A Hippogriff for Christmas - Zoe Chant Page 0,10
agitation growing stronger by the second, he worked to keep his face neutral.
“No, you can’t,” the man snapped out after a moment or two of clearly contemptuous silence. “If you’re going to buy something, then buy something. But otherwise, this is none of your business.”
“Maybe not. But all the same, I’d like to know what’s happening,” Beau said, turning to the woman. She really was gorgeous, he thought, blinking as he lost himself for a moment in her dark green eyes.
Within him, his hippogriff kicked up its hind legs, opening its beak to let out an infuriated screech. Beau could barely suppress a grimace at the effort it took to ignore it.
The woman hesitated, licking her lips. She returned his gaze uncertainly, before she finally seemed to make up her mind, her resolve showing on her face. “I was only asking –”
“I’m her boss,” the man snapped out. “This is a dispute between me and my employee. If you’re not here to buy something, then I suggest you leave.”
“You aren’t my boss.” The woman’s voice was quiet but firm. “Mr. Dearborn is my boss, and he didn’t say anything about sending you to collect money from the register. That’s all I want – to be able to call him and check.”
Taking money from the register? Beau raised an eyebrow. “Is this true?”
The dark-haired man looked like he was about to explode from fury. “Who cares if it is? Who the hell even are you?”
“Just a nosy stranger,” Beau replied with equanimity. It wouldn’t do any good to say he was an agent of the Shifter Patrol Corps – these people were definitely human and would never have heard of it, and he didn’t have any authority in human law enforcement anyway. The Corps dealt strictly with shifter criminals only.
“Well, nosy strangers can get lost,” the man snarled. “It’s my shop, and it’s my money. You get the message?”
“She doesn’t seem to think it is,” Beau said, nodding at the woman. He glanced down at her nametag – Annie. A warm feeling spread through his chest, and the name seemed to echo through his mind with the clarity of a bell.
Frowning, Beau resisted the urge to shake his head to clear it. Something weird was going on here, but right now wasn’t the time to try to figure out what.
“So you’re taking her word over mine?” The man seemed outraged. “No one even asked you!”
Beau held up his hands placatingly, though to be honest, he’d had about enough of this guy and his mouthiness. “If there’s no issue, then let the lady make the phone call to make sure everything’s in order. If she really is your employee, you should be glad to have someone so diligent working for you.”
Beau had been trying to talk some sense into the man – as little as he really deserved it – but he could see now that was pretty much a lost cause. The man stared at him, fury writ large into every line of his face.
Beau readied himself, a subtle tensing of his muscles. He hoped the man would simply back off – but, Beau reflected with disappointment, that seemed a little too much to hope for, as the man came charging around the side of the counter, fists clenched.
“How many times do I have to tell you it’s none of your busin—”
The man punctuated his shout with a wild swing of his fist – one that Beau ducked out of the way of easily, before lifting his hand to catch the man’s arm, pulling him along with his own momentum, jerking his arm and then pinning it behind his back.
The move wouldn’t hurt him or cause him any injury whatsoever – Beau had learned at a very young age that his shifter strength meant he needed to be gentle with humans – but it did keep him from doing anything else stupid.
“Let me go!” the man shouted, futilely trying to wriggle out of Beau’s grip.
“I will – once you’ve decided you’re going to leave nice and quietly,” Beau told him. “It might be your shop, but I don’t think it’s good policy to hit your customers. Or try to, anyway.”
The man didn’t seem to see it that way, and continued to shout and struggle in Beau’s hold. Beau quickly glanced at the woman – at Annie, he reminded himself – hoping to reassure her.
She looked pale, her green eyes wide, but her expression was still one of defiant determination. As he