Page 24 of Wicching Hour (The Sea Wicche Chronicles #3)

TWENTY-FOUR

He’s Not Your Underling

“H ow cool was that?” I whisper-shouted.

Declan put down the bench and then picked me up and swung me around. “Look who’s getting fae lessons from her dad.” He kissed me, cutting off my laugh.

“Oh, wait. My backpack!” I looked up on the roof and grimaced. Declan was going to have to climb back up there to retrieve it.

He tapped my back, and I felt it. “Your dad’s got you covered.”

I took it off and looked inside. Sure enough, the octopus bottle that had been in my lap was now inside the backpack. I picked it up and almost dropped it. It was cold, far colder than the water I’d put in it an hour ago. I popped the top and sniffed. It smelled of the inky black ocean. What did I mean by that? No idea. When I smelled this water, though, I saw deep, dark waters hiding leviathans.

“He changed my water?” I said, awed.

Declan paused and stared at the octopus in my hand. “What do you mean?”

“This isn’t the water from beside my deck. Feel it.” I put the bottle in his hand.

He held it a moment and then looked up at me with a shrug. “What am I feeling?”

“You don’t sense it? It’s cold, colder than it was when I first filled it.”

He wrapped his fingers around the bottle a moment but then handed it back to me. “I think that’s a you-and-your-dad thing. To me, it feels like your water bottle always does.”

“I can’t explain how I know, but this water is from the deepest part of the ocean, far below where any human has ever explored.” I poured some into my palm and the world became clearer and brighter. I shook my head on a grin. “He gave me the good stuff.”

I slid my gloves back on, stowed my very valuable seawater, and took Declan’s hand to walk back in.

He paused at the door. “We could just jump in my truck and take off. There’s no rule that says we have to go back in.”

I tugged him down for another kiss while reaching for the door. I felt something akin to static electricity.

“Put your hand on the door,” I said.

He did and then looked at me again, waiting for something to happen.

“Interesting,” I said. “I wonder if they’ll feel it.” I pushed open the door and found Mom, Gran, and Bracken standing at the large picture window overlooking the patio, cliff, and ocean.

Mom turned and waved us forward. “We heard a hiss of pain out here, but we don’t see anything.”

“That was your daughter,” Declan said with no small amount of pride in his deep, growly voice.

Bracken turned at that. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” I said, waving away the concern. “He means I’m the one who set the ward that burned the dark entity circling Gran’s house.”

“Oh, darling. That’s wonderful.” Mom crossed to me and took my forearm, squeezing. We’d discovered lots of ways over the years to hug without hugging. “What did you do, and is that thing gone?”

Declan sat in the club chair again and pulled me back onto his lap. Gran stayed at the window, looking out, but Mom and Bracken moved to the couch.

“I’d love to take full credit,” I said, “but Dad showed up and guided me through setting a fae ward.”

Mom sat forward, her head snapping to the front door. “Your father’s here?”

Declan’s thumb brushed my side. He’d noticed too. Mom was a little too intent on Dad’s whereabouts. “Not anymore. He must have sensed what I was trying to do, so he just appeared beside me.” I turned my head to ask Declan, “Did you see him arrive?”

He nodded. “I was watching you, so yeah. He quite literally popped into existence beside you.” He rubbed my leg. “He wasn’t there and then he was, but it was like he’d always been there. I didn’t smell the ocean until he appeared. I mean, Arwyn always smells lightly of sea spray, but this was more like floating on a raft in the middle of the Pacific.”

I grinned. Yep. That was my dad, all right.

“Is it gone?” Gran asked, still looking out the window.

“No idea,” I replied. “It doesn’t feel as cold in here, so maybe. I wasn’t trying to zap whatever that was. I was just trying to keep you safe. Hurting it was a nice perk.”

Gran finally turned and brushed nonexistent lint from her sweater. “Thank you.” She walked to the fire and twirled her fingers, causing the fire to go out, leaving hot embers. She sat in the rocking chair, straightened her back, and looked at me. “Could you get us some tea?”

“I can—” Mom began, but Gran waved her hand, telling my mom not to get up.

“Arwyn doesn’t have a seat anyway,” Gran said.

I’d been waiting for the disapproval of my sitting in Declan’s lap. I supposed she’d had too much weighing on her to give it to me earlier.

I stood and went to the kitchen. A moment later, I heard the rumble of Declan’s voice and then Gran say, “I can assure you, Arwyn was making tea long before she met you.”

“With all due respect, Ms. Corey,” Declan said, “I’m not a member of your coven. If you don’t want me in your den, say so, but I’m Alpha, not your underling.”

Shitshitshit. I flew back to the kitchen doorway and ran into Declan’s massive back. He reached around to steady me. I couldn’t see Gran but eventually, I heard, “Sybil, I want you to speak with Hester. See if the Goodes are attending Council meetings. I want to know if the lesser families have continued without us.”

“That lesser family shit could be why,” I muttered, turning back to the jar of tea leaves I’d just put on the counter.

Declan followed me in and wrapped his arms around me. “Sorry,” he rumbled.

Patting his arms, I whispered, “Not your fault. She’s used to being in complete control and she’s struggling.”

“I thought the same,” he said. “She’s like an aging wolf. She used to be the strongest, but time has worn away at her speed, the sharpness of her claws. Now she growls and bares her teeth to remind others she’s to be feared.”

Nodding, I brewed the tea, quite content to have Declan holding me while I did it. I’d never thought myself to be a person who’d enjoy easy affection. Perhaps because I’d thought it something I could never experience, I’d told myself I didn’t want it.

“Will you be okay if I go?” he asked. “I need food before I head back up to the pack grounds. I’ll work with whoever shows up and then sleep—poorly—in the woods, since I’ll need to meet with more pack members in the morning.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, turning in his arms. “You must be exhausted.”

“Nah.” He gave me a kiss. “I got to sleep in a little this morning and then spend the day with my favorite person.”

I laid my head on his chest and tried to soak in as much of him as I could. “You’ll be safe, right?”

He kissed the top of my head. “No one’s gunning for me anymore. I’m Alpha now. Didn’t you hear?”

I snickered. “I think I heard something about that a minute ago.” Resting my chin on his chest, I looked up at him. “If you wake up in the middle of the night, know I’m okay. I’ll put the same kind of ward I did here on the gallery when I get back. I’ll be safe and warm in bed, dreaming of you.”

His hands came up to cradle my face. “See that you are.” Gaze traveling over me, he added, “Take care of yourself while I’m away.”

I grinned. “Will do.”

He gave me another kiss and then walked out of the kitchen. I heard him saying goodbye as I loaded the tea cart. When I pushed it out into the living room, I found Gran, staring into the embers, Mom, looking concerned and staring out the back window, and Bracken, smiling and watching me. What had I missed?

I poured and delivered teacups to all before reclaiming the club chair as my own. “So, have we come up with the plan for the Swans?”

When neither Gran nor Mom responded, Bracken filled me in. “We had a question for you first. Do you have cameras inside the gallery?”

“No—oh.” I thought about it a moment and then took out my phone, pulling up the app that held all the camera feeds. “I remember telling the security guy that I’d want cameras inside when I opened, but at the time, I was far more concerned with exterior cameras. And then I was trying to get everything ready for opening and forgot to have him come back to install interior ones.”

I clicked through the different views and found five different angles inside the gallery. “ But , Mary Beth was with me for a week getting everything ready and clearly she took care of it because I’m looking at the inside of the Sea Wicche right now. Including a camera angled directly on the café.”

“Why would he aim one there?” Mom asked. “Your art is worth far more than muffins and tea.”

“Ordinarily, I’d agree, Sybil,” Bracken said. “In this case, though, that means we have video evidence of the Swan boy poisoning Arwyn’s food.”

Mom blinked and shook her head. “Of course. My mind was elsewhere. Yes, that’s great news.”

Gran studied Mom a moment and then turned to me. “Does the video show him going behind your counter and opening the cases? Sprinkling poison on the food?”

“Checking…” I responded, fast reversing the feed. “And there he is.” I got up and went to Gran, sitting on the tall stone hearth beside her rocker.

Mom and Bracken stood behind Gran to look over her shoulder. I hit play and we watched the crew move out the back door. Milo hung back. Melissa paused at the door and looked back. Milo pointed at the café, and she nodded and walked out. It was all exactly as I’d seen in my vision.

Milo glanced around the gallery again, no doubt checking to make sure he was alone. His hand moved to his pocket as he walked toward the café area. From the vision, I knew he’d asked Melissa if he could get himself tea. As I’d already approved that, Melissa had said yes and went out to where the rest of her workers and the plate of honey cookies were.

Milo went behind the counter, pulled the fetish from his pocket, and unwrapped it. Looking out the back door, he slid open a case and sprinkled something quickly on a few items. Sliding the case closed, he checked the back door again. He looked at what was in his hand, turned to the tea jars, yanked the lid off one, dumped in what poison he had left, and then stuffed the fabric holding the poison back into his pocket before going to the sink and washing his hands. When he was done, he walked through the back door and out of camera shot.

“Can you see what he did when he went out on the deck?” Bracken asked.

“Good call,” I mumbled, pulling my phone back and checking until I found the deck camera and then reversed the feed until I got to the cookie break. I turned the screen around and we all watched him walk out onto the deck, nod at another worker, and pull out his phone. He sent a quick text and then sat on a bench and laughed at a joke.

“Quite the little sociopath, isn’t he?” Bracken mused. “He’s just guaranteed someone’s death, sent a text to his grandmother, letting her know it’s done, and is now enjoying some down time.” He shook his head. “It’s chilling.”