Haunted

One

"He's here..." I know he is... I can smell him shaking like a leaf in the walk-in fridge...

I can see all of the buckets of filler flowers quivering so hard that they're shaking the pollen right out of themselves as he hides from me behind them thinking I can't smell him... That I haven't been trying to get him used to me since I noticed him...

I never thought I would end up finding my mate in anyone other than a fellow pack member or at least a shifter if some kind... Not an antisocial witch who spends his time playing with flowers all day and still is refusing to acknowledge me.

I've never hurt a human my entire life, but I had been seconds away from slamming Kore onto my regular table across the street the first time I smelled his bashful great-grand uncle's scent clinging to his clothes. It had done more than just make me choke on my drink, and it had been so hard resisting the urge to storm the flower shop only to throw the florist himself over my shoulder and take him home.

"Of course he's here. It is his store technically... I've just been running it for him until now. He's just shy around people is all." Kore chuckles from behind the counter of the small shop, giving the same excuses he always does as to why he can't persuade Casper to finally stop hiding and meet me, fiddling with some type of orchid trying to tie it to support post of some the entire duration of our conversation.

The little witch's shattered crystalline eyes always catch me off guard with the way they reflect the light... But I can't help but wonder if my Casper's eyes are the same... So many months have passed since we had been made aware of each other and I still haven't been able to get a good look at him, "Today just isn't a good day, Liam."

Kore had said he was different...

Explaining their distant relation away by simply saying his Uncle had a magical fallout of some kind... One that he could tell me had left the mystery known as his Uncle ageless, cranky, and untouched by the time that flows around and ages us all, and he wasn't at liberty to divulge any other information as though it was a subject as sensitive as someone's sexual orientation.

It simply wasn't his place to elaborate and as frustrating as I find it I can't hold it against him, Im happy my mate has someone so loyal to protect what seems like such a timid countenance.

"Its never a good day, Kore... Can't you just convince him to come out and get loved on?" Its all I want... Its all I've ever wanted. To actually have someone to have and to hold and keep safe...

I couldn't care less about the time or place of when we actually meet, or the gender or even really the look of my mate...

Just that they're mine...

Someone to love me back...

Someone to soothe the ache caused to my shoulders from trying to keep both Alpha Silas and our pack equally happy, but as far apart as possible.

Very few knew the true nature of our Alpha and his sour attitude, and even fewer had been really exposed to him thanks to my tireless efforts and it's kept our territory peaceful thus far which is more than can be said than when our fathers were in charge.

I don't mind doing what I can, but how many nights had I dreamed of having someone to come home to at the end of each long day... Someone to listen to me rant and laugh about it as we lay tangled in bed after taking care of each other's bodies in the most basic of ways.

"I don't think he wants to be loved on. Can't you just leave him in peace?" The young witch sighs with a smile, knowing full well that I can't... That neither one of us actually wants me to.

Slowly a forgotten seed starts to flourish in the back of my mind and makes me smile, the mischief in my grin catching Kore's attention properly for the first time today.

...
Casper
....

He won't leave...

My fingers are turning blue from the cold, my knee is about to give out on me from standing for so long and he won't leave.

If that wolf intends on waiting me out he'll be waiting a very long time indeed.  I'd rather take the tracking pendant hanging around my neck and toss it into the bucket of daisies and risk running my chances dealing with the fallout from the council that would come with asking my shadows to whisk me away out of sight from all of them.

The fridge door getting pulled open makes me jump, and I nearly knock over my bucket of babies' breath stumbling backward, just barely able to keep my balance.

Luckily it's just Kore, though the smell of Liam clings to him and engulfs me even over the strong scent of the blooms surrounding me.

"Cassie... I'm afraid the game is over..." The voice that should be apologetic is instead bordering on laughter as he addresses me, "I'm afraid we've been had."

I'm almost afraid to ask what he means, but the tallest of blond demi-gods slides into view behind my nephew and throws all of my cautions to the wind.

A loud snap sounds as my magic fills the room and fades everything from view, the pendant hanging around my neck searing my skin as it heats up trying to regulate the amount of magic used in my body's natural defensive reaction to feeling so overwhelmed.

I care not about the burns branding themselves into my skin, simply grateful to surrender myself to the hard tugging at the center of my being responsible for guiding my transference out of the fridge at work to literally anywhere but here.