Page 22 of Cat’s Guide To Romance

I huff out of breath. “I ran all the way here from the Hawthorn Coven house.”

His eyes go wide. “That's a long run.”

“Eh, just a couple of miles.” But damn, I haven’t run like that in a long time. “Mama says, you've have fleas.” I take a couple steps back.

“I don't have fleas,” Ferris says at the same time he starts scratching his head.

“Well, she said she got a call from school that you had fleas.”

“I don't have fleas. Why would someone say I have fleas?” He's scratching, and I grab his arm and push his sleeve up, and no fleas.

I check in his hair and everywhere.

“Why would mama say you had fleas? Why did she have me pick up flea powder? She wants me to give you a flea bath.”

Ferris takes a couple steps back. “I don't need a flea bath. Please don't.”

I scratched the back of my head and looked at the sky. “I won't, but we still have to go meet Beau over at Renaud's because I asked him to help grab a few things.”

“He’s always funny.”

I rub my hand over Ferris's head and take his hand. “So, how was school today?”

He rambles on about the intricacies of middle school and the different cliques of his friends.

We’re a couple of blocks away when I stop. Lucien stands outside of Renaud’s, not Beau.

11

LUCIEN

The glare Sparkle gives me is almost comical, if not for the fact that he pushes someone younger behind him. It almost hurts. I cut off the chuckle because those beautiful green eyes dig into my soul.

“What are you doing here?” Sparkle asks just as Beau comes out from Renaud’s.

“I invited him,” Beau says. “Well, I emailed him because I don’t have his number.”

“Why?” Sparkle keeps the young person behind him as he now directs that pretty glare on his best friend.

“Um, you needed help?”

“I asked for friend help. I don't need some pompous⁠—”

I hold up my hands. “I will take the compliment, but I can help. I should have offered my help earlier at the grocery, but you rejected me, and I wanted to follow your wishes. But then I get the call from Beau that you need help, and I'm here. What can I help with?”

“Nothing,” Sparkle says, as he crosses his arms.

“Who is this?” the boy asks as he tries to peek around Sparkle's hip.

Sparkle grumbles. “His name is Lucien. He's a demon.”

“I like demons,” says the child.

If not for Sparkle's ears and tail, they would definitely be an identical match. The child has the same white blond hair and dusting of freckles across his nose and cheeks. I have to wonder if that's what Sparkle looked like as a child.

Sparkle rolls his eyes and presses his hands to the child’s shoulders. “This is Ferris. My brother.”

“Only brother,” Ferris says and puffs out his chest. “We have five sisters. Two of them are twins.”