Page 34 of Wicching Hour (The Sea Wicche Chronicles #3)

THIRTY-FOUR

A Seahorse Love Token

T yler went to get his duffle bag and then he and Jake jumped into Declan’s truck bed. Declan drove us the short trip over, where construction continued.

“I’m sorry you’ve been missing your own renovation,” I said.

He squeezed my gloved hand. “That’s why I have a crew. They’re working, whether I’m here or not. Kenji keeps his hand in, and I’ve got a couple of my pack working on the crew. Come on,” he said, opening his door. “You haven’t seen it since it was a disaster zone. I want you to see the progress.”

I opened my door, slid out, and found three big werewolves surrounding me. I held up my hands. “I’m good, guys. At ease.” I felt a prickle at the back of my neck and turned to the road. “That’s him.”

All three turned, and then Jake started running. The podcasting stalker had his window down and his phone up to record me. Declan’s arm went over my shoulder and across my heart. Tyler stood in front of me, so I had to lean around him to see what was going on.

Jake ran across the street, not even pausing to check traffic, which was insane. The stalker’s eyes went comically round as Jake grabbed the door and leaned in the window.

Tyler and Declan laughed.

“What?” I asked. Their hearing was ridiculous.

“Jake told him that if he ever saw him hanging around you again, he’d rip off his head and shove it up his ass,” Tyler said. “He’s very good at growling intimidation. The guy seems to just be whining. Jake told him to get the fuck out of here and never come back.”

The stalker floored it, his car fishtailing onto the road. Other drivers had to slam on their brakes and honk. Amid the chaos, Jake jogged back.

“What does he do in real life?” I asked Tyler.

“Jake’s a writer and I work in cybersecurity. Both are jobs we can do remotely.”

“Nice. Is this gig going to mess up your day jobs?” I tapped Declan’s arm around me. “By the way, how much am I paying these guys?”

“A lot,” Tyler grinned.

Jake stood beside his partner, like nothing had happened. “I just finished a book. I’m plotting the next. It’s head work, so I can do that on guard duty.”

“And I’m between projects, so I’m good,” Tyler added.

“Everything okay, boss?”

We all turned at the voice and found Kenji with two big men I didn’t know. Kenji was a member of the Big Sur pack. When Declan arrived in town, Kenji and Daniel left the pack to follow their true Alpha. Once Declan won the Alpha challenge against Logan, Kenji and Daniel returned to the pack, taking senior positions. I assumed the other guys were the pack members Declan had been referring to earlier.

Declan waved them over. “Kenji, this is Jake and this is Tyler. Have you met them before?”

Kenji shook his head and held out his hand to shake theirs.

“Kenji is my second. He’s a lawyer, but his parents own a large construction company. He’s done construction work all his life, so he slums to check in on the project occasionally.”

“One his sister did the architectural plans for,” I added, knowing Kenji would like her work being acknowledged.

His gaze cut to me, and he nodded before returning his attention to Jake and Tyler.

“Behind Kenji,” Declan continued, “are West and Joaquin. Both are members of the pack and both are excellent construction workers, which is lucky for me.”

They stood straighter at their Alpha’s praise.

“And gentlemen,” Declan said, “Jake and Tyler”—gesturing to each man in turn—“were members of my father’s pack in the Santa Cruz Mountains and are now living in Big Sur. They’re deciding if they want to join our pack.”

“We’re married,” Jake growled, clearly waiting for a negative reaction. Tyler stood serenely by his husband, and I couldn’t help but smile.

Kenji nodded. “It’s always good to have more strong wolves. If you decide to apply, we would be happy to have you run with us.”

As West and Joaquin didn’t react, Jake said, “And what about you?”

The two men looked at each other and then back at Jake, clearly confused as to why they were being addressed when the Alpha and second had already welcomed them.

“Do you have a problem with us?” Jake elaborated.

The men shared a look again and then both shrugged. Joaquin’s eyes widened and he smacked West’s arm. “He thinks we’re homophobes.”

“Oh,” West said, nodding. “Yeah no, we don’t care.”

“Jake and Tyler will be around a lot for a little while. I hired them to guard Arwyn until some current danger has passed.”

I tapped Declan’s arm again. “You mean I hired them, right?”

“Let’s go in,” Declan said, ignoring my question. “I want Arwyn to see the progress and the men to see the apartment. If it works for them, they’ll sleep here when they’re not on guard duty.”

Declan pulled me along.

“Wait a minute,” I protested.

Tyler patted my shoulder on a laugh, taking the lead this time. Jake fell into step behind us.

“We’ll talk about it later,” Declan said. “We’ve just started on the retail space. I wanted the workshop done first, then the apartment.”

We walked into the retail space. It was wide open and mostly empty. I looked up and the ceiling stole my breath. It looked like what I would imagine the top of a pyramid would look like if one were looking at it from the inside. It started about twelve feet high, at the tops of the walls, and angled up and in to meet in the middle, maybe fifteen feet high. The ceiling was paneled in wood, with the boards all perfectly aligned to create a perfect inverted pyramid.

I pointed up. “It’s stunning. What kind of wood is that?”

Declan looked up with me, smiling. “They finished it.” He walked around, studying it. “Great work,” he said, his voice raised for the others.

His crew, men and women, had filtered in to see what he thought. At his praise, they grinned and nodded, looking up themselves.

“It’s reclaimed wide-plank heart pine,” Declan finally answered. “I’ve been refinishing the boards for weeks.”

They were a satiny, well-oiled reddish brown. “Please tell me you have more of these boards to use in your apartment.”

Laughing, he picked me up and spun me around. “It’s happening,” he whispered to me. “I have a home.”

He put me down and then, noticing a woman, waved her forward. “Cam, tell me where we are.” The tall Black woman who looked remarkably like Melissa moved toward us. She wore dark blue coveralls and a bandana over her hair.

“Arwyn, this is Cam. She’s the forewoman on the project,” Declan explained. “Cam, this is Arwyn.” He pointed in the direction of my gallery. “The Sea Wicche.”

She nodded at me. “My cousin Melissa said she was boxing up art at your gallery yesterday.”

“Yes,” I said. “She and her crew did a beautiful job.”

She smiled at that and then returned her attention to Declan. “As you can see, we finished the ceiling. The tile guys were here yesterday. The bathrooms, upstairs and down, are done. By the way, the crew are asking if they can use your shop toilet instead of the porta outside.”

Declan nodded. “Of course. This is Jake and Tyler. If they like the apartment, they’ll be staying up there for a little while. I was hoping the bathrooms would be done. What about the kitchen?”

“There’s a microwave and the refrigerator that got plumbed yesterday. The stove is supposed to arrive the day after tomorrow.”

“Hey,” I interrupted, elbowing Declan. “You didn’t ask me what kind to get.”

He wrapped his arm around me again. “That’s because I just ordered the same model you use.”

“Oh. Nice.”

“The crew’s been focusing upstairs,” Cam continued. “West and Joaquin are working on the bookshelves today. Jim and I were just about to put up the lighting fixture in the living room. Do you want to come see?”

Declan nodded, excitement bright in his warm brown eyes.

“Okay, everybody back to work and the shop bathroom is available if you don’t want the porta outside,” she told her crew before mumbling, “And who the hell would?”

Leading the way, she took us through to the workshop toward a back staircase. The workshop was fully equipped with a wall of tools and freestanding table saws and I didn’t know what because I’d just seen one of the merry-go-round steeds leaning against a wall.

I detoured from the group to go see it. This property had been a tourist trap with a dangerous merry-go-round. The whole place had fallen into disrepair years and years ago. Someone bought it maybe a decade ago and went broke, dealing with the crumbling building, the rusty pipes, and shaky foundation. Could they have just torn it all down and started again? Sure. There still would have been a ton of repairs needed to the infrastructure, but there also would have been huge delays, waiting to get all the permits approved for building new construction in an historic part of town. So builders seeing it as a money pit, passed on the project.

Declan worked with Kenji’s sister Natsuki to work with what was here while creating a completely new masterpiece.

When I’d seen the carousel animals thrown in a pile during demolition, I’d asked if he could keep the octopus for me. It was the one I’d ridden when I was little. He promised he would, but it looked like he may have salvaged another.

Leaning against the wall was a seahorse. All the paint had been sanded off and the wood treated. It felt so strange to see him naked, without his garish Day-Glo paint. Declan had given him his dignity back. I ran my gloved fingers over his narrow snout. The brass pole was now tarnished, but that somehow fit. He’d been through a lot in his life. He wasn’t pretending otherwise.

I turned to call after Declan but found him standing behind me. My eyes filled with tears. “He’s beautiful. You’ve restored his pride. Look at him.” I put a hand on Declan’s chest and leaned in. “Can I paint him?”

He kissed me and said, “I think he’d appreciate that.” He paused. “I know you want to see the octopus, but I wanted to do a test run on one you didn’t feel such an attachment to. What if he fell apart once I took the paint off? I couldn’t be sure about the state of the wood until I sanded it.”

“I get it,” I said, smiling up at him. “Thank you for taking care of them.”

He took my hand again. “I want you to see the upstairs.”

Cam, West, and Joaquin had already gone up. Only Jake and Tyler were waiting for us.

Declan make a hand gesture and Jake and Tyler hung back.

“Ooh, the stairs are that same wood,” I said. “I feel bad stepping on it.”

“It’s all been treated,” he explained. “They’ll clean off easily enough.”

“You should leave your boots on a mat at the base of the stairs so you don’t track sawdust—Oh!” Declan had stepped out of the way at the top of the stairs, revealing his new home.