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I stood up straight and wiped my sweaty palms on my skirt covered thighs, suddenly self-conscious of my attire. I would have dressed differently if I'd known I would be meeting with a Council member today. Instead, I was wearing a blood red tank top with black wording across my breasts that read,Ask me about my coven.
I'd skipped the hoodie today and was even more self-conscious that my scars across my collarbone were openly on display for all to see. Strangers seeing them was one thing. This man? Now that was an entirely different thing altogether.
I had opted for a short black leather mini skirt that showed off my long legs, instead of my usual leggings. My feet were slipped into a pair of bloodred flip flops that matched my tank top. I had a black choker around my neck with a silver pentagram hanging from it. It had been a gift from my Salt and Pepper twins for Christmas and I wore it almost every day. It matched the ones they both wore constantly.
My wrists and fingers were bare of jewelry, but the studs in my ears had all been changed out and replaced with bloodred ones that matched my tank top and flip flops. My lip ring was the usual black that I rarely changed out now, because it matched the one Julian wore through the opposite side of his bottom lip from mine. I thought it was cute that we matched so I never changed it out to something different.
My outfit was appropriate for my ageandmy job, but none of it was something you wanted to be wearing when facing off with what was basically one of your race’s royalty. Especially not with the wordcovenin all its glory printed across my chest. I didn't think it was smart, nor would he appreciate me drawing attention to the fact I was a witch and a member of an actual coven. Then again, nobody who'd been in the shop today actually took what was printed on my tank top seriously.
I cleared my throat nervously before responding to Adrian. Mostly I was floundering for something to say to him. Did he know I'd been there with Tyson when Chuck,just call me Chucky,had fallen to his death? I freaking hoped not because I had no explanation I could give him for that question, not one that wouldn’t end horribly for me.
"It's been so long since I've seen you or heard from you that I honestly thought you'd returned to wherever it is you and your people call home."
I held up my hand when he opened his mouth to speak. Not smart, but I felt like I hadn't done myself any good so far while speaking to him and really needed to make up for it before he got the chance to speak. I put my hand to my chest before carrying on, "I had, wrongfully, assumed you would leave the motel and return home after meeting me. I didn't know that I was supposed to be keeping in touch with you because you had never given me your phone number or email or any other means for me to reach out and contact you. If you had left me with your phone number I'm sure I would have contacted you by now, even if it was just to check in with you. You have my sincerest apologies, Adrian. It was never my wish to offend you."
He crossed his arms over his chest as he eyed me shrewdly. "Child," he drawled, "just who in the hell do you think you're talking to here?"
I pursed my lips but shrugged my shoulders innocently. I was caught in my lies and we both knew it.
"For one," he continued, "Quinton Alexander has my phone number and knows how to get ahold of me."
Oh boy. He had me on that one. Not that Quinton would have given me Adrian's number if I'd asked for it. He would have freaked and told me that as the head of my coven, Adrian needed to go through him if he wanted to get ahold of me. It was all bullshit, of course, and part of Quinton's need to protect me from any and every little thing that he could.
"Two," he said and I chewed on my lip ring. There was more? This couldn't be good. "How could you ever think I'd leave without saying farewell to you? There are so few females that the ones we do have are precious to us, the Council especially. You should know this by now, child. You are our future. Young women like you are the future of all witches. Never would I, or my brothers for that matter, leave without the proper goodbyes. That would be far too rude. No, we've been waiting for you to come to us. And now the time for waiting is over."
Shit, shit,shit.
He waved his hand around airily. "As, I'm sure, you can see by my arrival at your quaint little shop."
I resented him calling Tyson's store a quaint little shop almost as much as I resented him showing up here out of the blue.
He stared me down as if he expected a response from me, but he wasn't going to get one. I was smart enough to know no good would come out of my mouth.
"Nothing to say, huh?" He smirked at me like he was enjoying this.
I shrugged my shoulders. When he was right, he was right, and that was all there was to it.
“Would you like to meet my companions?" he inquired as he gestured to the two young men standing off behind him, giving us the illusion of privacy even though they could clearly hear every word we were saying.
Though he'd asked a question, I was sure he didn't actually expect an answer out of me this time because I wasn't going to have a choice in the matter. I was meeting his companions because that's what he wanted from me and, I was sensing, the whole reason behind this impromptu visit.
The two men stepped up to the counter, and I finally took them in for the first time since they'd walked through the door.
And wished I hadn't looked at them now because I felt like a traitor to the males in my coven. These guys weren't just pretty to look at, they werehot.Smoking hot. Like, take my breath away, make my heart race, freakinghot.
Yup, I was a traitor, and if there was a hell I was sure to end up there when my time came.
"Simon." Adrian gestured for the first one to step forward. "I'd like for you to meet the latest female witch to join our ranks, Ariel Kimber. Ariel, this is Simon."
Simon was tall, probably about a whole foot and a half taller than Adrian, putting him around six foot five. His clothing stretched over his muscles, straining against their width. His eyes were silver and his hair was black as midnight. There was something arresting about his looks, ethereal even, and for whatever reason, I found myself immediately drawn to him.
There were black swirls and symbols I couldn't quite make out inked into the skin of his neck, the column of his throat, and they disappeared down into his black, button up dress shirt. When I caught sight of his tattoos, they flashed the same silver of his eyes for a second and I swear I saw them moving around on his skin. I blinked and they were black and unmoving once more, as they should be.
I looked at Adrian quickly, to see if he'd seen it as well. He watched me shrewdly with an assessing look in his eyes that downright frightened me to my very soul. He knew I'd seen the flash of silver, he'd been watching for my reaction. That meant it had really happened and that frightened me even more. I didn't trust the Council for obvious reasons and I didn't want them using any kind of magic to influence me in anyway.
My eyes shot back to Simon's silver ones, and the warmth and concern in them for me wasn't comforting in the slightest.
"Ariel," he murmured in a quiet, husky voice. "It's good to finally meet you."
