Page 8 of Oracles Always Win

Ifrowned.Icould see how he’d come to that conclusion.BeforeIcould ask him anything more, a loud screech shot through the phone fromAdrian’send of the call.

“Ah…Emma!”Jeremyshouted. “Quitthat!Getdown from there.Thosecurtains aren’t for climbing…Adrian!”

“Gottago, boss,”Adriansaid quickly.

“Keepme updated,”Ireminded him, but he’d already ended the call.

Andwho the hell wasEmma?

Iwished we’d had more time to talk, but at least he hadn’t texted.Ihated those ridiculous little emojis and incomplete sentences my team liked to use in texts.AlthoughIhated typing on the little screen on my phone even more, soI’dresorted to messaging that way too.Untilthe last few decades,I’dthought we’d left hieroglyphs in the ancient past.

Whenmy team called me a technophobe, they weren’t wrong.Ihad no desire to carve out messages on stone tablets or ink feathery scripts on parchment scrolls, butIwasn’t convinced my life had been improved with the invention of the cell phone.

AsIshoved my phone in my pocket,Ifrowned at the implications ofAdrian’sabsence.Iwanted to debrief him in person beforeImet with the locals, soIhoped his borrowed vehicle wouldn’t take long to repair.

SinceAdrianhad met his mate, his updates had been so abbreviated they could hardly be called updates.Iunderstood to some extent.Findingyour fated mate was a rarity these days and something to celebrate.Andhis mateJeremywas even more unusual, since he was a human who’d recently been blessed by theEternalMagicwith magic of his own.Itwasn’t often a human received such a gift.Itwas undoubtedly a distracting time for them both, soIwas willing to give them time to adjust.

I’dalready invitedJeremyto join my team, but the moreIthought about it the moreIwondered if that was the right move.I’dhate to loseAdrianfrom our day-to-day operations, butIkept remembering that old saying “obey fate and love your mate”.

Adrian’scommitment to his mate was more important and took priority over any agreement he had with me.Iwouldn’t risk hurting him or making my magic unstable by severing the link we shared.I’dbeen there, done that.Itonly led to pain and death.Ourconnection was stronger and deeper than any ordinary dealImade.Butthere had to be a way for him to still fulfill his duties to me; we just had to find it.Itwas one more thing we needed to talk about.

“Adrian’sbeen delayed, so it may just be the three of us for now,”Iinformed the others.

NelsonandIsaacmerely nodded.

“Okay,”Isaid. “Isaac, you take outside.Seeif you can find anything suspicious hidden in the woods.NelsonandIwill go inside the inn.”

“I’lltake the top floor and work my way down,”Nelsonsaid. “Ifyou take the bottom, we’ll meet in the middle.”

Iopened my mouth to agree with him, but magic poked at me, telling meIneeded to take the top of the inn.Ihoped this was a message from my magic and not the foreign one.Buteither way,Ineeded to do this.Ifit was a trap, it was better thatIface it rather thanNelson.

“Let’sdo that, but with me on the top floors instead.”

Nelsonjust shrugged and moved toward the inn. “Atleast we don’t have to worry about any locks.”

Hewas right; few locks resisted a demon’s magic.Infact,I’donly ever come across one… and that was a worrisome detail of our current case.Ifwe ran into anything thatIcouldn’t get through, it’d at least be a clue.

Still,IhopedI’dadjust to the magic in this place soon soIwas steady and able to think clearly by the time we met withVan.Becauseright now, my every thought centered around one question:CouldWillowLakebemyplace?Andthat strange magic seemed to be sayingyes, yes, yes.

Chapter Three

JAKE

Iadjusted my leather belt one last time, before dragging my hands over my form-fitting shirt.ThenIturned around to look at my butt in the mirror.Iwiggled it and grinned.

“Damn,Ilook good,”Ipunctuated my words with a slap to my ass.Whiletaking my painting classes,I’dlived away from home for a few months until my mother had a conniption and demandedIreturn home.Duringthat short time,I’dseen my roommate do this time and time again, and he had scores of guys in his bed.Ifthis ritual worked for him,Iwas willing to give it a try.

Ihadn’t worn this outfit since those long-ago brief days of freedom.Ithadn’t worked out the wayI’dhoped then, butIreally hoped it would work now.ThenI’dhave started working toward two of my three goals.

Rightnow, though,Iwas wishingI’dtaken a nap instead of setting up an online shop for my paintings.Ihadn’t realized how long it’d take, or how hard it’d be to decide on a price, or how much my heart would try to pound its way out of my chest at the mere thought of putting my work out there for strangers to judge.

Thewhole process had been exhausting, but it was almost done.

AllIhad to do now was take some pictures of my paintings and post them, whichIplanned to do after the weekend.Bythe middle of the week, my art would be out there in the world for anyone to buy.

Mymouth stretched around yet another yawn.Myeyes watered with the effort.Stupidmidnight painting sessions.Theywere messing everything up.

Iturned on the tap to splash my face with cold water.AsIpatted it dry with a towel,Ieyed my clothes again.Thejeans cupped my ass nicely and the shirt hugged my narrow chest.Iwasn’t a big guy, soIwouldn’t have anyone drooling over my non-existent muscles or anything, butIremembered these clothes attracting attention, soIwas counting on them working again.