by Amy Boyles
“That’s what the serpent said.” Axel tugged on the cuffs of his dove-gray sweater. The color made his blue eyes appear cold, icy.
Or maybe that was simply where our relationship stood at the moment.
Garrick rose and pulled on his leather duster. “I’ll question folks.” He tugged his fedora onto his crown. “I appreciate the tip, but these women, Pepper, could be dangerous. I’d stay away from them if I were you.”
I scoffed. “And what makes you think I’m going to run up to them and start talking? Huh?”
He shot me a scathing look. My face burned from embarrassment. If I’d had a tail, I would’ve tucked it between my legs.
I lifted my palms in surrender. “Okay, okay. I’ll leave well enough alone.”
“Thank you.” Garrick studied Axel. “You make sure, okay?”
“I’ll do my best.” He jerked his head toward me. “But you know how she is.”
“I resent that.” If I’d had something in my hand I could’ve thrown at both of them, I would have.
Axel chuckled as Garrick disappeared out the door. “Come on. Let’s grab some breakfast.”
We headed to Spellin’ Skillet. I ordered an omelet filled with pulled pork with a side of grits, and Axel had an omelet filled with really healthy stuff like tomatoes and peppers.
Way to eat healthy and make me look bad, Axel. Thanks.
I tried not to stuff my face and eat like a lady, but I hungered on the point of starvation. In the end I think I sort of managed my goal—sort of.
Who cares? It wasn’t like I was waiting for Axel to marry me or anything. Our relationship had been put on hold.
“You look absolutely gorgeous when you eat like that. Makes me want to up and marry you.”
My fork clattered to the plate.
I wiped my mouth. “Is that so?” I shot him what I hoped was an elegantly arched eyebrow. “And here I thought we were biding time to see if we’d hit the hay together.”
Wrong thing to say. His face darkened so fast I thought a storm cloud had rested atop his head.
“Sorry.”
“You think this is all a game, is that it?”
I swallowed a ball of food. “No, of course not.”
He grabbed my wrist. The wolf in him seemed to want to jump from his skin. In half a second I was reminded that Axel was indeed very, very dangerous.
And also way sexy.
“I told you about this to save you. Not scare you. To let you know what’s in store. If you want to journey with me, that is.”
His nostrils flared in anger. My skin burned under his grasp. I glanced away.
“Look at me.”
I forced myself to meet his gaze.
“Mating creates the strongest bond you can imagine.”
“We already have a strong bond,” I argued. “We connect when you’re the beast.”
“And how close did you feel when we did that?”
Close, I had to admit. As if Axel had curled up inside my rib cage and coiled around my heart.
“Yet you fight the rest of it. If you want a physical relationship, it will change things. Really change them. Not in a bad way but in a different, good way.”
I pulled from his grasp and sank back onto the seat. “All I said was that I was ready to move to another phase of our relationship. Then you tell me that means we’re mated for life. Yes, I admit it freaked me out. You’re talking about…I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it sounds very, very big. And deep. Very deep.”
Yes, I’d absolutely chickened out. I didn’t want to say what it sounded like he was talking about—not any sort of word that started with the letter M. Nope, I did not want to talk about that at all.
Axel’s blue eyes were filled to brimming with a thunderous storm. “I only told you so that you’d know what you were in store for. It’s only fair. I’m an open book. You asked me and I admitted it so that you’d know.”
“Now I know,” I snapped.
As we stared at each other, neither of us speaking, I wanted to tell him that I was foolish keeping Rufus’s protection amulet. But I couldn’t. It felt like a betrayal of my friendship to Rufus.
Was I too quick to forgive Rufus for what he’d done—spelled me so that if I used my magic, it went into him? But he’d helped us. Yet that had only been for his benefit, hadn’t it? When he came to Magnolia Cove for Halloween?
“Rufus isn’t your friend,” Axel said.
I stared at my plate. Axel paused a minute, then grabbed his jacket. He tossed cash atop the table and rose.
“You ready?”
“I guess so.”
He dropped me off at Familiar Place. Before I wiggled from the Rover, Axel took my face in his palms and kissed me so deeply my toes curled.
When we parted, I felt empty, as if he’d drunk my soul. “Remember,” he whispered in my ear, his breath tickling my skin, “serpents lie. They have since the dawn of time. Nothing in that will change.”
“Love heals all wounds,” I shot back.
Axel smiled widely, and the beauty of his face nearly made my heart crack in two.
“I’ll call you later.”
I got out, my heart a bit lighter. At least we hadn’t broken up. I didn’t know what we were doing, but Axel didn’t either.
That at least made the mystery easier to bear.
I unlocked the store. “Morning, y’all. And how’re you holding up, Sylvester?”
Axel and I had dropped off the snake before meeting with Garrick. The kittens and puppies had protested, but I reminded them that he was in a cage and couldn’t get out.
Sylvester remained coiled on a log.
I bent over until I was eye level with those glittering black eyes. “Now, now. You’ve spoken to me before, remember? When I was with my cousins. You can’t be so sexist you won’t speak to me at all.”
I will speak, but that is all.
I rose. “What in the world did Beverly do to you?”
Sylvester slowly uncoiled but said nothing.
“She must’ve been pretty nasty.” Was the serpent lying about Burt and the divination? I had to know. In order to discover the truth, I first had to earn the snake’s trust.
“You hungry?”
I haven’t been fed in a week.
“Well, at least Beverly fed you,” I murmured. “How about a nice treat?”
I won’t go into the details of feeding the snake, but let’s just say he was hungry and I did happen to stock boa constrictor food at Familiar Place.
I’d been at the store for about an hour when the door swung open. In strode Rufus wearing a soft black sweater, a black jacket and dark jeans.
“Pepper.”
“Rufus.”
We regarded each other for a moment before I spoke. “Thank you for protecting me from Beverly. I guess I needed more than an amulet.”
His dark eyes flickered to my pants pocket where it lay snug against my thigh.
Ugh. Yes, I was wearing the same jeans as the day before. I really needed to do some laundry.
Anyway, how could wizards sense the object’s location, but I couldn’t find it even if it was the only thing in an empty room?
Okay, maybe I’m being too hard on myself.
Rufus’s glance bounced off my skin like pinpricks of fire that washed from my toes to forehead.
I did my best not to shiver.
I mostly succeeded.
“The amulet is supposed to help protect you if she’d actually cast the spell. I wasn’t taking precautions, not with Beverly. She was a powerful witch.”
“She was. I agree.”
Rufus traced a finger over the edge of the counter. He stopped when his gaze sharpened on the snake.
“You have her familiar.”
I sank onto a chair and pointed limply at the serpent. “Yes, the most sexist creature on the planet. Sylvester only offers information when there’s a man around.”
Rufus chuckled. “Beverly must’ve screwed
him up good.”
“So it would seem.”
Sylvester waved his head side to side as if the snake was attempting to put one of us in a trance.
I know him. He knew Beverly. He helped her.
My gaze darted to Rufus. “The serpent knows you.”
Rufus nodded. “I’m sure it does.” He walked around the cage and studied the snake. “What did it say?”
I focused on the snake. How did he help Beverly?
Ask him.
I rolled my eyes. “He says I’m supposed to ask you how you helped Beverly?” I folded my arms and sank back. “I get the feeling I’m not going to like this answer.”
His expression sagged. “How much do you know about Beverly?”
“She gave fake readings so that innocent people would pay her more money to change their futures.”
He released a low whistle. “You know your stuff.”
“It’s true, isn’t it?”
The cold flash that filled his eyes sent a shock down my spine.
“It is true.” My voice sharpened. Something in me broke as I realized Rufus had used his power for darkness.
“You know I was a different person years ago.” Rufus’s voice almost pleaded with me. “I knew Beverly. We had an intimate relationship, and yes, I knew what she did. Did I try to stop her? No. I didn’t. Pepper, you know I’m not perfect.”
“I know that. What I don’t understand is what you want from me.”
He stiffened. Rufus’s fists tightened. “I only want to be your friend.”
“That’s bull and you know it.”
He shook his head and glanced out the window. “And what if I did want more? It doesn’t matter, does it? I’ve been a bad person, Pepper. I have penance to pay. A big one. I’m doing my best to live in a good manner. I gave you the amulet, yes, for your protection. But not for anything else.”
My voice hardened. “You were only trying to help me?”
He flinched. “Yes. Only trying to keep you safe.”
“From what?”
“From someone like me,” he snapped.
The room stilled. The tension between us sharpened. I could almost reach out and touch it. Anger fell off Rufus in waves.
I grimaced. “I pushed you to say that. I’m sorry.”
“Why? For making me admit what I am? An evil person on the mend. If it’s even possible for me to mend. I doubt it is.”
“Of course it is. You can be more. Be better. I believe in you.”
My heart cracked for Rufus. He wanted to be better. I believed that lived inside him.
His lips curled. “You believe in me. You’re one of the few who does. And the wolf? Does he believe in me?”
“He doesn’t believe you should give me protection amulets.”
Rufus roared with laughter. “Of course not. He’s an animal, and animals have primal instincts when it comes to the ones they love. Don’t they?”
My breath caught in my throat. Rufus studied me as if he could read all my intimate thoughts—what Axel had told me about our future.
I shook my head. I didn’t want Rufus to know any more about my relationship with Axel than necessary.
Time for a subject change. “Have you ever heard that the Craple family owns secret knowledge regarding witches and humans?”
His eyebrow hitched. “I have. Most of the town has, but I don’t know anyone who believes it.”
“Gilda Goldenheart is apparently spouting that we have it. Betty and my cousins don’t know anything.”
He rubbed his lip. “Deidre Tipple at the school may know. She studies genealogy and might have a clue about your ancestors. That’s where I’d check.”
“Thank you. I hadn’t thought of her.”
“You’re welcome.”
An awkward silence blanketed the room until Rufus broke it. “It was nice seeing you, Pepper.”
“Same here.”
He opened his arms and smiled. “You don’t have to say that.”
“I meant it.”
He turned to leave.
“Rufus?”
“Yes?” He turned around slowly and waited.
“The other day when Beverly tried to use her divination powder on me, you don’t think she really wanted to harm me, do you?”
A nervous giggle escaped my lips. It didn’t seem like Beverly would’ve done something horrible to me, not in front of so many people.
Rufus’s mouth tightened. “Oh yes, she very much would’ve hurt you. If I hadn’t stopped her, there’s no telling what she would’ve done.”
A stupid idea filled my head. “You don’t think she would’ve done serious damage, though, right?”
His mouth twitched. “Oh yes, she would have done irreparable damage. Beverly would’ve killed you if she could.”
My stomach lurched. Sweat sprouted from my palms. “Because I’m a half-breed?” That was ridiculous. And stupid. Very stupid.
“No, not because of that.” Rufus licked his lips. “Because of me. Because I protected you. She would’ve killed you to get to me.”
TWELVE
“I don’t know why I have to give a speech anyway,” Betty grumbled. “It’s not as if folks don’t already know me.”
I folded my arms. “And what’s their opinion of you? A short, bossy lady ready to hex anyone who says the wrong thing?”
“Who’s asking you?” she retaliated.
I chuckled and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. Oh, Betty. She was one in a billion.
My cousins and I were helping Betty with a bit of clothes shopping. Tonight the two mayoral candidates would be officially presented to the town.
I hadn’t followed up on what Rufus had said, that Deidre Tipple could help me with questions regarding the knowledge. Not yet at least. I wanted to see how things went tonight. If Gilda didn’t mention it, then I wouldn’t worry about it. If she did, well then I guess I’d be paying Deidre a visit.
My cousins and I had brought Betty to the most fashionable clothing store in town. Trust me, my grandmother needed all the help she could get. When she thought a velvet tracksuit with racing stripes was appropriate for the evening, the three of us decided this little trip was in order.
I turned to Cordelia. “So is Garrick making any leads on the Beverly murder?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“I gave him a really good tip the other day. About looking into some dealings Beverly had been involved in. Did Garrick do anything with that?”
Cordelia shot me a look full of pity. “We try not to discuss cases. You know? It makes it easier on our relationship. If all we talked about was his work, we’d quickly burn out. Besides, he can’t tell me anything about it. I’m not an officer.”
“That’s a moot point,” Betty shot from behind the curtain. “He should tell you everything so that we can be on top of things. After all, if I’m going to be mayor, I need to know the dish on this town. Everything, in fact.”
“Hmm.” My gaze fluttered around the shop. “There’s still something that bothers me.”
“What’s that?” Amelia bounded up holding a sequined blouse. She tossed it over the curtain. “Try this on.”
I sank onto the chair. “I haven’t spoken to Burt since I gave Garrick that information. Garrick seemed to think my source was unreliable, so I doubt he checked up on it.”
“Your source was a snake,” Cordelia said.
“One that was Beverly’s familiar.”
“Still. Snakes lie.” Amelia flashed a bright smile. “If you wish for me to make the snake tell the truth, I’m sure I can talk my dad into lifting the block on my genie powers.”
“No thanks,” I said quickly.
Cordelia and Amelia had recently discovered one-quarter genie blood pumped in their veins. They’d realized this when I made a wish and Amelia proceeded to royally screw it up.
Actually she’d screwed up every single wish I’d made in her presence, so my cousins’ fathers had decided it
best to chain their powers—at least until they had some schooling.
The curtain flew open. “Well? How do I look?”
I shot to my feet. “Perfect.”
Betty wore the red sequined blouse Amelia had tossed over and a black pencil skirt. She looked bright, colorful and beautiful.
“You should wear that outfit every day,” Amelia said.
“It’s pretty stunning,” Cordelia added. “You’ll certainly give Gilda Goldenheart a run for her money.”
“Not unless she’s wearing gold,” Betty mumbled.
As it turned out, Gilda did.
She wore gold from head to foot.
Betty gaped. “What’d she do, encrust herself in the stuff?”
I hinged her jaw shut with the tip of my finger. “It’s not nice to stare.”
“How can I help it? She looks like someone dipped her in 14-carat.”
Amelia laughed. “She does.”
Gilda Goldenheart stood on a raised platform in front of the courthouse. Her hair was died yellow blonde, and every bit of clothing she wore shimmered with a golden sheen.
I’m not joking. From the shoulder-padded jacket to her heeled pumps, Gilda was, in fact, gilded.
“Guess she’s trying to make a statement,” Cordelia said.
“Some statement.” Betty fisted her hands. “She’s not going to intimidate me. I’m going to march right up there and give the best darned speech of my life.”
I gently pushed her forward. “That’s the spirit. You go give Gilda some good old-fashioned Southern heck!”
Betty waddled up to the platform. The arrogant look she shot Gilda made me nearly burst into laughter.
Amelia draped her arms over Cordelia’s shoulders and mine. “Ladies, we are witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime event. Two old women who look more like they want to throw each other down WWF style than offer their platforms for mayor.”
Laughter spewed from Cordelia. I hugged my gut to keep it from hurting from my chuckles. Because what Amelia had said was absolutely true.
Gilda and Betty looked like they wanted to kill each other.
I swear they were half a moment away from circling each other to locate their opponent’s weaknesses.
I had to bite my lips to stop myself from laughing.
“My goodness, now this is the best display of fashion I’ve seen in ages.”