Page 31 of Wicching Hour (The Sea Wicche Chronicles #3)

THIRTY-ONE

Sunshine I just didn’t feel like brawling today.

“My cousin is a sorcerer,” I continued, “and doing what she can to tip the wolves into a violent frenzy. One has already died. If it weren’t for everything Declan is doing to look after his pack, there would be more. So I’m not going to let you poke at him. Too many rely on his strength and calm.”

“Do you fight all his battles?” he sneered.

Tyler’s gaze was going back and forth between Jake and me like a tennis match while he continued to eat. Him, I liked. “Ask yourself,” I said to Jake, “what’s your goal right now. Are you trying to goad Declan into killing you? Sick of your life? Or were you looking for me to stop your heart? Maybe freeze your lungs? Maybe just toss you over the railing to see if some cold water can snap you out of this sour mood?”

Jake growled and I felt Declan moving in behind me.

“I’m fine,” I said.

“I know.” He kissed the top of my head. “I was more worried about him.” He reached over my shoulder and snagged two brownies. “Plus, I wanted these.” He sat back down. “Sorry to bring you guys out of the mountains. I thought this might work, but I see now that it won’t.”

Following Declan’s lead, I ignored the men and went to sit on Declan’s bench. “Will you be able to make dinner tonight with my aunt and her family?”

He nodded, taking a cookie. “I told the pack I couldn’t meet tonight. I want to be here for the planning, especially now that you have that map. Can Bracken make it?”

Neither Jake nor Tyler had moved.

I nodded. I wanted a lemon square, but I hadn’t brought chopsticks or rubber gloves with me.

“Which one?” he asked.

Grinning, I said, “Lemon, please.”

He held it for me so I could take a bite.

“She can’t feed herself either?” Jake grumbled.

“Shh,” I hissed. “We’re ignoring you.” I took another bite and turned to Jake, eyebrows drawn together. “And what do you mean either ?”

Tyler raised his hand. “Can I have a lemon too?”

“Of course,” I said while continuing to glare at Jake.

“He carries you around. He feeds you. Not much of an Alpha,” Jake said, but the challenge I heard in the question was different from the words he said. With any luck, Declan had picked up on that too.

“You live in the mountains,” Declan said. “Haven’t you noticed the power dynamic in natural wolves? The Alpha isn’t some aggressive tyrant. They’re just the mated pair who look after the pack. They set the tasks and activities, but the pack works as a family. It’s like Arwyn’s grandmother being the head of the Corey Council and the matriarch of the family.”

Tyler sneaked back over for another lemon square, giving me a grin of thanks.

Jake gave a mean laugh. “So you’re saying you want to be our daddy?”

I choked on the bite I’d just taken.

Declan leaned forward and patted my back. “Definitely not saying that. And I’m helping Arwyn because she’s wearing gloves and forgot her chopsticks. You’ve been watching Tyler this whole time, pretending to be pissed at us while happy he’s eating something he likes. It’s the same for me, although I’m not pretending anger I don’t feel. I’m annoyed at the disrespect you’re showing my mate, but I understand that you’ve both dealt with a great deal of disrespect yourselves and you neither know nor trust us.”

I stood up. “Sorry! I said I’d get you tea and them Mr. Grumpy-pants made me forget.” I’d started to go in when a tennis ball flew across the deck and bounced off the side of the gallery. “Wilbur!” I ducked in my back door, grabbed the orange flippy thing, and used it to pick up the soggy ball.

I went to the railing and scanned the water for his head. “Thanks for your help last night.”

“What is she doing?” Jake asked.

Declan ignored him and came to stand at the railing beside me. “Here. Give me that. I’ll send it farther.”

Tyler stood to look over the railing and watch whatever was going on.

“Ooh, good idea. Did you hear that, Wilbur? Do you think you can catch one of Declan’s throws? Hah. We’re winning this round.” I elbowed Declan. “Do it.”

He did and sent it farther than it’s ever gone before. With a bark of joy, Wilbur shot out from under the deck and torpedoed through the water after it.

Tyler started laughing. “That was a seal! You have a pet seal?”

Jake stood to see what had tickled Tyler.

“He’s not my pet. He’s my friend.” I lowered my voice. “And a selkie.”

“Her father’s very powerful water fae,” Declan said, and I knew that meant he trusted these two, even if Jake didn’t trust us. “He has some of his guards keeping an eye on her.”

“Hey, Tyler,” I said, “watch this. Good morning, Cecil! How are Poppy and the babies today?” Tentacles swirled and tapped the surface of the water.

Tyler looked stunned. “Is that an octopus?”

Jake’s hand went to Tyler’s back. He looked as stunned as his partner, though in a grumpier way.

“They’re giant Pacific octopuses who are expecting,” I told them. “The eggs will take about six months to hatch. I’m looking forward to being an octopus auntie.”

“Oh. Sorry to interrupt.” Detective Hernández stood on the edge of the deck with an evidence bag in her hand, looking uncomfortable. “I didn’t realize you had company.”

I waved her closer. “These are friends of Declan’s. This is Tyler and Jake.” I gestured to each in turn. “Gentlemen, this is Detective Hernández. Sometimes I consult on police cases. Right now, I’m helping with a serial killer.” Talking to Hernandez, I said, “And these two are considering being my bodyguards until my cousin is caught, so I guess it makes sense for them to see some of what I do.” I turned back to the men. “Detective Hernández is human but aware of us. She works with a black bear detective sometimes.”

“Speaking of which,” Hernández said, “he told me about the poisoner and the stalker.” She glanced at the big men. “I can understand the impulse to have bodyguards, but you’re more deadly than they are.”

Tyler turned to reassess me. Jake glowered.

“I don’t have eyes in the back of my head and when I’m working, I lose track of what’s going on around me,” I said. “So, what’s in the bag?”

She held it up for me to see. “It may be nothing, but we found it in that group of trees where you said he was waiting and watching her.”

“A folded-up gum wrapper?” Declan asked.

She nodded.

“Interesting,” I said. “I’d invite you in, but there’s more seating out here.” I sat back down, my legs crisscrossed on the bench seat. I held out a hand for the bag.

“You need a reset,” Declan said.

I’d forgotten the kiss he’d given me earlier. Thank goodness one of us was paying attention. I went to the railing, slipped off my gloves, and then stopped, turning to Declan. “Give me a kiss first,” I whispered.

Grinning, he stood and did so.

“You make an excellent assistant,” I told him.

His eyes darkened. “I’ve been practicing.”

I held my hands over the railing, caught a missile of water, and returned to factory settings, feeling that sizzle in my blood again.

I sat back down and Declan held out a hand for the evidence bag. He pulled open the top and then shook the gum wrapper to the mouth of the bag, to make it easier for me to take. Lifting my ungloved hand, I turned back to Hernández. “The lab has already checked it, right?”

She nodded. “They found a couple of partial prints, but nothing they could identify. And again, we don’t even know if that was his.”

I picked up the wrapper.

He pulls the stick of gum from his pocket. He’s watching the long-haired woman watering her plants. He pulls open the wrapper with his teeth and then slides the stick into his mouth. She goes back in, turns off the lights. As he waits to see her again, he begins folding up the wrapper into smaller and smaller squares.

The sun has set behind clouds. He enjoys surveilling her while hidden in the dark. Shortly after, her garage door goes up. Her Jeep backs out and she drives away as her garage door closes. He considers running for the door before it closes, but he’d be too exposed. If she glances in her rearview mirror, she’ll see him. He’s excited but not reckless.

He waits a few long minutes, pulls on thin blue surgical gloves, and ghosts his way to the sliding glass door off the patio. Crouching, he pulls a screwdriver out of his pocket, jams it under the door, and lifts it off its track, popping the lock.

He slides the door open and slips in, pulling a penlight from his pocket. The apartment is small but he takes his time, going through drawers and in cabinets, thrilled that she has no idea he’s looking through her life, finding out her secrets.

He opens her closet door, puts the penlight in his mouth, pulls off one glove, and slides his free hand along the fabric, allowing himself time to consider what it will feel like when he takes control of her, when he squeezes the life out of her.

He goes to her bathroom and opens the medicine cabinet, his face flashing in the mirror for a brief moment. He studies her prescriptions, disappointed there’s nothing more interesting than allergy meds, birth control pills, aspirin, and dental floss in the cabinet.

He checks the time, does one last circuit through the apartment, making sure that everything is where it was when he entered. He decides to screw with her, taking a quart of ice cream out of the freezer and leaving it on the counter to melt. Let her wonder.

He goes to the back door, checks, and seeing no one, slips out and away.

Declan caught the wrapper in the evidence bag as it fell from my fingers. I slid on my glove and closed my eyes, trying to hold on to the reflection I’d seen in the medicine cabinet mirror.

“Did you—” Hernández began, but I held up a hand to stop the question.

“I need my sketchbook and a pencil,” I told Declan.

He grabbed them for me and put them in my lap. Trying my best to hold on to the image, I opened my eyes and began to draw.