Page 45 of Beggars, Sin, and Wine

“She is.”

Pax made a really good green smoothie. The meal replacement that was in it gave me the calorie boost and some vitamins I needed. It was the fresh greens and fruits from that garden that was making me feel like a person again. It was what I needed as a green witch.

“If Cas’s soup is anywhere near as good as this smoothie, I’ll get my curves back in no time. I’d better get out before I pickle myself.”

“Cas makes a very sexy broccoli cheese soup, but I make a mean salad from the garden with a dressing one of the green witches in the village taught me. There’s a few here and they love it when a new one shows up.”

There weren’t many supernatural villages left anymore. Eventually, humans would find it and want to live there. You couldn’t always control if they were decent humans either. People would have to hide in fear of angry mobs and the Coalition.

Di always tried to build his houses in more supernatural friendly areas, but there just weren’t places like this anymore.

Maybe Athena would actually leave me the fuck alone this time and let me live here in peace.

We usually drove when we went to the human town, but we made an exception because there were mates involved this time and not just mine. I was happy for Kat. She was a good person and I couldn’t imagine being as old as her and not meeting your mate or hive yet.

We were familiar with the area, so we did a little back alley shadow poofing. It was late, and this wasn’t the kind of town that had people lurking in alleys, so no one would see us. We got what we needed and Benji took us home.

I set the bags down in the living room and found Pax in the kitchen defrosting soup and finishing up Harmony’s famous green goddess dressing for the salad. I didn’t usually share my recipes, but I traded one for her goddess dressing recipe because she technically turned it around on me when I asked for it and said fair was fair.

“How is she?” I asked.

“A lot better adjusted than Benji and I were when we got out, but she went through a lot before that and it might not have hit her yet. I know you don’t trust her friends, but they are as old as she is and I think they got her through it after Poseidon and Athena.”

I grumbled. I didn’t want to trust her friends, but I did. I tried to be open and honest with people. I respected it when people gave me the same courtesy. I got why they omitted a lot of the things they did. We wouldn’t have taken the job if we heard certain things before we actually got to New Eden and could feel her.

It was the fact that they wouldn’t tell us their names or what they were. Medusa knew who we were talking about when Pax said Di. She also called him that herself. I was guessing it was a nickname or pet name. My mate was famous. She was supposed to be dead, but I was wracking my brains for anyone in history her friends could be.

She was quiet because Athena gave her some snake-like qualities. I wouldn’t have heard her come into the kitchen, but I could sense her. I turned around and my mouth went dry. My bear rumbled contently in my chest.

Pax had to give her something to wear if she got out of the tub before we got back. She was wearing Benji’s shorts, but she was wearing one of my shirts. It came to her knees and dwarfed her because of the weight she lost in New Eden, but I liked her in my clothes.

My bear especially liked that our scent was on her now. Benji’s was, too, because of the shorts. She’d soaked in Pax’s fancy bath products. She smelled like everyone I cared about plus her unique scent of wildflowers.

I was trying to control my bear because he very much wanted to do things she wasn’t ready for yet. Benji swooped in and saved me.

“Damn, girl. My legs don’t look as good in those boxers and you look much better in Cas’s shirt than he does.”

“I know you just bought me clothes, but do you mind if I borrow these for tonight? They smell like you and they make me feel better.”

My bear and I’m sure Benji’s wolf were preening like peacocks. He was already plotting how to get me to donate my entire wardrobe to her since rubbing our scent all over her was probably too soon. I had to shove him to the back of my head so I didn’t say anything stupid.

“My bedroom is at the end of the hall. You can raid my closet whenever you want. We have two extra bedrooms. One was always supposed to be for our mate and the other was for guests. They are the middle doors on either side of the hall. You can pick which one you want and if you want to change anything, let me know.”

“I’ll get to that later. I heard a rumor you make a sexy broccoli cheese soup, big guy.”

“He does,” Benji said. “And it’s green-witch approved. They’ve been begging for his recipe for decades.”

“Cas will share his mate, but he won’t share his recipes,” Pax said.

“Oh, fuck you,” I grumped.

“I actually think that’s adorable,” Medusa admitted.

And we were preening again. This woman was going to kill me.

“Can you get Kat and see if she and her mates are hungry?” I asked Benji.

I meant for him to walk over to the guest house, but he disappeared into shadow. Was he not listening when Kat said people had sent shadow demon assassins after her before? Was he trying to get his ass kicked tonight by an original vampire? I wouldn’t startle that one when her mates were involved.

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