bar. Jane gave her a quick hug before setting an electric kettle to boil. Andrea took the box and began emptying bags of loose tea into enormous glass apothecary jars.
“Everybody says that at first,” Meadow assured me. “Except for the cough drop thing. I’m hearing way more about cough drops than I thought I would today.”
“This is Ty McClaine,” Jane said. “Jolene’s cousin.”
“Nice to meet you,” she said, tilting her head as she looked at me. If I wasn’t a werewolf, I probably wouldn’t have picked up on the almost imperceptible flaring of her nostrils. It wasn’t personal. She was a predator, taking stock of another predator. I was doing the same. She seemed like a gentle thing, too kind to do what was needed to survive as a vampire, but I also knew better than to underestimate her. I’d heard enough stories through Jolene to know that Jane and her little chosen pack had been through hell and high water over the years. Vampirism in Half-Moon Hollow wasn’t for the ill-prepared.
“You’re uncertain about almost everything, huh?” Meadow said, patting my hand. “Well, don’t be. Once you get a nickname, you’re basically adopted in.”
All right, I hadn’t been expecting that. Because Jane and her friends seemed so normal, I sort of forgot that every vampire had some sort of special ability beyond their already unfair predatory advantages of super-strength, super-speed, and forever preserved more-than-above-average good looks. (Yeah, I was a little bitter.) At some point, after turning, every vampire developed a special talent—being able to persuade someone to do their bidding or find hidden objects.
Werewolves didn’t get that. (Still bitter.)
I wondered what Alex’s special ability could be … maybe it was just looking really, really good in jeans? Could that be considered a super-power?
My eyes must have gone wide at that because Jane elbowed Meadow lightly. “Sweetie, we’ve talked about the emotion-sniffing thing. It’s rude to do it without permission.”
“You know I can’t help what I smell, Jane. Besides, you’ve dipped into my brain on occasion without a password,” Meadow replied, shooting me an apologetic glance. “Sorry. It’s a gift and a curse.”
I’d completely forgotten Jane was telepathic. Shit.
Jane told me. “Don’t worry, I’m getting much better at keeping my shield up. As long as you’re not thinking loud, panicky thoughts, we should be fine. Also, to my knowledge, looking really, really good in jeans isn’t considered a super-power. But I think it should be.”
“I say this as someone who grew up with a bunch of werewolves, but this is the weirdest conversation I’ve ever heard,” I told her.
“Well, I have a hard time believing that,” Dick said. “I’ve hung out with Jolene for too long.”
I chuckled, turning to Meadow. “So do you work here, too? I just started visiting.”
“I’m usually here for book club nights, but I’m pretty busy with my own shop,” she said. “And I used to be Dick and Andrea’s tenant, but my boyfriend and I just bought a house together.” She preened as she dropped a set of keys into Dick’s hand.
“I’m so pleased for you,” Andrea said, hugging her. “That’s a huge step.”
“Especially for me and my trust issues,” Meadow admitted.
“You own an apartment building?” I lifted a brow. Dick didn’t seem like the landlord type. Owning a building that people lived in was a lot of responsibility and upkeep and dealing with people and their complaints. And while Dick was a super nice person, that seemed like a lot for him. Then again, he had Andrea, and I once saw her defuse a fifteen-minute customer meltdown over the absence of cashew milk at the coffee bar—with a smile on her face.
Cashew milk. At a vampire coffee bar. In Kentucky.
“Yeah, are you looking for a place?” Dick asked. “We were going to advertise it, but we’d rather rent to people we know. You’re way less likely to try to grow hallucinogenic mushrooms in the laundry room or something.”
“But you barely know me!” I scoffed.
“You’ve been in here every night this week, working steadily for hours at a time,” Andrea said. “Clearly, you have a job to which you’re very dedicated. You’re pleasant, responsible and you haven’t once tried to stick gum under the table, which means you respect other people’s property.”
“The gum thing drives her crazy,” Jane added.
I was frozen like a—well, werewolves never got caught in headlights, but it was close. Just thinking about the offer almost made me dizzy—living alone, in my own space that I controlled. It was enough to make