He smiled and took a sip of his blend. “You are a special case,” he said ruefully.
I preened. Of course I was. I hesitated to delve into someone’s past, but maybe it was time for Rhys and I to have a heart-to-heart about why he was so afraid of opening the friendship/relationship door.
“It’s not a problem,” Draven said. “I knew you were going through a rough patch. We’re all entitled to those.”
My heart melted a little. Draven was so considerate of other’s feelings. However, his abundant amount of good qualities reinforced the many reasonswhyhaving a crush on him was so hard to move past. Since our first meeting, he’d treated me with care, consideration, and respect. As time had gone on, his consideration had morphed into doing little things for me that went above and beyond a boss/employee relationship, and veered more into friendship territory. I felt like we were friends, but I wasn’t sure about him. He was so hard to read sometimes!
I breathed out slowly, letting my frustrations go. And then…the emotions from outside the tea shop hit me like a ton of bricks, and I screamed as I jumped across the table in a flying tackle, knocking both Rhys and Draven to the floor, with me on top of them. “Everyone get down!” I shouted in panic at the people in the shop.
Pop pop pop pop, crash!
The glass window that had been just to the left of our table shattered into a million pieces. It blew outward with a whoosh of purple magic andexplodedinto the tea shop.
My grip on the guys was so tight that I couldn’t feel my hands. I winced as the force of the magical explosion of glass speared me in so many places that I felt like a pincushion. I whimpered in pain.
Draven immediately flipped us over so that he was on top, and I was protected underneath him, while Rhys put up a shield of hardened moonlight that bulged around us like a thick, silvery-clear dome.
The employees in the back screamed in terror, but Dice was already out in the dining area and crawling toward us in an Army crawl over the glass-strewn floor. She had thick towels protecting her arms from the glass. Her eyes were laser focused on the blood running down my bare legs.
I was trying hard not to whimper, but I was in so much pain that I couldn’t hold the tears at bay.
Rhys kept his dome up with one hand and held my hand with his other, while Draven rushed out of the shop faster than I could follow with my eyes. All I felt was the whoosh of air as he left.
Dice finally got to us and took instant control. “Help me get her behind the counter where it’s safer.”
Rhys nodded, and carried me, keeping both of us low to the ground. Dice laid down a towel and propped me onto my side. “I’m going to pull the glass out, okay?”
Her calm soothed me, and I nodded jerkily, not letting go of my death-grip on Rhys’ hand. “The employees in the back called the Sheriff. Finn should be here soon.”
Dice’s hands were steady as she poured alcohol over tweezers that she’d grabbed from her purse, and carefully started pulling glass out of my skin and plunking it into a crystal pitcher.
I kept my eyes closed, not wanting to watch the gruesome process. Rhys used his other hand to dab at the blood that ran down my legs and arms with a white towel. “Where did Draven go?”
Rhys squeezed my hand. “He went after them.”
I opened my eyes because he sounded worried. The smell of the rubbing alcohol mixed with the blood and the smell of the various teas was making my stomach churn. I looked up at him. “What is that tone in your voice?”
Rhys hesitated.
“Just tell me,” I demanded.
“I think if he finds whoever did this, he’s going to kill them, without waiting for due process of the law.” He shrugged. “Not that I blame him. I would do the same thing.”
I bit down on my lip as Dice pulled a long, thin shard of glass out of my calf. Death to whomever had done this to me didn’t sound half bad right then. But…vigilante justice wasn’t the right way to go, no matter how much I wanted the idiot to pay. “Go after him.”
Rhys shook his head. “He’ll killmeif I leave you, Starshine. Stars, I’d kill myself if I left you alone right now! Besides, the laws are slightly different here, and Draven Leto is a founding member. I can’t imagine they would prosecute him for taking down someone that has been hunting his employees.”
“I hope you’re right.”
* * *
Sheriff Finn thankedus and left after getting our statements. I was sitting up in my hospital bed, trying not to wince as the sheet kept rubbing the cuts on my legs. I couldn’t find a comfortable position, and I ached everywhere. Draven shifted, hovering behind me. I knew he was just about to ask me for the third time if he could get me anything when the doctor came in.
He was a thin man with a balding head, long, thin fingers, and an amiable smile. “Hello, Mia.” He patted my hand. “We’re real sorry you were attacked, hun.”
I didn’t really know what to say to that. What did you say when you were the target of a deadly paranormal who apparently wanted to wipe your existence from the face of the earth? I just wanted to go home and snuggle with my tiger. “Can I be discharged now?”
Draven was so close I could feel his breath billowing the hair on the top of my head. His hand was on my shoulder, and the warmth of his body comforted my jittery feelings. He hadn’t let go of me since he’d come back into The Tea Hobbit with empty hands and a feral, cold fury blackening his expression.
