The Werewolf Dates The Deputy (Nocturne Falls Book 12)

by Kristen Painter

  Bridget nodded. “Just tell us what to do.”

  Titus opened his eyes to see the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse standing at the end of his hospital bed.

  He blinked again and realized it was Jenna, Hank, Bridget, and Birdie. “Am I dying? Why are you all staring at me like that?”

  Jenna smiled. “No, you’re not dying. We were just talking, and you sighed, and we thought you might be waking up. And then you did. How are you feeling?”

  He took a second to make a personal assessment. He didn’t feel warm anymore. Or achy all over. Or like he was about to puke. “Pretty good. What were you talking about? Me getting discharged, hopefully.”

  Hank nodded. “You are. But you’re not going to get much rest. We have business to take care of.”

  Titus sat up a little. It was a lot easier than last time. “Business?”

  “Wraith business,” Jenna answered.

  “Right.” He hadn’t forgotten that. Just thought Hank had meant something else. “That means you made progress while I was asleep.”

  “We did,” Jenna said. “A good amount. Enough that we’re moving forward.”

  “Did you talk to Alice?” He knew there was hope in his voice, but Jenna had said they’d made headway. Hard not to want that to include all aspects of their troubles.

  “A few times. And she had some good news and some not-good news. I can explain more in the car, but here’s one thing we know: The bomb was meant to make me fall in love with Leif so that I’d feel compelled to give him my sword. And in case I didn’t, the binding spell was so that I couldn’t get away from him and he’d have an easier time killing me and taking the sword.”

  She smiled at Titus. “That means you being in the attic with me saved my life. If I’d been alone and ended up stuck with the wraith, I’m not sure I’d be standing here right now.”

  “I’m really glad you are,” Titus said.

  “We all are,” Birdie added.

  That was for sure. Now Titus wanted nothing more than to get out of this place and do whatever was necessary to make sure the wraith never bothered Jenna again. He glanced toward the window. The light had changed since the last time he’d been awake. “How long have I been asleep?”

  “Almost twelve hours.”

  “Wow. I guess that explains why I feel so much better.”

  “Do you?” Jenna asked.

  He nodded. “I feel pretty much like myself again.” Mostly. Enough that he could function and get back to being useful.

  Birdie rubbed her hands together. “Then let’s get you out of here.”

  The discharge process moved slower than Titus would have liked, but within the hour, he was walking into his own home again. He felt good, but he knew he wasn’t completely rid of the wolfsbane.

  He also knew he couldn’t let that stop him from helping Jenna. He stood in the hallway and faced his family, who’d all come back to the house with him. “I need to take a shower before I do anything else. Then I need to eat. I’m starving and probably a little weak from lack of food. But after that, I’m all yours.”

  Bridget spoke before Jenna or Birdie could. “What do you want? I’ll run to the restaurant and get it.”

  That was an easy answer. “Double bacon cheeseburger and fries. Also onion rings.”

  “Ohh,” Birdie said. “I could eat that too.”

  Hank stuck his thumbs in his pants pockets. “None of us have had dinner.”

  Bridget laughed. “Okay, give me the full order, and I’ll bring back enough food for everyone. I’ll even call it in on the ride there so we don’t have to wait.”

  Titus raised his hand. “You know what I want. I’m off to shower.”

  He left them to work out the details and went back to his bedroom. He cranked the water on in the shower and let it run while he shucked his clothes. The weight of what was to come lay heavy on him. Tonight would decide everything.

  Jenna had told him in the car that she’d been in touch with Alice about Sola being the source of the magic and that Alice had worked on the spell all day, only to discover breaking it would be impossible without Sola’s blood. At least for him, anyway.

  Jenna had quoted Alice. “Blood balances blood.”

  He looked at his hand where he’d scratched it on the nail in the attic. Of course there was no trace of the mark now, but the memory remained. Was he destined to be bound to Jenna for the rest of his life?

  If that was his lot in life, he was at peace with it. Was she?

  He stepped into the shower and let the water rain down over him, the heat washing away the remnants of the hospital. Whatever happened tonight—whatever happened between him and Jenna—he was ready.

  By the time he got out, shaved, got dressed, and went back to the living room, Bridget had arrived with the food. Fast service was just one of the benefits of having a sister who owned a restaurant. They sat down at his dining room table, Titus at one end with Jenna to his right, Hank at the other with Birdie and Bridget flanking him.

  Titus inhaled. “Everything smells so good. I should have ordered more.”

  Bridget used her elbow to point to a bag on the kitchen counter. “I got peach cobblers for everyone too. I figure if we’re going to war tonight, we should go well fed.”

  “I like that plan.” Titus picked up his burger. They all dug in and ate in silence for a while. Bridget had gotten a few extra things, too, like more onion rings, potato skins, and stuffed mushrooms. They plowed through the spread like they’d never seen food before.

  When they were mostly done, he finally asked the question he’d been wanting to. “So what is the plan?”

  Jenna was just finishing her burger. “In a nutshell, I’ve set up a meeting with Sola back at the circle, where I hope I’ll be able to convince her to reopen the trap for the wraith. I need him to show up. Of course, I’ll be doing all this while pretending that I know nothing about Ingvar being possessed by Sola. And while that’s going on, Bridget and Birdie are going to find wherever Sola’s been staying and see if they can work things from that end.”

  “Work things? What does that mean?”

  Jenna swallowed the bite she’d been chewing. “The way Alice explained it to me, Sola’s spirit might be possessing Ingvar’s physical form, but Sola still has a physical form, too, and that body has to be somewhere.”

  Birdie used a fry to punctuate her words. “Bridget and I are going to find that body and take it into custody. At the same time, we’re going to try to neutralize whatever magic she’s using to control Ingvar.”

  Titus frowned. “Where are you going to look? There have to be hundreds of places she could be staying. And how are you going to neutralize the magic?”

  “Well,” Birdie said, “I used my computer superpowers to narrow down the possibilities of where she might be staying, and Deputy Cruz and I eliminated a few of them this afternoon, which means we’ve only two final places to check. Bridget and I will track her down, don’t you worry. As for the neutralizing, Alice gave us something for that.”

  “And the part about you taking someone into custody?” Titus looked at his brother. “Don’t tell me.”

  Hank sighed. “Yes, I deputized Birdie. But I am also sending Deputy Lafitte with them.”

  Titus wiped his hands on a paper napkin from Howler’s. “Remy’s a good guy. And you can’t go wrong with a vampire as backup.” But he wasn’t sure he liked how that left the odds. “That means it’s just me, Hank, and Jenna in the woods?”

  “Not exactly,” Jenna said with a smile. “I called in some backup of my own.”

  The doorbell rang with the most perfect timing ever. Titus started to get up, but Jenna stopped him. “I got it.”

  She answered the door, opening it wide. “You guys all know Tessa, my sister, and Pandora Williams, witch extraordinaire and rock star Realtor.”

  Tessa and Pandora waved to the gang.

  The gang waved back.

  Titus nodded. Both women were dressed in black
, hair up in ponytails and looking very much like they were ready to throw down. “That’s some good backup right there.”

  “They’ve already been briefed.” Jenna smiled, but there was a little reserve there. Probably because she was feeling the seriousness of what they were about to attempt. “They know their parts.”

  “Excellent.” Titus pushed back from the table. “Peach cobbler is going to have to wait for the victory celebration. I say we do this now.”

  Jenna checked the time. “We have an hour yet before I’m supposed to meet Sola, but we can definitely head out there and get into position.”

  Birdie stood. “You all go. Bridget and I will do a quick cleanup, then we’ll swing by the department, pick up Remy, and get started on our search. According to what Alice told us, we can’t do anything until we know Sola’s actively engaged in possessing Ingvar’s body, so as soon as she reaches Jenna and the circle, we’ll be good to go.”

  Pandora raised her hand. “That’s one of my jobs. Keeping Birdie and Bridget in the loop on our end of things.”

  Titus nodded at Jenna. “You really do have this all worked out.”

  “We do,” Jenna said. “Still lots that could go wrong, but I think we’ve got most of that covered. I hope.”

  He hooked a thumb toward the bedroom. “I’ll get my boots on, and I’m ready. Jenna, could I see you for a sec?”

  “Sure.” She walked with him to the bedroom.

  He opened the door and went in, motioning for her to do the same.

  When she’d entered, he closed the door. He had to tell her how he felt now, before things blew up. “Look, before we head out there, I want you to know that when the spell is lifted later tonight, I don’t expect my feelings for you to be any different. I want us to still be us. I want us to be a couple. We’re good together. I see no reason to change that just because we aren’t magically bonded anymore.”

  She smiled and gave him a little nod. “Me too.”

  He exhaled. “Yes?”

  “Yes.”

  He grinned. “I love you, you know.”

  She smiled. “I know.” Then she laughed for a second before her expression went back to a serious, but happy, smile. “I love you too. And it scares me more than anything we’re about to do, but I figure we’re in this together, right? Just the way we have been.”

  “That’s right,” he said. “And I’m not going to let you get hurt.” He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, a solid, full-on promise of a kiss. He held her there for a long moment until he knew he had to let her go.

  Her arms stayed wrapped around him. “I’m not going to let you get hurt either.”

  “Good,” he said. “Now let’s go kick some wraith ass.”

  The plan was that, to Sola, Jenna would appear as if she were alone in the woods, desperate to meet her friend and find out how things had gone so wrong with the trap to catch the wraith.

  Except none of that was true. Well, maybe the desperate part.

  Jenna knew exactly what had gone wrong with the trap.

  She also wasn’t alone. Titus, Hank, and Tessa were on the outcropping of rock just above the circle, the same place Titus had been last time. Pandora was an equidistance away in the opposite direction, hidden in blackberry bramble. Not that she really needed the coverage.

  Marigold had made a camouflage spell for Pandora that allowed her to blend into the forest. Marigold, Pandora’s sister, was a florist by trade but a green witch by practice.

  Jenna had tried twice to spot Pandora, and even though she knew where the witch was hiding, she couldn’t see her. That was good. It meant Sola wouldn’t see her either.

  Just like Jenna prayed Sola wouldn’t see or smell or sense the wolves waiting on the ridge. Hopefully, the seer would be too preoccupied with her own devious plans to give much thought to Jenna having backup.

  Although Jenna had had some last time, and Sola was no fool. But Jenna had a plan for that.

  As the meeting time approached, Jenna pushed all other thoughts out of her head except for what she had to focus on. Defeat the wraith. Take Sola captive. Free Ingvar.

  Helgrind sizzled with energy, the same energy that ran through Jenna’s blood and bones, the same energy she’d felt on the battlefield or while transporting worthy souls to Valhalla or pursuing a criminal.

  Which, in all honesty, didn’t happen that much in Nocturne Falls. She loved being a deputy, but most of the things they did day-to-day was deal with speeders, the occasional drunk or cranky tourist, and, every once in a while, a shoplifter.

  There was the yearly noise ordinance violation from old Mrs. Morris, a banshee well into her years who, on her birthday, liked to play her death metal a bit louder than the neighbors cared for, but really, that was about it.

  And generally, Jenna found her work to be just fine. An uninteresting day when you were a sheriff’s deputy was also a safe day.

  But safe could get boring pretty easily.

  Facing off with Leif wasn’t something Jenna was looking forward to, but tasting battle again would be…okay, to be brutally honest, she was kind of looking forward to that part of it. It would be a lie to say she didn’t miss her time in service. The sense of duty, the thrill of battle, the accomplishment of being on the winning side.

  Which wasn’t to say she wasn’t on the winning side every day, but being victorious in battle was something else. Was there anything like the feeling of victory? Yes, actually there was. Love.

  She smiled. Tonight, if all went well, she’d have both.

  She waited, losing herself in her thoughts and the sounds of the forest as the shadows grew longer. She kept a tree at her back and the breeze in her face.

  Leaves crunched underfoot. She turned slightly to face the sound and saw Ingvar coming toward her from the direction of the river.

  Jenna pushed off the tree and raised her hand in greeting, just as she would if the woman approaching actually was Ingvar and not the shell of her friend currently possessed by a disgraced seer. “Ingvar.”

  The seer smiled and waved back. “I’m so glad you could meet me.”

  “Same. Are you all right?” Jenna kept up the pretense that she had no idea what had gone wrong. “After what happened last night, I wasn’t sure if you’d been injured or overcome by the wraith or if the magic was bad. What on earth happened, Ingvar?”

  The woman who looked like Ingvar stared at her, and for a split second, her eyes flashed green with hatred. In that split second, Jenna saw Sola.

  Her own face twisted into a mask of revulsion before she could stop herself. She shook her head suddenly and dug deep for a way to cover. “I hate that I almost lost you.”

  “You didn’t.” Sola was gone now, hidden in Ingvar’s pale beauty. “It was all my mistake. I used one wrong ingredient in the casting of the circle.” She sighed. “You’d think after all my years of training that such a thing should not be possible, but becoming a seer means being a student for a lifetime. I guess it had been too long since I’d cast that spell.” She looked around. “Where is the wolf?”

  “He didn’t make it. Passed just a short time ago.” There was no other lie Jenna could use. Saying he was sick wouldn’t be enough. Not with the binding spell connecting them.

  “What a shame. But not unexpected.” Ingvar shrugged. “I told him to stay away. Wolfsbane is deadly to their kind.”

  She’d never once uttered anything close to that. Jenna’s anger bubbled up, and she wanted to punch her, but that was Ingvar’s face. No sense in hurting her friend further. She’d punch Sola once she was in custody.

  Sola tipped her head, her bone earrings rattling softly. “Was he your friend?”

  Jenna kept her face blank and uncaring. “Just an acquaintance.”

  “I see.”

  Sola seemed to have bought it, so Jenna prodded her toward the next step. “While that really is a terrible shame, shouldn’t we try again? I don’t see why the wolf’s death should hold us back. I’m here, an
d we need to deal with this wraith once and for all. More now than ever before.”

  Sola looked genuinely surprised. “You really want to try the trap again? You’re not too distraught?”

  “Because of the wolf? I didn’t really know him that well. If anything, my desire to end the wraith has increased. He can’t be allowed to roam free. Losing the wolf was awful, yes, but the wraith wants to kill me, too, Ingvar. I’m sure of it.” Jenna got a little worried Sola was having second thoughts. That wouldn’t do at all. Jenna decided to work on the woman’s ego. “Unless you’re too weak after last night. Or you’re not sure how to fix the thing that went wrong. Do you need more time?”

  “No,” Sola snapped. “I can do it now. I just hope you’re ready.”

  “I am. Absolutely.” Jenna took a few steps toward the river. “You need time alone again?”

  “Yes.”

  Was Sola’s grasp on Ingvar slipping? Her short, snippy comments weren’t doing a whole lot to keep up her pretense of being Jenna’s old friend. Was it possible the seams were splitting on this tightly sewn spell?

  Jenna wanted to see if she could rip out a few more stitches and make Sola fray even further. She stopped her retreat toward the water to peer closely at her. “Are you positive you can do this? You look tired, my friend. Maybe I should go hunt the wraith myself. I know that’s a job best done by two, but I can always call my sister.”

  The other woman’s eyes went wide. “I am fine. We will do this now.” Her hands were clenched at her sides. “I need time to cast the circle, lay the runes, and speak the words of summoning. Leave me.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes,” Sola hissed.

  “Just make sure you freeze the wraith this time and not me, right?”

  Sola glared.

  “Okay, you got it. But if you need me, just call.” Jenna started to walk away again, watching Sola as closely as she could.

  “I won’t.”

  “Cool.” Jenna gave her a thumbs-up. “You got this, Ingvar.”

  The seer ignored her and walked on toward the remains of last night’s circle, muttering under her breath.