“Believe me, buster, I know just how dirty you are,” she said in his ear before letting go.
“Don’t try using that to change my mind either,” he murmured before kissing her.
“Aw jeez, every time I see you two you’re all over each other,” Aimee said as she approached.
“Disgusting, right?” Damon asked her.
“I guess it’s okay if you like to see two gorgeous people making out all the time. Usually it keeps her stunned enough that she barely notices when you steal food off her plate.”
Damon nodded. “That’s an excellent tip. Thankya kindly.”
“If you’re done mocking, Aimee, can you please bring that watering can over here and soak this bed?” Katie Faith pointed at the work she’d just done before she moved to the boxes lining the front railing. Even in the coldest part of winter, many of the trees in town would still give fruit. The geraniums she tucked into the freshly turned potting mix would be brilliant red and pink into the spring now that Katie Faith lived upstairs. Her presence there had begun to fill all the spaces around her with magic.
The earth in Diablo Lake gave back to her people. Generations of witches had tended it, nurtured it and protected it. Generations of shifters poured magic back into the air each time they took the change.
Synchronicity.
“Guess who I just saw on my way over?” Aimee asked, trying to sound casual and failing miserably.
“Elvis?”
“Wouldn’t that have been cool? Macrae Pembry just narrowly escaped tapping my bumper when he pulled down his parents’ drive back out onto the road. He looked mad.”
“But still really good though, huh?” Katie Faith asked. Mac was the second oldest Pembry brother. She’d barely had contact with him when she dated Darrell because Mac had been in the army.
She’d had enough to remember how totally gorgeous he was.
“I heard that,” Jace muttered, but went back to his work, though he did hammer a little harder than he had before.
“What’s he doing back, I wonder?” Damon asked.
“Where’s he been gone to? Still in the army?”
“He got out of the military and then went to school in London.” Aimee went to refill the watering can.
“He’s got to be back for damage control,” Jace said after he killed the poor wood he’d been hammering. “Of those boys, Darrell is the biggest jughead, but not the only one. Mac was smart. He got out. But he’s trained and he’s stronger than Darrell. I’m going to wager he’s been called home by Daddy.”
That’s what Jace would have done in Dwayne’s place. His oldest son Billy ran the Pembry freight company most of the folks in town used to special order large items. He worked hard but he’d never be Patron. He lacked ambition as well as intelligence. Samuel, the youngest son, was a dumbass who’d gotten himself arrested and tossed in jail for eighteen months for assault on a visit to Atlanta.
Since he’d been back, Dwayne and Scarlett had kept him on a very tight leash.
“Maybe this will be for the best,” he added with a shrug.
“Sure and calories you consume on your birthday don’t count.” Aimee rolled her eyes and Katie Faith laughed along with her. The two had a back and forth that kept Jace cracking up.
“I don’t remember much about him. He was already in the army when I started coming around the Pembry house. But he wasn’t a jerk to me. Then again, Dwayne always was nice to me too. And we know how that turned out.” Katie Faith dusted her hands off as she stepped back to survey her work.
The front of the mercantile, the place everyone in town bought their nails, hammers, tents, fencing and other dry goods, looked much better with the addition of the new plants and flowers.
“My grandma is going to like you even more now.” And she would. Katie Faith had just made the place nicer. Had added her magic and her touch to the area and it worked.
A pretty, sunny smile was his reward.
“I was thinking that old cart out behind the shed would be really pretty if we sanded it down, stained it and then used it out here to put plants in,” she told him. “Then I could help with a display of whatever’s on sale.”
“That sounds like a lot of work for us—meaning me—to do.” He frowned and she rolled her eyes. He’d do it because she suggested it. Because it would please her and he liked making her happy.
“It’ll be good for business. You like that part. Now’s time for lots of gardening projects. Look at you here with these starts and bulbs on sale, just waiting to be bought. Gonna need a new rake I bet. I could work that into the display.”
Her energy was infectious, which made him smile before frowning again.
“Halloween’s coming up. We can sell pumpkins out here on the grass. Have some hay bales, leaves, you know, all festive and pretty. Merrilee’s been doing the baking for the Counter and she mentioned she sells kettle corn at the middle and high school games. I bet we can sell some here, you know with the pumpkins. Tie it in with Founder’s Day celebrations as well.”
The bump to business would be a good thing. His future as a cop was uncertain, especially once he took over as Patron. He needed to start thinking about where he’d get the work to earn the money to pay his bills.
She walked through the big grassy yard that sprawled from the wide front porch to the street, talking about what she’d do and all the different ways she could make it look nicer and catch a customer’s eye.
All the things she’d plant there would say loud and clear that a witch lived there. It also said she was his and part of his family and her magic was theirs and the pack’s.
As he watched her, his anxiety bled away, replaced by certainty. Everything was going to be just fine. Better than fine, it would be fantastic.
He knew how to fix things. His life would go on after he left the police department. His witch loved to make money and plans and she knew how to do both successfully. Jace had little choice but to love her utterly and totally.
As she approached him, she cocked her head and he knew she’d figured out exactly what he’d been thinking. He’d also been thinking about sex with her, but that was a constant.
He didn’t argue. Instead he said, “Your wish is my command.” He bowed low, taking the opportunity to check her out as he did. She looked really cute and sexy with all that hair in a messy ponytail, dirt smeared on her chin.
“I’m super lucky,” she said with a grin.
When she hugged him, he managed to say, “You’ll get even luckier later tonight,” into her ear.
“More than once?” she asked as she went back to her feet.
His heart lightened. As she’d intended. He allowed a smile just for her as he kissed her as long as he could in what was essentially their front yard in front of a whole bunch of people. And then he swiped his thumb over the smudge on her chin.
“The sacrifices a man makes to keep you around,” he teased.
“We still on tonight?”
They had a real date. A movie and then beer and wings at the pub.
She deserved to be taken to dinner. Deserved a normal night out from time to time and he’d be damned if he let anything get in the way of that or the sex he’d just promised her.
“I’ll meet you back here at six. The movie starts at six thirty.”
“Okay. Now get back to work.” She swatted his butt before starting to clean up the mess they’d made with tools and lumber.
Some women would have pushed him to share all the details of the fight between him and Darrell. Katie Faith had simply pulled him into her arms when he’d stumbled into her bed that night after spending several hours installing a hot water heater.
The next morning she’d simply told him she’d be there when he wanted to talk about it. He’d tell her after he figured it out himself. Because it wasn
’t the punching that had left him reeling.
His father had been a specter all Jace’s life. Each time he thought Josiah had been put away, something he did or said would always come back to hurt those he’d left behind.
That Darrell and his mother thought to use those things to slap at Jace and Katie Faith galled him far more than they’d humiliated him.
The whole story was going to spill out at some point. Such things rarely stayed a secret forever. Jace had a good idea of the outline of what had happened, but he wouldn’t tolerate the idea that his grandparents couldn’t talk about their son but Scarlett felt like she could.
He’d spent years knowing he’d take over at some point and that some point seemed to be approaching at a high rate of speed. His grandfather’s health had been declining for years, even after he’d gone into remission. Usually a werewolf in his mideighties would see at least another twenty years of fantastic health. But JJ had been weakened first by an accident he’d had fifteen years prior, and then the succession of tumors he’d developed in his GI tract had hit one after the next. He’d been in remission, but as a result, he was a lot more frail than he would have been.
All the stress of this nonsense with Pembry, as well as the resurrection of the drama about the death of Josiah had sent JJ teetering after a reasonably long decent spate of health.
Another thing that made him furious with the Patrons of the Pembry wolves. His grandpa didn’t need this bullshit.
“Imagine if your face froze like that, Jace.” His grandmother frowned at him as he walked into the kitchen at their house.
He smiled, more automatic than genuine, but the hug he delivered was genuine.
“Just thinking about work. How’s Grandpa?”
She blew out a long breath. “He’s out at the lake today with Russ. They won’t catch a thing, but he’ll be out on a boat, away from the drama for a little while. He’ll stay out at Russ’s place and they’ll run. That’ll be good for him.”
Jace nodded. It would be. Russ was JJ’s brother. He’d be sure JJ got some relaxation in and would keep him away from town for a few days to get him feeling better.
“Good. You’re all right?”
She snapped her towel at him. “I can still take you in a fight, mister.”
She probably could. Her path had been here on the home front, raising kids and keeping the house and the pack running while JJ was the muscle.
But that didn’t mean she was weak. He’d seen her in action more than once and knew she was lightning quick and strong. Vicious when she needed it.
“You know it!” He held his hands up in surrender, his smile real this time.
“Where’s Katie Faith?”
“She headed out with Aimee. There was talk of hair color and nail polish. She did a nice job out front.”
His grandparents’ house sat just to the north of the mercantile so he knew his grandma had checked out their progress through the big front windows from time to time.
“Looks bright and sunny out there. Even on a cloudy day. ’’Course, that’s sort of what she carries around with her. It’s good she’s taking an interest in the mercantile.”
“She’s got all sorts of plans for pumpkins and kettle corn and hay bales out there.” He shrugged as he filled his grandmother in on all the stuff Katie Faith talked about. It was their business and he knew Katie Faith would want him to emphasize they were seeking permission, not making a decision without asking.
“Clever as well as pretty, that one.” She waved a hand at him. “You and your brothers need to take a more active hand around here. I’m pleased to see it. She already looked at the books for us. It must have taken her forever and a day but she organized our accounting from your grandpa’s scribbles.”
“She did?” he asked, surprised.
“Her way of checking on your grandpa, I think. She charms him. I figure if she can handle JJ, she can handle you.”
“I think it’s the other way around, Grandma.” He snorted. “That witch of mine is trouble with a capital T. But she’s so cute doing it I can’t hold it against her.”
She laughed, hugging him quickly. “I like to hear that.” After a long pause, she spoke once more. “You and your brothers are going to have to handle this business with Pembry. JJ can. He can do it and he’ll win, he always does. But I’m afraid of the price he’ll pay if he does. I’d rather be happy and proud that our grandsons are leading the pack with your grandpa at my side. Alive.”
“This is going to get uglier. I just have a feeling.”
She sighed out. “Scarlett is off her rocker. Darrell is stupid, but yearns for some attention from his daddy. He’s got it.”
“Mac is in Diablo Lake. Aimee said she saw him earlier today. There’s some hope with this if he’s still the smartest of the brothers. I can deal with him. Even Dwayne if Mac can keep him in line.”
“If not, you’re going to have to teach them a lesson. I’m sorry about that. But it’s still true. But at least you’ll have Katie Faith at your side. She’s good for you and this family.”
He agreed with all of that.
Chapter Nineteen
Halloween was a pretty big deal in Diablo Lake. Partly because it fell within two weeks of Founder’s Day celebrations everyone in town loved and participated in. Partly because you can’t have a place full of witches and shifters that didn’t love the pageantry of Halloween.
It suited Katie Faith to see everyone excited by the preparations for events to come, culminating in the Founder’s Day dinner dance. She’d decorated the front windows of the Counter the week before with pumpkins as well as setting out displays of nuts and berries. As Samhain approached, she’d add a loaf of dark bread each day for the three days prior.
Three major cultural events that held the community together happened within two weeks so it was collectively referred to as Collins/Hill Days, after the witch and shifter who built what is modern day Diablo Lake.
This would be her first Collins/Hill Days in four years.
Her first Samhain with Jace. That was sort of weird to think about. Would he know what to do? Think she was weird for it? Darrell had never wanted to participate and she hadn’t really cared one way or the other.
With Jace it all mattered.
With this new magic coursing through her it all mattered.
She’d been about to lock her door and head home when Mac Pembry came in, hesitating on her doorstep.
He’d been back in town a week at that point and his presence had coincided with a general easing back of hostility from the Pembry wolves. She didn’t know for certain if he’d been the reason Dwayne had declined to make an official complaint about the fight between Jace and Darrell, but she was pretty sure that was the case.
“Hey, Mac.” She waved at him. “I was just locking up.”
“I was hoping to talk with you a bit,” he said.
“I’ll let you walk with me. I’m headed home now. That work?”
He nodded, stepping back so she could lock up and meet him on the sidewalk.
“Please don’t tell me there’s some sort of drama coming my way from y’all. I’m tired and I have plans to work on my dress for the dance,” she told him as they began to walk.
He laughed, a little embarrassed at the edges. “I can honestly tell you I’m not here to report on any drama coming your way. I wanted to check after your dad’s health. I figured it’d be easier to ask you than call over there and risk upsetting him more.”
“I appreciate that. He and my mom are in Nashville this week. He’s got a bunch of doctor’s appointments and it’s been so stressful here I thought it would be good to send them out of it a while.”
“I’m sorry for that. Darrell had no call to come to your place of business. Not with you there. Not after what he did and how he??
?s been acting. It won’t happen again. I respect you and your family. I don’t want bad blood.”
“What kind of school did you go to? In London I hear?” she asked because she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say to him about wolf business just yet.
“London School of Economics.”
“Ah! Now it makes sense. You’re good at this whole diplomacy bit.”
He stiffened beside her a moment, but they kept walking. “My concern for Avery is genuine. As is my annoyance at my brother for his clumsy, petty slap at Jace through you.”
“There we go. See, I can deal with that.” She stopped, turning to face him. She wanted to see his expressions as they did this. “Y’all are pushing a lot of buttons in this town and I’m not the only one who is tired of it. Your brother is a dullard, but your momma has got to be kept under control. I won’t let you or anyone else use me or my family to hurt Jace. I will react with whatdoyoucallit? Extreme prejudice. You got me?”
He watched her a while, his head cocked to one side.
“I do believe I got you, yes. However, you’re smack dab in the middle of this. Not because you’re the bad guy but because your allegiance is to Jace who’s the Prime of the Dooley wolves. You can’t pretend that away any more than the way you’ve made the front of the mercantile fairly scream a witch lives here.”
“Oh really? Please do, near stranger, tell me what I can and cannot do.” She narrowed her gaze and he broke eye contact. That was better. “I’m not an idiot. I’m well aware that my being with Jace means I’ll be considered part of the Dooley wolves. When the time comes. However, my allegiance is to my family. Always. To the other witches in this town. Don’t presume to tell me what I get to think or feel about that. Ever.”
He grinned then, totally disarming her. “I’m not the only one who needed to get away from Diablo Lake for a few years. There’s nothing wrong with diplomacy, you know.”
She nodded and they continued on their way. “I asked because you were good at it. It was a real compliment.”
“Oh. Thanks. So maybe we got off on a weird footing today and we can have a do-over?” he asked.