Preserves & Premonitions

by Bella Falls

  “So, what are your thoughts about what the sisters said yesterday?” I pressed.

  The shifter’s scowl returned. “That I’m not exactly sure why you and your grandmother are putting so much stock in what some crazy old biddies have to say.”

  He had a valid point. Since he hadn’t grown up hearing stories about the Gray sisters or had any contact with them, why should he trust them at all? “I get it. The word strange doesn’t even begin to describe them. But I trust my grandmother’s judgment about them. Plus, it turns out that whatever they did to me actually worked.”

  Dash raised his eyebrows. “In what way?”

  “Well, I’m still learning what having premonitions actually means or how I’ll experience them.” I told him about Mason’s attempt to pour water over my head. “It’s not something that’s easy to put into words, but it’s like I got a big ol’ warning it was coming.”

  “Huh.” He placed his elbows on top of his knees and leaned forward. “You know, that wouldn’t be the worst ability to have. If I could anticipate when someone was going to attack me, it would give me a much-needed edge.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, yes. I’m just so thrilled to possess this newfound superpower when we only know one thing it does.”

  Dash scooted forward on his chair in interest. “I’ll be honest, I left in a huff yesterday, but then I called up Georgia to ask her what the sisters’ gift might mean for you.”

  I remembered that they had helped out our resident witches with psychic powers when we were trying to fix Lucky. “What did she have to say?”

  He wrinkled his nose. “Nothing definitive, unfortunately. She told me the definition of premonitions, which amounts to pretty much bad feelings about things to come.”

  “Nana said it doesn’t necessarily have to be trouble,” I countered, hoping she was right. “Could just be a warning that something big’s about to happen.”

  “Like you’re about to get hit by some water?” Dash’s eyes twinkled with merriment.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Hey, I managed to stay dry.”

  “Anyways,” he continued, “G suggested you talk to her sister Ginny. She’s the one who has the ability to see people’s futures. But she’s also out of town at the moment.”

  “Okay.” I opened my mouth to ask another question but closed it the second a strange sensation overtook me.

  “What’s wrong?” Dash asked, bounding out of his chair and approaching me.

  I attempted to pay attention to what I was feeling. “I don’t know. It’s like there’s a buzzing inside of my entire body. Like a swarm of bees have taken over.”

  A high-pitched tone hummed in my ear for a second, and my hands tingled. A sense of dread enveloped me, and my stomach roiled inside.

  He crouched down in front of me. “What can I do to help?”

  “I don’t know.” I clutched my arms over my stomach and doubled over. “You’re not feeling any of this?”

  The shifter shook his head and reached out to touch my arm, but I moved away to keep him from distracting me.

  “If we’re not sharing symptoms, then it’s not the binding. This has to be whatever those crazy old bats gave to me.” I tried to catalog each sensation but became too overwhelmed to pay attention. “Scratch what I said earlier. Whatever’s coming, it has to be bad.”

  Dash’s attention jerked away from me as he turned his head to look out the window. His eyes flashed yellow. “Somebody’s here,” he rasped in a voice laced with more animal than man.

  His adrenaline spike and alertness affected me, too. His strong reactions added to the other manifestations of warning racking my body. “Do me a favor,” I begged through gritted teeth. “Tell your wolf to calm down.”

  He clenched his fists, and his nostrils flared in irritation. “That’s like asking the incoming tide to recede. I don’t think I can.”

  Before I could argue with him, a knock on the door interrupted us. I held my breath, too on edge to think clearly. Dash took a few steps and stopped, standing between me and the door.

  “Why don’t you answer it?” I hissed at him in a whisper. “It could be one of our friends.”

  “I don’t know, but whatever’s going on with you has got my wolf all riled up. I can’t help it,” he responded.

  Taking a chance, I turned around to kneel on the couch and pushed the filmy curtain out of the way. “There’s a black truck parked in your driveway.”

  He furrowed his brow. “What kind?”

  I attempted to identify the make and model without being spotted. “I think it’s a Ford. There’s a company logo on the side. Something Construction. I can’t really see.”

  Dash’s eyes stopped glowing. “Wait. Does it say Fletcher Construction?”

  I checked again. “Yeah, I think so.”

  The shifter blew out a breath, and his body relaxed. “Then it’s definitely a friend.”

  Confused, I stood up from the couch, wiping off a little sweat from my brow. Dash opened the door and greeted the newcomer with enthusiasm.

  “Fletch,” he exclaimed. Throwing his arms around the tall man, he patted him hard on the back three times before letting him go. “You are the last person I thought I’d see here. Come on in, there’s someone I’d like to introduce to you.”

  Dash’s friend followed him into the living room. He stood a couple of inches taller than Dash but with a slimmer body build. A smile spread on his face as he caught sight of me, and I suppressed a chuckle at the thought that popped in my head about whether or not it was a requirement of all wolf shifters to sport a beard. Although the gray that peppered his dark hair, especially at his temples, betrayed his older age.

  He stuck his hand out towards me. “I’m Maxwell Fletcher, but everyone calls me Max. Or Fletch.”

  I accepted his greeting with cautious curiosity. “Nice to meet you, Max. I’m Charli Goodwin.”

  The second he gripped my skin, a flood of sensations threatened to overwhelm me again. I sucked in a quick breath and did my best to cover up my immediate reaction. Whatever was setting off the alarm bells inside me, it had everything to do with Dash’s friend.

  “So, you’re Charli.” Max released my hand. His smile lessened, and something colder rested in his eyes for a flash. “It’s nice to finally put a face to the name.”

  “He’s mentioned me?” I asked, very aware of the awkwardness between us.

  Max cocked his head to the side to give his friend a sideways glance. “Definitely more than once. I was starting to think you were an imaginary person he used to escape his duties.” He winked at me and grinned as if his odd reaction had never happened.

  Dash growled at him, but the twinkle in his eyes showed his amusement. “I don’t escape. I only come here when it’s necessary.”

  “Mm-hmm, right,” the older man teased.

  I struggled to process the dynamics between the two and why it seemed to contribute to Max’s tension with me all while enduring the constant zinging of energy keeping me on high alert. Dash furrowed his brow and glared at me with concern as if my attempt to act normal didn’t fool him at all.

  Max waved his hand in front of Dash’s face. “Hello. Did you hear me?”

  Dash tore his gaze away from me. “What?”

  “I said that I had something important to tell you. It needs your specific attention,” Max huffed.

  Dash held up his hand to stop his friend from talking. “Are you okay?” Pushing past his friend, he clutched my arm with a gentle touch.

  I nodded my head to reassure him even though I wasn’t secure in my own answer. “I’ll be fine. But if this is what I think it is, you need to stop worrying about me and listen to your friend.”

  Max stared at both of us in shock. “Whoa. I mean, you told me that this town is full of witches, but I guess I’ve never met someone who can read minds before.”

  “I can’t,” I countered.

  “She can’t read your mind,” Dash said at the same time.
<
br />   Our mutual response earned us a frown from his friend. He glanced back and forth between the two of us. “Well, however you knew, I do have something serious to discuss, but…” Max trailed off.

  Dash let go of me and crossed his arms across his massive chest. “Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of her.”

  “But it’s pack business,” the newcomer complained, turning his body away from me in dismissal. “And she’s a witch.”

  “Charli has more than earned my trust.” Dash tilted his chin up in dominance. “Remind me, which one of us is alpha?”

  “Which one of us runs things while you hightail it out of Rockville whenever you get a chance?” Max challenged, taking a step forward.

  For a second, I feared the two would come to blows. Dash’s eyes glowed, and he bowed his head forward a little. The air around him crackled with power, and his friend grimaced and cringed a little.

  Max held up his hands in front of him. “Alright, man. No need to force me to submit. I’m just upholding pack rules like I’m supposed to as your second.”

  Normally, I’d be fascinated to learn more about pack politics and how things worked for Dash. But I needed Max to report whatever brought him out of the mountains and to our small town to see his alpha. Maybe then all the stirred-up reactions inside me would calm down.

  “Spit it out, Fletch. What brought you all the way to Honeysuckle?” Dash demanded.

  “It’s Zach Owens.” Max’s expression changed from defiant to disheartened.

  Dash’s whole demeanor changed in a second from irritated to concerned. “What did that knucklehead do this time? I thought we had gotten him straightened out in the last month or so. Whatever he’s done, I’ll make sure he apologizes to his parents after I finish reaming his sorry butt.”

  Max started to speak but coughed a couple of times to cover up the emotions welling in his voice. “James and Lucille want to talk to you, but…” He broke off and sniffed.

  Dash dropped his arms to his side, his entire body tensing. “Fletch, what happened to Zach?”

  Max attempted to answer but choked on his words. He cleared his throat as he tried to pull himself together. “I’m sorry, but he’s dead.”

  Chapter Six

  Nana folded a shirt and placed it on top of the pile of clothes I was packing into a small suitcase. “You didn’t stay to find out what had happened?”

  I threw my toiletry bag in my suitcase so I wouldn’t forget it. “It really wasn’t my business even though I wanted to stay. The news devastated Dash.”

  Pressing my hand over my heart, I recalled the sense of dread, guilt, and regret that overcame me as I watched the tough shifter’s face crumple with the news. Every molecule of my being wanted to comfort him and make things better, but I knew he needed time alone to discuss things with his second.

  “I still don’t see why you need to go with him,” my grandmother complained.

  “Yes, you do,” I countered. “You know that because of our binding, we physically feel better when we’re in each other’s company. I don’t exactly relish having to drink more of your awful drinks, especially since they stopped being completely effective.”

  She had that look on her face that told me she had much more to say about the topic, but she remained quiet while she stuffed my things into the bag with a little more vehemence than I expected.

  “Listen, we’ll go up there together so he can take care of pack business. And then as soon as that’s finished, we’ll come back here.” My attempt to reassure her didn’t improve her mood.

  “What does Mason have to say about you going?” she asked, pausing her mission to wrinkle all of the clothing she’d helped to fold.

  The first thing I’d done after leaving Dash to talk to Max was to find Mason and tell him what happened. He’d offered to do some digging in the warden system to find out more information, but we’d both decided in the end that it really wasn’t our right to get more involved unless the pack leader asked for help.

  “It was his idea for me to go with Dash,” I admitted.

  Nana’s eyes widened. “Mason thinks you should go?” She clicked her tongue and shook her head, muttering under her breath, “That boy should have his head examined.”

  I placed a hand on my hip. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

  She glanced up at me, and as soon as she caught my irritated expression, she softened. “I’m sorry, Birdy. It’s just, you’ve finally found yourself some happiness. And while I like Dash well enough, he’s just never been there the way that the detective has been.”

  “I know all this. But you’re acting as if me going with Dash means I’m choosing him over Mason. Which is so far from the truth, it actually hurts me that you’d even think that about me.” I stomped out of the room to take myself out of the situation before I said anything I’d regret to my beloved grandmother.

  Her cat Loki attempted to bite at my ankles in play, but I yelled at him loud enough to scare the gray tabby all the way downstairs. Entering the bathroom, I opened the mirrored medicine cabinet and shuffled around in it, looking for anything I might have forgotten to pack.

  Soft arms encircled me from behind, and I closed the door to the cabinet. Nana placed her chin on my shoulder so I could see her glancing at me in the mirror.

  “I really am sorry, Birdy. You’re absolutely right that I shouldn’t question why you’re going or what that means for your relationship with the detective. It was unkind of me to even bring it up.” She leaned her head against mine.

  I placed a hand over hers. “I know you still see me as that little girl who lost both her parents and needs to be taken care of sometimes. But I promise you, I’ve got this. I’m going with Dash because it’ll be easier on both of us with this stupid connection still in place. But I also don’t like seeing a friend in distress, and I’m telling you, the death of this kid is destroying him a bit.”

  My grandmother released me, but as soon as I turned around to face her, she gathered me up into a fierce hug. “You forgive me, right?”

  “Always,” I muffled into her shoulder.

  She patted my back before letting me go again. “So, you don’t know anything else about the boy’s death?”

  I shook my head. “No, and I’m not sure I want to get involved. As his friend said, it really is pack business. I’ll go up there, stay in the background as much as possible, and then come back as soon as it’s all finished.”

  Nana sighed in acceptance, and we both returned to my bedroom to finish packing. Noise from downstairs alerted me to the presence of a few of my friends coming over to say a quick goodbye before I headed off. I followed my grandmother down to greet them, carrying my bags with me.

  After she greeted everyone, she pulled me into the foyer for a private goodbye. Instead of getting the usual hug, she retrieved a large thermos from a side table and shoved it into my hands.

  “Here’s some of my awful sludge, as you call it.”

  I glanced down at the unwanted gift. “Thanks?” I said, not sure it was the right reaction to such a going-away present.

  She snorted. “Just because I’m not with you doesn’t mean you don’t still have to take your medicine. Consider it a just in case measure. If you need it, take it. And don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be refrigerated.”

  I tucked the container under my arm and drew her in for a last embrace. “I’ll call you as soon as I arrive.”

  After a final squeeze, she cupped my chin. “You’d better.” After giving me a kiss on my cheek, she winked and left.

  Blythe, Lavender, and Lily waited for me in the kitchen. Since they knew their way around, they’d already served themselves some iced tea.

  “So, you’re heading off to the mountains with the wolf?” Blythe teased.

  I rolled my eyes, not wanting to get into an altercation with my friends after the whole situation with my grandmother not mere minutes ago. “Yes, I’m accompanying Dash up to his place so that he
can deal with pack business. It’s not that big of a deal, y’all.”

  My friend exchanged a suspicious glance with Lily, but Lavender remained her typical supportive self. “I think it’s nice of you to support him like that. Plus, since being around each other obviously helps the both of you, then it’s probably prudent that you stay around him.”

  I cocked an eyebrow at her in surprise. “How did you know that?”

  “Oh, I saw the change in both of your auras the second he entered your grandmother’s house,” Lavender volunteered. “Yours was all chaotic, and I noticed you weren’t feeling very well. And his was also very muddy when he first entered, but it didn’t take long for your auras to fix themselves once he was there.”

  Lily scoffed. “I find it very convenient that Dash has a problem out of town and needs you to go with him.”

  I set my glass of tea down. “Are you saying it’s convenient that a young man died?”

  She blanched at my statement. “Oh. I didn’t know that was the pack business you were talking about.”

  I glanced around the room at my friends. “Listen, I just went through this with Nana, and it really irritates me that y’all think the same thing. Let’s get this straight right now. I’m accompanying Dash because he needs to return to his home and because due to this blasted binding between us, we seem to do better when we’re near each other. That’s it.”

  Blythe sat down in the chair next to Lily. “We didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “Then stop acting like something’s going to happen between me and Dash just because I’m going with him out of town!” I yelled.

  Seeing my friend flinch at the volume of my vehemence, I drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Sorry. It’s not like I would choose to go alone with him unless there was good reason. Y’all must know that nothing’s going to happen. I’m with Mason and totally committed to him. He’s the one I’m totally in love with.”