Page 35 of Moody as a Minotaur

“Magic.”

He nodded.

“So, are you a cat person too?”

“They’re called shifters, and no, I’m not a cat.”

When he didn’t volunteer anything more, I leaned forward. I put my hand back on his knee. My pulse was racing. “What kind of magic do you have, Levi?”

His gaze darted from my eyes to my hand and back to my eyes again.

“I’m a minotaur,” he whispered.

And there went my jaw again, dropping open like I was a Venus flytrap trying to grab my lunch. “Did you say minotaur?”

He nodded, even though he was squirming again. He didn’t look like he was half-bull…

Oh, fuck. All those mugs Carter gave him. That’s why. And I was the weirdo who saw those mugs and thought he collected everything cow. I’d always thought that was a strange thing… But my mother had gone through a rooster phase, so I’d tried not to judge.

Did that mean Carter was a supe too? Because he obviously knew about Levi being a minotaur. Did they sit and laugh at me behind my back?

“What?” Levi caught my hand when I went to yank it back again. “What are you thinking?”

“I bet you all had a good laugh at my expense… I can’t believe I bought you all that cow stuff.”

He squeezed my hand. “I’d never laugh at you, Parker. Believe me.”

The sincerity in his eyes and his words doused my anger and embarrassment as quickly as they had arisen. “You don’t look like you’re part bull. Or do minotaurs not always have bull-like heads?” I glanced down at his pants. “Do you have hooves in your shoes? Is that why you never wear shorts in the summer? How would your shoes stay on? Wait… You took off your shoes when you came to my place.” I studied his feet again. “Do you have prosthetics?”

“Holy Magic.” Levi shook his head. “You sound like Jeremy.”

I frowned. “Jeremy is a supe? Is there anyone in town—besides me, obviously—who isn’t a drinking buddy with Merlin?”

I crossed my arms. Seriously. What the fuck? Had the entire world discovered the way to Narnia except me? Why hadn’t anyone told me I needed to go poking around in wardrobes?

Levi leaned back in his chair. “I know it’s a lot. And I don’t want to talk about anyone else until I know what you are going to do now that you know about us.”

“Jesus, really? You think I’d let someone go after my friends?”

Levi’s chest rumbled in a weird, animalistic way. “It’s just… Hunters can do a lot of damage. Your cousin and his friends are probably only scouting the place. When they discover there are people with magic here, they’ll return with a platoon of people to either capture or destroy us.”

I rubbed my chest. That awful prediction had made it ache. “I swear, Levi. I swear I wouldn’t do that. Do you want me to take a polygraph or something? I don’t know how I can convince you…”

“Oh. That’s a good idea.” Levi nodded quickly. “Would you feel comfortable talking to Van or Dillon?”

“Why? Do they have lie detectors at the police station?”

“Something like that. They can tell when someone is lying.”

“That’s a fun party trick.” How would that even work? But then again, how did any of this work?

Magic. It sounded like something from a movie.

“So, would you?”

“Yeah. I’ll do whatever will help.”

“Thank Magic.” Levi visibly relaxed.