Page 8 of The Bookseller and the Alpha
“No staff?”
“No, I run the shop alone, except for Saturdays, when I have another staff member for the busiest part of the day.”
No wonder she had dark circles under her eyes. Running a business with minimal help was hard work.Baby, that’s going to change. Beast rumbled his agreement.
“Was anything taken?”
She shrugged. “Look at this mess. How would I know?”
“Maybe that was the point. To hide whatever was taken.”
“The rare books of magical value are upstairs, under lock and key, and I checked them first thing. They’re all where they are supposed to be.”
“Can I see the rest of the footage please?” Calypso gave me a look I couldn’t interpret, then swung her chair back into place. I stayed where I was. Getting too close to her was dangerous. For me and for her.
She and I watched the whole night’s footage but found nothing. About 1 a.m. a stray cat sat in the doorway for a while and groomed itself before continuing its early morning wander. The lights in the window glowed cheerfully all night; the shop itself stayed dark. No sign of forced entry or of the intruder who caused the damage.
“Again,” I snapped.
Calypso stood up and pointed me to the chair, her eyes sparking. I shook my head, but she just pointed again.
“Sit. I need to start cleaning up. You do your job and I’ll do mine. I can’t open again with the shop like this.”
Chapter 9
Calypso
Luc brooded in my desk chair for the next few hours as I started the painful task of restoring my books into some semblance of order. At some point he made a phone call, and the bell over the door tinkled a couple of minutes later.
“They’re with me,” he said, not lifting his eyes from the computer.
Okay then. He’d done another one of those mood shifts after we watched the footage of me setting the wards. His eyes had gone a little feral for a while, as if some primitive part of himself was struggling to get out. After that he completely shut down. No emotion. Nothing.
It was for the best I told myself firmly. We were professionals.
I eyed the two young men in their severe black Palace uniform, both in their early twenties, who’d let themselves into the shop. The one on the left was thin and wiry with shaved blond hair and piercings in his lips and nose. His companion was heavyset. Muscled. He looked like a wrestler, and his nose was crooked, like it had been broken more than once. But he gave me a shy smile and a nod of the head. They both had the liquid graceof Shifters and mismatched eyes, showing they had bonded with their inner Shifter.
Wait. I stiffened, resisting the urge to turn to Luc. His eyes were brown. Human. Everything about him screamed Shifter. But he hadn’t bonded with his own animal. He’d never shifted. I stopped myself from further speculation. It was weird, but it wasn’t my problem. And I didn’t want anything more to do with him. Right? Sure. I could tell myself that.
The two newcomers looked to Luc for instructions. He was their Alpha all right. Whether or not he’d shifted, these two were used to following his orders. Pompy roused from her bed and waddled over to sniff their ankles, her butt wiggling with happiness.
“Sam, help Ms Ferrera with her books. Billy, with me.” Luc was still in grumpy mode apparently.
The newcomer with the shaved head turned toward me. “Hi, I’m Sam,” he said. He smiled, showing no annoyance at being asked to help me. “Looks like you can do with a hand.” I returned the smile.
I lost track of time while Sam and I worked and Pompy supervised from her bed. We settled into a routine. He passed me the books from the floor and I shelved them; unless the books went on the top row, and then we swapped. Sam, unlike me, was tall enough to reach the top without having to resort to a stepladder. By the time we had worked our way along one wall of shelves I was ready to stop for a while. My stomach seemed to have the same idea and gurgled, loudly enough for Sam to hear. “Sorry,” I said. “It’s been a day.”
“Thank the gods I’m not the only one who’s hungry,” Sam said, with a wink. “I’ve been thinking about food for at least half an hour.” He raised his voice slightly. “Hey boss, we’re taking a lunch break.”
Luc crooked a finger without lifting his eyes from the video screen and Sam trotted to his side. Hot Jerk murmured some instructions I didn’t catch and handed over a credit card. “We’re good to go,” Sam said, returning to my side. He pulled a charcoal-coloured beanie from his pocket and jammed it onto his head. “They think they might have something from the footage, so they don’t want to stop, but Luc gave me his card so we can order for them. He said he’ll cover your meal too.” Seeing the surprise on my face he added, “Don’t worry, Palace is paying.”
I wasn’t sure why my lunch would be covered by the corporate card, but I was hungry and food around here was overpriced. I’d take the meal and be grateful.
Chapter 10
Luc
I knew the moment that Calypso left the building. Ifelther absence. While she had been working behind me, her presence had been a constant feather-brush against my senses, soothing rather than inflaming my body. My lust had subsided enough that I could concentrate on the footage, while my body almost purred at the sensation generated by her presence. The sudden loss was like being slapped in the face.
