Through a Man's Eyes

“Dominic!”

I looked up at the sound of my name and saw a smiling face framed by dark brown hair. Smiling back, I opened my arms for the hug I knew was coming.

“Morgan. How was your flight?”

She wrapped her warm arms around my waist and squeezed. Muffled by my chest she said, “As enjoyable as a visit to the dentist.” She took a step back, her smile still firmly in place, and let her hands lingered on my hips. “I hear you caught him?”

After brushing her hair out of her face, I rested my hands on her shoulders. “Amazingly enough, I did.” I tapped my nose and said, “I sniffed him out all on my own.”

She threw her head back and laughed. “Here I was beginning to think the only thing you could sniff out was your own underwear. Guillermo must be thrilled.” She rolled her eyes at that and stepped away from me, while I crossed my arms over my chest. “When are you coming back overseas? You know we miss you terribly.”

“Lovely subject change.” I smiled down at her. Morgan was almost a foot shorter than me. Her shoulder length, coffee brown hair was twitching in the late afternoon spring breeze. I was always tempted to run my fingers through it. Instead, I stuffed my hands into the pockets of jeans.

She rolled her honey brown eyes at me and turned to walk away, calling over her shoulder, “You know he would kill to have you out in the field instead of behind the scenes. Just like you know I don’t understand why you’re working for him instead of Maxwell.”

That was a trick of Morgan’s. She’d say something she knew you would not like with her back turned to you. At the same time, guiding you to a place she felt comfortable at, in this case it was the bench in the garden. She knew I’d have to wait to respond until I reached the bench and by then she would have something to say before I opened my mouth. Morgan was very crafty. But I had come up with a solution since I had seen her last. Shouting.

“Likewise, you know why I can’t work for Maxwell.”

I’d never been one to shout. There was never a need to shout growing up, sensitive hearing and such. But Morgan was not a Shifter like me. She also wasn’t used to me raising my voice, and it had the desired effect. She spun on her heels and looked at me very confused. I spoke at a normal level before she had a chance to say anything.

“Max is a great man. I have the utmost respect for him. But Guillermo understands me. Max is a Druid, not a Shifter. He leads the Druids very well, but he can’t comprehend how a Shifters mind works.”

Morgan put her hands on her hips and stamped off to the bench she had been heading toward. Staring at her back while she walked away, I was completely confused. What had I said?

I ran my fingers through my messy, russet brown hair, then sprinted to the bench and sat down next to her, preparing myself for the inevitable onslaught of anger.

“So, what you’re telling me is you put up with Guillermo because he lets you throw temper tantrums in the name of Shifter mood swings?” Her eyes were like daggers she was so mad.

“I don’t throw tantrums. Even if I did, I doubt he’d put up with them.” Smiling, I hoped she’d lighten up a little bit.

She didn’t. Her eyes stayed angry even as her hand grazed my cheek briefly. “We’re all like unique snowflakes, Nicky. And Maxwell understands that. If you’d visit once in a while, talk to him, you’d know that.”

The conversation had gotten a bit too heavy for my taste. I got up and walked to a nearby apple tree. Picking a green apple off a branch, I shook my head at the ridiculousness of this whole situation. She wanted me to leave my home for her. Morgan wouldn’t come out and say it, but that was what the anger was really about. That I wouldn’t give up everything for her, without her asking, upset her. Women.

Taking a bite out of the plump apple, I returned to my seat next to her. I could feel her eyes on me, so I took my time chewing to think things over. She wouldn’t ask me to leave with her, I was with Alex. But she wanted me to do it anyway. Why were women so damned difficult?

“What are you thinking about?”

She always asked those questions. That was something about Alex, she never asked what I was thinking. Honestly, I doubt she ever really cared. I looked into Morgan’s tawny brown eyes and sighed.

“Truth?”

She nodded.

“I was wondering why women are so difficult.” I grinned and took another bite of the tart fruit, hoping it would soften the blow a bit.

It worked. She rolled her eyes and took the apple out of my hand, taking a bite herself.

“Oh, I ran into a very lugubrious Edmund at the cemetery yesterday.”

Her change of subject was a good sign, however unpleasant the new topic might be it, was definitely better than the last. “Oh? What did he have to say?”

She tossed the apple back at me and the look on her pixie-like face told me I was not going to like what was about to come out of her mouth. “He told me when I saw you again I was going to have to haul you back by your tail and put you to work sniffing out Natasha’s attacker.”

I groaned, because I knew that’s what she expected me to do. She hadn’t really changed the subject at all. But the fact that my father had something good to say about me surprised me. I had to suppress the urge to grin stupidly. “I stumbled across one mouse and everyone is acting like I’m some skilled hunter.”

She laughed and it was a beautiful sound. Shifting away from her slightly, I remembered why I avoided being alone with her. Morgan always made me feel so at ease, at home almost, but I could feel the danger lingering just beneath the surface. Not that being with Alex was safe by any means. But something about Morgan made me feel anxious.

Morgan’s head tilted to the side in an innocent way. “A skilled hunter you may not be, but you’re a wild animal none the less.”

A hand suddenly rested on my shoulder and a very different voice bit at the spring air.

“You have not seen wild yet.”

Morgan gasped and I looked over my shoulder to stare into very angry, liquid gold eyes.

Cupid's Mishap

Orion paced along the top of a curio cabinet in the bustling restaurant. In the thousands of years his family had been cupid, no one had ever missed their target. His father would be incredibly disappointed when he found out about this. But that gave him an idea.

He stopped pacing and ran his fingers through the curly blonde mop on his head. What if he hit the right girl, and shot the woman in the black dress again. Sure, she isn’t supposed to find someone for another couple of years, but who will notice? He pulled back on the bow string, taking extra care to ensure his aim was perfect this time.

His brother took that moment to land on the cabinet.

He jumped and released the arrow from his bow. Orion watching in horror as it ricocheted off the ceiling of the restaurant, hit the floor next to a waiter, pinged off a wall, and finally landed on a plate of oysters. A whooping laugh pulled his attention away from his second mishap of the night. His brother, Hiero, was rolling on the curio cabinet, holding his sides and laughing.

He wanted to kick Hiero in the face, make him look like a cow. Or is that a pig? Wishing to avoid the embarrassment and further humiliation, he sulked off. Of course, his brother followed.

“Father will hear about this.”

Orion rolled his eyes at that. What else is new?

“I’m sure he will.”

“I’m not referring to the oysters you tried to reincarnate with love. You missed the mark.”

He knew there had to be a reason his brother would stumble in immediately after he hit the wrong girl with his arrow. “So he sent you to correct my screw up?”

Hiero nodded solemnly. “The first of many, I‘m afraid. I advised him not to allow you in the field yet. You’re not ready.”

Orion sighed. “Must you be so truculent?”

Attempting to stifle a laugh, Hiero said, “did you just learn that word? I’m not sure you used it in that sentence correctly.”

Glaring at his brother, Orion spoke through gritted teeth, “I don’t need your criticism. I‘m disgusted with myself enough as it is.”

He stalked off, hoping his brother would get the hint and leave. As if the fates were working in overdrive that night, he tripped over his own feet and fell off the cabinet. He landed on his butt, causing his quiver to fly up and over his head. Red glitter, arrows, and little plastic hearts went everywhere. Orion didn’t even bother to pick anything up. He just got up and flew out of the restaurant.

Hiero shook his head, trying to understand how a cupid could get so angry. He looked around the dining area and found the woman in the black dress Orion had shot on accident. He pulled out his bow, slide an arrow into place, and prepared to right a wrong. As he pulled the string back and looked down the line of the arrow to the target below, he saw something that made him pause.

A smile spread across his face. Hiero switched arrows and aimed for the woman who was supposed to have been hit. She was sitting at a table alone, staring out a nearby window. He paused for a fraction of a second, shook his head, and let the arrow fly.

It hit her square in the chest, causing her to wipe a tear from her eye and look toward the entrance of the restaurant. In walked a man dressed in a nice suit wearing wire rimmed glasses. He looked around the room, spoke to the Maitre De, and was ushered to the table next to Hiero’s target. The man looked like he had just left a business meeting, but he was completely alone as he began to look over the menu. He glance at the woman to his left and leaned over to ask her a question, presumably about a recommendation.

The specifics were unimportant to Hiero. He leaned against the wall, a satisfied smile on his face, and enjoyed the view below

Switching gears yet again

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