“Smart ass.” He shook his head teasingly at her. “Basically, they look like humans, just like us, except they move faster, they’re stronger, and they live on blood. To kill them, you’ve got to cut off their heads.”

“What about the heart?”

“Well, unlike the myths, vampyres hearts actually do beat, but it’s encased in thick bone so... you really have to cut off the head to end the bloodsuckers.”

“Wow. Their hearts beat. I feel like I’ve been lied to my whole life.”

Ryder chuckled at her faux look of disappointment. “Yeah, well I love the movies, but they certainly have a hell of a lot to answer for, huh.”

She smiled, but then promptly frowned. “What’s up with the bone encasement around the heart?”

“Don’t ask me, ask Hades.” Ryder shrugged. “Oh, and they have this thing for coins.”

Caia screwed up her face in confusion, reeling from these new found facts on vampyres. “Coins?”

“Yeah.” He grinned. “Think about it. The reason they’re here at all is because Hades sent them back after they crossed without coin into the underworld.”

“So big coin collectors, huh?”

“Huge. Don’t try to touch any of them either. They do not like that.”

Caia laughed, shaking her head at all the new information. “We belong to a world that is just...”

“Just what?”

“Amazing. And I know nothing about it.”

His smile was soft and sympathetic. “You’re getting there. You want to hear about this faerie I met in Italy? She was the first faerie I met, and boy did I learn my lesson...”

She laughed as he told her about this gorgeous woman who had stolen from him not once, not twice, but three times when he was on a job in the southern climes of Italy. She had disguised herself as three different people; all women he couldn’t resist apparently.

“Yeah, I don’t like faeries,” he finished.

Caia was confused. She thought some faeries worked for the good guys. She mused aloud about it.

“Of course.” Ryder nodded, and leaned back lazily as he looked at his watch. She could hear his stomach growling. “The Daylight Coven employs them, just as the Midnight Coven does. Marion has her very own personal faerie... now she is annoying.”

Caia liked the sound of Marion. “Will I get to meet her? Marion I mean.”

Ryder straightened. “Sure. Probably pretty soon actually-”

“Ryder.” Lucien appeared in the doorway to the workshop. Caia watched his eyes harden on his friend. “I need your help back here with something.”

Ryder sighed and stood up slowly like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t have. Her eyebrow quirked up in curiosity as he strolled slowly after his friend. Lucien shut the door behind him and Caia tip-toed over to press her ear up against it. She had a feeling Ryder was in trouble.

She was right.

“Watch what you’re talking about,” Lucien hissed.

“I didn’t say anything,” Ryder protested.

“It was close.”

She heard Ryder sigh at Lucien’s tone. Even he wasn’t allowed to cross the Pack Leader. “Sorry. I’ll be careful.”

Caia pulled back as she heard movements towards the door. She tried to look as innocent as possible as Ryder returned to join her in the store front. She was bemused when their conversation turned to movies. Lucien was hiding something from her. This meant he didn’t trust her. At this thought, hopes she hadn’t even known she’d had deflated, and she had a feeling she was going to be abysmally depressed for the rest of the day. Whatever these feelings for him were… well they really sucked.

Fifteen minutes later just as Ryder was complaining of the need for lunch, the front door chimed, and in stepped the unexpected. Alexa strolled in, graceful as a ballerina, holding two brown paper bags in her hand. She was wearing a figure-hugging short skirt and tight shirt, topped off by a cropped leather jacket. She looked a million bucks. Caia glanced down at her plain t-shirt and ragged jeans. Oh yeah, no comparison. What was she doing here? Caia groaned inwardly.

Alexa smiled sweetly at her, obviously for Ryder’s benefit. “Ryder.” She turned that smile on him and swayed over to him seductively. “Your mother said you would be here so I brought two.” She handed him one of the paper bags that smelled of meat and then turned to Caia with a flash in her eyes. “I didn’t know you would be here,” she lied and smiled flirtatiously at Ryder again. “I’ll just take this to Lucien.”

Caia watched in confusion, and admittedly annoyance, as Alexa swayed those hips out of the front room and into Lucien’s workshop.

Ryder must have read her confusion and smirked knowingly. “Alexa comes by every Saturday with lunch from my mother’s diner for Lucien,” he explained in a lowered voice.

Well, she hadn’t known that. “Oh,” was all she managed, curling her hands into tight fists. She had no reason to be mad, she knew that. She was the newcomer. But still, the girl was so obvious. She flinched at the sound of Lucien’s laughter. She made him laugh? Caia groaned, and was thankfully saved from Ryder’s questioning eyes as a customer walked in. He was a tall guy, possibly in his late twenties, attractive in a human sort of way. His eyes seemed to light up as Caia approached him in greeting.

“Can I help?” She smiled, and then flushed at his appraising look; even Caia, the oblivious, recognized male appreciation in that answering grin. She could feel Ryder straighten up from the counter where he was standing, tensing protectively.

“Yes.” The guy’s smile widened. “You definitely can.”

“Is there something in particular that you’re looking for?”

Another laugh sounded from Lucien in the workshop. Her smile tightened.

“Well.” The guy sighed dramatically. “My sister tells me I’m never going to keep a girlfriend with the crappy, old furniture I own at the moment. She recommended here for a dining room set.”

“OK.” Caia nodded, trying to focus. “Well,” she began, walking towards one of only three sets Lucien had on display. It was the least stylized, solid, straight-edged mahogany. It looked the most masculine of them all. “There is this one.”

The guy nodded, running his hand along the back of one of the chairs. “It’s nice. Mahogany?”

Caia nodded again. “Yeah. If you have any particular questions I can get the owner, Mr. Líder. He crafts everything.”

The guy’s eyebrows rose. “So, it is all handcrafted?”

“Sure. If there is a design that you would like to discuss with Mr. Líder, I can give you a copy of his portfolio, or as I say, you can speak to him personally.”

The customer grinned, eyeing her again. “That’s very cool. Mr. Líder is a lucky man to have such a competent assistant.”

Yeah, she was sure it was her competency he was ogling. She laughed softly at his obvious come on. He was as bad as Alexa. “Be sure to let him know that.”

“Oh I will.” He grinned, obviously assuming she was flirting back. He leaned over the dining table, lowering his voice. “You know, I’m not definite on the furniture, but I’ll certainly take your number,”

“Can I help?” Like a sword unleashed from its scabbard, the steel in Lucien’s tone rang throughout the store. Caia turned sharply. He only used that tone when he was seriously pissed. His silver eyes shifted quickly from her to narrow on the guy.

The guy seemed to sense Lucien’s annoyance and, arrogantly leaning against one of his tables, he drawled, “And you might be?”

Lucien strolled with a fake casualness up the steps from the doorway of his workshop onto the shop floor, and Caia watched as the guy’s expression changed when he saw how huge Lucien was. His eyes flickered to Ryder and back. “I’m the owner. Lucien Líder.”

The guy grinned now and offered Lucien his hand. He indicated the room with a sweep of his free hand. “Your furniture is well crafted.”

“Thank you,” Lucien replied stiffly, refusing the proffered hand. He glanced up at her, and Caia blanched. What in Hades was he doing? Her own gaze drifted past him to Alexa, who was directly behind him, looking less than amused that his attention had been diverted from her.

“Oh.” The guy followed Lucien’s gaze, seeming unconcerned by Lucien’s rudeness. “Your assistant has been very helpful.”

“Is that right?” Lucien murmured, still looking at her. Caia narrowed her eyes on him in annoyance.

“What?” The guy grinned, noticing Alexa behind Lucien. His eyes washed lasciviously over her. “Another assistant?” He smirked at Lucien as if they were friends. “You certainly know how to do business.”

Caia sighed. If this guy knew that he was in a room of lykans, two of which who looked as if they could happily rip him apart, the cockiness would soon dissolve and the peeing of the pants would commence.

Lucien growled, shifting his gaze between Caia and Alexa. He turned back to the guy. “We’re closed.”

“I... I’m sorry?” the guy asked, completely bewildered by the turn of events.

Ryder took over, obviously reading something in Lucien’s demeanor that she didn’t. He clasped his big hand on the guy’s shoulder and started leading him towards the door. “We forgot to put the sign up, sorry. You’ll need to come back during business hours.”

“Bu-”

“Goodbye now,” he said cheerfully, and shoved the guy outside.

Caia scowled. “You just lost a customer.”

“So?” Lucien snarled. “Remember,” he pointed to his ears, “lykan hearing. He wasn’t interested in the furniture.”

Caia rolled her eyes. “That was just talk. I could have gotten him to buy that furniture,” she retorted incredulously. “The guy wanted an entire dining set. Have you had something bad to eat, or something?” Her eyes narrowed on Alexa, who was looking suspiciously triumphant.