Hidden Dragons (3 page)

Cass’s human grandmother had protected the hereditary family business like a bear guarding cubs. She’d been tireless in the quality she demanded
and
in enforcing her concept of fairness. The idea that Cass would follow in her footsteps was alarming. She didn’t have her gran’s passion for commerce. As far as she knew, she didn’t have that kind of passion for anything. Cass curled her toes in her bright flip-flops, wondering if she’d put a damper on the evening by saying so.

She was spared deciding by the distant chime of the doorbell.

“Food,” Cass said when they all looked at her.

Aware the delivery guy was waiting, she grabbed a cover-up and hurried across the terrace to the French doors. Apart from mini-lights, the portrait hall behind them was dark. As she moved down it, Cass felt the absence of her friends. Ever since she’d returned, her gran’s apartments had seemed spooky. She didn’t know why. When she was a girl, she’d thought this the safest place in the world. Her maternal grandmother doted on her, turning every visit into a special treat. Though she could be stern with others, when it came to her granddaughter, no sin was too big for Trish Maycee to forgive, no opinion too ridiculous for her not to take Cass’s side.

“That’s what grandmothers are for,” she’d liked to say.

She’d died at 112, peacefully, in her sleep. No way would her spirit linger maliciously.

I’m just missing her
, Cass thought, trying to explain her creeps.

A shadow slunk across the cross hall like smoke, jolting her pulse into overdrive.

“Mew?” it inquired politely, changing direction to wind around Cass’s ankles.

“Sheesh,” she gasped, laughing at herself. She bent to scratch her grandmother’s cat Polydora behind her ears. The feline was gray and bony and very affectionate. “You scared me, skulking around like that.”

Cass continued to the front entrance with the cat treading on her heels. Poly must have smelled the delivery. The cat was a fiend for pepperoni with extra cheese.

Fortunately, the pizza guy hadn’t given up. He did look bemused as she opened the door to him. “How ya doin’?” he said, handing the boxes over. “I never knew there was a house up here.”

His confusion was understandable.
Up here
wasn’t a normal apartment building. Up here was the top floor of the downtown Maycee’s.

“Our family has a tradition of living above the store.”

“Hah!” he said, seeming to appreciate her joke. “That’s thirty plus tip for two large pies.”

Rather than try to juggle the boxes, Cass levitated her ResEx card from her cover-up’s pocket. The delivery guy didn’t bat an eye, used to customers from all magical levels. He plucked the card from the air, swiped it through his reader, released it, and wished her a good evening.

When she closed the door, she was alone again.

“Mew!” Poly demanded.

“Okay,” she said, a little too glad the cat was there. “Follow me to the roof, and you can have a slice.”

To her surprise, Rhona was waiting outside the terrace doors. Jin and Bridie had taken charge of Pip and were playing a game of crawl dodge on a soft stretch of grass. Evidently, Jin thought a one-year-old didn’t need to see cleavage. She’d pulled a silky wrap over her bikini. Maybe more things than Cass knew had changed while she was away.

Pip squealed with delight as his playmates evaded him.

Sensing something was up, Cass gave Rhona her attention. Her friend bit her lip before she burst out with it. “Did you have a chance to talk to your dad?”

Rhona wanted Cass’s dad to serve as Pip’s faerie godfather. In their belated wisdom, Resurrection’s fae overseers had decided the city’s “miracle babies” were entitled to extra protection.

“I spoke to him on the phone this morning, but like I warned, I’m not sure what he’ll decide.”

Rhona’s cute-pretty face fell slightly.

“If he doesn’t come through, the Founders Board will assign someone.”

“I know,” Rhona said. “I just hoped it could be your father. Sometimes purebloods are
brr
.” She hunched her shoulders and made a shivering sound. “Your dad isn’t like the rest of them.”

For a fae, her dad was a sweetie, but that was sort of the problem. “He’s concerned he’s not powerful enough to protect Pip like he deserves.”

“How can he not be powerful enough?”

Cass wondered how to navigate this question. Resurrectioners tended to assume all purebloods were super powerful. In some cases, this was true. In others, not so much. The misconception wasn’t one the fae wanted to clear up. Though they’d created the Pocket, most remained aloof from its citizens. They merely visited or lived in their own enclaves. To marry a human the way her father had was practically unheard of. The impression her dad had given Cass was that the match hadn’t mattered because his power level was modest. Whether this was true, she couldn’t say. Even as a child, she knew direct questions were unwelcome. Purebloods had issues about lying—and about sharing personal information. Because truenames could be used to weave harmful spells, she couldn’t even swear she knew his real surname. Her mother hadn’t taken it after they married.

“Uh,” Cass said. “I’m sure Dad is just being careful. He’s always been fond of you.”

A wash of pink colored Rhona’s cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to push.”

The blush caused Cass’s eyes to widen. Not wanting to think too hard about what it meant, she chafed her best friend’s arm. She didn’t touch people often—another habit from her father. Faerie dust rubbing off on others could be awkward. “I’ll talk to him again when I see him in person. If he can’t do it himself, maybe he’ll recommend someone.”

“Sure,” Rhona said. “That’d be just as good.”

Cass couldn’t help but notice her old friend’s gaze remained stubbornly lowered.

Luckily, the awkward moment was cut short. “
Pizza
!” Jin growled like a weretiger. “Pizza!” Bridie agreed, and they ran over with Pip laughing.

Setting up on the outdoor table was like old times.

Who remembered the soda?

What does your Gran do with all these forks?

Really, Cass? You want us to eat on the good china?

“Please,” Cass insisted. “Gran would like knowing we’re using it.”

Bridie snorted out a laugh with her mouth full of hot pizza. “She wouldn’t have liked knowing how many plates you un-broke for us.”

“I’m sure the practice using my magic helped. I’m quite good at unbreaking now.”

“Ooh.” Jin pointed Cass’s way with a celery stick. “Remember the concealment spells you used to do for me? My mom never understood why my skirts were twice as short when I got home from school.”

“I remember trying to ‘conceal’ Tony Lupone, so he could sneak into your bedroom.”

“That so didn’t work,” Bridie hooted, jostling her cousin’s arm. “And you were so busted.”

“Those Lupone boys were hot,” Jin declared airily. “If Tony hadn’t secretly been gay, it would have been worth it.”

Cass gasped. “Tony the werewolf is gay?”

“Tony the werecop, and—yes—he is. He came out a few months ago.”

“Noo. He was a total flirt. His brother Rick must have had a cow. Unless . . .” Cass hesitated. “Unless he’s gay too?”

“That truly would be cruel.” A small smile played around Bridie’s mouth. “As far as I know, Rick Lupone is a hundred percent hetero.”

“Not that it’s my business,” Cass said hastily.

“No.” Jin grinned like her cousin was. “There’s no reason he’d be your business.”

“I don’t still have a crush on him.”

“Of course you don’t, and of course you’re completely uninterested in the fact that he’s single. Not even dating, from what I hear.”

Cass’s human half blushed too hot for comfort. Hoping the girlish reaction would go away, she placed one slice of pizza on a gilt-edged plate and set it on the ground. Poly leaped on the treat as if Cass hadn’t fed her less than an hour ago.

To be fair to the cat, if Rick Lupone had been laid out for Cass, she’d have leaped on him too.

She’d had it bad for the hot werewolf. He’d been a jock in high school but not stupid. Sweet, sexy and just plain big. Mile wide shoulders. Long solid legs. A butt that did dangerous things to a pair of jeans. Never the most outgoing, Cass had gone mute if he so much as looked at her. Reams of diary pages immortalized her yearning. How decent he was amazed her, how kind, how unlike any other male! His younger brother, Tony, though charming, always struck her as a player. Rick the paragon was a gentleman.

She’d dragged her friends to every sporting event he’d played, ducking behind their shoulders if it seemed like he’d catch her watching.

What made all this more pathetic was that he barely knew she existed.

Once, at a vending machine, when she’d run out of change, he’d bought her a candy bar—a random act of kindness for a girl she doubted he knew by name. She was pretty sure she still had the caramel SnickErrs. Mummified probably, at the back of her treasure drawer.

Jin and Bridie hadn’t understood why she didn’t just spell Rick to fall for her. She’d had the juice but couldn’t bring herself to use it. Half fae or not, she’d had a human girl’s romanticism. Love shouldn’t be magicked. Love should be genuine.

Memories of how he’d thrown her teenage hormones into a tizzy distracted her from the dinner talk. She nodded and laughed when her friends spoke to her, but Rick’s awesome biceps and killer butt took up the lion’s share of her thoughts. All these years later, he still made her thighs sweaty.

She wondered if he was as fit as he used to be. As a cop, that seemed probable. Was he harder now? Had he seen things that put an edge on his old sweetness? Suddenly Cass was glad for the cover-up she’d pulled over her bathing suit. Her nipples had tightened at the thought of him being grown.

Maybe he was the one who’d put a charm on her.

Almost before she knew it, Jin and Bridie were clearing plates and making noises about how early they needed to be at the studio tomorrow.

“This was the best!” they exclaimed with an enthusiasm she couldn’t doubt. “Let’s do it again real soon.”

They flattered her more than they realized. Cass hadn’t assumed they’d automatically fall back into friendship. “I’d like that,” she said sincerely.

Her eyes were teary. Knowing she didn’t hug, Bridie squeezed her sleeve quickly. “We missed you too, sweetie.”

While the glamorous Levine cousins called the elevator, Rhona paused in the entryway. Pip was a momentarily quiet bundle on her hip. Like most fox shifters, Rhona was strong but petite. Holding Pip evened out the weight of the humongous baby bag on her opposite shoulder.

“I’ll catch up,” Rhona promised when the door hissed open and Jin looked back at her. “I want to talk to Cass a second.”

“All right. We won’t let the limo pull off without you unless we see Channing Tatum and need to shadow him.”

Jin was kidding. Hollywood actors didn’t know about the Pocket.

“They have a limo?” Cass asked as the doors slid shut.

“The network supplied it. It’s a hot pink stretch with
As Luck Would Have It
spelled out in white glitter.”

Cass snickered. “That sounds about their speed.”

Pip flapped his arms and babbled, apparently having decided she needed to pay him more attention. He was covered from head to toe in pizza grease and grass stains. His little “Kiss Me!” T-shirt had ridden up his round tummy.

“Do you want sparkles?” Cass teased, poking his belly button. To entertain him, she shot two from her fingertip. He liked that so much he squealed.

“Oh my God,” Rhona moaned. “Look what a mess he is! I put a bib on him, I swear.”

“He’s just what he ought to be,” Cass assured her, carefully kissing his sticky palm. Pip settled back against his mother, his big brown eyes wide and curious. Cass didn’t think she’d glamoured him. Babies were susceptible, but she was cautious. “I’ll spell a box of baby-safe detergent for you tonight. It’ll lift the stains right out. I got plenty of practice at that sort of thing when I was Outside.”

“You could do magic there?” Rhona asked, the first of her friends to inquire about her time away directly. “You didn’t have to go cold turkey?”

“It takes longer to recharge beyond the border, but I could do it if I focused.”

Rhona hiked Pip higher. “Being out there must have been difficult.”

“Sometimes.” The answer was enough of an understatement that her left temple throbbed. Too often, living Outside had been miserable, like missing a limb no one else believed existed. “I’m glad I got to see my mother happy. I didn’t know the person she truly was until I was there with her. Her whole personality opened up.”

Rhona nodded sympathetically. Her relationship with her mother was strained sometimes. Mrs. Burke had definite opinions on her firstborn’s life choices. “I’m not sure I could leave Resurrection. I’d be afraid the mundanes would hunt me every time I changed form.”

Due to the dominance of were genes, Rhona would have been able to shift. Shivering in reaction, she hugged her boy closer.

“You’d learn to cope,” Cass said. “All you’d need is a strong enough reason.” She stroked Pip’s mussed hair, then touched her best friend’s cheek. Rhona’s mouth fell open. She was unused to Cass being demonstrative. Cass dropped her hand and smiled. “What did you hang back to talk to me about?”

Rhona shook herself from her daze. “I just wanted to make sure you’ll be okay alone tonight. Your grandma’s place is big for one person. Pip and I could stay if you feel lonely.”

“I’ll be fine,” Cass said. To her surprise, pain stabbed her sharply behind one eye. Clearly, she didn’t believe her own words. She was experiencing the standard faerie reaction to telling lies. She did her best to keep her expression impassive.

“You sure?” Rhona asked.

“You should go,” Cass assured her, neatly avoiding the question. “You don’t want to upset Pip’s new home routine. Poly will keep me company.”

She pushed the elevator call button for her friend, waving farewell and smiling as they stepped in. Pip’s floppy wave back was adorable. “Bye-bye,” he piped quite intelligibly.