Page 29 of Pack Witch
“Beg to differ, ma’am. I won’t have the magic you got, so I need to know everything I can if I want to earn my place.”
I frowned and straightened. “Earn your place? Who’s made you think you have to earn your place?”
Leroy scratched his nose, smearing it with dirt, then patted Urchin’s head with one gentle finger. “Well, no one has to say it. But you can’t be a good mate if you don’t have something to offer, right? Like, being able to hunt or fight, or build furniture even. I tried the furniture back at Alpha Brand’s, but he says me’n Bo aren’t ready to be around tools. We, ah, had a ‘unfortunate incident’ in his workshop.”
Oh, I would definitely be asking Ida for that story.
We finished with the onions and carried them to the fence line. The sun was higher now, and the shade of the orchard called. “So you think you have to have something to offer to… your future mate? Or pack?” I leaned against the oldest apple tree, the roughness of the bark on my shoulders reminding me of Julian’s beard a little. I missed him, and the thought made me angry. I knew he was avoiding me, but not why.
Did he not think I’d earned the right to his company? Magic crackled in my fingertips, and I tried to breathe easily. My magical well had refilled, and I was more than ready to repeat our garden moment, if the asshole would come back around.
Leroy had been sucking at his lower lip, staring up at the circling hawk. “Well, both, I reckon. If Bo’s Alpha, he’ll be important all on his own. Powerful. I ain’t got that goin’ for me, and I know I’m not the sharpest nail in the box.” He laughed self-consciously. “And you can see I ain’t much to look at. I needskills, Miss Zinnia. Gardenin’ and anythin’ else I can learn. And I need ‘em before we get to Western.”
I didn’t know where to start. “Leroy, you’re not stupid,” I began, but he held up a hand.
“I wasn’t fishin’ for compliments, ma’am. I know my own self. I was the dumbest kid in my grade, failed every test, pretty much. The letters dance around on the page when I try to work out words, right? Sure, I can do math sums in my head, but once they’re written on a paper, they may as well be … what did Sergeant call ‘em? Egypt writin’.”
“Hieroglyphs.”
“Yeah. See, you know stuff. You’re smart, and pretty, too.” His eyes twinkled, and the glint in them promised that he would be a charmer someday.
“You said you’re unattractive. Why would you think that?”
“I got eyes is why?” His grin was weaker this time, and when he stroked Urchin now, it seemed like he was seeking comfort. “I seen enough mirrors to know what’s what. But even my name is stupid.”
“Leroy?” I had to admit, it had sounded a little odd the first time I heard it. Very Southern.
He grunted once, then wandered over to the pear tree where we’d found a nest with robins’ eggs inside. He went up on tiptoe to check on them, tapping Urchin with a quiet, “Don’t get any ideas. They’re Miss Zinnia’s friends, too,” before he walked over into a patch of sunlight, pulling his long hair away from his neck so Urchin could feel the warmth on her scales.
“Your name’s not stupid, Leroy. It means king, you know. The king.”
His smile was forced. “Guess my mom had big ideas for her only son. I wonder what she’d think of me now.”
I stood, marched over to him, and took him by his shoulders, staring up into his sweet, angular face. “She would love everysingle thing about you. You’re kind and gentle and more fun to talk to than anyone I’ve met in my life, Leroy… What’s your last name?”
“I hate it even worse.” He shrugged. “Bates. The other boys used to tease me somethin’ awful about it. Callin’ me Master Ba— Well, you can guess.”
I could indeed. “Why not change your name?”
“I plan to. Someday, I’m gonna take my mate’s name if she’ll have me. I hope she’s named something pretty like you. Zinnia Star. It’s the prettiest name I ever heard.”
I smiled at his blush. Cupping his cheek in my hand, I wished, not for the first time, that he was my own. “That’s the nicest compliment I’ve ever had. Thank you, Leroy.”
“It’s just pure truth, ma’am. You’re pretty, too.”
Julian’s voice cut through the hum of the bees and the soft shush of the wind. “Stop flirting, boy. You’re wanted down at the stream.” He was at the garden gate, but his voice had more than a hint of anger in it when he barked, “Now.”
“Oh, shi—sugar,” Leroy said, putting Urchin down and backing away like I’d sprouted horns and a tail. “Uh, sorry, Miss Zinnia. Alpha’s orders.”
I waited until Leroy was far enough away not to hear, then rounded on Julian. “What do you think?—”
Somehow, he’d closed the distance between us silently and lifted me to his face, his lips centimeters from mine. “Are you healed?” he demanded.
“Do you just want healing?” We both went silent. I swallowed and asked, “We don’t have to have sex for me to heal you. You don’t need to avoid me, Julian. If you don’t want me?—”
He blinked. “Where in the hell would you get that kind of idea?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because you haven’t come back for seconds? Not even a midnight quickie,” I snapped back. “What was I supposed to think?”
