Tapping out a series of movements that look pretty random on my leg, Coen tilts his head to the side ever so slightly to show that he’s understood and then seamlessly joins the conversation again, and I move inside the store. Only a few moments have passed since I first felt the prickle of intuition.
Ransom smiles at me, and I follow him deeper into the shelves of curiosities as it occurs to me that we should probably teach the others the hand signals so that we can tell them things in situations like this.
I frown. Most of the signs we should teach them, there are one or two special ones that are reserved for Coen, Dimitri, and me.
“You could hunt with Dimi again,”a voice that I try to repress constantly, chimes up unexpectedly, and I frown.
One of my favorite things to do is to hunt with Dimitri. It soothes a dark and quite frankly, feral part of me when Dimitri and I go after someone together.
It’s just different than it is with anyone else, even Coen, who is quite frankly just as feral.
I begin to smile at the memories and then roll my eyes.
For fuck sake.
Coen said he thinks that Dimitri is being controlled, that Dimitri told him that he was. Well, Dimitri is a fucking good liar, and there is a very good chance that he told Coen that for some sort of ulterior motive.
I promised myself that I wouldn’t get my hopes up, and here I am wanting to go fucking hunting with him, that’s all kinds of fucking crazy.
Taking a deep breath, I’m instantly grateful that we’re in the apothecary and surrounded by soothing scents, and since I’m here, and clearly dealing with some delulu shit, I’m going to pick up some calming herbs and maybe some for clarity too, that I can burn so I don’t start obsessing or freaking out.
At this point, it will probably be both.
Dimitri has always been my weakness.
That wasn’t such a bad thing once upon a time, but then Dimitri himself started using it against me, and that cut me deeper than anything else, and I’ve been through some shit.
Yep, I’m going to need all the help I can get to deal with this.
Moving back to the door, I grab one of the cute wicker baskets and head straight for the herbs and various other things that I think I’ll need. By the time I’m done, the basket is overflowing.
“Did you get what you wanted?” Ransom asks me.
I grin as I glance over at him, “Yeah, I think so. I decided I need to make some calm the fuck down stuff.”
“Interesting name you have for it,” he chuckles as we head toward the counter.
I freeze, “Shit, I left my card at home.”
“I’ve got it,” Ransom says.
“Are you sure?” I ask. I don’t particularly like accepting things like this.
He glances over at me and then leans in, kissing me softly, “I’m sure. Don’t worry about it. If you really want to, you can pay me back another time. I will accept payment in kisses.”
I nod, smiling, and feeling better about it as I reply, “Deal. Kisses, I can definitely do.”
The whole time that we’re ringing up our stuff, the cashier keeps opening his mouth like he’s going to say something and then closing it again like he’s thought better of it. He also won’t look at either of us for longer than a couple of seconds.
It’s really weird, and I share a raised eyebrow look with Ransom.
At least it’s not just me who thinks this is weird.
“Thank you,” I say with a smile as he hands over the bag of our stuff.
The guy’s eyes widen, and he spins on his heel and heads through a curtain into the back.
“So strange,” I mutter.
