“Oh fuck!” Cece said and let go of the cart. She took a few steps back, willing her magic to calm the fuck down as Brittney made another shrill cry. White whiskers were sprouting from her face, and her ears were stretching upward and growing dark brown fur. She slapped at one of the leaves before trying to tear another one in half.
“Control it, Cece,” Briggs said.
“I’m trying!”
“Try harder,” he said, his voice perfectly deadpan, as behind him the snake plant leaves wrapped around Brittney’s body and the roots climbed her legs.
Cece burst into laughter, and the magic coursing through her veins trickled to a stop.
The snake plant immediately shrank back to its normal size, and the woman reached into her grocery cart and poked at it, as if it might bite her.
A man wearing a white shirt and green tie, with a name tag that read ‘Manager’, joined them. “What’s going on?”
“That plant attacked me!” Brittney said shrilly, her nose twitching wildly. “You’re selling killer plants in this store.”
“Ma’am, I can assure you we are doing no such thing,” the store manager said.
“It tried to kill me,” Brittney said. “Everyone saw it.”
“It’s true,” the woman with the plant said. “It grew really big and attacked her.”
Briggs was busy grabbing various meat packages and tossing them into the cart, and as the manager and Brittney began arguing animatedly about killer plants, he said, “Time to go, little witch.”
“Hell, yes,” Cece said, and followed him toward the checkout.
CHAPTER 14
“So, you attacking others with plants… is this something I need to be prepared for whenever we go out in public?” Briggs glanced at Cece as he drove out of the grocery store parking lot.
She flushed bright red. “It was an accident.”
“You got something against bunny shifters?” He couldn’t resist teasing her.
Her blush deepened. “I didn’t mean to… to…”
“Give her a lifelong phobia of plants?” His bear growled with delight when Cece burst into laughter.
Our mate is happy!
He ignored his bear, even though he loved the sound of Cece’s laughter just as much.
Cece was still laughing, and a smile broke out on his face as Cece gasped, “Oh God, I shouldn’t be laughing, but the look on her face when the plant slapped her…”
That set her off in more peals of laughter, and he grinned at her as he drove down the street.
His bear was a combination of delight and smugness at Cece’s claim over him. As much as Briggs wanted to deny that the plant attacking the bunny shifter had something to do with him - his bear didn’t need any more encouragement that Cece was their mate - it was impossible. The scent of Cece’s jealousy when the bunny shifter flirted with him had been overpowering.
Cece’s laughter had died out, and she was staring out the passenger window of the truck. “This isn’t the road to my house. Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise,” he said.
“A surprise.”
He nodded, and she studied him. “Is it -”
“I will give no clues or hints,” he said.
She laughed. “You have to give one hint.”
