Page 107 of Shifting Winds
“Hazel will be back in a few days. She’s been working on a few things to help us see how much of Evie is left. We’ll need to clear the visit through Caelan?—”
I snorted. The Shifter Lord was even more obsessed with Evie than we were. “He’ll grant us access anytime we wish.”
Caelan had come by once every few days every week since Evie had left us. He kept a twenty-four-hour guard on the tree, and any fae who managed to get inside the Lord’s wards had met a gruesome end by the teeth and claws of angry shifters. It’d gotten so bad, the fae and shifters were close to being in a full out war.
The fae couldn’t travel to the other realms because Caelan flat out refused anyone access. Cernunnos had stood by him in that regard, though more of a silent partner because of his position in the fae kingdom. He’d strengthened Caelan’s wards and rebuilt the ones on Evie’s property to keep curious gossip hounds away.
For our part, we’d told our customers and all the nosy Nellies coming in that Evie had taken an extended vacation to Scotland, and she had no return date as of yet. When someone pushed, I was happy to show them my teeth and claws.
Evie was only unhinged when someone pushed her too far.
I was unhinged all the time, while keeping a false and shiny veneer of civility around me, and I was spoiling for a fight.Come at me bro, and I’ll fuck you up and call your mother to gloat about it.
Business had dropped by about thirty percent. Again, Evie was sweeter than me and had a way with people I did not. I much preferred to be out of the spotlight and in the shadows. Ash was too introverted to deal with customers for too long before he retreated into the walk-in refrigerator.
Tess…well, Tess was gone, but she’d be even worse than the both of us combined.
If Evie didn’t come back, we were fucked.
And so was the shop she’d lovingly built with hands and sweat equity, because we were shit business owners. We were here because of her love and mercy. Ash had come to her damaged and broken.
I’d come to her angry at everything and everyone.
Tess had come to her a lost wanderer who needed love and care.
And Evie being Evie had given it to all of us while keeping none for herself.
I hurried to the walk-in freezer, buried my face in my shirt, and let out a bloodcurdling scream, one after the other until my throat was raw and my tears had dried.
She had to come back. She had to.
If she didn’t, there was nothing left for me.
Chapter
Thirty-Four
TWO WEEKS LATER
CAELAN
The accursed tree taking up so much of my property hadn’t changed since the moment I’d returned home after Evie’s…fuck. I refused to believe she was dead.
Evie’s absence. That felt better to say. Her forced sabbatical.
Temporary, explainable, fleeting things. Never the permanence of death.
“Gods,” I swore to myself. “I’m an idiot.”
Seymour bumped his main trap against my hip. We’d taken to sitting out here each night, watching for any sign of change. Seymour, as intuitive as he was, knew something was wrong. He’d gone right up to the tree, tipped his traps up as if he could see all the way to the top, and let out a strange, warbling keen, as if he, too, knew his mistress was inside.
I’d found him out here every day, his pot leaning against its rough bark.
Simone’s familiar figure exited the back door, too far away for me to make out her face, but every one of my shifters moved a certain way. I could tell each one of them by their gait, but Simone’s hair gave her away every time.
I didn’t get up. She made her way through the yard and came to sit beside me, straightening her legs out before her.
“Anything?”
