Boundary Born (Boundary Magic Book 3) - Melissa F. Olson Page 0,109
. . .”
“And Simon and Lily,” I reminded her. “They were also instrumental.”
“Of course.” Maven studied me. “What will you do now?”
For a moment I thought she meant from an occupational standpoint, which seemed silly—I wouldn’t have gone through all of this if I weren’t planning to keep my job with Maven. But I saw her steady gaze, and I understood what she meant. I thought of the remnants at the Boulderado, and the poor ghosts in this very building.
“I’m going to spend a week or two in town getting better, and taking care of a few things,” I said evenly. “Then I’m going to take Lysander’s bones and scatter them around the world.” She nodded, knowing I wasn’t finished. “And after that,” I continued, “I’m going to find the Knights of Death and burn down their fucking clubhouse.” Five hundred years of kidnapping and raping boundary witches was five hundred years too many. I wasn’t about to let them have even one more.
Maven just smiled, as if that was exactly what she’d expected. “You’ll need some vacation time, then,” she said thoughtfully. “And a raise.”
“A raise?”
She nodded. “You’ve saved my life three times in the last year, Lex. I’m funding your trip to disperse the draugr’s bones, and when you get back, there will be a raise waiting for you.” Her smile widened. “It will be substantial.”
I opened my mouth to protest that I hadn’t earned it, but . . . the truth was, I had. So I snapped my mouth shut and gave her a short nod. “Thank you.” I would need to figure out what to do about my half-assed position at the Flatiron Depot, but I had a couple of weeks to think about it.
“You’re welcome. I’d offer for you to take Quinn along, but—”
“You need him here,” I finished. “I understand.”
“I was going to say that you’ll have an easier time traveling without a vampire, but yes. That too.”
I stayed for a few more minutes while we worked out a few details for my trip, including a cover story for the humans in my life. When I finally left Maven’s office, I saw Quinn leaning against the wall in the big room, giving me the crooked smile that made it impossible not to smile back. He was wearing jeans and an old leather jacket, and I wanted to run to him so badly it sent a fresh ache through my body. But I held myself back.
Quinn raised his hand, showing me a small object. My cell phone.
“You found it,” I said, relieved.
I went over to take it from him, but he bent his elbow, holding it out of my reach. “You hid it from me.”
I couldn’t read his expression. “I was trying to protect you,” I said.
“By pressing me?”
I winced, but stood my ground. “Yes.”
He shook his head. “I understand why you did it. But a relationship where one person uses mind control on the other is not one I want to be in.”
I bit my lip. Was he breaking up with me? Could I blame him if he was?
But he handed me the cell phone, crowding into my personal space. He leaned down and touched his forehead to mine. “Don’t let it happen again, okay?” he said huskily.
“I promise,” I whispered. And I kissed him.
When I finally pulled away, I brushed a couple of fresh tears off my cheeks and tucked the cell phone into my pocket. “Um, can you give me a ride home? I took a cab here.”
“Of course. But you should know—you got a text from Elise about an hour ago,” he said. We were moving toward the exit now. “I didn’t mean to read it, but it came up on the screen. She and Natalie are playing Settlers of Catan with Paul and Jake tonight. They wanted you to come over. She said she could pick you up if you weren’t able to drive.”
“Okay, thanks,” I said dismissively. I had no intention of going anywhere except bed.
But Quinn added, “I thought we could both go.”
I stopped walking and cocked an eyebrow at him, trying not to let my heartbeat rise. “Everyone will be eating and drinking,” I pointed out. “Alcohol. And human food.”
He gave me an innocent look. “I’m actually allergic to alcohol,” he said solemnly. “And nuts, and strawberries, and gluten . . . it’s tragic, really, all my allergies. I have to be very careful.”
I just barely managed to suppress a grin. “What happened to ‘we can’t tell your family we’re serious’?”
“Allison Alexandra Luther,” he said, taking my hand. “Some things are worth the risk.”
Acknowledgments
Thank you for reading Boundary Born, and following Lex on this three-book journey. (And a special thank-you to those of you who turned up for the reader event in Boulder—Ardie, I borrowed your name!) Although I’m not done with this character, I’ll be letting her do her thing in Boulder while I go back to Scarlett Bernard’s adventures in Los Angeles for a bit.
Before that happens, however, I need to thank a number of people who helped me tell this story. I always thank my cousin and Boulder local Brieta Bejin for her assistance with this series, but she really went above and beyond for this book. In addition to putting me up for two different research trips and reading the book for Boulder accuracy, Briet accompanied me on a ghost tour over a lost cemetery, which is serious family loyalty. Thank you so much, cousin. Without your help and hospitality these books would be depressingly flat.
Thank you also to my husband Tyler, who put up with months of me babbling about crystals, and to my sister and beta reader Elizabeth, who once again answered the phone every time I got stuck and called her to complain. My deepest gratitude also goes to Paul Rickert, who took a turn looking over Lex’s military authenticity, and to Jayme Haynes, who read through the novel for medical accuracy. Any further mistakes or liberties are mine alone.
An extremely large thank-you to Erin Bird and the Denver Botanic Gardens for all the help and information, not to mention a kick-ass ghost tour. (I apologize for killing one of your guards, who all seemed very nice.) The information about the lost cemetery is accurate to the best of my knowledge and research. If you find yourself in the Denver area, I highly recommend checking out this beautiful place and its plants. Just try not to think too hard about what else is buried there.
The Leanin’ Tree Museum and Sculpture Garden is also a lovely real-life attraction (though I took a few liberties with the lighting and hours), as are the cookie-dough balls at Naked Lunch and the burritos at Illegal Pete’s. Basically, Boulder is amazing and you should go there. I’m going to miss writing about this kooky, gluten-obsessed town, and I’ll definitely miss having a regular excuse to visit. Well, besides you, Brieta.
Melissa F. Olson was raised in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and studied film and literature at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. After a brief stint in the Hollywood studio system, Melissa moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where she eventually acquired a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, a husband, a mortgage, two kids, and two comically oversize dogs—not at all in that order. Learn more about Melissa, her work, and her dogs at MelissaFOlson.