Page 12 of Call of A Eagle

Granny chuckled, clearly amused by his words. I pressed my lips together, fighting the urge to smile, but it was becoming harder with every word he said. I couldn’t let him get to me—I couldn’t afford to let my guard down any more than I already had.

My owl ruffled her feathers in frustration, and I could almost sense her glaring at me.

“I’m telling you,” Waylen continued, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. “If I disappear one morning, it’s because those blackberry bushes finally did me in.”

The ridiculous image of him wrestling with blackberry plants made me laugh before I could stop myself. I tried to cover it with a cough, but it was too late—Waylen had caught it. His eyes lit up with satisfaction, and my heart fluttered in response.

No guy had ever looked so pleased to make me laugh.

Something about the way he found joy in the smallest moments pulled me in.

Granny made a noise—one of her knowing hums that had me glancing her way. She gave me a look that made it clear she could see right through me. It was like she knew I was losing the fight to keep my distance from him, even if I hadn’t fully admitted it to myself yet.

The connection between us felt inevitable. Magnetic. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could resist it—or if I even wanted to anymore.

But with everything going on in my life, the last thing I needed was more complications. Waylen was here to help with the garden. That was it.

At least that was what I kept telling myself.

6

WAYLEN

It had been days since I started working on the garden beds, and I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever get any information out of Alma about Maribel. She hadn’t offered up a single word about the eccentric old woman, which made me believe she wasn’t planning to.

At least not until her garden was fully tamed.

Honestly, I couldn’t blame her. She was smart to string me along for free labor. But not getting any information about Maribel wore on me. The others had been pressing for updates, and I still had nothing to give them. All I could say was that I was still working on getting something from my lead. It held them off for a while, but as time dragged on without any new information, they were getting restless—especially Astrid. I understood, though.

Xander was her brother, and she was desperate to save him.

My eagle released a call that rattled my skull at the thought of Xander. He was as unsettled about the whole situation as I was—as we all were.

Xander had been quiet too long.

While I didn’t doubt Dean and Astrid’s claim that Xander was possessed by Lucius, his ability to vanish after attacking Astrid felt eerily reminiscent of Lucius. If I didn’t find Maribel soon—or if Xander appeared while I was unprepared—things could escalate quickly, especially if what Dean and Astrid said about his mind control abilities was true.

If that wasn’t enough to worry about, there was also Lyra.

Being around her was like being caught in a damn riptide. I wanted to stay focused on taming these garden beds so I could get the information I needed from Alma, but every time I looked at Lyra—every time I heard her voice or stood in her presence—my eagle spazzed out and I felt an indescribable pull toward her that I couldn’t shake.

I didn’t understand it.

The longer I stuck around, the harder it became to ignore whatever pull I felt toward her. At first, I convinced myself that she didn’t feel it. There was so much tension that clung to her, and she had such a guarded coldness about her.

Until I looked closer.

That was when I noticed she might feel what I felt after all. It was in the way she glanced at me when she thought I wasn’t looking, in the way she paused a beat too long when we passed each other in the garden, and in the way I’d caught her staring at me through the windows of the cabin when she was inside.

There was something there—maybe she just didn’t know what it was yet either.

A desire to bridge the gap between us pulsed through me, but I didn’t know how to do it without revealing too much to her about why I was really here.

I’d lied, and now there was no turning back.

She thought I was an actual gardener, and I couldn’t just admit the truth—not after so much time had passed. Yet, a part of me knew I should come clean.

My eagle wholeheartedly agreed.