Page 84 of Something Handsome This Way Comes

“Frozen cider barrels behind the tavern. Festival lanterns covered in icicles. Half the town’s gone to carve their pumpkins only to find they’re solid blocks of ice. And just this morning, the post office was late on deliveries because every broom parked outside had frozen itself to the hitching posts.”

Milo rolled his ankle, working out the soreness in his foot. “…I thought those pumpkins felt more solid than usual. My toe’s still sore from kicking one on the way over.”

Hobbs chuckled before growing serious again. “I don’t think whatever this is wants to hurt anyone. But frightened people don’t always wait to find that out.” Hobbs looked between the two of them. “So… wanna take up another pest removal operation? You two did a pretty bang-up job of it last year.” She smiled. “Wanna tackle this one?”

Milo’s brow pinched. “You know that involved an entire poaching operation, and—” he jerked a thumb at Grievance, “—it was him all along.”

She waved them off. “Details. The point is you figured it out. And I could really use your help with this one. Festival is just around the corner; I don’t want people slipping on patches of ice while dancing to Thriller.”

Milo glanced at Grievance, and he already knew what his mate would say. Grievance slipped his hand into Milo’s without hesitation.

“We’ll catch it,” he said.

Lanterns. One simple touch from this man still made Milo’s heart flutter like bats at twilight.

Milo gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Together.”

A second later, they heard a series of exaggerated gagging noises coming from Milo’s hat.

“You two make Pip sick.”

CHAPTER TWO

milo

Sleep, apparently, was no longer on the evening’s agenda.

Milo couldn’t say he was particularly disappointed.

The moment they stepped through the front door of the Hollow Antler Apothecary, he knew both of them were way too excited at the prospect of rescuing a mystery creature to sleep.

So began the part of his “save the MythBeast” operation that Milo liked the least.

DIY

He shivered as they dug through the pile of wood, wire, and rusted tools left over from the last time Milo had attempted this, more than a year ago. He could already feel the splinters in his fingers.

Grievance smiled at his very obvious displeasure as they set out the assortment of materials on the study floor.

“You hate this kind of thing, don’t you?”

“To be clear, this kind of thing hates me,” Milo chirped, already getting irritated with the tape measure.

This is going to be a long-ass night.

An hour later, the apothecary floor had disappeared beneath piles of wood shavings, coils of enchanted wire, springs, nails, and enough scattered tools to convince anyone passing by that a tornado had recently paid them a visit.

Thankfully…

Grievance was exceptionally good with his hands.

Something Milo was intimately aware of. And maybe that was why, rather than participating, he spent most of the time just watching his shirtless mate work. Using those large hands, shaping and working the materials into submission.

“See something you like?” Grievance asked through an amused grin.

“No,” Milo huffed, tearing his gaze away from washboard abs and returning to his… well, he didn’t know what he was doing. He had a nail in one hand and a⁠—

What the hell even is this? A level?