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TATUM
The smellof coffee was thick in the air as I took a big bite of my newest attempt at the perfect peppermint truffle. Rich flavor flooded my mouth, but I made a face.
Still not perfect yet.
I’d tweak the amount of—
“Oh, it can’t be that bad.” My favorite barista, Sophie, plucked one off the plate and took a bite.
“Damn, Tatum.” Her groan made my lips curve upward. “I’ll marry you, if you’ll take me.”
She was perky, pale, blonde, and in a serious relationship with her high school sweetheart, so we both knew she was joking. Sophie was twenty-one, and I wasn’t all that much older than her at twenty-four, so we got along well.
“I’ll consider it.”
She slowly ate the rest of the chocolate while Hector, the other barista working, finished the drink for the customer waiting near the counter.
I tucked a few loose strands of long, cinnamon-colored hair behind my ear and added a couple notes to the side of my recipe card. They were ideas for a few possible tweaks in case the ones I had planned didn’t work out, and each of them would need their own test batch.
My phone buzzed while I was writing, and I pulled it from my pocket to read the text.
Miles
How did the truffles come out?
Me
Eh
Brynn
In Tatum-speak, that means they’re almost perfect
Me
Almost, being the key word
Brynn
You’ll figure it out. Keep us updated!
I sent a thumbs-up, and tucked my phone back into the pocket of my half-apron. Sophie had stepped into the front of the shop and was helping a new customer, while Hector stole a truffle of his own.
“Tatum’s working in the kitchen. What do you need her for?” Sophie’s voice lifted, the tone telling me I needed to get my ass to her side, so I strode to the front of my coffee shop without hesitating.
The most gorgeous man I’d ever seen stood across from her. He had to be six and a half feet tall, and was built entirely out of muscle. His skin was tan and his wavy, black hair fell nearly to his chin, a little too long and messy to be considered purposeful. He wore what looked like black scrubs that had seen much, much better days.
His eyes?
They were glowing red.
My mind went back to the high school classes I’d been forced to take about supernatural beings. They had come out of hiding two centuries earlier, and after a short war, a peace treaty was created.
They had lived among us peacefully (for the most part) ever since, but it was still important to know enough about them not to do anything stupid when we came across them. While it wasn’t hard to avoid the places they frequented, even werewolves needed to buy groceries.
And this guy had glowing red eyes, which meant…
