by Lauren Dane
She snuggled in, hugging him tight. “Did you have fun fighting evil today?” she asked as he put her away from himself and kissed the top of her head.
“The usual Collins/Hill Days stuff. Vandalism of the toilet paper and egg variety. Maisie Ephram made me hot chocolate that she served with a huge slice of apple pie when I found her ratty ass dog once again. So that happened, which puts me in the win column for the day anyway. And now I’m here with you, which means I’m definitely winning.”
She paused in her food prep, laying her things down. Making her way back to him, she tiptoed up to kiss his lips. “You’re being very sweet. Thank you.”
“Sweet? Ha. I sit here and watch you whip up scratch biscuits you’ll make to go on a dinner you’ve been planning all day. For me. I’d be a monster not to be sweet for that.”
“Still. I think Maisie is gunning for a win in the apple pie category at the contest on Founder’s Day. How’s she doing? I just had a slice of my mom’s—with a lattice top and crystallized sugar.”
“Too much nutmeg for me. But it’s a slice of pie and hot chocolate on a day I got yelled at by a bunch of grumpy old guys upset over the usual shit I can’t do anything about like leaves blowing off trees when it’s windy.”
She pulled a beer out, cracking it open and handing it over. “You’re home now. Eat something warm. Hang out with your super hot girlfriend. Forget about grumpy old men for the night.”
As she dropped dollops of the dough on top of the chicken she looked up a moment with a teasing light in her eyes. “I only want to think about one young grumpy guy.”
“I’m not grumpy. I’m efficient.”
“You sure are.” She gave him a cheerful smile.
“It’s two months today since I kissed you the first time. Well the first time since you’d moved back home. It’s been sort of crazy, but you, you’re everything good.”
Katie Faith tossed herself at him. Laughing, full of love, he caught her, holding her against him as she dropped kisses all over his face.
“I love you. Grump and all. I see through all that curmudgeonly attitude anyway. You have a soft chewy center.”
“You say the weirdest shit, Katie Faith.”
“I’m unique. You’re efficient. We’re perfect for each other.”
Sweet Jesus, they were.
“Something like that. I’ve never done a Samhain celebration before. I mean of course we did them in school and I’ve seen the basics. But I want to do this right. What do I do?”
“You want to? Oh. Wow. Well, yes I’d like that. You there with me. We do different rituals and events over the four days before Samhain but you don’t have to do them all. Friday night after work I was going to make an ancestor’s altar. Just a way to celebrate those who came before. If you want, you can add your mom.”
Jace liked the idea of that. He looked over to where he thought her altar already was. “That’s an altar there, right?”
He didn’t know as much as he should have about her magic. He wanted more of her.
“Yes, that’s an altar. It keeps me centered. Helps me remember to be mindful of what I am. To use my magic wisely and with respect to those who came before. When I was like six or seven, I had trouble focusing enough to use my magic. It felt like a sneeze that didn’t quite happen. But all the time. My magic was right there, I just didn’t have the ability to shape and own my intent enough to use it.”
He bet she hated not being good at something. Witches were very competitive and six or seven was late not to have control.
“My Grandma Opal came over after church one Sunday and she took me outside to find the materials for what turned out to be my first altar.” She picked up a river rock, smooth and dark with flecks of gray. “This rock.” She put it back on a pretty scarf she’d draped over a table in her living room. With a flick of her wrist, she indicated a smooth disk of wood some small candles, a silver figurine and some acorns lay. “And that piece of wood is what’s left. I’ve built it, changed it, added or removed things over time as I need to. But what she taught me then, and what I do today, is that focus and intent take mindfulness. Control and respect for the power Diablo Lake gives to her witches. I didn’t get it at first. But after about two months I figured it out.”
So fascinating. He took her hand and kissed her wrist, pleased at the way her pulse jumped against his lips. “I bet you did it that first time ’cause you got mad the others were better than you at it.”
Her grin told him he’d been right.
“It wasn’t that I needed to be the best. There are witches here in Diablo Lake who are far, far stronger than I am. But I just couldn’t tolerate Missy Shacklee being able to do something I hadn’t managed.”
Wisely, he kept his smile mild instead of the laugh threatening his belly.
“Anyway, I write in my journal here. Do my working and spellcasting here as well. The ancestor’s altar I planned to put over in that corner. It’ll be part of my Samhain altar. I’ll put pictures of people who’ve passed. My Grandma Opal, for instance.” A sad smile touched her lips a moment. “My cousin Lorie. You remember her? She got killed in a rollover accident three years ago now.”
“I do remember her.” He pressed a kiss to Katie Faith’s forehead. “So the key is to find something that I could put here that would be a way to think about my mom?”
“Yes. Or some forebear who paved the way. You can have more than one. There’s power in ritual. I’m as Protestant as you are, right? But when we sing together in church, or when we pray we engage in ritual. Ritual is a form of memorization. Intense focus.” She blushed.
“Are you embarrassed?”
“I guess I’ve never really described it to anyone else before. It sounds weird to an outsider, probably.”
“To the guy who transforms into a giant wolf at will? Really?”
She smiled again.
“I think what you just described sounds beautiful. It makes sense. I never thought of it that way, but yeah, it makes sense. Thank you for sharing your world with me.”
“Samhain is a very contemplative time. A lot of people I know do their own rituals and remembrances as well as the ones all the witches in town do together. We do stuff with everyone else in town on Halloween. But the night before that, we do a walk to the graveyard. On the way back we gather up a bunch of leaves, berries and the like to make the decorations for the big feast on Samhain night.”
“You do a bonfire too, right?”
“I should have known you’d notice fire. Boys.”
He set the table, ignoring her tease. Mainly because she was right. He loved to watch a Samhain bonfire but he’d done so from afar, never really having the reason to be part of the celebration itself.
“Yes there’s a bonfire. Then after that, a huge community dinner Miz Rose hosts at her house every year.”
“I’d heard...well, you use game when you can. Right?”
She nodded as she spooned up dinner on plates he then carted to the table.
“Not everyone does I wager, but yes. Being out here it’s easy enough to have the stew be venison. Or to have wild turkey instead of store-bought. Samhain feast food is comfort, stick to your ribs stuff.”
“I’d like to contribute. To hunt and bring you the deer and turkey.”
“You...you would?” Tears sprang to her eyes and he struggled to figure out if it was good or bad.
“I’m a werewolf. I never use store-bought turkey.” He snorted at the very idea. “Did Darrell bring you store-bought turkey?”
She curled her lip as she peppered her dinner. “Darrell never came to any of our Samhain rituals. Said it made him uncomfortable. I wasn’t going to force him. That’s entirely not the point.”
“He never did? Even when you were going to get married?” Darrell was so relentlessly
a shitass.
“Scarlett thinks it’s of the devil. Pastor Tomkins disagrees with her on that point, but whatever. Scarlett’s perspective on God is none of my business. I wish she’d keep it that way instead of screaming it in everyone’s face.”
Jace withheld a growl. “Well, I’ll be with you and I’ll be bringing you the meat already dressed and cleaned for the feast. And maybe a picture of my mom for the altar.”
“I’d like that. Thank you. It means a lot that you want to know this part of me. To share it. It’s a time of reflection for us. Contemplation is a major factor for me. And the more I think about my life, the more grateful for you I am.”
“Now who’s being sweet? Damn.” He pointed his fork at the chicken and biscuits on his plate. “This is so good. I needed something like this after the last few weeks.”
“I like taking care of you, goofball.”
“I like being taken care of.” He breathed out carefully. “I’m having coffee with Mac tomorrow.”
“It’s about time.”
“It’s been best to let it lie a bit. Now that things have calmed back from boiling over, we can see what’s what.”
“Weren’t you guys friends? Back in the day I mean,” she said.
“He was two years ahead of me in school but we ran in the same circle at times. I played football, but I wasn’t a star like he was. Or like Darrell had been. Still, he was a good guy. I hope he still is. I’ve never had any trouble with him and I’d like to keep it that way. I imagine he’s got enough of his own problems to keep him busy enough from borrowing mine.”
“From your lips to God’s ears. By the way, your grandmother said something about a Halloween dinner? I’m to bring macaroni and cheese. Which I took as a compliment because of its relative importance on every southern table.”
“She mentioned the pumpkin bread you made. You impressed her. Not that I’m surprised because you’re very impressive.” He didn’t tell her the dinner was for all the wolves in town, as well as the cats and they had it at the grange. There’d be at least five different macaroni and cheeses there, but if his grandma told her to do it, she had a reason. She always did.
“The kids go out to trick or treat and when they get back, we have the dinner, which takes a few hours and will be many courses. After that you can head out. There’s a big run so you’re not going to want to stick around for that part.”
“Okay. I’ll make plans to meet up with my friends after dinner while you’re four legged, eating bugs and stuff.”
“I don’t eat bugs. I eat rabbit and small game mostly, though this time of year I might take down a deer. Since I need something for Samhain, I might hunt for you that night.”
“I’m all for skipping the part where you bring down a full-size deer with your teeth if it’s all the same. Of course I’m sure it’s quite impressive, but ew.”
He laughed. “All right then.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The next week went by in a blur of activity. Samhain preparations and celebrations as well as the same for Halloween and Collins/Hill Days had overtaken the town.
Katie Faith was glad of it. The more time she spent planning, decorating, working and being with her family and Jace, the less time she had to be nervous about Halloween dinner with the Dooleys.
She’d made four different types of macaroni and cheese that week, scoring each. She made the winner late that afternoon once she’d closed up over at the Counter so she hoped it was as good as it looked.
Out front of the mercantile, Damon and Major had turned the lawn into a spooky maze to the candy bowl where Patty and JJ handed out caramel and candy apples, along with popcorn balls to all the kids in town.
Trick or treating was usually over by seven or so, which was when people began to pour over to the grange. Cats and wolves carrying platters, bowls and all types of food and drink headed inside.
She watched from his window as she waited for Jace to hurry his butt up.
“Calm down, darlin’. We won’t be considered late for another hour. We have plenty of time,” he said as he came in from the bedroom.
“This is my first big thing with your family. And I seem to notice a lot of shifters going in that building. If I didn’t already know from Patty that this was an all shifter event I might be annoyed with you for not telling me.”
“I didn’t want you to be nervous.” He took the box with the food inside, picking it up easily as they headed out. “You’re going to be fine. Everyone already knows you.”
“Some of them even like me.”
She linked her arm with his as they got to the street.
“Most of them I bet. And the ones who don’t, we don’t care about.”
He really was the best thing ever.
Inside was a swirl of feral magic. Cats and wolves, sleek and fierce as they broke bread, their kids running all over the place as adults kept an eye on them, keeping them out of harm’s way.
“It’s impressive to see how many shifters there truly are in this town when they’re all in one place,” she told him as they made their way over to the cluster of tables the Dooleys had taken over.
Plenty of folks called out their hellos as she and Jace passed. It made her feel welcome, which took the edge off. She’d known these people all her life. She had no call to feel like a stranger, but she had when she’d walked in and everyone had stared for several long uncomfortable moments.
But she’d survived their little test and it was time for some serious eating. “Man, it smells so good in here.”
“The elders from each pack or family show up at dawn to start preparing the meat for cooking. They have special recipes they guard with threats of violence,” Damon told her as they sat down. “You’ll know why when you try that boar Joey Cuthbert has been cooking all day.”
Shifters didn’t mess around with burgers and steaks for their feasts. No. They had to have boar like showoffs. Still, it smelled pretty freaking fantastic when the first platters of it made their way through the crowd and to the tables followed by trout, turkey and what seemed like an endless parade of sausage.
Each dish had its own flair. Salty sweet, tangy, spicy hot and each came with a wave of sides. Not everything was a winner or to her taste though.
Her mac and cheese got served up with some jacked up mess of squirrel someone had made. But then, because people were avoiding squirrel with prunes and pineapple, the contrast with her macaroni and cheese meant everyone loved it and couldn’t get enough. Mainly because they were hungry, but whatever, Katie Faith would take the impression she left.
She’d definitely need to thank Patty, who had maneuvered this moment for Katie Faith to shine. It was simple. Nothing about it ruffled feathers but it definitely was a positive thing.
It had been sort of easy to assume Patty was good at running a household but it was JJ who handled all the politics of running a pack. But the longer Katie Faith knew Jace’s grandmother, the more she realized Patty was a clever tactician in her own right.
Boy, that was embarrassing. But she knew better now than to underestimate someone at first glance.
Though the hall was full to bursting with shifters, there were a fair number of witches in attendance too, including several of the children running around. One of her second cousins was married to a Pembry and had two kids, one witch and one wolf. It was a nice symmetry. One she’d not given a lot of thought to, really. She did want kids and she’d happily take what she got because she and Jace were going to make some cute children no matter if they turned furry at will or could wield magic.
But seeing all that love, all that life across many generations made her feel, well, so very satisfied with her life. She’d made some dumb choices, had taken a few lumps and now she was part of this wonderful community.
Damon tossed a roll past her
face to Jace, who caught it in a quick movement. She and Patty gave them a look they both ignored.
The Pembry section was across the large room, but right in their line of sight. Aside from a few dark looks, it was all smiles and laughter.
At one point though, she realized that whatever Josiah had done, he’d done it to this community. What must it be like for the wolves who loved whoever he’d hurt? To not be able to speak of their own tragedy would be its own kind of punishment, wouldn’t it?
Feeling the need, she leaned her head on Jace’s shoulder. He put an arm around the back of her chair, holding her close as he continued to listen to some story Damon told.
Major smiled at her from his place across the table. It was so very nice to belong here. She’d protect them, she realized. At Jace’s side, she would protect what they had here. The community and connection.
The men cleaned up because it had been the women who’d served and done most of the cooking. Jace walked her over to Aimee’s house, just the two of them under what was a very full moon.
“I had a really good time tonight. Thank you for including me,” she told him as they paused at Aimee’s front gate.
“Thank you for including yourself. For jumping in the way you have. They’re your family too, now.” He kissed her long and slow as the moon’s magic lit against his skin.
“I’ll head over when we’re finished with our run. All right?” he asked, his lips against hers.
“You can text first if you like. Save yourself a trip over if I’ve already gone home.”
“I don’t take my phone with me when I’m wolf. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
He was going to do whatever he wanted to so she just let it go. “Have fun. I hope you find a nice fat deer for me to cook with tomorrow. Oh and I love you. Don’t look at any of the pretty wolves out there with you.”
He growled, swooping her up in his arms to kiss her again. “Tell me again.”
“Not to look at butts?” she teased, knowing what he wanted to hear.
He nipped her bottom lip hard enough to sting.