Keeper
Copyright© 2021 by Charly Young
Chapter 8
The next morning Quinn awoke to a perfect cloudless June day—precious to anybody who lives in Seattle. He put on a pair of shorts and t-shirt with a 8404 Devil Doc on it and slipped on his favorite New Balance running shoes, jumped in his pickup and drove to the Arboretum.
He usually ran from his duplex in Ballard, but the morning was so perfect he decided it was an Arboretum day. He got his truck parked and set off down Azalea Way, his ear-buds blasting the first of his running tunes: Radar Love.
Quinn loved old-time rock-and-roll.
A mile later he thought it was going to be a good run until he came out of the shadow of the tree-lined lane and onto a sunlit wildflower meadow. Four college age guys were tossing a frisbee around, showing off for the gorgeous blue-eyed, golden-haired woman who was stretching in the shade.
F•©king Niamh Harpe. The blessings keep piling up.
“What are you doing here?”
“What does it look like? I have been waiting for you,”
She got to her feet and started stretching her quads. Two of the college kids ran into each other trying to catch and watch at the same time.
Quinn took a breath trying for patience and asked again.
“Nim, what do you want?”
“I told you. By the way, I followed you from your house. You are criminally careless. You have two witches shadowing you and you blunder along like a man with no enemies.”
“No surprise there. I have no enemies. I’m a f•©king regular guy. And I know about the girls. They aren’t bothering me, so I don’t bother them.”
She finished her stretching.
“Let’s run. We can talk along the way.”
They ran in companionable silence. Quinn bitching in the back of his mind because the day had been perfect until f•©king Niamh Harpe came out of nowhere to ruin it. He finally spoke up, trying his best to keep the irritation out of his tone.
“What does the Shifter Council would want with me? As far as I know, I have broken none of your laws. So why send you to hassle me.”
She gave him an amused glance that said she could read the irritation he was trying to hide and didn’t give a damn whether he hid it or let it loose.
“My bosses have heard that the Covens have requested your presence in Emory.”
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