Page 2 of Little Music of Night

“Erik,” Ray said, reaching for him. He reached up and cupped Erik’s face, murmuring to him until his form slowly returned back to normal.

The mask had never left its spot, I realized.

They were definitely cursed. It wasn’t unheard of. Being bound to wherever they stood on the other side of the mirror. Probably by some angry witch.

It would be tricky to set up the first date, but I was quickly losing my interest in helping them. They’d both just told me they werestalkinga human. Was there ill intent behind that or simply desire? Did that make it better or worse?

“So are you stalking someone?” I pressed.

“Only because she is meant to be ours,” Erik gritted out. His appearance rippled in the mirror as he raked his fingers through his hair. “She is our mate. We know she is. We just need her to see us, and we know you can help. We know you can set up the date.”

He wasn’t wrong.

The real question was: did I want to help?

And did I really have a leg to stand on against being possessive of your mate?

Not really. Trixie and Lucy meant everything in the world to me. Sleeping on the couch for a week had been one hell of a punishment. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for them.

“Please help us,” Ray said. “We only want our mate. We want to make her happy. We know she is meant to be ours.”

Fuck.I wrinkled my nose and looked away from them, weighing the pros and cons.

Pros: matching two monsters with their fated mate, keeping my daughter from getting into more trouble, and perhaps winning back a little bit of love from my family and friends.

Cons: this human was definitely being stalked by two phantoms she had no idea existed.

But, Icouldhelp with that. Plus, I could probably drum up enough magic to loosen their curse and let them come to the cafe for just a morning.

“Okay.” I blew out a breath. I really hoped this wasn’t a bad idea. Because gods knew I’d had a lot of those recently. “I will help you. I can give you a momentary reprieve from your curse so that you can go on a date with her. Be at the cafe two weeks from now. Friday, nine in the morning. Not a minute late or there will be consequences. Got it?”

“Yes,” Ray said, grinning at me. “Thank you. I can’t remember the last time we saw the world outside of our home.”

He almost had the energy of a golden retriever.

“Thank you so much. We appreciate you agreeing.”

“You didn’t give me much choice,” I muttered.

Ray chuckled nervously, his attention sliding to Erik. I met his gaze and cocked my head.

“I do appreciate polite phantoms,” I said, raising a brow.

“Thank you,Barista,” he sneered.

Then he turned and—was he wearing a cape? My brows shot up even higher as the two of them disappeared from the mirror, leaving only my reflection staring back at me.

I scowled. Fucking phantoms. I’d never understood the magic of matter.

A knock on the cooler door echoed, and it opened. Bell poked his head in, his gaze darting to the empty mirror.

He’d been staying closer to everyone recently, which I appreciated. Mostly because I missed him when he was off traveling the world.

“Hey,” I said. “Everything okay?”

Bell nodded. “Yep. Just checking on you.”

My chest warmed as he stepped inside and let the door swing shut behind him. He had that look in his eyes, one he’d had since he was a little boy running around causing mischief. “They’re all squared away,” I said. “Did you have a question? You look like you have a question.”