"More flowers on Rachel's tattoo," he said immediately. "And the moon behind it."
Emojin was nodding, her gaze distant as she saw it in her mind. "To match yours?"
"Yes, but we're not a couple, so they should be different," he said. "Make hers full to show her completeness."
Complete? Was he kidding? I was about as unfinished as one could be and still survive.
"Let me think." Emojin hit a few buttons on her keyboard, and a huge, outdated printer behind her hummed to life. "I gave you black fluffs. Let's keep that element the same between you to show unity."
This was getting more complicated by the moment, but I didn't want the two of them to come up with something that was going to take more than a day to complete and cover my entire back. "Um . . ." I said hesitantly as a piece of paper slid from the printer. "Sometimes less is more. Maybe we could stick with just three flowers. Make one yellow, one that's closed and ready to change, and the last one with the black dandelion fluff?"
Emojin leaned to take the printout. Her eyes were sharp on mine when she came back and set it before her. "Change," she said, looking me up and down with the same evaluating air she'd had when I first met her. "That's what you're all about, isn't it? David, she's right. Give me a second."
"Only three flowers?" he said, clearly thinking that I should have more, and I smiled nervously. I didn't want a bouquet. I wanted something simple.
Emojin had a black pencil in one hand and another in her teeth. Almost oblivious to us, she began sketching a new drawing beside the original print. She was a true artist, and as I watched the tattoo start to take shape, I decided I liked the idea of wearing something that this woman created.
"This is good," she said as she added a few floating seeds from the open seed head. "Simple, elegant, easy to do, and rich in symbolism. What do you think?"
She spun the drawing to us, and I took in a breath, loving it. "Oh, this is beautiful," I said as I picked it up, and Emojin beamed. Even David seemed happy despite there being just three flowers and only two actually looking pretty. The third was in an ugly in-between stage, like me, I suppose. My God, she had somehow made the angles on the leaves look like wolf heads, and with the moon highlighting it, it was a true piece of art. And it was mine - if I wanted it.
"Okay," I said, handing it back. "I'll do it. I don't care how much it hurts."
Emojin smiled, all her wrinkles folding in, making her beautiful. "I knew you would."
From the front of the store, Wayde made a rude bark of laughter, and I turned to him. "What are you laughing at?" I demanded, and David put a calming hand on me.
"You." Wayde slouched in his chair. "God, Rachel. It's not going to hurt that bad. The way I hear it, you've had worse."
"Not intentionally," I said, stifling a shiver. "You're just sulking because you got pwned by an elf."
David gave my arm a squeeze as Emojin slid from her stool. "Thank you," he said earnestly. "I know this means more to me than you."
Uncomfortable, I winced. "I'm sorry it took me so long, but at least now I know it will last." I shook my arm with the silver band, and a hint of worry crossed his expression.
Moving slowly, Emojin joined us. "So, all I need to know is where you want it."
I blinked, remembering a demon asking me the same thing. "Uh . . ." I said intelligently. "Where would you suggest?"
She exhaled, tired. "You've not given this any thought."
Wayde had started our way, and he pulled his collar aside, saying, "A real Were would put it here, where everyone could see it, but since you don't want to show affiliation - "
"Mr. Benson," David growled, facing him with his hands clenched.
"That's not it at all!" I said, angry as well. "I just didn't want to get one only to have it vanish after some stupid demon transformation curse! They don't last through that, you know."
Wayde stopped a good eight feet back, slumped with his weight on one foot in a maybe-show of submissiveness, but his jaw was still clenched defiantly. Smirking, Emojin stepped between them. "I'd suggest an arm or an ankle," she said as if the two weren't ready to face off. Training or not, Wayde would lose badly. The only reason David had asked for Wayde's help was because David had a problem forcing me, his alpha, into anything.
Emojin shook the paper to get David and me to look at it. "You're going to want to show this off on request. Putting it on your ass might be a bad idea."
I laughed to help defuse the tension, and both men turned from each other. "The ladies have put theirs on their front shoulders," David said. "It's very showy."
But I didn't want showy. I wanted subtle, and my stomach started to hurt.
"With your fair skin, this is going to look fabulous," Emojin said, seeing my hesitation. "I may ink this myself. Can you hold still when something hurts?"
I nodded, remembering the needles from when I was a child. God, I hated needles. "Yes," I said, trying to find a way to meld my desire for subtlety with David's wish for show. If it wasn't where someone could see it, there wasn't much point to it as far as he was concerned.
"I'd like this on the back of my neck, high and almost behind my ear so my hair covers it most of the time," I said, taking the drawing from Emojin. "And the detached fluffs coming around the front somewhat. One on my neck by the main piece, one on my collarbone where everyone can see it, and a third where you think appropriate."
I looked up, fixing on David's eyes. "If someone knows it's a pack tattoo, they'll recognize it flat out. And if they don't, then they won't need to see the larger one."
David thought about that, and Emojin took the paper back. "Like an open secret," she said, pleased. "Rachel, this is good. I'm so pleased that you came in. This is going to be one of my more satisfying pieces."
"Why?" Wayde asked, his stance belligerent. "Because she's been such an ass about it?"
Emojin stopped, turned, and nailed him with her glare. "Because she's making this one piece all she'll ever need to show the world who she is instead of coloring her body with random images and needing thirty expressions to show her soul."
My lips parted, and I stared as she paced to him, looking as if she wanted to smack him.
"She might have come in sooner if she had had something to mull over other than you men telling her it isn't going to hurt, because she knows it is, and to believe otherwise is stupid."