Chapter 14

FOURTEEN

MONROE

"What's the perfect packer?"

I smiled up at the group of college girls who were planning their first spring break trip for March. There were two fae sisters, a mage, and one wolf. Seeing mixed-species friend groups made me so happy. It was one of the best parts of living on Megelle Island. "Sounds fun, doesn't it?"

They nodded with eager eyes.

"Well, ladies . . . the perfect packer is a game-changer." I stepped to the side and gestured to the row of suitcases against the wall. "These suitcases come in varying sizes and styles from rolling bags to duffle bags. The instructions are very simple, but basically the suitcase packs your luggage for you. "

Their jaws dropped.

"Just a few easy steps and your bag will pack while you take a bubble bath." I grinned as they stared longingly at them. "You'll also want our toiletry bag, which comes with a magic suppressant and an undoing powder—in case you get into tricky situations."

"Yep. I want that." The young mage nodded eagerly as she scribbled into her notepad with her wand. "Your prices are on your website, right?"

"And right here." I picked up a brochure and handed it to her. They were just scoping things out so they could budget, but that was cool. It was the point of the booth in the first place: to get people interested. "If you like that, you'll want to check out our package catered to mages. Would you like to see?"

"Yes. Please."

"The first item in the mage package is this small tablet we call the spell dictionary." I pointed to the back page of her brochure where an image of it was printed. "These are a little pricier, for obvious reasons, and definitely something you need to book in advance as our inventory is low. But this table is connected to a database of spells for mages to use to help blend in with humans or clean up magic messes."

She gasped. "Okay, I need to work my budget to see if I can afford that because wow."

"The second item in the package you're going to want is our wand charm." I walked her over to the glass case with dozens of little golden circles holding colorful, fun charms. "Slide one of these onto your wand to make it appear to the human eye as an object like a cell phone or hairbrush so you can use your wand but it'll blend in with the human world."

" Oh my GOD. I need one of those right now. I'm going to a party in Manhattan next week." She crouched down so she could see all the charms we had for sale. "Can I buy one or are they rent only?"

"Both." I waved for my cousin to come over. "These are Dawson's specialty. He's our wand guy, so I'll let him help you with them."

As Dawson reached in to pull the tray of charms out, I turned back to her three friends. "I have gadgets for the rest of you?—"

"Yes!"

"OH!"

"Show me!"

I chuckled. "Right, let's start with the wolf package?—"

"YES." The wolf girl hurried up to me with a wide grin.

"So, we have the Collector Collar, which Holden named, not us." I pulled a tray out from the glass counter to show two different necklaces. "These are chains with a dog tag with Holden's phone number and the address to Prescott Tech in Manhattan."

"The front has wolves on them. So pretty. Are they all in silver?"

"Nope. We have these two designs available in gold, silver, or in black—and I forget what that metal is called for real." I chuckled. "You wear this at all times. When you shift, it shifts with you and transforms into a dog collar like we'd put on our pets. This way if a human finds you, they can call Holden to get you home."

"In case we shift and can't shift back? That's brilliant."

"It also has a GPS tracker." I reached behind me and pulled a visor off the hook on the wall and held it out to her. "This is a moon visor, so the pull of the moon isn't so strong. We also have these candies we call Glamour Fur that if you eat them, it'll give you a glamour that makes wolves look like dogs so people won't be terrified."

"Hold on. I need to write this all down." She opened the brochure. "The prices are all here? Let me do some math."

I laughed. "Go ahead."

"Have anything for fae?" the blonde sister asked sweetly as she tucked her hair behind her pointed ears. "Just nothing in gold?—"

"Funny you should say that." I picked up another brochure and handed it to them, opening it to show them the info on the inside. "We sell Gold Cream, burn relief cream for fae who come in contact with gold so your allergy doesn't ruin a vacation."

The brunette sister pointed to the brochure. "Does this say aura sunglasses? What are these ear caps?"

"The aura sunglasses prevent sensory overload among humans, meaning you won't see their auras." I pointed to the tops of my ears. "Ear caps are these cute little things you slide onto your pointed ear tips that makes them camouflage with your hair."

"Wait— invisibility potion? " The blonde looked to her brunette sister. "You skipped over the invisibility potion for those?"

"The invisibility potion is a spray you spray onto yourself in case you need to fly. It lasts thirty minutes, so it's only for emergencies."

For a moment they just stared at me. Even the wolf and mage friends.

I smiled. "Why don't you ladies take your brochures home and compile a list of questions for us, then call and make an appointment so we can get everything set up for your trip. Okay?"

All four of them nodded, then turned to each other and started giggling. They were excited about their options, the last thing I heard was the blonde fae girl saying she'd get money from her dad. Then they were out of our booth.

I turned to Dawson. "Did you know any of those girls?"

"I know of them." He didn't look up as he put the charms back in the case. "Those sisters are wealthy, daddy's little princesses. I have no doubts we'll be seeing them in the shop."

"Nice. Did the mage girl get a charm today?"

"Two. She wanted options." He grinned. "I try not to question women on these matters."

Torren Chase came bouncing into our booth with a wide grin and a sparkle in her eyes. Her teal hair swayed with every step. "Hi, boys!"

Dawson smiled. "You're in a good mood tonight."

"This is the best season ever. I could die from happiness."

"Please don't do that inside our booth."

Dawson glared at me.

But Torren snort-laughed really hard. "Noted. I shall fling myself back into the common ground."

"Appreciated." I smiled. "You look like you're on a mission, Ms. Torren."

"I was just talking to Holden and some of the wolves. They were talking about the gadgets you've got for them to help them travel safely . . . Holden says you've made some specific for each species?—"

"We have. But . . ." I grimaced. "You're the only jinn I know, and I've really only met you recently."

She blushed. "I know. Guess I was just hoping. Nash and I want to take our honeymoon, and I just don't want to embarrass him in front of humans. It's one thing to be me here ?—"

"We can make it for you." Dawson's smile was warm and kind. "Why don't you come into the shop one day and we'll all sit down to chat about what might help you."

"That's really how we got the ideas for the other species. Even mages." I gestured around the booth at our gadgets. "We talked to them and found out what their concerns were. Then we went to Peggy?—"

"Oh, we should just have Peggy in the meeting." Dawson snapped his fingers in excitement. "She has great ideas."

Torren's eyes glistened with unshed tears. "Really? You'd do that for me? I'm the only jinn?—"

"You're part of this Island, Torren. Of course we will. Besides, maybe we can help you track down more jinns and bring them back here."

"Like Chip and Pickles are doing with the sirens!" Torren clapped her hands, and then she was suddenly a black cat with a piece of teal hair. She huffed. "I'm hungry. I always shift a lot when I'm hungry."

"Go eat," Dawson said with a laugh.

"Okay. I'll come into the shop soon. Oh, but please don't tell Nash?"

I smiled down at her. It was hard to take her seriously when she was a little black cat. But being able to hear her real voice helped.

"We won't tell him." Dawson gave her a thumbs-up.

She nodded her cat head, then spun and trotted back into the crowd.

I followed after her, curious to see where she ran off to. It was a good thing her default, go-to animal to shift into was a cat, because if it were an elephant, we'd have a bigger mess on our hands. Nash Vauntero emerged from the crowd with a frown, looking left and right, but then he spotted the cat running up to him and his mouth curved into a smile. He laughed and shook his head, then held his arms out. His soulmate leapt into his arms and snuggled in.

"Do you think he ever rolls over in the middle of the night to cuddle and finds an animal in her spot?" Dawson said with a chuckle. "And does he wake her up to have her shift back or does he just snuggle in? Like imagine trying to be the big spoon to a panda."

I laughed and started to turn back toward our booth when my gaze landed on a booth a few figurative doors down on the opposite side. My heart stopped and my eyes widened. Rage filled my veins.

"What's wrong?" Dawson followed my stare, then scowled. "Is that . . . Pickles and Chip?"

"What the hell is Chickles ?" I said through clenched teeth.

"I think it's Chip and Pickles combined?"

I grumbled. The booth was fairly simple and empty. There was just a counter that both sirens stood behind with a sign that read KISSING BOOTH. There was a line of people, mostly guys, stretching halfway to our booth.

"What am I looking at right now?"

Dawson sighed. "Looks like they've got a booth set up for the new company?—"

"Are they seriously kissing people for money? How does that help with traveling?"

"I mean . . ." Dawson shrugged his shoulders and ran his hand through his dark hair. "I don't know? It looks like it?"

"Are you the tour guys?"

We both jumped and turned to find two dudes who were completely identical standing at the front of our booth. They were blond, blue-eyed, and tan. One of them wore a pumpkin shirt. The other wore all black. Those were the only identifying marks. Then I realized they'd asked me a question.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah? Starlight Tours ."

They came in with smiles, the one wearing the pumpkin shirt pointed over his shoulder. " Chickles girls sent us over here."

I flinched. "Why?"

The other twin nodded, missing my reaction entirely. "Well, we want to go on vacation off the Island, but they said they're only working with sirens so we should come over here since you guys help everyone else."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Dawson shook his head and put his hand on my shoulder. "It sounds like a nice gesture."

"I call bullshit. Who does that? When has anyone done that?"

"Miracle on 34th Street," the pumpkin twin said with a grin, which revealed a set of pointy fangs. "Santa Claus would tell parents where they could get the kids' toys if Macy's didn't have it."

"That's true. It was a huge success." The other twin was eyeing the stuff in the glass case next to him. "Being a good person pays off better in the long run."

"Hmm, sounds like me when I say you can catch flies with honey?—"

"Shut up, Dawson," I grumbled, but it was weak, and he knew he won with the smile he gave me. "Go over there and check it out if you're so sure they're not trying to sabotage us."

Dawson sighed. "Fine. But help these gentlemen plan a vacation. Don't just glare in Chickles direction."

Chickles. What a stupid, catchy, genius way to name your company. Dammit. I stood at the edge of our booth watching Dawson stroll over to our enemies' booth to scope them out. I didn't see how paying to kiss them was going to help their business, especially when they were sending clients to their rival's business. It made no logical sense. If they were only working with sirens, then why be at the Halloween festival at all? It was on land for Araqiel's sake. There wasn't a single siren in that line, either. They had to be up to something.

"So Pickles said you had all kinds of gadgets and trinkets to help us travel." The pumpkin twin peered into the glass case behind me. "What ya got?"

I cursed and scrubbed my face with my hands. "Well, we have three vampire-specific tools for you to choose from. First is the Feeder Finder, a GPS that plans your travel route to find blood based on where you're traveling."

"Like the app?"

"Yes, but this tool does all the hard work for you. There's no doing the math and trying to map out where you can travel and how far away the blood banks are."

" Ohhh, " they said in unison.

"Second item is the grill." I tapped on my front teeth. "This kind. Pop them on to help conceal your fangs."

At the same time, they both rubbed their fingers over their teeth.

"Next is what we call the Skin of a Killer , and yes, that's a Twilight reference." It took every part of me to not roll my eyes at my cousin's product name. "It's a spray tan specifically for vampires so you don't stand out so much in sunny locations. But it's made with magic, so it won't wash off or fade away."

They both lifted their arms to look at the pale color of their skin.

I pulled out a tablet and sat it on the glass between us. "If you're interested, Mateo Vauntero is going to be a tour guide for a group of vampires on a trip to Europe. Just fill out your information and we'll let you know when Mateo gives us dates."

They basically dove for the tablet, which was what I wanted so I could move to the edge of the booth to watch for Dawson who was standing in line at the kissing booth. What are you doing? That's not sneaky spy mode! I didn't say get in line!

"You all right, Monroe?"

I looked up to find Brian Bow standing in front of me. "How long have you been standing there?"

"I'll take that as a no." Brian grinned. He cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy. "What's wrong?"

I gestured to the abomination down the row. "I can't believe they're selling kisses. What even is that? I don't get it."

"Oh, they're just collecting donations, and you get a kiss as a gift." Brian Bow's cheeks flushed. "I wanted to be fair, so I donated twice."

I groaned. "How is that fair?"

Brian shrugged. "There are two of them."

Mateo stopped beside me, appearing practically out of nowhere. Damn vampires. "Yes, and your kiss is surely the one they'll argue about later tonight."

Brian giggled. "Hey, a boy can dream?"

Mateo laughed and pulled out a wad of cash from his jeans pocket. "Here, go donate my portion on my behalf then."

Brian gasped. He held his hand out and Mateo dropped the cash. He giggled like a little kid in a candy store, then turned and ran back to get in line at the kissing booth.

I frowned and pointed to him. "Is there something wrong with that? I can't tell."

"It's about consent." Mateo shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. "They wanted to do the kissing booth, so they're welcoming it. What's wrong with giving them the business they're looking for? Plus, Brian's young. I don't even think he's twenty yet. You remember being that young, don't you?"

I arched one eyebrow at him. "I'm surprised you gave up your opportunity."

Mateo chuckled. "Trust me, I wouldn't need an excuse like a kissing booth if I wanted to kiss someone."

I just shook my head, because mostly, he wasn't wrong. The women on the Island loved Mateo Vauntero. "Right . . . so it's the principle?"

"No, it's that I have a soulmate." He held his arm out to show us the black and red image of a moth and some swirly lines. "My Cinderella is out here somewhere. I just have to find the foot that fits the shoe."

"Wait, that rumor is true? You don't know who she is?" When he shook his head, I whistled. "I'll keep my eye out for that image."

"Thank you, my friend." He scanned all of our gadgets and smiled. "The booth looks great, as usual. Are we still on for a Mateo-led vampire tour?"

I grinned. "Whenever you're ready, Prince Charming. I've got a list of clients waiting for the sign-up. Just had two more sign up."

He grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Excellent. I'll start plotting. I haven't left the Island since last November, so this will be fun."

"Try not to get run over beforehand."

"I did see Torren run out of here as a cat." He gave me a wink and backed out of our booth. "Perhaps I need a helmet when she's around."

He was gone before I could respond. Damn vampires. I turned to look for Dawson, but my cousin was still standing in the stupid line. There were three people in front of him still. I groaned and tugged on my hair. This man was testing my patience. He wasn't on the same page with me with these problematic sirens. He merely had been humoring me because he was a supportive cousin.

" Monroe ," sang a woman's voice. And I knew the voice instantly. "Monroe!"

My stomach tightened into knots. I braced myself by taking a deep breath. But I did not take my eyes off my cousin. "Yes, Kristie?"

"Hello? Aren't you going to look at me?"

"Not right now. I'm watching something important."

She moved into my peripheral vision and swatted my arm. "Your fiancée is standing in front of you. You should be looking at her, not some slimy siren's booth."

"I'm watching Dawson, Kristie."

"And why is he in line for the kissing booth?"

"Because I can't be."

"Oh, but you want to be?"

"Don't be ridiculous?—"

"If you don't want to kiss her, then why are you so obsessed with her?"

I finally spun on her and hissed. "She stole my pocket watch! She's been a nuisance in my side for days, trying to sabotage my business."

Kristie rolled her blue eyes and flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. "Whatever, Monroe."

"Why don't you get this?"

"Why don't you let Dawson handle whatever nonsense you sent him to do, and you treat your fiancée to a shopping spree two rows over." She batted her eyelashes at me. "Then we can go catch the concert. Oh, and after we can take a romantic private hayride?—"

"Kristie, I cannot run off and play." I exhaled and turned to see Dawson was next in line. "I'm busy."

"You're going to regret this," she snapped, then she spun and stormed away from me.

Part of me knew I needed to chase after her, because that was the right thing to do, but a bigger part of me was hoping I'd pissed her off so much that when I broke up with her, she'd be more angry than heartbroken. It was all a mess.

Dawson put cash in the glass jar on the counter, then stepped up in front of Pickles. She beamed up at him with a smile so wide it dimpled her cheeks. He must have said something to her because she giggled and took her bucket hat off, revealing curly black hair that bounced as she laughed.

Are you fucking flirting with her, Dawson? Come on, man. You're there to get information. Don't flirt with the monster!

Pickles pushed her long sleeves up to her elbows, then she reached out and grabbed the lapel of his blazer and dragged his mouth to hers. It was a big, dramatic sort of kiss, like they were intentionally putting on a show. The tongue was a bit much. Dawson was a terrible spy. The other men in line groaned and grumbled.

Chip looked pointedly at her sister and cleared her throat. " PICKLES. "

They finally broke apart, but they just stared into each other's eyes. My stomach rolled. What the hell are you doing, Dawson?

"PICKLES!" Chip screeched, her eyes wide with horror. She pointed at her sister. " WHAT IS THAT? "

Pickles frowned and lifted her arm, and my heart stopped. There on her pale skin was a colorful image that had definitely not just been there. I couldn't see the design from here, but I knew exactly what I was looking at. I just . . . couldn't believe it.

" PICKLES! " Chip yelled with a horrified expression on her face that matched what I felt inside.

She blinked down at the image on her arm, then looked up to Dawson with wide gray eyes. Her face was flushed and her eyes glistened. Her mouth opened, but no words came out.

This can't be happening.

No. It's not. It's not Dawson.

Dawson slowly lifted his arm and pushed his left sleeve up. I knew from this far away it was identical to the one on Pickles' arm. The two of them just stared at the marks without speaking. I gripped the pole beside me to support my weight as the world spun around me.

I couldn't believe it.

Dawson and Pickles were soulmates.

I pushed my hands into my hair. "Oh . . . no . . ."