying With Sylphs (Haven Ever After #6)

CHAPTER TEN

DIRK

L ouanna freezes as our big wolf steps into Alkemi. Bright green eyes flash, his wolf’s electric shade glowing faintly as his focus flicks from her to me and back again. He schools his features into neutral, his wolf’s green disappearing as he closes the door softly behind him.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he starts. “I came for a sleeping potion for a client.”

“You’re not interrupting anything,” Louanna says quickly. “What kind can I get for you? We’ve got a few for falling asleep, and some are meant to help you remain asleep through the night.”

Connall shakes his head, eyes moving to me once more. “You know what? I can come back another time.”

It’s plain to see he didn’t expect to find me here, and he’s about to run. We can’t have that.

“Don’t let me stand in yer way, Wolf,” I say, grinning at Connall. “I jest came to help Louanna close up.”

He nods curtly, stepping around me to a chunky wooden table piled high with tiny vials of potions. Intelligent eyes scan the labels until he finds what he’s looking for. I take the time to drink him in, those gorgeous auburn waves, the hint of freckles that dust his cheeks. He’s a vision, and I am going to have so, so, so much fun playing with him when he gives in to us.

“We’re going to dinner after this,” I say as he grabs a vial. “Come with us.”

His bright eyes meet mine, emotion flashing through so fast, it’s hard to catalog what he’s feeling. He glances over his shoulder at Louanna. “I…can’t. I’ve got something to do.”

“Do yeh?” I take a step closer to him. “Come with us, Connall.”

His cheeks go pink, then red, and he shakes his head. “Have fun. I’ll just pay for this and be on my way.”

My poor, sweet wolf. He’s never been with a male; The topic comes up from time tae time in his sessions, and he’s open about sharing his personal life with his patients. I cannae wait to be his lover, his instructor, and, gods, I hope the recipient of the weapon between his thighs.

“I insist,” I say a little more forcefully. “It’ll be a good time. We can chat.”

Connall’s eyes go full blue, his wolf pressing forward to get a good look at me. I stand tall and proud, staring back at the predator that lives inside my mate.

“Come out and play, Wolf,” I whisper to him. “I’m right here.”

A soft growl leaves his throat, half warning and half…something else.

A scent soaks the air, pulling Connall’s focus from me.

Louanna’s arousal is the sweetest of essences. When she’s turned on, the air smells of the climbing honeysuckle vines from the meadow I grew up in.

Connall and I turn as one to find my sweet Louanna’s mouth open, eyes hooded as she watches us. Her chest rises and falls rapidly, both hands flat on the checkout counter’s surface.

Next to me, Connall sucks in a deep, ragged breath, another soft growl tumbling from his throat. Louanna’s scent explodes, drenching the air with her need. Connall strides to the checkout counter and sets the vial down so hard, I’m shocked it doesn’t break.

“Just this, please,” he grits out, his voice rough with his wolf’s deeper tone.

“O-okay,” she says, eyes wide as she rings him up without even looking, her fingers still on the keys. “Connall…”

I stand silent, watching them, getting hard as he breathes heavily. He can’t pull his eyes from her, and with his incredible sense of smell, I’m certain he’s struggling not to yank our Louanna over the countertop to fuck her.

“Do it,” I encourage. “Whatever yer thinking about…do it.”

He ignores me and reaches into his pocket, withdrawing a fistful of cash and slapping it on the counter.

Lou sputters, “This is too much; it’s like four times what the?—”

“It’s fine.” He spins in place.

He’s gonna run. I can feel it.

“Louanna, my sweet,” I urge, “come find the key, my darling.”

She rounds the checkout counter with an exasperated sigh. “Are you kidding me right now?”

I glance down at her, then back at Connall where he stands frozen next to the checkout. His eyes are planted firmly on Louanna’s ass. I’d pay good money to know his exact thoughts.

“Give me the key,” she commands, scowling up at me.

“Gods, I love it when you get bossy,” I admit, crossing my arms. “Yeh’ll have to find the key, Louanna.”

“Stop it,” she hisses. “Hand it over. You’re making this weird. Again.”

“Weird. Hot. Sexy. Plenty of names for it,” I joke. “Go on, my beauty, find it.”

She lets out a string of expletives to make a sailor blush, then grabs my chest straps and looks underneath them.

“Not there, Louanna,” I say with a laugh, bending to bring my lips close to her ear. “Look lower.”

Connall stands there, eyes roving the both of us as Lou reaches a hand into one of my pockets, grumbling about how the key isn’t there. When she rounds me and feels in the other pocket, I roll my eyes and let out a soft, sensual moan.

“Yes, Louanna, keep going in that direction,” I say.

Connall grits his jaw but can’t keep his eyes off o’ her as she checks both of my back pockets. I grin at him, loving how he can’t bring himself tae leave.

“Come with us to dinner,” I say again. “I want yeh to. She wants yeh to.”

Lou stops her search of my body and looks at him. “Please, Connall.”

Green eyes flash again, but he shakes his head. “I shouldn’t.”

“C’mere, Connall,” I command. “Why don’t yeh help Louanna find the key?”

His brows shoot skyward, but he licks his lips as she slaps my stomach.

“Dirk, it’s not in your pocket. Where the hells did you put it?”

“Check inside the pants, my beauty,” I encourage.

A scrambling noise pulls my attention back to Connall, whose back is the last thing I see before he shuts the front door quietly behind him and leaves.

He’s a runner, I’ll give him that. But I’m nothing if not devoted to the chase.

H ours later, Louanna rubs her full belly, staring at an empty plate as we sit in Herschel’s Fine Dining.

“That was amazing, but I ate far too much,” she groans, amber eyes flicking to mine and softening at the corners. “This was lovely, Dirk.”

“But what?” I question. “I can hear the ‘but’ in yer tone, Louanna.”

She leans forward over the table. “I feel bad that Connall didn’t come. He ran off.” Her eyes flash with command. “I think there’s a super solid chance he’s not as into this as you hope. You laid it on pretty thick yesterday at Biergarten.”

I grin. “I haven’t even begun to lay thick things on you, my sweet, but I told yeh he’d come around, and he will. He needs time to think, to see I’m serious about him.”

I rest both forearms on the table and lean close, noting how our knees touch and she doesn’t pull away. Scanning her face, I look for signs of lingering discomfort.

“What do you think about this whole thing?”

She looks away from me, scanning the room as she considers my question. When she looks back, I worry she’s still reticent about me, and us.

“I thought it might be too much, too soon, but I’m having fun,” she admits.

Pride blossoms through me. I can work with slow and steady. I just need a chance to prove to her that I can be a good mate. I need to unpack those walls around her heart to get close.

“Tell me if it’s ever too much.” I grip her knee and squeeze gently. “I want yeh; I’ve always wanted yeh. But yer comfort, and his, are my priority.”

She reaches down and lays a hand over mine, curling her fingers into my palm. “Some days I feel like my mental state is two steps forward and one step back. You might be getting damaged goods, Dirk, but somewhere underneath all of that there’s still a badass bitch.”

I snort out a laugh. My sassy, confident female is self-aware. I love that.

“Yer right, o’ course,” I say. “And I’m attracted to every facet of who you are. I want yer good days and the bad, my sweet.”

Her half-smile grows a little bigger.

Glancing down at my comm watch, I decide it’s time to get her home. We made good progress tonight, but I don’t wanna push my luck. Squeezing her fingers with mine, I pull her closer.

“I’m going to walk yeh home, Louanna. And, on the way, I’d like to hold yer hand.”

Pink dusts her cheeks and neck, traveling to full breasts forming soft mounds underneath her wrap dress.

“My eyes are up here, Dirk,” she says in a laughing tone.

“Thank fook.” My gaze trails down to her waist and slowly back up. “Imagine if yer eyes were somewhere else. I’m just appreciatin’ every one of yer curves. Does watching me stare at how stunning yeh are not make yeh hot?”

She shifts on the bench seat next to me, her long hair brushing against my forearm where it rests on the bench behind her.

“It does,” she says so quietly, if I wasn’t a monster, I doubt I’d be able to hear her.

Fraught emotion furrows her brows, her expression tense.

“What is it, Louanna?” I stroke the knuckles of my free hand down her jaw.

“I don’t know how to navigate all of this with everything going on.”

A soft smile tips my lips upward. “Yeh’ll not be navigatin’ it alone, my sweet. Yeh’ve got Connall and me by yer side.”

She leans in like she’ll tell me a secret. “I hoped he’d come to dinner with us.”

“I would have liked that.” I glance around the formal dining room, filled to the brim with monsters.

Amber eyes move back to me, her lips still close to mine. “I prefer the vibe in Shifter Hollow. It’s so much more…peaceful out there.”

I brush the tip of my nose along hers. “Shall we move you into a guest cottage, Louanna? Perhaps Connall’s house?”

She slaps my shoulder half-heartedly. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Little does she know, I’m not being ridiculous at all.