Everything inside me lifted. Another date didn’t necessarily mean just one more day. I loved spending time with him, and he obviously enjoyed that, too.
What if there was a possibility of more between us?
“I’d love that, Zeph.” I exhaled a happy sigh just before he kissed me goodbye.
Except that now, “goodbye” did not mean parting forever.
Not yet, anyway.
Chapter 6
ZEPH
The venue was still closed, but the main room seemed ready to receive the audience when he made it to Le Loup Solitaire later that afternoon. The prep work for the food service was in full swing in the kitchen.
“Where is Lero?” he asked Ivan, walking swiftly by the bar counter. “Outside?”
The bar manager nodded in confirmation.
Asking was hardly necessary. Considering the current phase of the moon, Lero would be spending every spare minute outside for the next couple of days, smoking the fragrant womora leaves.
“Lero?” Zeph shoved at the heavy metal door that led to the small courtyard at the back.
As expected, his friend was leaning against the wall, taking long drags from the dark cigarette in his hand.
“You’re here?” Lero released two tendrils of the aromatic, silvery smoke through his nostrils, aiming in the direction opposite Zeph.
Completely harmless to humans, womora leaves had a devastating effect on Fae powers, stripping Zeph’s kind of their abilities. That was the reason Lero chain-smoked them in the first place—to stave off the effects of the approaching full moon.
“I’m here.” Zeph leaned against the wall, up wind from Lero. “But I need to take tomorrow off.”
“Why?” Lero rolled his head on the wall to face him, his silver-grey eyes focusing on Zeph’s face.
“Personal reasons.” Zeph glanced away, not ready to talk about Ivy yet.
“Does it have anything to do with that girl you left with, last night?” Zeph should have known Lero was perceptive enough to figure things out on his own without being told.
And Lero was right, more than he probably realized—it had everything to do with Ivy.
Painfully shy at first, she bloomed as he got to know her better. It was exciting to watch her open up to him, like a flower. She delighted in all the things he loved.
The time spent with Ivy was not just fun, it was light and relaxing. He wanted just a little more of that before she left the country and was gone from his life forever.
There was nothing wrong with the way he felt. Yet he sensed Lero would find something unfitting about it—he always did—so Zeph kept quiet, kicking a small rock up the pavement instead of a reply.
“She responded to my singing,” he finally said.
“All humans do...to some extent.”
They did. Not all humans were the same, though. Their response varied in its intensity. Ivy felt strongly, making him wonder what would happen if he managed to unleash the full potential of her emotions. Her passion.
Part of him wished to be swept away with her feelings and let it all happen, not worrying about consequences for once.
“I like her.”
“The better reason to stay away from her,” Lero retorted. “For the sake of both of you, Zeph, turn down your charm and let the girl go.”
As if it were that simple to “turn the charm down.” There was no off switch on who he was.
Clenching his jaw so tight it hurt, Zeph kept quiet for a few moments.
“Be careful.” Lero grimly took another drag of his cigarette.
“You know I am, but Ivy is not a threat,” Zeph muttered shaking his head, then remembered the other encounter. “I think I saw bracks last night. At least four of them, maybe more.”
“Where?” Lero straightened his back, pushing away from the wall.
“Less than a ten-minute walk from here.”
His dark, thick eyebrows drawn into a frown, Lero seemed to consider this new information for a moment.
“How do you know it was them?” he finally asked. “You’ve never seen one before. Are you sure?”
True, this was Zeph’s first encounter, but he’d heard so many warnings from Lero throughout his life, complete with detailed descriptions, that he could be reasonably certain now. The moment he realized that the large figures accosting Ivy and him last night might not be mere humans, he thought it was wise to retreat, relieved when they didn’t follow.
“I think that’s what they were,” he replied. “Bald, huge. I got a better look at one of them. He had a tattoo around his neck and down his arm, just like you’ve described.”
“Still, could be a human.” Lero’s frown didn’t ease.
“The tattoo glowed red in the dark.”
Lero’s chest rose with a sharp inhalation of air as he tossed the butt of his cigarette into a nearby can.
“Ghata’s mark,” he spat through his teeth.
“What does she want? Why are they here?”
“That I wish to know. This city is mine. As long as you and I remain here, we are supposed to stay safe. If things have changed, I was not informed.” He opened the side of his custom-made suit jacket, getting a new cigarette out from the chest pocket. It trembled slightly in his fingers.
“Well, maybe that’s what they came here for?” Zeph offered. “To inform you of some changes?”
“Then why stalk you, instead of coming to me?”
“Maybe that’s what they’ll do next? Come to you?”
Lero nodded, lighting the cigarette.
“Whatever it is that Ghata wants, her business is with me. She can’t touch you.” Taking a long pull at the cigarette, he leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes for a moment, as if letting the calmness of the womora spread through his system while its smoke permeated his lungs. “Still, you need to be careful, Zeph.”
“I told you I am.” Zeph appreciated Lero’s concern for his wellbeing, however the decades of listening to the same old warnings made them sound more like nagging at this point.
“Why do you need a day off tomorrow?” Lero opened his eyes, nailing him to the spot with his questioning gaze once again.
“I said it’s personal.” Zeph shifted uncomfortably. “Since when do I have to tell you how I’m planning to spend my days off.”
“Since you were six years old,” Lero deadpanned.
“Lero, I’m no longer six.” Zeph huffed, his patience wearing thin. “I’m forty-seven, for fuck’s sake, which would be a very mature age for a human, you know.”
“For a human.” Lero’s voice hardened to granite. “Not for us. I am twice your age, and you act barely half of yours,” he pronounced every word slowly, loading it with weight and meaning. “So, when I ask you to listen to me, you do it. Especially now that bracks are in the area, for whatever fucking reason!”
A flash of the afternoon sun appeared to reach into the dark court, reflecting blood red in Lero’s glare.
“Do you understand, Zeph? Ghata knows I care about you. I don’t want anything to happen to you because she may get the idea to use you against me. Is that clear?”
“Yes.” Zeph didn’t mean for his reply to sound as harsh as it did, but the irritation at limits being imposed on him got the worse of him. “I’ll be careful. Promise.” He made an effort to soften his voice this time.