Page 31

With one more quick hug and another promise to call if anything happened, Lain was gone, leaving me standing in my driveway with my dog.

"Thanks for your patience, Rom," I murmured, lightly scratching his head. "You're the best boy."

Romulus leaned against my leg, his tail wagging happily. I studied my little cabin, my sanctuary from the world. I'd needed a place to hide and lick my wounds after things ended so disastrously with Aaron, and along the way, it'd become a place for other creatures that needed to hide away and recover as well. I might never understand how Typhon managed to find the one house in the whole town that wouldn't either shoot him or turn him in, but he had.

In a tiny town like Lowery's Crossing, where I knew most people at least by sight, the only person I knew I could trust was Lain. No one else would understand. Sure, there were occasional rumors about strange things going on in the woods outside town or up in the mountains, but what little mountain town didn't have local legends? A good story made the long winters a little more bearable, but no one actually believed there were monsters and witches and psychics around here.

No, I was on my own here. I might not be the bravest or the smartest person around, but he'd come to me for safety, and that's exactly what I would give him.

By the third day of Typhon being in my care, Lain stopped interrogating me so heavily the moment he walked in the door of the salon, which I was extremely grateful for. I understood his worries, but after the fourth round of questions in one afternoon, I was getting a little annoyed. I'd never tell him that, but he must have seen it on my face, because he finally backed down. He even showed up Friday morning (well, afternoon) with two coffees and a bag from Buns 'n' Roses.

"Apology coffee," he explained at my questioning look, handing me a cup. "It's been a few days, and I've calmed down a little, and he hasn't chewed on you yet, so I figured I kind of owed you."

"And the food?" I peered inside and found two of Camille Dodd's famous breakfast burritos. She didn't include them on the menu often, but now that she and her girlfriend were expanding their menu to include lunch and more savory items, these had made a comeback.

"Those are just because I saw them on the menu and couldn't resist." Lain shot me a cheeky grin and liberated a burrito, leaving the other for me. "They were switching everything over from breakfast to lunch, but I convinced Rachel to sneak in an order under the wire for me."

When Raina Deveraux first opened Buns 'n' Roses, she'd run the place by herself. It'd only been a small coffee shop at the time, so she'd been able to keep up. Then she'd met Camille and expanded to add a bakery for her chef girlfriend. By then, the town had discovered how good their coffee was, especially because our only other option was from the fast-food places out by the highway. Not long after the bakery opened, they hired Ashley and Rachel. The two baristas were now staples of the place just as much as the founders were. Ashley was the friendlier of the two, or at least the more personable. I'd always gotten along with Rachel, as well, mostly because I almost never spoke when I was there, but she had a reputation for being the practical joker of the two. There weren't many people who could charm her, but if anyone could, of course it would be Lain.

"Thank you. I forgot to grab anything for lunch on my way out the door this morning." I was between clients at the moment, with one waiting for pickup and another not here yet, so I took the opportunity to sit at the desk and sneak in a few bites while I could.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Lain press his lips together and stare down at his coffee. I couldn't sigh with a mouthful of burrito, so I waited to chew and swallow before letting it out.

"You're allowed to ask about him," I said quietly.

He winced. "I didn't want to make you mad at me or anything. I know I've been kind of annoying about it."

I put down the half-eaten burrito and turned in the chair so I was looking right at him. "Lain, you haven't been annoying." It was only a little lie. "You're my friend. You're allowed to worry about me. If I were in your shoes, I'd be a nervous wreck."

"You're a nervous wreck a lot of the time, though."

Only he could get away with teasing me about that. One thing I always liked about Lain was that he never treated me like I was fragile, even after everything that had happened.

"Fair enough, but the point stands. I'm not mad at you for worrying."

"That's good to know, because even though you haven't been hurt, I'm still going to worry," he admitted.

"Well, if you want to keep apologizing with food, I certainly won't stop you." I picked up my food again, toasting him with it.

That got a laugh out of him, and the anxiety in his eyes faded, which I was glad to see. Lain was too young to be weighed down by stress or worries. That could wait until he was in his thirties, at least, though I hoped he continued to lead the charmed life he seemed to have had so far.

"Rachel might have mentioned that they're doing breakfast mini quiches tomorrow, so I could — what the hell are they still doing here?"

The sudden arctic chill in Lain's eyes threw me for a loop, and it took a second for my brain to catch up. He was staring at something out the front window, and I followed his gaze.

"What the hell..?" I echoed, a chill running through my veins. Across the street were the two strangers who'd come into my shop several days ago, but this time they were accompanied by a third man. He looked to be about the same age as the older one, but somehow even more serious than him. The third man had one of those faces that looked like it'd never experienced a smile.

The three of them were walking close together, heads bowed in conversation, headed straight for A Likely Story, the bookstore run by Alex Copeland.

"I didn't realize they hadn't left town yet." I don't know why I kept my voice down. It's not like they could hear me from where they were, but it was instinctive. "They've been here for over a week now, haven't they?"

"Yeah. No one 'just visits' the Crossing for that long if they're not seeing family." Lain followed their every move, eyes narrowed. "Quinn? How long ago did Typhon show up at your cabin?"

"A few days before these guys came to town…"

The burrito suddenly sat heavy in my stomach, and I put the rest down uneaten, my appetite gone.

"I had a feeling that was the case."