Page 41 of Moody as a Minotaur

I snapped my mouth shut. No way was I giving up my family, not until I knew what had happened.

Van narrowed his eyes, eyes that were once again blazing like mini-bonfires in the middle of his face.

“No one took anything,” Levi offered. “All they did was leave those bugs or whatever they’re called.”

“Jesus, Levi…” I whispered. “Someone is listening to you? In your home?”

My heart pounded at the realization of what could have happened if Levi was right and Fin’s friends were hunters. I covered my mouth with a trembling hand. Would someone really want to hurt Levi? Hell no. No one, absolutely no one, family or not, was going to hurt Levi. Not on my watch.

“When did it happen?” I demanded.

“Sometime after I ran into you last night…” Levi shrugged.

“So, it wasn’t my grandmother. I heard her leave, and she wouldn’t have had time to go to your place and get out to the inn.” I rubbed my chin. “And she didn’t leave again after we got back.”

I knew that because I’d placed a piece of tape across the exterior door, high enough that she couldn’t reach it. It had still been in place this morning. She’d taught me that trick. And she certainly could have seen it, but she was too short to have reached it without standing on a chair or a stool. She’d have needed to haul a chair down the steps to get it. Then, because the landing was narrow, she’d have had to move the chair back up the stairs to open the door. And she’d have had to do the same thing all over again when she returned. I would have heardsomethingif she’d had to do all that.

I blew out my breath. Okay. That was better than itcould have been. But that still left Fin as a possibility. Or his friends. I hoped it was his friends and not him. Except if it was his friends, that meant they could be dangerous. My head was going in circles now.

“Okay,” Van said with a nod. “I believe you.”

Van plopped down in one of the other chairs. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how he’d been looming over me. He smiled and kicked his feet up on Levi’s desk.

“So, you and Levi, hey?” Van asked as he pulled out his phone. From this angle, I could see he was looking at his calendar, but I wasn’t close enough to read what it said. “Damn it. My day is two days from now.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“The bet at the pub.”

“The bet at the…?” Then I realized what he meant. “Someone has a bet going about Levi? And me?” Okay. My voice might have squeaked a little at the end there.

Levi groaned loud enough that I could hear it from the other room.

“That’s why no one told me,” Levi muttered. “I should have known.”

“Of course you should have.” Van nodded. “I just hope Paws doesn’t win again. He’s insufferable enough as it is.”

“Who is Paws?”

“That fat calico cat that hangs out at the pub. He’s…” Van shrugged. “I don’t know exactly what he is, but he’s magical. And he’s powerful.”

That cat who I thought was a stray. And Clive and Warren were cats, too. That was weird, right? So manycats? “Levi is a minotaur, I know that, but what are you? Are you a cat too? Is it rude to ask?”

Levi snorted as he walked by with a trash can. He glanced into the office and his gaze caught on mine. He was smiling and his eyes crinkled at the sides like I’d said something funny. Thank God. Maybe he could forgive me for laughing. Because Ireallyhadn’t meant anything by it.

Van wrinkled his nose like he’d smelled something bad. “No, I’m not a damn cat. I’m a hellhound.”

I scooted my chair back a little.

Van rolled his eyes. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, uh, nothing…” I brushed a bit of lint from my pant leg.

“I can tell when you’re lying.”

“Really?” Wait. Levi had suggested as much, hadn’t he? Oops.

“Although I would have been able to tell even if I hadn’t scented the lie on the air. You’re clearly uncomfortable.”