by C. A. Storm
“Bard?” True concern laced Harper’s voice now, finally drawing Bard out of his funk.
Placing his hands lightly on her shoulders, he said softly, “Sounds like you’ve got some guests. I… should go take a shower and put some clothes on.” Leaning down, he gave her a quick, hard kiss and, tearing himself reluctantly away as the voices got louder, loped upstairs.
Shower. I’m going to need a very long, very cold shower. Fuck, I hate cold showers.
Blue balls. Either way, they were going to be blue.
Glancing down, he gave his groin a grimace. “Sorry, boys. I’ll make it up to you later.”
Chapter 27
Harper watched in bemusement as her mate rapidly retreated upstairs. Without her. Leaving her there dazed, horny, and not a little confused.
Okay, so he’s not running away from me, but he’s definitely running from…
Hearing the sound of familiar, youthful voices immediately before there came a knocking of small fists on her door, Harper burst into laughter.
Ah! The big, bad, horny wolf needed to get away before the kids saw him looking rumpled.
Snickering to herself, Harper turned to let the boys in.
Greeted by beaming faces, Harper grinned back at them.
“Morning boys! Why don’t y’all give me a moment. I’m going to go grab my purse, then we’re going to go get some donuts and drinks before we get started down here, okay?”
When her question was met by cheers, Harper gave them a wink and ran up to get her purse. Her grin widened as she heard the shower going, and a grumbling man complaining about the cold water. Grabbing her purse, Harper peeked her head in, “Going to go grab some food and drink for the boys. I’ll grab you another coffee! Be back in a few, sweet cheeks!”
Taking his grunt as affirmation, Harper turned, grabbed his empty travel mug and went back to meet the boys. Soon, they were leading her unerringly through the Village, towards the fabled Café au Faé. It wasn’t that far from her own shoppe, just around the curve to the north, a little further than she normally had to go.
The building was a three-story stone and wood, with the first floor opening up into an open garden covered by a wooden overhang. Small wooden tables and stools were set in the garden, already filled with people getting their morning fix, while a small line led out the door.
It didn’t surprise Harper to find the café already so busy, given the fact it was barely seven in the morning and the sun was just peeking up over the mountains. While a coffee shoppe was probably pushing at the boundaries of the Renaissance-themed envelope a little bit, Harper discovered long ago it was best not to get between an addict and their coffee, or underestimate the lengths they would go to justify their needs.
Thankfully, the line moved fairly quickly, and with the help of Erik and Vinnie, Harper was able to wrangle the boys, get two dozen donuts, and order a refill for Bard’s coffee fairly smoothly. She was again unsurprised when the pretty, brunette barista knew exactly how Bard took his coffee, though she was definitely amused when the owner called out to her assistant, “I need a Castle with Three Black Knights, Frothing at the Mouth, and double-up on the Dragon’s Gold.”
Laughing and shaking her head, Harper said, “Somehow, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of each other, if that’s his normal order. Though, you may need to translate that for me.”
“Large coffee with three espresso shots, steamed milk, and a double-dose of caramel,” was the instant reply, then with a wide grin, the barista offered her hand, “And yeah, Bard’s one of my most loyal customers when it comes to the black stuff. I’m Allie, the legendary Coffee Fairy.”
“I’m Harper, the new glassmaker, though not-so-legendary, I’m afraid,” Harper replied with her own grin as she shook Allie’s hand.
“Oh, nice!” Allie replied, “And give it time! Eventually, we all end up with some kind of title or nickname.” She winked, “Some better than others!”
“Oh, Lord,” Harper shook her head as she accepted the offered mug filled with Bard’s precious brew. “Well, guess we’ll see what I end up with, won’t we? Thanks for the coffee, Allie. Will definitely be seeing you around!”
“No doubt!” Allie laughed, waving them off as she turned to the next customers.
Escorted by the five teenaged boys, by the time they got back to the shoppe, half the donuts had “mysteriously” disappeared and Bard was waiting for them, anxiously pacing back-and-forth in the main room.
Freshly showered, his hair was once more slicked back into that high tail, and though he had on his jeans and shirt, he was barefoot.
Hm, I’m going to need to break him of that particular habit. Barefoot in a glass studio is never a good idea. But when he turned and gave her a wide, relieved grin, her thoughts scattered until all she could think about was the feel of those lips on her.
Clearing her throat, suddenly remembering she had five young boys, who all had those damned heightened werewolf senses, Harper drug her mind out of the gutter and held out the mug, “Here’s your coffee, baby, but you’re on your own trying to get any donuts from the heathens.”
He stalked towards her, stealing a quick, hard kiss before accepting the mug from her hands. “Coffee and sugar from my sweetie, my life is complete,” he teased.
“You’re a goofball,” Harper said with no small amount of amusement. Glancing over at the boys, she said, “Right guys, we’re going to dust and sweep down here, then we’ll unpack what I brought so I can check it all over. Vinnie, could you get the boys started down here? Erik,” she turned her gaze to the older boy, “I could use your help outside. I need to get the kiln and crucible cleaned and checked out.”
Pouting adorably over the rim of his mug, Bard gave her wide eyes, “What about me, darling? What can I do?”
Glancing up at him, she smiled, “Well, if you don’t have anything better to do, I could use your muscles to get the last things from my trailer.”
Fishing her keys out of her purse, she handed them over with a pointed look, daring him to laugh. “It’s the big pink truck, you can’t miss Little Lady.”
Accepting the keys and another quick kiss, Bard chuckled against her lips, “Yeah, I somehow knew that. I’m parked next to you. Anything you want me to bring back first?”
“Hm, no,” Harper said. “Just bring it all up. It’s mostly just personal things, some costumes and knickknacks, but might as well get it all unloaded while I’ve got you handy.”
Sniffing, Bard adopted a wounded expression. “You just want me for my muscles.”
“Right now? Yep,” Harper said with a perfectly straight face. “Now git! You’re distracting me.”
“I’ll distract you right proper a little later, my Harper,” Bard husked in a low voice next to her ear, “Maybe even flex for you, so you can properly appreciate my muscles.”
At her sharp inhalation, the wicked demon wolf laughed and sauntered out, whistling as he disappeared before she could respond.
Taking a few moments to regain her composure, Harper turned and was glad to see Vinnie and the younger boys were already busily cleaning up. Without any complaints or anything. Okay, definitely not human children. Harper thought with a laugh as she waved Erik over.
“Come on, sooner we get this done, sooner I can deal with a certain wolf.”
They spent the next few hours cleaning and organizing the shoppe, and the attached work area. The previous tenant had obviously left in a hurry, and though the workers had made an attempt to at least clean things up, there were still lingering issues Harper needed to deal with. Thankfully, with her merry band of young werewolf helpers, she was able to get most of it done fairly easily.
Bard passed by a few times, carrying her trunks and remaining suitcases up to the studio upstairs; stopping to steal a quick kiss or two from Harper each time. Not that Harper complained, at all.
Just as she was about to break for lunch, Harper looked up to find she was suddenly surrounded by all five boys. Erik
stood directly in front of her, bristling with aggression, while the other boys were crowding her, trying to push her back and away from whatever had triggered their protective instincts.
Peeking around Erik’s shoulder, Harper was surprised to see the tall, dark figure from the morning before. Jesus Christ, has it really only been 24 hours?
Killian Sinclair stood just on the other side of the low wooden barrier that kept crowds from walking into a potentially dangerous work area. Still wearing one of his classically elegant suits, sunglasses covering his eyes, he looked just as dangerous, just as deadly, as he had the morning before.
Beside him was another familiar figure, Biggest Brute, from the truck stop. In sharp contrast to Mr. Sinclair, he was wearing just a black wife-beater tucked into worn, shredded jeans; with every inch of his heavily-tattooed, massive muscles on clear display. His previously long hair had been shaved down to a military-short buzz cut, while his beard had been trimmed as well; otherwise, he looked much as he had at the gas station, which is to say, huge and kind of scary.
Seeing the two men standing next to one another, both equally terrifying if in completely different ways, Harper fought back the urge to shriek and run very far, very fast. She just might have, if not for the boys.
Adopting her most professional mien, Harper stepped around Erik, laying a gentle hand on his arm as she gazed unflinchingly up at the two men that dwarfed her.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” Harper kept her tone even as she gave the two men a small nod of acknowledgement, “Is there something I can help you with?”
Looking more amused at the five young growling boys than upset or threatened, Sinclair took his glasses off, revealing his freaky, pale quicksilver eyes. Leveling a stare on her that no doubt crushed lesser beings, Sinclair met Harper’s eyes and said, “Miss Llewellyn, it seems there is a little problem and it has been brought to my attention. I do not like problems, Miss Llewellyn.”
“Mr. Sinclair,” Harper tilted her head, “I am afraid you will have to be a little clearer on what exactly the problem is, and why you believe I may be involved.”
She ignored the small snort of amusement from Biggest Brute. One problem at a time, thank you very much!
Quirking a brow, eerily reminiscent of her own habit, Sinclair replied, “There are rumors that you may have bewitched a wolf…” He paused, glancing pointedly at the five boys who were still trying to bodily crowd her back behind them, “Or wolves, in clear violation of the Pact.”
“Supposition and conjecture are not evidence, Mr. Sinclair,” Harper countered. “I cannot control rumors, and my name alone is apparently more than enough to draw ire from certain quarters. Last I checked, however, we are not only in a Sanctuary, one that I was invited to, but according to Sanctuary law, only the Guardians of the Sanctuary can bring charges to bear upon one who has claimed Sanctuary, and there must be mediation and proper arbitration, to ensure the innocent are not railroaded.”
Thank the Heavens I did some research into Sanctuaries before I got here!
Sinclair’s other eyebrow raised, joining the first, which gave Harper the odd sensation of being on the receiving end of her own trick. Yep, it was aggravating, all right! Then he smiled, just a little bit, but there was an immediate easing of the general tension all around.
“Well then, Miss Llewellyn, you are correct. In that case, you are requested to appear tonight, at midnight, in the amphitheater so we can see this matter appropriately settled, post haste,” Sinclair said as he put his sunglasses back on. Turning his head to the man beside him, Sinclair said, “Reginald, please make sure Bårdr doesn’t go feral between now and then. I believe, he is rushing back to see why his mate is feeling threatened, and although there are no Mortals currently present, cleaning up after a rampaging Ulfhednar is always a bother.”
“Aye, m’laird,” Bigger Brute…er, Reginald, said with a smirk and a smart-ass touch of his forehead. “I’ll go head him off then,” dipping that sweeping bow he had given her before, he purred out, “See you around, Goddess.”
Without another word, the two men turned away, walking off in different directions. They both moved with determined strides, but they moved as if they had no other concerns in the world, with the calm confidence they were the biggest monsters around. Which, going by the goosebumps covering Harper’s skin, they might just actually be.
“Well, fuck.”
Chapter 28
Honestly? Given what he had already seen of her wardrobe, Bard thought his mate would have packed far more than what she had apparently brought with her. Yes, it was probably sexist, but Bard loved that his mate was unabashed in who she was and what she enjoyed.
After ignoring the missed calls and messages clogging up his notifications, he made a quick call to the minions back at his motorcycle shop. He had two assistants that came in during the week to man the front of the shop and answer any questions.
They had opened the store without any problems, and he told them to take any messages and schedule out any repairs that may come in, but otherwise, he would be taking the next few days off. Thankfully, while Mark was a member of the Ulvfang pack, he was an easy-going gearhead, and most days seemed to completely he was even a wolf. And Jackie wasn’t a wolf at all, so never involved herself in that side of his life.
Business matters dealt with, he was able to focus on proving his manliness by carrying Harper’s trunks and bags back to her shoppe and up to the studio.
Hmm, we’re going to have to figure out this living situation. Bard thought to himself with amusement, completely ignoring his wolf’s mental suggestions of a huge cave. Somehow, he doubted his pretty little mate would want to live underground, even if there was an entire underground town buried beneath the Estates.
The shoppe is too small for the both of us, and Hank’s using the Forge during the weekends. I should show her my place, but don’t know if she’d want to live over my workshop, and either way, when we have pups, we’d have to find some place bigger.
Happy thoughts of his mate and pups provided a welcome distraction, until he felt Harper’s sudden, chilling terror. Shoving the chest back into the trailer, he kicked it shut and sprinted towards her, calling on his wolf’s speed as he ran towards her shoppe.
He took a rather direct route, leaping over anything that got in his way, dodging down back paths known only to the regulars, and somehow managing to avoid making roadkill of anyone that got into his path.
When he felt her terror ease into a cold determination, Bard almost completed the transformation into full wolf, but he could feel the tendrils of the Sanctuary’s Glamour wrap around him.
The world disappeared into vertigo.
Up became down. Left turned right. The earth spun beneath his feet, while the sky stood still overhead.
Every step took an hour to take. Every muscle spasmed, refusing to listen to man or beast as they strained forward.
Nothing, nothing would stop him from reaching his mate.
Even as he felt the twisting strands of glamour wrapping around him, sinking into his body, razoring into his mind, Bard clung to the one solid surety in his existence, that impossibly delicate, impossibly strong bond forming between he and his mate.
A lifeline in the tempest.
Blind, deaf, dumb, it drew him onward and Bard’s faith in it was unwavering. Absolute.
The fugue snapped.
Bard released a piercing howl of triumph and rage, surging forward with every ounce of strength in his powerful, supernatural body.
He ran face first into a brick wall and went flew back, landing on his ass with a snarl.
Glaring up, he met the smirking face of Reggie, who stood planted in his path with legs braced and arms spread.
“Sorry, mate,” Reggie dipped his head, “Just needed to slow you down a bit so we could have a little talk before you went all mad dog.”
“I’m not your mate,” Bard growled, his voice raspy and inhuman, “Bro. You’re in my way. Move.”<
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“Aw, you wound me, you do,” Reggie joked, briefly pouting before he crouched down to eye-level. “But, I can’t do that quite yet, pal. There’s some things you need to hear first. Then, you can go see your lovely lass and we can get this all cleaned up nice and neat.”
Surging to his feet, Bard glared down at the smirking gargoyle, who seemed completely unbothered by the werewolf’s rage. “Speak fast, or I’ll go through you Reggie, pal or no.”
With a regretful sigh, Reggie likewise rose back to his full height, a good few inches taller yet than Bard and a good bit wider.
“Your mate is safe, Bard,” Reggie said, his expression going serious. “She’s got a pack of puppies protecting her, and she’s claimed Sanctuary, so she’s safe for now. Your parents pulled some strings, so Sinclair had to step in and formally deliver the news. He’s scheduled a mediation for tonight, midnight, so you and your mate need to be there, so we can nip this shite in the bud before it becomes a fucking shitstorm.”
Bard eyed Reggie closely. “There’s something else going on, isn’t there?”
“Yes,” Reggie said simply, with a shrug of those huge shoulders. “We’re trying to deal with it, before it becomes a problem. But shit like this is a pointless distraction and to be fucking blunt? A waste of fucking time. You said you didn’t want to be involved, pal, so you worry about your shit and we’ll deal with saving the world.”
Fucking melodramatic Fae, Bard mentally rolled his eyes, yet his wolf was alert, on guard.
Giving a faint dip of his head, Bard said simply, “I’ll deal with my problems, you go and save the world. We’ll go have a few beers afterwards, but right now, please get the fuck out of my way.”
“You always were so fucking polite,” Reggie laughed, though he made a show of stepping to one side and turning his body to wave a hand down the path ahead. “The Iron-forged Werewolf and the Glassy Lady. Can’t wait to meet your pups.”