Page 26 of Snow

He looks down and rubs his palm over the book’s cover. Magickal Colonies of the World. “It is.” He looks up, then firmly says, “how much?”

Luna takes the book and moves to the till. She taps in the title, frowns, then picks up the book. She opens it, turns it over, then adjusts her glasses again. “I’m so sorry,” she says. “It’s not in the system at all, and there’s no price.”

“Must mean it’s free of charge,” I quip.

“That’s all right.” Lucien counters when Luna looks a little panicked. “Perhaps we can just take photographs of the pages we need? And you can let me know when you’ve spoken to your boss about the possibility of me buying it back.” He taps his fingers on the cover. “This, and the others, of course.”

Visibly relaxing, Luna says, “Of course, go ahead.” She tilts her head. “What was it you were interested in?”

Lucien looks up at her, half way through trailing his finger down the contents page.

“I’m sorry.” She blushes furiously. “That’s nosy of me. It’s none of my business.”

“We are interested in the section on bear shifters.”

I expect her to laugh or frown or look confused. Instead she says, “Ohh, I didn’t even know we had books that covered shifter types.” She follows Lucien’s finger as he locates the right chapter, then looks up at him. “If I’d known, I’d have read it.”

“You’re interested in shifters?” I ask, moving to look over Lucien’s other shoulder and feeling decidedly like a spare fucking wheel.

“Shifters, werewolves – technically, they’re different, you know. Werewolves are a class of their own, whereas bears, tigers, lions, dogs, they’re…” She stops and shakes her fingers a little, like she’s trying to brush off a rush of excitement. “Sorry… this stuff gets me a little carried away. I’ve been obsessed since I was little. My boyfriend thinks it’s strange.”

“Boyfriend?” I ask, studying Lucien’s face.

“He’s a physics professor at the university. There’s a bit of a divide between the scientists and the supernatural scholars, which personally I never understood because surely there’s science in everything? If it was me, and I was clever enough, I’d want to understand how the magic works. I’d want to—” She stops herself, physically wrapping her arms around her waist like she’s trying to hold the excitement inside. “I’m so sorry. I’m going to leave you to it and get packing up. You didn’t come here to listen to me waffle.”

Lucien’s lips twitch. He definitely came here to listen to her waffle; I get the impression he’d be happy to listen to her talk for the rest of his life. Especially if she was naked.

As she turns away, he watches her. His eyes graze her hips, her ass, then move to her ankles. Ankles? Is that a thing? I guess if you’re a vampire, maybe. Nostalgia for the days when women weren’t allowed to show too much flesh?

Thornfield flips open the book and pulls out his phone. He takes pictures of every page in the chapter about bear shifters, then pockets it again and puts the book down on the counter.

Luna turns to him, shutting down the computer.

“Thank you for your help, Luna. I hope to hear from you soon.”

She tucks her hair behind her ear again, then folds her arms in front of her stomach. The gesture makes her cardigan shift a little, and shows off the swell of her breasts. Thornfield, however, keeps his eyes trained on her lips. It’s her lips he wants.

And it’s so obvious I almost expect him to jump over the counter and take her right here. Right now.

“I hope so too. I mean, I hope…” She laughs, and shakes her head. “Goodbye, Lucien.”

Outside, I tilt my head and chuckle. Then I punch Thornfield’s upper arm and shake my head at him. “Fuck me, you’re besotted. How long have you been stalking her for?”

He stops dead in his tracks. “What did you say?” he growls.

“That clearly wasn’t the first time you’d seen that woman.”

Turning slowly, Thornfield glowers down at me. “What if it wasn’t?”

A smile curls my lips. I shouldn’t torment him. I know I shouldn’t. And yet… “How much are you dying to ask me what she was thinking back there? What she was feeling? If she wants you as much as you want her?”

Thornfield practically growls at me. His lip curl. His eyes flash. But instead of responding, he turns and stalks away into the darkness.

“If you’d asked nicely, I’d have told you,” I call after him.

But he’s already gone.

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