I told him where I lived and added a stern warning that it wasn’t an invitation to steal from me. In response he sniffed wetly and rubbed his glistening nose with the back of his hand. ‘Can I go now?’
I grimaced. I couldn’t force him to accept my help.
I gestured to the empty street behind me and a second later the trow sprinted away into the darkness as fast as his short legs would carry him.
Chapter
Two
Several hours later, as I made myself a late breakfast – or perhaps an early lunch – I was still pondering the conundrum of Bin the trow. Should I have dealt with him differently?
When I was a child, I’d never imagined that being an upstanding member of society who made good decisions would be so complicated. Sometimes there wasn’t a correct road to take; sometimes there was a fork to the left and a fork to the right and nobody to advise you which one to take. But I was only forty-two, and at some point surely I’d grow up sufficiently to make the right decisions, the decisions that proved I was a serious person with responsibilities, who cared for others and always made good choices.
I wasn’t sure that allowing a thief to continue stealing from the inhabitants of Coldstream would count as a good choice.
I opened the fridge and gazed at the contents. There were the makings of a decent salad in there, or I could eat leftover pizza. I shrugged: there was no contest. I could be a sensible adult with healthy eating habits tomorrow.
I took my plate out to the garden and settled in the deckchair next to the fence that adjoined my neighbour’s garden. On cue,Dave’s front door opened and the man himself strolled out. I could swear that he always waited until he saw me before he left his own house.
He leaned over the fence and eyed my food. ‘Cold pizza? You ought to be careful. You’re not eighteen with the constitution of an ox anymore.’
There was a loud purr of agreement from a corner of my own scrap of garden: Dave wasn’t the only one who seemed to think I needed dietary advice. He Who Crunches Bird Bones was equally disapproving.
I glared at them both. ‘In that case,’ I said pointedly, ‘I will stop bringing cake around when I do a batch of baking. Too much sugar isn’t good for you.’ I took another mouthful and turned to the cat. ‘And I’ll be sure not to give you any more treats between meals.’
He Who Crunches Bird Bones immediately stopped purring. Dave snorted loudly.
I held up the pizza. ‘There are vegetables on this. Tomatoes. Onions – and at least one whole basil leaf.’ He clicked his tongue. ‘You don’t want a slice then?’
Dave clambered over the fence with surprising ease for a druid of his girth and age and I grinned as I held out the plate. He nodded, tried not to look pleased by offering me his characteristic scowl, and took the last slice. ‘Thank you.’
He was nothing if not polite. ‘You’re welcome.’ As he munched, he cast a critical eye around my garden. I preened: it was looking good. The careful flicker of a few appropriate spells meant that the rose bushes were already starting to bloom, there were shades of verdant green in every direction and a pleasing number of buzzing insects.
Dave swallowed a mouthful of pizza. ‘Why don’t you have any weeds like I do?’
The ‘weeds’ on Dave’s patch of land were actually priceless silphium plants that could enhance the magic of any Preternatural being, but I wasn’t planning to tell him that unless it was absolutely necessary.
‘Because I weed,’ I told him.
Dave grunted at the bizarre vagaries of plant life and took another bite. ‘I heard,’ he said, once he’d finished chewing, ‘that Jimmy Leighton over on Sitwell Road was burgled last night.’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘If that damned thieving burglar comes around here, he’ll get a surprise.’ He curled his hands into tight fists. ‘If he tries to break into my place, I’ll show him what’s what.’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘You ought to invite that wolfie friend of yours to stay,’ he suggested. ‘It’s the full moon tonight. He’ll keep you safe, especially when he turns furry.’
There were several responses I could have made to that. I decided to settle for a quiet life and plumped for the obvious one. ‘Uh-huh.’
‘And you could clearly do with a decent leg over.’
I gave him a flat look and he grinned. ‘You know it’s true.’
Yeah, yeah. It wasn’t worth arguing about. Besides, he was right: I wanted to get my legs over Thane, and my legs between his legs. And, more to the point, his legs between mine…
We’d been dancing around the issue for weeks now but I suspected that both of us knew it was only a matter of time. Hell, evenDaveknew it was only a matter of time. I decided it was a good thing I’d promised Thane I’d see him that afternoon.
