Page 63 of Taken By the Blood God

I wasn’t sure how to handle him. For all his arrogance and sarcasm, Talant was an attentive, passionate, and even tender companion. It was as if the floodgates had opened, and he was no longer holding back how he truly felt.

I hadn’t taken a lover since Ally came home after she graduated college. I’d had a few brief flings after she’d come to live with me, but none that evolved into serious emotional attachments. And the lovers I had, well, any heat we generated had begun and ended in the bedroom. There were never any longing looks or lingering touches on my neck or wrist.

I didn’t know how to handle any of it. Talant’s behavior or my reaction to it. I melted beneath those touches and my blood heated in my veins whenever he stared at me with that fierce longing. Or when he spoke of how beautiful I was to him. Talant was no longer hiding how he felt about me, and it was all-consuming and frightening to be the center of his focus. I was in danger of being overwhelmed by him. Completely swept away. I needed space and quiet, time away from the weight of his presence. If Talant was near me, my focus remained on him.

When I arrived at the shop, I drove around to the back of the building and parked. The store smelled dusty when I opened the back door and carried my things inside. It was difficult to believe it had been just over three weeks since the last time I was here.

So much had changed in that time. Ally was mated. Talant had wormed his way into my life. And I’d freed a god from imprisonment with magic that I had no idea I possessed.

After all of that, that short time seemed more like months.

My usual routine felt unfamiliar as I turned on the lights and set about preparing the store to open. I always arrived an hour before the listed opening time to deal with inventory, paperwork, restocking, cleaning, and other small tasks that I might not have time to do while the doors were open.

Though I usually preferred to clean the dust from the shelves and heavy wooden counter with a furniture oil that smelled of lemons, I didn’t have time, so I settled for casting a cleaning spell that swept the dust from the shelves, items, and tables. The dirt settled in a pile in the center of the floor which made it simple enough to sweep into the dustpan with my broom.

A flick of my fingers lit the scented candles set about the shop. The fragrance of lavender and mint was permeating the air moments later. The candles dispelled the last of the mustiness in the store.

Though I usually kept a running tally of my stock in my mind, I double-checked what I had available on the shelves and added more where needed. The task reminded me that I needed to boot up my computer and look at my most recent order. It had arrived while I was home, dealing with an arrogant, needy god, and Ally had been kind enough to accept the delivery for me. She said that the invoices in the boxes matched the items, but I wanted to verify that the invoices also matched my order.

It rarely happened, but there were times that my order and the invoices included with the shipment weren’t identical.

I was deep in thought, trying to stay focused on the information on the screen in front of me, when a light tapping from the front of the store caught my attention. I looked up from the counter and saw one of my coven sisters standing at thedoor, a relieved expression on her face. Though she and I weren’t particularly close, I forced a warm smile to spread my lips as I got up from the stool behind the counter and went to open the door.

“Lucinda,” I said as I swung the door open. “Good morning. How are you?”

“Finally!” she said, swanning past me into the store. “I was wondering if you were closing permanently.”

And that right there was why I didn’t consider Lucinda a friend. Instead of asking me how I was doing and if I was okay, she acted as though my closing the store was nothing more than an inconvenience to her.

“No, just dealing with some things at home,” I replied, keeping my tone even.

I was sure Lucinda knew exactly what was going on. The rumor mill in Devil Springs was far too efficient for her to be in the dark, but I wasn’t about to elaborate for her entertainment, which was exactly what she was angling for with her reply.

“Well, after what I heard, I wasn’t sure.”

I remained silent with my hands folded at my waist. Her words were meant to prompt me into an explanation. Most people worried what others said about them and were quick to try to clarify their actions to keep the gossip at bay.

I’d learned a long time ago that the witches and bitches of my coven would spread whatever rumors they wanted, no matter how much truth I told them. So, I no longer played the game. If membership wasn’t a requirement for access to the coven’s library, I wouldn’t bother anymore. Then again, now that Sela and Ally were going to be joining, maybe I would because they would make coven meetings and celebrations tolerable.

If she wanted to spread gossip, the karma would be on her head. I didn’t need to explain myself to anyone, much less a woman I didn’t consider a close friend even if she wastechnically a sister in magic. After a prolonged, awkward silence, Lucinda cleared her throat as a flush rose from her neck to her cheeks.

“Well,” she finally said. “I’m glad to see that you’re well and the store is open again.”

I smiled serenely, confident that my expression didn’t give away my urge to turn her into a toad. “Yes, I’m doing quite well. Thank you for your consideration.”

Lucinda had the good grace to look sheepish at my words, so I took pity on her. “Now, how may I help you this morning?” I asked.

I had to bite back a groan when she pulled a sheet of notebook paper out of her pocket, nearly every line filled with her large, loopy handwriting.

“I’m out of nearlyeverything, Minerva. I hope you have it all in stock, or I just don’t know what I’ll do.”

The rest of my morning went along the same vein. Lucinda must have set the cell phone lines on fire as soon as she left because all morning long coven sister after coven sister arrived with lists and urgent needs.

It wasn’t until noon that the rush died down. I was confident it would be slow the rest of the afternoon because nearly every witch in my coven had already come by. The few that hadn’t shown up were likely out of town or knew me well enough to understand that they wouldn’t get any details out of me.

I sighed when the store finally emptied out and went to get my lunch out of the mini fridge in the storeroom. When I opened the bag, I sighed again. Sometime between me packing my food into the bag and leaving the house, Talant had gotten into the bag and left me a little surprise.

A perfectly formed pink evening primrose lay on top of the salad I’d packed. I could sense the tiny spark of magic attachedto it and realized that Talant must have cast an incantation to keep it fresh until I opened the bag.

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