Page 74 of Live Love Lasso

“How embarrassin’,” I say in a droll, bored tone.

He yanks hard, and the door opens fast, nearly smacking him in the face. He disappears inside without a backward glance.

Across the street from us, the Keeper’s mansion groans and rattles the entire length of her fence.

I lift my foot from Hunter’s back. Sputtering, he jumps to his feet and backs up fast, hitting the side of the building. He spits dust out of his mouth, protective eyelids disappearing as he glares at me.

I smirk and tip my hat at him as I return to my normal size. “Welcome to Pine Gulch, Hunter. Friendliest haven in the West, if I’m honest. See that you grab a welcome book and go through the scavenger hunt. It’s a real hoot.”

He sidles away from me toward the door, not looking around as he fumbles around for the handle. When he disappears inside, I rub at my healing tattoo. If I feel even an ounce of concern from Lemon when they find her at work, I’m gonna start an absolute shit storm.

Confident the situation’s handled, I comm Echo to find out where she’s at. I’ve got a metric assload of things to do while my woman’s at work. Now that the ranchers have had a day or two to vaccinate their animals, I need to start making house calls to check in. Early signs are good that the antihistamines have at least stalled the progression of whatever’s afflicting them. But I won’t rest easy until we figure out how to stop it once and for all.

Back at the office, my comm disk rings. When my brother FJ’s name hovers over it, Echo rises from her desk and disappears toward the exit, likely guessing I need privacy. She’s been front and center to my family dramatics over the years.

My brother’s hologram rises high from the disk that allows us to communicate between havens. I’m reminded how alike we are when he winks at me the same way I often wink at Lemon and Echo.

“Hey, FJ.”

“I dug into that property developer, Varek.” He crosses his arms. “I’ll send you an email with the details, but he’s in over his head financially. Bought up all but a few properties, and he’s leveraged to the max with loans coming due pretty soon.” He shakes his head. “He’s financially stressed, for sure.”

I sigh and flop back into my chair, pinching the bridge of my nose. Nothing about Varek screams that he’s responsible, and my instinct has almost never been wrong about another monster. But the evidence is startin’ to pile up.

“You’re gonna owe me one for that info,” FJ says with a grin. “And by owe me one, I mean let me come visit you. I don’t even have to tell Father if you don’t want.”

Giving my brother a sideways look, I consider that for a moment. Maybe it would be nice to see FJ after so many years. The bad blood from when I split away from the family business was water under the bridge to him a long time ago. Maybe it’s time I let it all go too. He did help when I needed it. So, despite my past reservations, I nod.

“That’d be nice, Brother. That would be real nice.”

Lemon

“Well done, Lemon.” Rykan slow-claps as the potion in his cauldron bubbles happily. “This is a tricky one, but Letitia is right, you’re an excellent potioneer.”

Oh, I just bet she said that, trying to half-ass apologize for throwing me under a parade of buses yesterday. She hasn’t bothered to apologize to my face, but she did send me to one of the other masters, Rykan, this morning for “training.”

I smile up at the handsome green troll, long tusks poking up from his lower jaw. They’re capped in intricate gold. “What do you make of this whole animals freezing thing? I swear it seems like something potion-based, but Letitia hasn’t been able to find anything.”

Rykan smiles. “She asked me to look into it as well, but I’ve never seen anything like it.” His smile fades. “Y’all discovered that antihistamines seem to help, right?”

I nod. “Furyon and Echo are going around with the sheriff to distribute more vaccines and dose everything they can get their hands on. We don’t know if it’ll help long-term, but if it even buys us time to figure things out, that’s a good thing.”

Rykan closes his potion book, tapping the leather front with fingers as thick as sausages. “All I know is that we’ve got our best monsters on it. I trust them to find out what’s causing all of this. They have to. I just can’t imagine the Gulch without our beautiful animals.” He sighs softly, looking around the cavernous room. He starts to say something else, but halts and looks over my shoulder.

I can almost feel my father. Somehow, I know it’s him without even seeing him. It’s like his disapproval radiates an icy chill into the room, its fingers scratching up my spine.

He examines his fingernails as if it bores him to death to even be inside another potions house. Hunter hovers behind father, arms planted on either side of the doorway as he grins at me.

What the fuck do they want?

Father straightens and frowns, ignoring the fact that I’m standing next to another being. “We just had the pleasure of meeting your…dalliance, I suppose.” He practically spits the word. “What a charming male.”

Oh my gods, I wonder what happened.

Last night with Furyon rewired my brain chemistry. The way he came for me, the way he held me and got me out of my head. The way he worships my mind and body and soul. I want to do our relationship justice by standing up for it, just like he apparently did.

“He’s not a dalliance, Father.” I cross my arms. “Furyon is my mate.”

Father blanches, going whiter than usual. Behind him, Hunter’s smirk falls, and he shakes his head. “Seriously, Lemon? That guy? I know he comes from a good family, but what a fucking asshole.”