“I’m doing pretty darned good all things considered. I just finished my dress for the dance. Aimee took pity on me and helped with some of it. I’m the worst with buttonholes. She always has been a whiz at that sort of thing. Business is up. Everyone is so excited about Collins/Hill Days so they’re out more. May as well have a hot fudge sundae before heading to get a pumpkin down your way.”
“Avery okay?”
“Yes, thanks. As long as he keeps calm, he’s okay. He’s back in his garden, which means he’s not under my mom’s feet and there’s no incidents with frying pans. He’s also back at the Counter three days a week. Says he likes it when he doesn’t have to be the one in charge. I think it’s more that he likes that I clean up the mess after he makes it.”
“I like that you came over here without Jace. Shows you want to be part of this family more than just his main squeeze.”
“I better be his only squeeze.”
Patty laughed. “I can see why he fell for you. Some sweet, soft thing would get run right over by him and this family. You know you’re going to have to shove him when he muscles into your business. Male alpha wolves are a big pain in the butt. JJ still feels it’s necessary to tell me how to make peanut butter cookies after six decades of marriage.”
“I love Jace very much even when he’s constantly in my business. Trying to protect me like I’m a toddler with a fork near a light socket.”
Patty smiled. “Even when he was just a preschooler he would herd his brothers. Make sure they never got hurt. Oh, they beat the snot out of one another plenty of times, but heaven help anyone who came at one because they got all three for their trouble. His mother was like that.” She folded a napkin, pressing the fold over and over until it made a sharp pleat.
Katie Faith knew Patty wanted to say more, so she remained quiet. Waiting.
“All his life he’s worked to prove he wasn’t Josiah.” Patty spoke at last. “Sealing what happened only makes it more mysterious when really it was ugly and tawdry and unnecessary. And now they want to use that to hurt him.”
“Scarlett and Darrell, you mean?”
Patty nodded. “Twenty-five years have passed and it’s still an open wound. Out of sight is never out of mind. It’s always there.”
“Someone needs to tell Jace the whole story. I know there are rules about it. Secrecy and all that. But it’s going to come out somehow and when it does, don’t let it sucker punch him. Please, Patty.”
“I took an oath. Like the one you’ll take one day when you rule this pack at Jace’s side. I gave my word I wouldn’t reveal the key details from what happened. I’m bound by that.”
“Shouldn’t Darrell and Scarlett be bound by that too, then? How is it they get to know and he doesn’t? Don’t you all know how it eats away at him?”
“They’re skirting the terms. It’s still a violation, but it’s not within my power to make them tell Jace or I’d have made it happen a long time ago.”
Katie Faith vowed to find out herself then. She hadn’t taken any oath to keep the truth from Jace. He deserved to know what happened. Another wolf might get into trouble for it, but she wasn’t a wolf or a Dooley by marriage yet, so she’d damn well do whatever she could to keep him from getting blindsided.
* * *
They finished their coffee and sweet treat before Katie Faith said her goodbyes and headed out. She wanted to stop by to check on her mom and TeeFay, who were supposedly spending the day canning but more than likely they were drinking margaritas and watching romantic comedies together instead.
She found them both on the sofa in the TV room watching a movie about male strippers. “I can’t turn my back on you two for a second,” Katie Faith told them as she came in.
“Canning is done. Why not share some eye candy?” TeeFay held her glass aloft. “Come on in and sit a spell. Tell us why you have that look.”
“I brought pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and two bottles of wine.”
Her mom grabbed the remote and turned the television off. Aimee came in the back door a breath later, calling out her hello as she stumbled into the room and saw the three of them.
“Well you’re just in time, Aimee. Katie Faith brought chocolate and booze so she’s got something big to say,” TeeFay told her daughter as she dropped a kiss on her cheek.
“I don’t have a glass yet,” she told Aimee, who came back with a jelly jar.
“Bigger than a wine glass. You look like you need it.”
She opened the bottle and poured herself and Aimee a glass. Her mom and TeeFay topped off their margaritas.
“If you’re pregnant maybe not drink that wine,” her mother told her in an undertone.
Katie Faith laughed and gave her mom a one-armed side hug, careful not to spill any liquor.
“I’m not pregnant. He...well he sniffs me and knows when I’m fertile. Pretty cool if you ask me. Anyway. It’s about Jace. I need to know what happened with his dad,” she said finally. “The wolves have pack law. And that says they’re supposed to not speak of whatever the hell his dad did. But Scarlett and Darrell have hinted around it. Used it to hurt Jace and I’m not going to stand for it.”
He’d said to her that it was unfair they got to know and he didn’t and that was doubly true when they used that to hurt him.
“They have rules for a reason, Katie Faith,” her mother warned pretty halfheartedly.
“I’m not a goldarned werewolf and I’m not married to one either. I don’t have to obey their rules about this.”
“All we know are rumors because it involved another wolf and you know how close they keep their business to the vest when it’s about this sort of thing. Whatever he did got him killed. Not just killed, but struck from their records. JJ and Patty had to officially adopt the boys under pack law or they’d have suffered the same fate.”
“For goodness sake, why? That’s awful. Damon and Major were babies. Jace couldn’t have been much more than three or so. How could they have been punished for whatever their daddy did?”
“Like I said, this is all mainly secondhand because of all the rules they have.”
“Well, that’s dumb.” Katie Faith fumed on Jace and his brothers’ behalf.
Aimee nodded. “Totally dumb. I bet a man made that rule up.”
“The same one who invented stiletto heeled sandals so your toes start to hang off or hurt after about an hour.”
“Katie Faith, I know we’ve talked about your tendency to wander around a point. This is one of those times,” Aimee told her.
“Am I wrong about the shoes and your toes?”
“About them having anything to do with the topic at hand? Bless your heart. It’s nice you’re so pretty.” Aimee patted her knee as they snickered. “And damn I hate those shoes.”
“I think they’re more sarcastic than we ever were,” TeeFay told Nadine.
“Probably.”
“So what happened?” Katie Faith repeated.
“There was a girl. There always seemed to be at least one. Boy, I always did feel bad for Jace’s momma. He used her beauty right up. And then her hope. That light in her she had all through school had been drained away. He wasn’t just a tomcat. He was sort of predatory about it. He’d hound and hound a girl until he finally got bored or she had someone threaten him away.”
TeeFay took up then. “Always shifter girls. He never was one for witches, thank heavens. That’s part of the reason this has remained such a well-kept secret. Whatever he did back then, he did it to another werewolf and they aren’t talking. I just know he was here one day and then the wolves—down to a one—left town. Didn’t see any of ’em for several days. Then we woke up and everyone was back except Josiah and none of them were talking. Their elders sent someone to talk to Miz Rose’s daddy and later it just sort of made its way through to
wn that no one spoke his name. Time passed and it fell from our minds, I guess, as things like that do.”
“It took years for the Dooleys to get themselves back together after that. Pembrys solidified their power then and they’ve held it pretty tightly ever since. Whatever it was, he did it to a woman or because of a woman, and he caused so much damage he got executed and then erased for it. I just know it was bad or they wouldn’t have done what they did. Whether you like it or not,” her mother added. “You go marrying into their world, you best realize they’re not humans and they have their own rules.”
“Why is everyone talking marriage today? We’re dating. Seriously yes. I’m in love with him and I don’t doubt we’ll be together—married and all—for the long haul. But it’s early days.”
“Is not.”
“You’re not helping, Aimee.” She glared at her best friend.
Naturally, Aimee ignored the look. “Early days my butt. You two are inseparable. You live across the hall from him. You’re with him every day even if it’s just um,” she darted her gaze over to her mom, “a few minutes before you go to sleep.”
Katie Faith rolled her eyes as she struggled not to blush that her mom had been right there when Aimee pretty much said they slept together every night. “Nice save there.”
“Oh for heaven’s sake! You don’t think TeeFay and I know you and Jace are having sex?” Nadine flicked her wrist. “There’d be something wrong with a gal who didn’t avail herself of a man who looked as good as Jace Dooley.”
Katie Faith dropped her face into her hands, laughing and horrified all at once.
She’d missed this side of her mom when she’d been so very concerned about her father. But that sense of humor, the steadfast strength of Nadine Grady had settled in her once again.
Still didn’t mean she wanted to really get into sex talk with her mom. “Okay, moving along.”
Aimee spoke. “That’s right. Back to the subject. The front of the mercantile? Pumpkins and hay bales and flower boxes? Come on. You’ve known him for a very long time. There’s no early days for you two. Not anymore. You’re long past that. You’re over here finding out what you can so you can skirt around rules everyone else has to obey except those who’re trying to hurt Jace. Anyway, your momma’s point was that if you go into his world, you have to deal with their rules and customs. Just like he’ll have to deal with ours. That’s how this works.” Aimee sat back and gulped her wine.
Katie Faith sobered a little. “I do accept the rules of his culture and his pack. If I actually was married to him, I couldn’t be doing this.” Not until he was Patron. Maybe then they could drag the Dooley wolves into some more modern rules. “But I’m not. He said something to me. That I was his witch and he was my wolf and we had a special bond because of it.”
Nadine and TeeFay shared a quick look.
“What was that all about?” she asked them.
“He said those words exactly?” TeeFay asked.
“Exactly? I don’t know word for word. It was the feeling it gave me. Like we were making a promise. And part of that is me protecting him like he’d protect me,” she said.
“Did he say you were his witch and he was your wolf?” her mom asked.
“Yes. Those words. And then he said we had a special bond because of it. He did say bond specifically. Why?”
“There is a special kind of magic between some witches and shifters. Sometimes it’s not romantic or sexual at all. Just a union of two people that creates an old magic. Protective magic. That bond, that promise between you, is impenetrable. It’s strong, ancient energy these woods don’t generally favor folks with on the regular.”
“Since all this stupid political marriage crap started to get more witches into the packs, it’s happening less and less, wouldn’t you say?” TeeFay asked.
Katie Faith’s mom nodded after she thought a few seconds. “Yes I would. But it’ll be something to ask Miz Rose because she’s the best source for that sort of thing. But it goes to her point that this kingmaking the wolves have been up to with our people has changed the balance here. If you and Jace have this connection I’m glad of it. As your mom because it means you’ll be safer and stronger. That this thing you have with the man you love is genuine and special. I couldn’t wish for more for you. At the same time, you’re going to be involved in so much nonsense. I don’t like that they’ll hurt Jace through you. And I don’t like that they came at you through your daddy. I have some things to say when Scarlett returns my calls.”
“You called her?”
“After she did what she did to you in the market? You bet I did. She’s lucky you didn’t send that buggy straight up her ass.”
“God, Momma you have no idea how much I wanted to.” Katie Faith giggled. “That wine is kicking in. Here I am, day drinking with my mom. Good times. Hey, do they even make that peanut butter with the jelly swirled into it anymore?”
“Don’t let her lead you off topic. She gets worse when she’s tipsy,” Aimee warned them.
“See if I let you have the last piece of pizza next time,” Katie Faith muttered. “So, you called Scarlett. Did you give her Severely Disappointed Mom or Momdeusa?”
Nadine laughed. “Momdeusa?”
“Yeah. Like you get so mad snakes pop out of your head and you turn everything you see to stone. Usually accompanied by all three names a child is born with.”
“That’s a good one. I can recall you making me go momdeusa a time or two. I went more quietly threatening. I’m not disappointed in her. She better run if she sees me coming. But I will have my say to her face before this is over.”
“So, in the pro column I have this special old magic connection thing with Jace. It makes me stronger, which also goes in the pro column.” She glanced up at Aimee. “In this town the more power you have, the more independence you have. The more choices you have. I’m a big fan of that. Jace is strong. I make him stronger. I’m also a fan of that.”
“I saw JJ last week,” Aimee said. “He’s better. Spending more time with his brother out at the lake. Fishing. Staying out of things.”
“Jace has been Prime long enough to prove several times over he’s capable of being Patron. I don’t think anyone will challenge him. But right now, he, Major and Damon are running the pack in a time of heightened tension and doing a fantastic job. And I think JJ is a crafty old wolf who knows exactly what he’s doing to stay away and let Jace lead right now.”
Nadine gave Katie Faith a raised brow. “You’re going to be good at this Patron thing. That’s what you’re taking on along with marrying that man.”
“I know that’s what I’m taking on. And I think it’ll be sooner rather than later. I’m not so sure they’ll be as excited to have my power because it comes with my brain and my mouth.” She laughed. “Well that’s not entirely fair. I think there are a lot of shifters in this generation who really do want to make some changes and do what’s best for the future of all the wolves in the pack. Just like most Pembrys are more like Mac than Darrell.”
She thought about it a bit.
“Really, I’m window dressing. I don’t know how I’m supposed to do this any other way. I’m not a werewolf. I can’t know all their issues the way one of their own could.”
Contrary to popular werewolf folklore a bite from a werewolf didn’t “turn” anyone. It could easily do damage, maybe even death without a whole lot of meaning to. Which was why they kept to themselves out there in the middle of nowhere Tennessee.
She’d never be a werewolf like Jace. She was already shaky on the idea of being a wife, she really couldn’t make sense of telling Dooley wolves what to do. So she’d lend her strength to Jace and keep on learning all she could about their world—both from inside and outside it—and hopefully she’d be able to be his sounding board as well.
“Does he wan
t to know about us?” TeeFay asked.
“He’s curious about magic and the witches here in Diablo Lake. I’m still working on understanding. But he’s respectful. And though I have no doubt he’ll offer up his opinion on all sorts of things—Lord, that man—I do think he’ll continue to be respectful as he learns.”
Two hours later, she headed out, grateful she’d decided to walk. The crisp air would do her some good, as would all the decorations on lawns, in front windows and at businesses.
But what did her the best was the feeling that she was home and that Diablo Lake had taken her back with open arms.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jace tapped on her door, waiting for the sound of her footfalls. She’d come, open up, chide him for not letting himself in with his key. Then she’d remind him he was the one who wanted her to lock her door in the first place.
He just liked to see her face as she opened up for him. Liked being invited into her space. Not that he didn’t mark it all with his presence once he was there. But he liked that little ritual. It felt like being met at the door. And he loved when she did that too.
But he didn’t hear her after a minute and another knock. She was usually home by seven and they often shared a late dinner once he got off his shift.
“Hey!” she called out as she came up the stairs at his back. “I meant to be here by now but I was a dumbass and forgot what the grocery store was like this close to Halloween and Samhain. It was a full blown crazypants mess in there.”
He took the bags as she passed. “You should have texted me. I could have met you and helped carry these up.”
She smiled, holding the door open. “Well there are a few more down there now, please and thank you.”
“Okay. Well. Good.” He put the bags down and then headed to her car to get the rest, finding her in the kitchen, unloading items into her fridge.
“Let me drop in the biscuits to cover the chicken I put into the slow cooker earlier.”
He pulled her close. “Evening, darlin’.”