“Excuse me, ma’am,” Ravyn said and stepped to the side.
The woman remained in front of her. Had she moved with her? Ravyn didn’t recall seeing her take a step, but then again she’d been looking at her feet. And why did she even care?
“Sorry,” Ravyn said this time and stepped in the other direction so she could cross.
“No need to apologize,” the woman replied, but her lips hadn’t moved.
Of that Ravyn was certain because she’d been staring at the odd hat the woman wore. If odd could be translated to mean old, because she could have sworn that was the type of hat worn in some of the old black-and-white movies Kal Pagen watched at Safeside because their satellite signal was spotty and the channels which hosted the more recent movies were often the first to blink out.
And had she just acknowledged that the woman’s lips hadn’t moved? Ravyn admitted she was having a day, or actually a week, considering the illness, but how often had she run into a ventriloquist, and why would said ventriloquist waste her talent by striking fear in someone walking down the street? Ravyn’s heart skipped a beat at the thought that the woman might be something other than a person who was trained to talk without moving their lips.
With a shake of her head, Ravyn continued across the street. But now she was much more attuned to the people around her. There were so many, more than she’d ever seen on a Thursday afternoon in this area of Burgess. It was strange but she’d seen stranger—the cursed dagger she was carrying, for instance. The antiques store was a few steps ahead and she was just about to skirt around a trio of men standing on the sidewalk so she could get to the door when a hand on her elbow stopped her.
“You need to come with me,” a man said, and she knew who it was before she even looked up to see his face.
Yanking her arm away, Ravyn balled her hands into fists and lifted them in the stance that said she was ready to fight. “If you don’t back the hell up and stay away from me, there’s gonna be trouble.”
He didn’t move. “There’s already going to be trouble. That’s why I need you to listen to me. Let me take the dagger and—”
“Fuck off!” she yelled and punched him in the chest. His chest felt like his name, hard as steel, which was kinda sexy, but he hadn’t budged an inch. She hadn’t actually presumed that striking him would move a man his size out of her way. It was meant to let him know she was serious about him leaving her alone.
“You don’t understand.”
“No, you don’t understand,” she snapped and this time when she flattened her palms against his massive chest and pushed him, a rush of adrenaline soared through her and he did stumble back a step.
He looked more startled than she felt about the strength she’d managed to accumulate in just a few moments. With no explanation for how or why that had happened she figured it was better to quit while she was ahead. Dodging around the three men on the street she ran into the antiques shop and hurried to the back of the store where the owner usually sat at a small table having tea while she waited for customers.
“Welcome, welcome, my dear. I’ve been waiting for you,” the older woman said when Ravyn came to a stop just short of crashing into her table with the old floral decorated tea set.
Ravyn was about to speak again but instead blinked at what the woman had said. No, the woman couldn’t have meant she was waiting for Ravyn specifically. Just for any customer, right? She shook those thoughts away.
Without hesitating Ravyn said, “I need to sell something, and fast.”
“Dammit!” Steele yelled as the continued buzzing of the communicator on his wrist stopped him from going into the shop behind Ravyn.
Turning his back toward the street so no one would see him talking to his arm, he answered it. “Yeah?”
“Staff meeting in twenty minutes. New clients and updates. Theo wants everyone there. That means you, Steele.” Magnum spoke in clipped sentences with that matter-of-fact tone Steele hated as much as his smartass banter.
“I’m kinda tied up right now.”
“Unless you mean you’re literally tied and bound by some evil demonic who’s about to feast on your heart, there’s no excuse. Get here, now!”
“Just fill me in later.” Steele sighed, not even trying to hide his exasperation.
“Don’t make me come get you.”
Fuck!
Magnum would come get him if Steele continued to resist and when his brother arrived, the city of Burgess might not survive their altercation.
“Fine!” he gritted through clenched teeth. “I’ll be there.”
“Good.”
The communication ended and Steele walked to the front window of the antiques shop. There were tables full of stuff, display racks and shelves on the wall with more stuff bulging and giving the appearance of a very careful hoarding situation. But through it all his Drakon eyes zoomed in to their target. She was sitting across the table from an older woman. Her hair long, hanging straight past her shoulder on one side, while on the other side it was cut low with three lines shaved to her scalp. The urge to touch those lines welled up in his
