Tess popped backinto the shop an hour later. She was silent as the grave anyway, but when she was in mist form, you couldn’t hear or see her coming, especially if the lights were dim.
Moira’s yelp of fright and subsequent swearing made me and Ash laugh.
“Tess is back,” he announced.
“No shit!” Moira called. “Tess. Moan or something next time.”
The banshee rolled her eyes and reverted to human form. “Like I can help when I moan.”
I hid my smile behind my hand and poured her a cup of tea from the carafe sitting on top of the table we were sitting around.
She took it with a grateful smile and curled into her favorite chair. Ash got up and arranged a fuzzy blanket around her. Tess never complained, but her mist form took quite a bit of energy, and when she came back to her human form, it took her several hours to warm up to normal temperature. Curling her hands around the mug, she inhaled the brew and sighed.
“My sense of smell is not as acute as yours and Moira’s, but I believe you’re dealing with some kind of shifter. Unfortunately, he or she was long gone by the time I went back to the area.”
“Could you tell if it was a lone wolf?” Moira asked.
“No way to tell, but what faint scent I picked up was new. The spot you chose does not have any other shifters who’ve visited recently.”
“It’s Caelan,” I muttered, scrubbing a hand over my face.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Ash warned.
“It has to be,” I insisted. “He might not know who I am yet, but he suspects.” It took a while for the clues to click into place. The golden eyes were a dead giveaway.
Moira’s lips thinned. “I agree with Evie. He hasn’t been in power for this long by being a fool.”
“Even if it is, his presence is not our biggest problem,” Ash said, his eyes on me.
I groaned. “I can’t help it. If I’m in danger, the power always rises up.”
“Maybe you should let it.” Ash’s eyes held no judgment, but I looked away all the same.
“I can’t.” Memories of my time in Hazel’s cabin assailed me. “I’m too dangerous.” I’d almost killed her several times during those first two treacherous weeks. “Hazel should have left me to my own devices. She’s lucky to be alive.”
“Hazel made her choice,” Moira said. “No one deserved what happened to you.”
“Maybe not, but sometimes I wonder if it would be better for everyone if she’d put me out of my misery instead of carrying me back to her place.”
Moira’s eyes flashed emerald. “Don’t ever say that. None of us would be here if you’d died.”
Ash scooted closer. “She’s right, Evie. You aren’t a monster.”
I snorted. “That’s where you’re wrong. I’m more than a monster. I’m the thing that nightmares are made of.”
“That seems like an overly dramatic statement,” Tess observed.
Moira burst out laughing and tried to cover it with a cough, but it was too late. I sent her a dark look. She ducked her head and gave me an apologetic look.
“Maybe it seems that way to us,” she said to Tess, “but we never had to experience what Evie’s going through.”
Tess lifted a slim shoulder in a shrug. “Why shouldn’t we be who we are? Isn’t that what Evie always tells us?”
You know...getting your good advice tossed back into your face during a low moment was not awesome.
Moira sent me a look. “I think Evie is a little frightened of who she might become if she were to fully embrace the Chimera’s magic. That’s why she’s suppressing it.”
Tess stared at Moira. “I’m a banshee. Everyone who knows what I am is scared of me. I’ve never had a boyfriend, much less an orgasm, because making any noise other than regular conversation must mean I’m trying to kill them, right? If I canstill be myself, when the whole world is terrified of what I might do, why can’t she?”
