Clueless, p.1
Clueless, page 1
CLUELESS
THE FAIRY BREW
E. BROOM
Copyright © 2022 by E. Broom
Cover by: Nicole Wells
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
For my family and friends, thank you for bearing with me while I write this story. I hope it was worth the wait.
CONTENTS
Clueless
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Untitled
About the Author
Also by E. Broom
CLUELESS
The fairy realm is dying, but what better way to save a race than by kidnapping humans and mating them with single fairies?
Merlyn Glenn is a white wolf shifter on the run from his abusive family. Through what he thinks is luck, he finds himself in Winchester, the ancient capital of England, with a new job at a popular men's magazine.
Florian is a fairy working at The Fairy Brew, a coffee shop owned and operated by Fairies. He isn't sure kidnapping humans to save his race is the right thing to do, but as he wants a mate of his own, he's quite happy to work there.
Stopping in for coffee one day, Merlyn is overjoyed to discover his mate, Florian. But dark forces are looming. Merlyn’s family are hot on his trail, determined to bring him back home no matter the cost.
With the help of his mate, his new work friends, and the fairies, Merlyn must battle his family to keep the perfect life he now has.
PROLOGUE
“So, what do you think of my plan?” Lee asked, looking hesitantly at his king as he tried hard not to fidget. This was the first time he’d been in front of the king with one of his ideas. Usually he got someone else to present them, but this time, the king had demanded Lee present the idea himself.
King Erin looked at the fairy in front of him. He had heard much about this young man. He was always coming up with new plans and ideas to help the fairy kingdom, and this was the latest.
He watched as Lee began to fidget and realised he’d been quiet for too long. “I like the idea; it has potential. Do you know where it will be opened and who will staff it?”
Lee was floored. The fairy king liked his idea – yay! “Umm, yes, Your Majesty. I’ve found a location in the city of Winchester. It has a university and a hospital, so there should be lots of people coming in. I thought I could go there, set it all up, and manage it, as well. I also have a list of fairies who would like to work there,” Lee told him.
“Do you have the list with you?” the king asked, holding out his hand.
Lee clicked his fingers and some papers appeared in his hand. “Here you go,” he said, walking to the king and handing the list over. “It also shows the location of the coffee shop, Your Majesty. I have located some other cities and towns we might want to open coffee shops in, as well, if this one works out as I hope it will.”
“It’s a marvellous idea. A coffee shop run by my fairies will hopefully bring in a lot of human business and then mates can be found for our people.”
“I can’t see how it could fail. From what I’ve observed from the humans in other coffee shops, they like getting things for free. Free upgrades, free samples, buy one get one free, etc., and most of them don’t know that if they accept something free from a fairy, the fairies can then whisk them away. It wouldn’t be our fault that greedy humans fall into our little trap,” Lee said.
“Indeed,” the king agreed. It sounded like a simple plan, and one that could work out well for everyone. “I look forward to seeing how this turns out.”
CHAPTER 1
Merlyn sighed as he dropped his backpack on the bed before looking around the hotel room he’d just booked for himself. It was so much better than the hostels and bed and breakfast places he’d been staying at for the past few months. He shook his head, still having no idea why this hotel called to him, but it had, and giving in to that impulse, he’d booked in for the night. And he was so glad that he had.
Just one night of comfort after months of just having the basics — or in some cases sharing a room with strangers. Those nights had not been relaxing, and he’d stayed awake the whole night, too scared to sleep. But at least for tonight, he could sleep without worrying someone would steal his stuff. He could have a shower in peace and just relax for one night before he started his search again for a safe place to live.
The room was amazing. It was large with a big double bed, an en-suite bathroom, and a large seating area with a coffee table, a sofa, and a TV situated on the wall opposite the sofa.
Walking into the bathroom, Merlyn smiled. The shower was now calling to him. He took care of business, turned on the shower, and stripped out of his clothes, using the complimentary shower gel and shampoo to have the best hot shower he’d had in a long time. The hotel even had big white bathrobes. He finished drying and wrapped himself up in the white gown of fluffiness before walking back into the bedroom.
He made his way over to the sofa and flopped down. On the table in front of him was the remote control for the tele. He grabbed it and turned the TV on, looking for something he could get lost in.
Merlyn had been watching the TV for a while now, but nothing was really grabbing his interest, and spying some magazines on the table, he picked one up and started flicking through it. He hoped there would be something inside that would hold his interest and stop his mind from wandering.
No such luck; his mind wandered back to his family, anyway, as it always seemed to.
For some reason, his family hated him. If he tried to make friend’s, they would scare them off. His mother ignored him, but his father…. Oh, Merlyn thought, if only he had ignored me, too. But no, his father liked to mentally and physically abuse him. His father had said it was to toughen him up, but there was so much glee on his face that Merlyn didn’t believe that for a moment. Personally, he thought his father just liked to pick on him because he was a white wolf and not grey like the rest of his family. To them, having a white wolf in the family was a disgrace, an embarrassment. Well, screw them. Hopefully, they were happy he was gone and wouldn’t come looking for him.
It had taken him a while, but he’d worked hard at school and then college, and finally he started university quite close to his home. But he’d left mid-term and ended up here, where he was now sat. He’d been running for months, trying to find somewhere he would feel safe.
At the moment, he didn’t feel safe anywhere. He had a feeling that one day he would just feel he had landed in the right place, that like this hotel, it would call to him and offer him safety. Well, that’s what he was hoping for, anyway.
Thankfully he had savings, which he had moved to an account his father knew nothing about. So at least he had a few more months before he had to worry about needing to find a proper job.
He shook his head and decided he had dwelled on his crap life long enough and went back to reading the magazine when he spied an advert for a job as an agony uncle at a men’s magazine based in Winchester, Hampshire. When he read the advert, he’d felt a warm glow inside him and a feeling of safety, a feeling he hadn’t had in so long. That was the feeling he had been looking for.
He looked at the time and realised it was too late to phone and ask about the job now, so he sent an email, hoping against hope that this was the fresh start he needed and it was, in fact, the place he’d been searching for.
A month later, Merlyn was settled in a furnished apartment just outside of Winchester city centre with a job he was looking forward to starting.
He was right; this city did make him feel safe. It also helped that this city was busy with its university, hospital, prison, and, of course, the hundreds of thousands of tourists who flocked to the city each year. There would be no way his family would find him here.
Merlyn lay in bed, relishing the feeling of safety and loving his new accommodation. The bedroom alone was almost double the size of his old room at his parents’ house.
The bed was a large double, there were nightstands on either side of the bed, a big wardrobe off to one side of the room with bookshelves and a chair rounding off the furniture. The room was decorated in deep blues and bright yellows.
There was a lovely en-suit, not quite as good as the one at the Oxford hotel but nearly so. And there was a large, open plan lounge/dining room/kitchen. The apartment wasn’t large, but it was perfect for him. Kendel, the magazine owner, had arranged it for him so he had somewhere to stay as soon as he arrived in Winchester. Something Merlyn was thankful for. It saved him days of looking for a place to live.
But today was Monday, the day he was due to start at the magazine. He was so excited that as soon as his alarm sounded, he jumped out of bed and got ready for work with plenty of time to spare. This meant that he could stop off at the new coffee shop he’d passed while he was wandering around the area around his apartment yesterday and grab a drink and something to eat on his way to work.
He was looking forward to meeting his new boss, Kendel, a man he had only spoken to over the phone. But even over the phone, Merlyn got the feeling of safety from the man, which was strange. He’d never encountered something like that before, either — over the phone or in person.
Not wasting any more time, he grabbed his messenger bag, phone, and keys and headed out. He laughed as he thought of the new coffee shop he was planning to stop at, The Fairy Brew. It was due to open today; he couldn’t wait to try their coffee and cakes. He chuckled to himself. He’d have to remember not to accept anything free from them — not that he thought for a moment that they were real fairies, as there was no such thing, but he remembered the old fairy tales that his nana used to read to him.
He walked down the street humming to himself, lost in his own world. Soon he came upon the coffee shop and noticed it was just after eight. Looks like I just might be their first customer. How exciting!
CHAPTER 2
Lee glanced around the coffee shop, giving it one last look over. Everything was ready, and in a few short minutes, they would open the doors for the first time and hopefully form magical bonds with many of the customers and save the fairy realm.
The place had a cosy feel to it. The tables and chairs were made of solid oak and placed irregularly around the room. There were also sofas and comfy wingback chairs dotted throughout. A large fireplace graced the back wall, and on the side wall was a long shelf with plug-in stands for charging laptops and mobile phones. The counter ran along the wall opposite the fireplace and was stocked with all manner of cakes, drinks, and all the other food items that were being served. There was also a menu on each of the tables.
The walls were a soft oatmeal colour with tree and flower murals. It looked like a proper fairy dwelling, which, of course, it was. Magic had been used to create all of this, the residue of that magic still lingering in the air.
“This place is amazing,” Lee heard Erin say from behind him.
He turned around and smiled at the king. “Yep, it is. We’ve created the perfect place.”
And they had. Erin had been excited about opening a coffee shop and wanted to help, so they had crafted this place together. Erin had even designed the uniforms. Black tops with the coffee shop’s name emblazoned over the top of a coffee cup with angel wings and situated on the right side of the chest, black trousers, and black aprons. There was no real significance to the black, Erin just thought it looked smart and professional.
“Is everything ready?” Erin asked, looking around.
“Yep. Jack, Leon, Florian, and Eric are all ready to work the front, and Larry and Len are prepared in the kitchen,” Lee replied.
They both looked towards the counter and glanced at the fairies waiting to be of service.
Lee smiled at the baristas, looked towards the front door before his head quickly swung back at the fairies doing a double take. “What the hell?” he said, looking at Florian. “What happened to your uniform?”
Florian glanced down at what he was wearing. “What?” he asked with fake innocence.
The others sniggered.
“Florian, your apron is rainbow coloured,” Lee pointed out.
Florian smiled. “I know. Isn’t it cool? There was so much black. It was too dreary, so I thought I would brighten it up a little. I mean, come on, all that black! Whose idea was that?”
“Mine,” Erin said with a frown.
“And you did well, big guy, but really, all black? I was born to wear colour, and all black really wasn’t working for me. Just look at how happy this splash of colour makes me, and you know what they say, ‘Happy workers mean happy customers,’” Florian said.
“You have colour,” Lee pointed out. “Your hair is rainbow coloured.”
“I know,” Florian said, smiling brightly. “I match wonderfully.”
Lee looked annoyed. “But the uniform is all black,” he said stubbornly.
“If you work for an undertaker, maybe, but we’re serving drinks and food,” Florian pointed out.
Lee went to say something else, but Erin put his hand on Lee’s back, stopping him. Erin clicked his fingers and the rainbow apron turned black.
Florian looked down and the smile left his face.
Lee hated the look Florian now sported, and he looked at Erin and raised an eyebrow. Erin smiled and clicked his fingers. Suddenly, all the aprons matched each fairy’s hair colour.
That was the thing about fairies. Everyone thought they were small beings that flew from place to place. Some fairies could do that, but others were human size with their wings hidden and their pointy ears spelled to make them look normal.
The only thing that made them stand out among humans was they were all stunning and had different-colour hair, and with the humans dying their hair nowadays, fairies no longer stuck out or looked strange.
Florian looked down and around at the other aprons, his smile returning. “Oh yeah, now that’s what I’m talking about. Thanks, big guy.”
Jack looked at Florian. “You do know that’s the king, right?”
“Of course I do. What has that got to do with anything? Look, we have colour,” Florian said happily, stroking his apron.
Everyone sniggered, and Erin laughed. He liked all these young men. He had gotten to know them all over the past few weeks while they were setting the coffee shop up, and although he knew he shouldn’t have favourites, Florian was his. He was always so happy and colourful, and did he already say colourful?
“That’s okay, Florian. I’m glad this makes you happy,” Erin said.
“It does. Colour makes everyone happy,” Florian said.
Eric looked at the clock on the wall. “Boss man, it’s just coming up to 8:00 a.m.”
Lee and Erin glanced at the clock. “So it is,” Lee said. “Places, everyone.”
The fairies all walked behind the counter. “Good luck, everyone,” Erin said to them, walking back to the kitchen to wish those fairies luck, as well, before returning to the front of the shop.
“What can I get you, big guy?” Florian asked, smiling at Erin.
“Black coffee and a lemon muffin please.” He turned to Lee, who was standing by the door. “Lee, what do you want?”
“White coffee and a chocolate muffin, please,” Lee replied, smiling at everyone.
Florian rushed to get the coffees while Eric got the muffins, placing them on plates and putting them on a tray with the coffees.
“How much?” Erin asked.
“It’s free,” Leon said, standing by the till and smiling at him.
“Ha, Ha,” Erin said.
“No charge for you,” Leon said. “It’s your coffee shop.”
