Page 33

The bell rings as we enter the Cozy Charm Café, where we've agreed to meet Ivy. It's relatively empty now that the lunch rush is over.

"Oh, wow." Ada's surprised voice comes from behind the counter.

Her long brown hair is woven into thin braids. Her dark skin has a shimmering sheen, and large, translucent purple wings span from her ankles to just above her head. She has one hand over her mouth, and her eyes are wide.

She slowly lowers her hand. "Sorry, but when Ivy said that you'd be coming in to help, I didn't really believe her."

I roll my eyes on reflex, and Will not so subtly elbows me in the side for it.

"I told you." Ivy's smug voice comes from the back before she emerges through a swinging door with flour on her face.

I take a deep breath, place my hands in my pockets, and step forward.

"Where can I help?" I ask.

Ivy begins replying but is interrupted.

"This smells so good." Amy, Ivy's store assistant, emerges from the back. Her platinum-blonde hair is pulled up, and she's wearing a flour-covered apron. In her arms is an enormous bowl filled to the brim with popcorn. "Seriously, tell me why I can't just plunge my face into this right now?"

"Because that would be a health code violation," Ada points out, gently taking the bowl from her with a concerned frown, setting it on one of the nearby café tables.

"Okay, I've got a job for you. Randy, would you mind putting the popcorn into these paper bags?" She thrusts the bags toward me, each one just the right size for a single serving.

I receive them tentatively. "Sure."

"And Will, would you mind helping me ice the cupcakes?" Ada asks.

"Oh, but couldn't Will help me?" I ask, realizing too late that I sound a bit petulant.

Ada, Ivy, and Amy all look at me as though I might be a bit slow.

"You need a second pair of hands to put popcorn in little bags, Randy?" Ivy asks.

I'm sure I've gone pink to the tips of my ears.

"Oh, don't be mean. He just doesn't want to be separated from his mate. I haven't seen Conall more than ten feet away from you since your mating bond locked into place," Amy teases.

As if summoned, Conall walks in through the front door of the café.

He stops dead when he finds all our eyes on him.

"What?"

There's a collective chuckle that breaks the awkwardness in the room.

Will goes with Ada to the back to decorate cupcakes, which is less than the thirty-foot limit, and I begin using a scoop to fill bags of popcorn.

Helping feels… nice.

Randy

Will, Laz, Conall, and Colt work together to hang stitched-together sheets on the beach, apparently, to serve as some kind of screen.

"You ever seen a movie?"

I jump. Nick, our resident demon, stands on the sand next to me, smelling of bonfires. A thin trail of black smoke constantly oozes off him.

I take a not-so-subtle step to the side.