Emerald (Jewels Cafe Book 9)

by Jade Waltz

  Emerald was human and wouldn’t understand any of its significance.

  Would it be wrong for them to use this to their advantage? Or should they ignore the connection and reject the mating bond? If they did that, pain and emptiness would fill them—and they never get a chance to have a Sylex.

  “So, what brings you to Silver Springs?”

  “What brings me to Silver Springs?” I barked a laugh. “Obviously, the amazing coffee and ice cream. Why else?” I looked down at the hot tea in my hands and sighed. “No, if I’m going, to be honest, it wasn’t my plan to be here. I should be working as the Executive Housekeeper, leading my crew through the day’s room. Instead, here I am—jobless, homeless, friendless, and now, carless.”

  I forced myself to focus on the steaming beverage, refusing to shed a tear for those gutless bastards who put me in this situation. They couldn’t even wait until after the holidays! What good would it be to do a complete staff overhaul during the busiest time of the year? It didn’t matter. They were no longer my concern, especially since I had them cash out what they owed me. Fuck them! I hope their hellhole goes bankrupt or burns down—with no one inside, of course.

  “What happened?” Chryso whispered.

  “Who knows?” I shrugged. “One moment, I was doing them a favor, the next, the new hotel owner kicked me out because they want to do a full staff change.” I took a long sip and closed my eyes, feeling the warm ginger-lemon tea sooth the roughness at the back of my throat, I didn’t even know that I had. “The worst of it of all? It was my birthday.”

  “Birthday?” Maw echoed. The shocked tone of his voice pulled my gaze, meeting his. The broody hardness of his deep blue eyes was missing, replaced by the same softness I’d seen in his brothers.

  “Yesterday was your birthday?” Chryso murmured. “They fired you on your birthday?”

  Maw jerked his gaze away from his brother’s voice, instantly hardening. What was that? What was he hiding?

  “Yeah,” I huffed. “What a way to celebrate turning thirty-three.”

  “You don’t have any family?” Vesuv wondered as he collected my dirty dishes. “Or anywhere to go?”

  “No.” I shrugged, sipping my tea. “Well, I don’t have a plan at the moment. Family up and moved to Canada for my mother’s job. I don’t have a passport, and all my friends from college are busy with their own careers and families. We’ve fallen out of touch over the years, so it would be weird to contact them now.”

  “So… what are you going do once your car is repaired?” Chryso asked, tapping his fingers on the table near mine. It was as if he wished to comfort me but was struggling to respect my wish. That one simple gesture meant the world to me.

  Who does that? Most men would love to have an excuse to touch a woman—or man—whenever they felt it was appropriate. Yes, I was a guest in their bed-and-breakfast, but that never stopped a few of my flirtatious ex-staff members.

  When it came to housekeepers, it was a whole different situation.

  ‘You can come in.’ Those simple four words were the beginning of many sexual harassment cases. I shudder whenever I heard stories from other housekeepers around the world and the growing trend of sexual predation within the hotel industry.

  My body jittered from the sudden heebie-jeebies that coursed through me.

  “It’s that bad?” Vesuv asked as he refilled my cup with the hot goodness.

  “Huh?” I snapped out of my trance, steeling myself as I glanced at my three hosts. “Oh, I was going to travel around until I found a job, then settle. I have some money saved to live off for a while, but…” I shrugged. “It’s not going to mean shit if I can’t get a place.”

  Vesuv halted as Chryso shot a glance at Maw, who sighed in response.

  “What?”

  “You have nothing to worry about.” Maw stood up from his seat. “We gathered your vehicle last night. Vesuv took the time to inspect it before he went to bed. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to.” Maw walked away, his fine ass framed nicely in his tight black pants as his hips swayed with each stride.

  As soon as he disappeared around the corner and out of sight, I turned toward the quiet male. “Is he always like that?” I raised my hand and shook my head. “Never mind… is what he said true? You recovered my car?”

  Vesuv stopped wiping the counter and looked up, his icy blue eyes filled with worry as he hesitated, almost pleading for Chryso to help him. When none came, he placed the rag on the counter and staring meekly at me.

  “Chryso helped me load it up and bring it to our garage. I spent most of last night looking at it. It will cost you more to repair in parts alone than it’s worth.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah… I can get the parts and make the repairs… but it will take some time.”

  “How much?”

  He bobbed his head, biting his lip in deep thought. “It probably will take until after the holidays. Most companies are already slowing down their production for the holidays while others won’t be resuming their shipments until after New Year’s.” He shot me an apologetic look. “It looks like you’re stuck here until then.”

  “Unless you want us to drop you off at an airport or a train station or something, so you can spend the holidays with family or friends. We can call you once we complete the job.”

  “Why can’t I call the repair shop in Scarborough?”

  “Cats…” Chryso hissed, clenching his hands in fists.

  “What? What do cats have to do with anything?” I asked, confused, looking between the brothers.

  “That repair shop is family-owned…” Vesuv replied. “And they have a cat problem.”

  “Okay? So… what’s the problem? What do cats have to do with getting my car repaired?”

  “They are feral—”

  “I can do the repairs, Emerald,” Vesuv interrupted. “Just give me time, and I can get it fixed.”

  “What about the costs? No one has mentioned how much a room is to stay here or the price for towing my broken-down car, inspection, parts, and labor.”

  “Don’t worry about your room,” Chryso grinned. “Think of it as our birthday present to you.”

  “You can’t…” I licked my lips. “It’s too much… your house… your rooms are indescribable. I can’t accept your gift.”

  “But you can,” Vesuv chuckled. “We have no other guests and took you in as a favor to the Jewels Cafe owner. As long as you don’t try to burn the place down again, I believe we will be fine.”

  “That wasn’t my fault! You guys shouldn’t be walking around with hardly anything on.”

  “Why shouldn’t we?” Chryso smirked.

  “Never mind! I’m going to go now.”

  I could feel my cheeks burn with embarrassment. Okay, I shouldn’t have looked away from the crepes while I was frying them, but it wasn’t my fault Maw surprised me with his near perfect body. I was trapped in a house, surrounded by three brothers who were all gorgeous, yet with completely different personalities. The scary thing about it all? I felt a connection with each one of them. Something about them called to me.

  Was this what people called ‘love at first sight’? I heard about it all the time. You meet someone for the first time, and there’s an instant connection. Most of the time, it’s used as an excuse to sleep together for the first time, but there were those who truly meant it.

  Why was I lusting over these brothers? Was it because there was no longer a stigma about living in the location where I worked and couldn’t check out the men who I came across? Now that I was free from my previous job, I was throwing caution to the wind and checking them out, but they shouldn’t be flirting with me—or tempting me with their dripping wet bodies…

  “Emerald! Wait.”

  Gripping the railing, I halted on the stairway and sent a prayer I didn’t do anything else wrong while I was here. “Yes…”

  Chryso leaned on the end of the stairway railing. “Want to see my
garden?”

  “Garden?”

  “I figured you might have some spare time since… well… we’re snowed in, and you may want to see what I grow.” His gaze traveled along my body before locking on mine. “That is… unless you have something else you want to do. I know you probably have to call someone or something.”

  “Am I talking to Vesuv or Chryso right now? What happened to the confident brother who just mocked me?”

  “If I take off this vest, you may trip and fall down those stairs from sight of my gorgeous body, and we can’t have that,” he smirked.

  “I don’t know…” I trailed off as I climbed down the stairs and stopped before him. “Maybe I should see what Vesuv is doing. Perhaps he needs help with my car—”

  “No, wait!” He raised his hands, his teal eyes burning in mine. “He likes working alone… which is why I was asking if you wanted to join me.”

  “If it’s that important to you…”

  He led me back through the kitchen to the back of the house and through a pair of sliding chrome doors.

  “What…”

  A wall of humid warmth surrounded me as I stepped into a gardener’s dream.

  Inside was the most high-tech greenhouse I had ever seen. Research teams and large companies would be jealous of the set up. It had multi-tiered layers with flowing small streams, misters, and heat lamps everywhere. There were scanners and gadgets stationed at every plot, labeled for each plant housed there.

  “Do you want to see my cucumber?”

  “Excuse me?” I followed his voice, baffled by his question.

  His back turned to me, he was squatting down with his hands in front of him. He stood and spun around, a large green cucumber in his hand.

  “My cucumber. It’s the best around. I breed all the plants in here to get the best coloring, nutrition, and size. They all produce the desired traits and characteristics I want to provide the highest quality of flavor.” His head crunched in confusion. “What did you think I was asking about?”

  “I don’t know anymore,” I sighed, defeated as I peered behind him. “So, what is up with all the cucumbers?”

  “Cats hate them, along with mint.” He pointed over to another section of plants. “We had a huge cat problem, so I studied what they hated. Cats can’t stand the smell of mint—especially peppermint—and are deathly afraid of cucumbers. Since I started growing them, our pest problems have diminished. Now that I don’t have to worry about those pesky felines anymore, I can focus on growing our own teas.”

  “Why do you hate cats so much? I love how cute and soft they are. How can you hate them when they sleep with you and do that cute catloaf position?”

  “Because they love leaving dead animals on our porch. Don’t get me started with all the meowing, and whenever we want to go to the hot springs in the woods, they follow us.” He smacked his cucumber his other hand like a baseball bat. “You don’t understand how annoying and hard it is to try to have some alone time with those creatures always wanting to rub up against you. Don’t get me started about the licking.” He gagged.

  “So, you created a whole greenhouse to battle your feline problem? Isn’t that a little… excessive?”

  “Maybe.” He shrugged. “I enjoyed gardening as a hobby and built this greenhouse to function year-round. Battling the local felines was something I could focus on. Now that it is fixed, I can grow our gourmet tea and supply the Jewels Cafe as my first customer.” He peered down at his cucumber and stroked it. “Isn’t it lovely?”

  “The cucumber or…”

  He paused and looked at me, confused. “No, that I can solve a problem while providing Silver Springs with my own gourmet tea. What else did you think I was talking about?”

  Maw was right. She was trouble—but she was their trouble.

  Her scent took over every part of their home, leaving the basement the only sanctuary away from the reminder of her. Something about her story struck a chord with him. It was as if he was witnessing their story being replayed.

  Kicked out of their home with no place to go and wondering what to do next.

  He understood why Maw hesitated about telling a human about the world around them. The ancient ward placed on Silver Springs only worked if the humans within it didn’t believe in supes. As soon as they conjured the thought they weren’t alone in the world, the ward would fail, revealing all the supes around them. Humans were a minority in Silver Springs, and being able to see all the shifters in their true forms would be an eyeopener.

  Emerald was a delicate situation.

  Not only did they need to introduce her to the world around her—they would have to explain to her who she was to them. Until now, there were no destined or fated mates for the Alzaqi. An Alzaqi triad would present themselves as one in their unique bubble dance near their empty nest, prepared for a Sylex to accept both it and its nestcarers. Breeders could choose to stay behind with their triad—or return to their warrior sisters and defend the planet from invaders.

  It was odd to regularly see breeders among their nestcarers, but with no offspring being produced, it was vital for their scientists to keep them at home to continue studying the issue to come up with a solution. All the warriors spent their time defending our communities from the Earthlings, traveling between them at times of need. Some of the supes were a violent breed—not that humans didn’t have their moments—but it was the supes who came too close to their territories and to discovering the truth.

  Earthlings weren’t ready to learn about aliens. Every time an alien species tried to make contact, it was treated as an invasion, and Earthlings replied with hostility. The Alzaqi didn’t need land to live on, they were fully capable of spending all of their lives underwater. The few small communities on land, living among the Earthlings, were just a fraction of what lived deep in the water.

  That was one of the main reasons why Maw wanted the triad to own a bed-and-breakfast. They could house any visiting warriors comfortably without worry and use their wide range of vehicles to do their local business. And when they are alone, they could enjoy being away from town and the local gossip.

  Vesuv was tucked into his favorite corner of the couch, wrapped up in one of his “Release the Kraken” blankets, reading one of the new alien romances. It amused him what authors imagined how aliens acted—none of the species they came across acted or looked like anything like what he read. Most of all, he enjoyed the books because it gave him hope that one day, there could be Earthling and alien relations—and now, having Emerald around, perhaps she would accept them.

  It was a fragile situation. They could deny the mating bond and go on with their lives, never giving her a chance. Or they could accept it and move forward with their relationship, hoping she would be open to it. The Stars indeed led her to them. They should follow the Fates desire and entertain the possibility that everything would work out—so far, it had.

  They may have lost their home planet, but now, they gained a chance to have a Sylex.

  The basement doors opened.

  “Are you prepared for tonight?” Maw barked, stripping his attire as he walked to the relaxing pool and jumped in.

  “As prepared as I will ever be. It should be a simple, yet long trip to gather enough materials to last for a month.” Vesuv closed the book and stared at his leader. “Are you ready?”

  “I am ready to get out of this house and away from her.”

  “You know, we offered to allow her to stay until her car is fixed.”

  “And it’s fixed. So why is she still here?”

  “Because Chryso wants more time to explore what we have between us,” Vesuv replied. “And I don’t see the harm.”

  “Other than you both becoming attached to her,” Maw grunted. “And unable to let her go if she chooses to leave.”

  “Why are you against having her as our Sylex?” Vesuv asked, confused. “She is ours or at least meant for us, no matter how much you try to resist.”

  “This is
unnatural—”

  “And so is living on this planet. This planet isn’t like Alza, where landmasses were rare. We aren’t the natives on this planet, and we may need to leave to find another that is more acceptable for our breeders to reproduce.”

  “And what will happen when we have to leave, and she is officially bound to us?” Maw growled. “Are we going to stay behind with her? Or leave her while we find a new planet to live on?”

  “I thought I was the one who over thought everything…” Vesuv sighed. “Maw, accepting her won’t change the future that waits for us. If the Fates want us to relocate, we will once again. Wouldn’t you rather do it with a Sylex? Or do you want to build yet another empty nest? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to go through the motions of building another nest that has no hope to be filled because we left her on Earth, and our breeders aren’t reproducing.”

  “But how do we mate with her?” Maw asked, defeated as he leaned back against the relaxing pool’s wall.

  “The Fates wouldn’t team us with her if there wasn’t a way.”

  “I sure hope so,” Maw sighed. “Let me think about it more.”

  “There is only so much time before the Celestial Void—”

  “I know, I can feel it.”

  The house was quiet—too quiet.

  If I knew taking a nap before dinner would result in being left alone in an empty house when I woke, I wouldn’t have done it. After Chryso went over every single type of plant they grew, I excused myself to call my mother to let her know what happened. She wasn’t expecting me for Christmas since my allotted time off for the holidays at work had been after the new year. We planned to meet somewhere then.

  Now, I was trapped inside a huge mansion that wasn’t mine, not knowing where they’d gone. Every public room was empty, and there were no tire tracks on the fresh snow outside. Not that a sane person would attempt to travel in the conditions outside. I would only take the chance at the time of an emergency, and from what lack of evidence I came across, there hadn’t been an emergency. If there was, wouldn’t they let me know?