The five of us had met up in a bar for some food and drinks. The day had gone well, with no further distress caused by the encroaching darkness. It was almost enough for me to hope that we’d turned a corner on this issue.
I hadn’t felt this relaxed in a long time. I sat next to Jasmine, one hand on the back of her neck, toying with her hair as she explained all our work today. Her face was lit so bright that I couldn’t help but smile. The bar was busy tonight. Crowded, loud, but also upbeat. People were relaxing for the first time in a long time, and I found myself breathing easier, too.
“It’s going to be wonderful,” Jasmine gushed. “I think it’s going to help. When I was looking through one of the history books last night, I found a passage talking about the omegas and their gardening habits, and there was something about the alphas at the time forbidding them from having private gardens for fear of them poisoning people.”
“Harsh,” Jace said, then frowned. “Unfortunately, not that surprising.”
Jasmine nodded. “But the other thing is that there were notes written in the margins, linking me to another book on herbology, and when I looked at it, some of the phrases stood out as being familiar. I think my grandmother—”
She cut off, casting a quick glance at me as she bit her lip, wincing.
I gave her a gentle, understanding smile. Even though my wolf tensed at the mention of her grandmother, I tried my best not to let it show. “You think your grandmother wrote it?”
“Yes. I think she published it under a pen name so nobody would know it was written by an omega. It’s likely that if anyone did know she wrote it, they wouldn’t have listened to anything she had to say,” she said.
“Have you discovered anything yet?” I asked.
At this, Jasmine grimaced. “No. I haven’t. I’m still trying to decipher what the connection with the history book is with the herbology book. It’s possible that my grandmother wrote down knowledge that was passed on from her ancestors.”
“And it might offer us a solution to the darkness,” I murmured.
“She always said that plants connect us, that everything lives because of what grows from the earth.” Jasmine’s lips curled into a slight smile. “She used to tell me that since the cells of a plant absorb sunlight, they make you glow from the inside out, and that’s why they’re so good for you. I forgot she used to say that. And that sounds like something that might help fight the darkness, doesn’t it? I’m certain there’s more, but I don’t have any proof yet.”
“Still,” Killian said, rubbing his chin, “it’s worth further research.”
I nodded my agreement. Jace and Killian both leaned in closer to keep talking about it, but as I started to do the same, I realized Renz was distracted. He stared out from the table, his fingers drumming; he hadn’t heard anything that Jasmine had said. He certainly hadn’t shown any interest.
It suddenly occurred to me that he hadn’t said a single word all night. That wasn’t like him. Was something wrong that he hadn’t told us?
Chapter 17 - Killian
Renz was getting twitchy. I’d noticed it for a while, but when his expression started to turn into a scowl, I nudged his leg under the table. His gaze snapped to me, and I jerked my head toward the bar.
“Let’s go get another round,” I suggested.
Renz’s expression twisted further, but he caught the look I was giving him. His gaze flickered to Jasmine, who was currently talking to Jace and Owen about the books she’d been researching. She hadn’t noticed his distraction yet, and, judging by the look that crossed his face, he had only just realized how zoned out he’d been.
We got the others’ orders and went to the bar. There, I leaned against the counter and gave Renz a firm look. “What’s going on? You’ve been very quiet.”
“Over there,” Renz said, nodding to a corner.
I followed his gaze and tensed. A group of men from another pack sat in the corner, all of them with drinks of varying strength in front of them. They were a crew that had been brought in from another town, construction workers who were helping with the omega housing project.
Among them, I recognized a few men whom Renz had ended up in a fight with last year in the city. One of them had apparently taken umbrage with the fact that an ex-girlfriend had decided to start flirting with Renz. And Renz didn’t take those insults lying down.
“As long as they stay over there, we shouldn’t have a problem,” I said. “Let’s just try to stay professional and keep our attention on Jasmine, okay?”
Renz let out a soft huff, one that I wasn’t sure how to read, but he nodded all the same. We got our drinks and took them back to the table, where Jasmine was once more talking about her planned garden boxes. I loved the way her face was so bright. She bounced with excitement, grinning as she described where she wanted to put the boxes and what she wanted to put in them.
“So can any of these plants that she grew work as aphrodisiacs?” I asked. The question was born out of mild curiosity until I saw the deep flush spread over her face. I grinned, leaning forward. “Are you turning shy on us, mate?”
“What makes you think I’m not shy normally?” Jasmine answered. She twisted her hands around her drink.
The smell of alcohol and good food made me feel even bolder than usual as I reached over to twist her hair around my finger. “You can’t think of any reasons why I might think you’re not shy? Because I can. I can think of four instances, in fact, one right after the other.”
“Killian!” Jasmine scolded, looking around. “We’re in public.”
Jace and Owen both chuckled, amused. They leaned back in their chairs, apparently enjoying the production. Renz was still distracted, but I decided not to draw attention to it. “Ah, so we are in public. I suppose it’s a good time to start telling you how much I’d like a repeat of Not Shy Jasmine.”
