by R. E. Butler
Whoever it was, their days were numbered.
Chapter Twelve
Darla, mother to the king of the falcons, opened the refrigerator and looked at the contents. Behind her, Dretti methodically chopped vegetables for the stew that was going to cook all day. Because he was busy, she’d decided to cook for herself, her son, and his new mate.
Lifting a container of eggs, she tapped her manicured nails on the lid and then put them back and closed the door.
“Not enough?” Dretti asked.
She turned to the island where he worked. “I think I’d like to treat them to a quiche for lunch, made with wild hen eggs.”
“There aren’t any in the fridge.”
“I know, I’ll go fetch some.” She looked in one of the bottom cabinets and found a basket. “I won’t be long.”
“Good luck. Last time I looked for hen eggs, I had a devil of a time finding them.”
“Well, you don’t know where to look,” she said with a smile. “I know all the hiding spots because they’re Anders’ favorite.”
“And yours.”
“True. I’ll be back shortly. If my son and his mate venture down the stairs, tell them I’ll bring the food to them as soon as I’m done.”
“Will do.”
She left Dretti to his chopping and walked out the back door, hanging a left and following a path toward the woods.
* * *
Anders would’ve liked to stay in bed with Hadlee for...well, the rest of their lives. Or at least a few weeks. It was a crime that they had work to do and couldn’t simply stay snuggled up in each other’s arms and enjoy being mated.
But duty called. And more than duty was the fact that he was no closer to figuring out who had it in for him than he was when he’d started. Hadlee’s spell had failed, and while he didn’t blame her one iota, he’d been hopeful it would pinpoint the culprit. The problem was that they had literally nothing to go on. Everyone was accounted for, no one was pointing fingers, and Anders had concerns that it wasn’t just his own life on the line, but now Hadlee’s.
His sweetheart hummed and rubbed her cheek on his chest.
He stroked his fingers through her hair, the silky blonde tresses so soft and shiny. “Morning, beautiful.”
She made a sound that was similar to “morning,” and he smiled and wrapped a lock of her hair around his finger. She slid off him and rolled to her back, stretching with a squeak. Osiris hopped onto the bed with a meow and made his way between them, where he promptly sat in the crook of Anders’ arm and waited to be petted.
Hadlee swung around and crossed her legs, pulling the blanket across her lap. “Morning.”
He chuckled. “Did you sleep well?”
“Sort of. I kept thinking about how the spell didn’t work. What are we going to do?”
“Keep investigating and see what we can figure out. The culprit will reveal himself; we just have to be patient.”
“I hope he doesn’t reveal himself by trying to take you out again.”
“Me too. We’re being vigilant and cautious. Whoever he is, he’ll make a mistake and we’ll get him out of our lives.”
“I want that very much. I don’t like this hanging over us.”
He agreed one hundred percent. The question was...how the hell did they find out if someone had bad intentions when it was clear whoever it was somehow was shielding what they needed to see.
“I have an idea,” she said.
“I’m all ears.”
“Join me in the shower.” She wiggled her brows and smiled, then slid off the bed with a sultry wink.
He nearly fell out of the bed in his haste to join her.
“It’s the best idea you’ve had yet, Hadlee,” he said as he chased her into the bathroom, her giggle echoing in the bedroom.
“I’m full of good ideas, just wait and see.”
They sexed each other up good in the shower, narrowly getting frozen when the water started to turn cold just as they finished rinsing off.
In the kitchen, they heard from Dretti that his mother had gone hunting for wild hen eggs for brunch, so he and Hadlee helped themselves to coffee and sat in the nook to wait for her.
Neither of them talked much. He was really in his head, full of worried thoughts. Although the males who were guards for the nest were good at their jobs, it wasn’t as if they had any police detectives running around looking for clues. He’d never had someone want him dead before, and it was unnerving that he had no real idea how to find the culprit. So what was he going to do?
“I think we should invite Venice to the island to help,” Hadlee said.
Anders blinked a few times, trying to bring his brain back online to what she’d said. Had she been talking and he’d zoned out entirely? Venice...he was the fallen angel in Sable Cove. And a police officer.
“Is he particularly good at figuring out mysteries?”
“Well, he’s better than humans because he’s more in tune with supernatural things. But I was also thinking about bringing in my friends too. And Mother Gibson.”
“Who is Mother Gibson?”
“She’s a witch who lives in Sable Cove. She’s not part of our coven, but if we need a fourth for solstice or equinox celebrations or for big spells, she always steps in.”
He leaned back in the chair and looked out at the sparkling water. “If you believe they can help, then by all means please invite them here. I can get you the coordinates for their GPS so they can get here safely.”
“That would be great.”
She put her hand on his. “I know you can keep me safe, Anders. I don’t want you to think that me calling in help is about anything but finding out who tried to kill you before they try to take another shot at it.”
“My ego is not so fragile that I can’t see the benefit of magic and trained people taking a look at the situation.”
“Good. I...” She sighed. “I’m crazy about you. It’s been two days and I can’t imagine my life without you in it. But the reason we met is because someone wanted you out of the picture, and I feel it way deep in my bones that they’re not going to give up. Whoever he or she is, they’re going to make another attempt, I’m sure of it. My friends, my coven, your people—I believe that all of us together can ferret out the culprit and we’ll be able to get rid of them for good.”
He nodded and turned his hand so he could link their fingers. “We don’t have much crime here on the island, so we don’t have a police force to speak of. We have guards who patrol, but we don’t really look inward for bad guys. We watch the coast to make sure no one with bad intentions can get to us. That someone in our nest wants to usurp the kingship from me isn’t just upsetting, it’s dangerous. The nest was founded on the integrity of passing the mantel of kingship from father to son. Whoever wants the crown has to kill me to take it since I don’t have an heir, which means they’re trying to leapfrog over the traditions and laws of our people.”
Hadlee chewed her bottom lip. “I feel like my eyes are covered and I can’t see something that’s right in front of me.”
“Me too. But we will get to the bottom of it, one way or another, and we’ll both keep each other safe.”
“One hundred percent.”
He finished his coffee. “Mom’s not back yet, but I need to meet with Phoenix and Westlan in the office. You can call your friends and we’ll eat after Mom gets back.”
“I’ll catch up with you when I’m done,” she said.
They parted ways after a long kiss, and he was tempted to tell her on the spot that he loved her. He thought he’d actually woken up from nearly-dying loving her, like the I-love-yous had been something his brain and heart had known from the second he woke up with her. They were physically mated, but they weren’t mated in the eyes of their people yet, and she hadn’t taken the crown either. It wasn’t that those things mattered, because the only thing that mattered to him was that she was his mate and his entire world. But he wanted her to belong to him in every
way, and for him to belong to her too, and that meant the ceremonies planned for Friday. The dual mating and coronation, when she’d become his mate in truth and his queen.
But first, he had to take care of the pesky issue of finding out who wanted to kill him.
No problem.
Chapter Thirteen
Note to self: A walk on the beach is good for the soul…unless someone is trying to kill you.
“I can bring Mother Gibson and Venice with me,” Kinsley said after she’d heard the situation that Hadlee was dealing with. “But Delaney and Brody can’t come until sunset. And what about Cassian and Zia?”
Hadlee was on the balcony with Osiris at her feet, lounging in a shaft of morning sunlight. Down on the first floor, Anders was meeting with his two closest friends, but she honestly felt like they were all running in circles.
“Hello? Are you there?”
“Oh, sorry,” Hadlee said. “I’m just frustrated and zoned out.”
“No problem.” She repeated herself and then said, “What do you think?”
“I’m not sure we need Cassian and Zia. But if Delaney and Brody can get here as soon as they’re able tonight, we can call the corners.”
“You’re sure he was cursed?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Then why can’t you see who has a bad aura? If one of the people on the island is trying to kill Anders, their aura should be a hundred shades of red, brown, and black, just icky evil all the way to the center.”
“I know. I just don’t know enough about curses to know what I’m dealing with.”
“Mother Gibson does. She freelanced for the Convention.”
The Convention was the ruling body of North American witches and warlocks. When Hadlee and her friends had bound a dangerous warlock for trying to kill that poor little kitten, the Convention had picked him up. They handled dealing with punishments related to the laws of their kind. That male would be spending the rest of his life in a magical prison, stripped of his powers and unable to harm anyone ever again.
“I didn’t know that,” Hadlee said.
“Yeah, so she knows about bad people. I’m just wondering...”
“What?” she prompted when Kinsley didn’t finish her sentence.
“If the curse is somehow self-contained.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like once the curse was cast and did its job, if it was magically programmed to erase all evidence of itself. Like a computer hard drive being wiped after a virus attack.”
Hadlee turned and leaned against the cool stone railing, facing the master suite where Anders had rocked her world in more ways than one. Her heart fluttered at the thought of him. How anyone could want him dead was baffling.
“Where does someone even find out information about curses? Is there some kind of guide to dark magic, like ‘Dark Magic for Dummies?’”
Kinsley snorted. “If only it were that simple. I remember my grandma talking about dark magic. She said it was designed to conceal itself, which is what made it so dangerous.”
“Why were you and your grandma talking about dark magic?”
“We used to have some wild conversations. I think we got on the topic because I was asking about using powers to do things that were against nature, like bringing someone back from the dead. When you trifle with that kind of thing, the magic goes from light to dark pretty quick. She told me that warlocks are more apt to dabble with dark magic than witches, but there are witches who’ve gone dark for one reason or another, although I think it’s usually the top three reasons.”
“I’m lost. What top three reasons?”
“The top three reasons for doing anything that might be considered dark: sex, power, and money. People will go to crazy lengths to secure any one of those things, including killing people. Think about it: why take out your mate? Because whoever is after him wants something Anders has. The attempt on his life was before he met you, so it’s safe to say this loon isn’t trying to take you as a mate. Which leaves money and power. The nest is pretty self-sufficient from what you said, so money wouldn’t be a driving force either.”
“And that leaves power.”
“Right. What’s the old saying? Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Her mind flitted to Lars, who gave her a case of the heebies whenever she saw him. But his aura was good.
Or was it?
“I need to go for a walk and think,” Hadlee said.
“I wish I was there right now to walk with you.”
Hadlee often walked around Sable Cove if she needed to puzzle something out, like some code for the rescue’s website or a spell to cast. Walking helped clear her mind of anything that might be holding her back from getting what she needed.
“I wish you were here too.”
“Well, we’ll be there soon enough. I’m going to get in touch with everyone and I’ll keep you posted on our timeline, but rest assured I’m going to try to get at least me, Mother Gibson, and Venice to you as soon as possible. Delaney and Brody will have to wait until after sunset since he can’t be out in the daytime.”
Having a vampire mate would suck if you needed to be outside during the daytime hours. But of course, Delaney had found her Mr. Right and didn’t care one iota that she was a day sleeper now.
Hadlee wouldn’t either, actually. If Anders couldn’t be outside during the day, she’d gladly stay with him and go out at night. You just did whatever you needed to for the male who held your heart.
And he totally did. She very much wanted to tell him that over coffee—that he was hers and she was his, and she loved him. Even though it had only been two days, it felt like an eternity, like she’d known him her whole life and had loved him from the moment she laid eyes on him. Which was completely romance-novel-heroine level type of love. Because they were mates, supernaturally right for each other, she knew the fast emotional connection she had with him was based on that.
“Keep me posted on your trip,” Hadlee said. “And for gracious sake be careful.”
“I will, babe, trust me. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
She ended the call and looked down at Osiris, whose fur was sparkling in the sunlight. She reached down and lifted him into her arms, his fur warm from the sun. “Let’s go for a walk, kits.”
He purred a question at her and butted his head under her chin. “Yeah, I just need a walk. But Anders won’t want me to go far, so let’s just go down to the beach so we’ll be close to the house.”
He meowed and then purred even louder, his paws kneading her forearm. She made her way downstairs, stopping at the door to Anders’ office. She heard a conversation between him and his friends so decided not to disturb him. She wasn’t going far, anyway.
She passed by the kitchen and saw Dretti stirring a large pot. “It smells amazing in here.”
“Thank you, my lady.”
She picked a handful of blueberries from a bowl on the counter and ate a few. “Darla’s not back yet?”
“No. If you’re hungry I can make you something.”
“I’m good with some fruit while we wait. She’s going to so much trouble for the eggs, I don’t mind waiting. I’m going for a walk on the beach. Anders is busy, so would you let him know when he’s done with his meeting?”
“Of course. Be safe.”
“Will do.”
Hadlee walked out the back door and set Osiris down. She made her way through the manicured lawn to the edge of the yard, where a small one-foot drop ended on the sand in one of the wider stretches of beach. Leaving her sandals on the grass, she hopped down, skidding a little bit as she landed, but righting herself so she didn’t go ass over tea kettle into the sand. Osiris leaped down and joined her as she started her walk. She’d be sure to keep the mansion in sight.
Dropping her head to her chest, she took a deep inhale of the salt air and let it saturate her entire being, and then she rolled her neck and exhaled. She popped the rest of the blueberri
es into her mouth and then said, “Let’s figure this shit out.”
* * *
“Well dang it,” Darla muttered as she lifted the broad leaves covering a wild hen nest. Empty. Just like the other three. Sitting back on her heels, she thought back to the other locations she could try for hen eggs. It was a surprise to see the nests so empty, but then again, the birds may have just moved their nests and these were old and unused. Wild hens usually came to the same nests every time, but they could move them if they were threatened and the area suddenly became unsafe. One thing they didn’t do was build nests in the trees because they were unable to fly.
She would love to catch a few hens and build a coop for them, but then their eggs would never taste as good as the wild ones.
Rising to her feet, she stretched out a kink in her back and picked up the empty basket. There were a few more places she could look for the eggs, she just had to get her bearings. She pulled out her cell phone and used a compass app to point her in a western direction and headed deeper into the small patch of woods. She heard a voice and she froze, putting her hand on a thick tree trunk to steady herself.
Who was that talking? Oh, it was Lars. But what was he doing in the woods?
She leaned around the tree and looked for movement, using her enhanced senses to pick up the voice again. She moved from one tree to another and then a third, before she saw a flash of dark clothing and heard another voice.
It was Rumi, one of Lars’ friends.
“Anders is proving difficult,” Rumi said.
“Indeed,” Lars said. “And the witch is a complication I hadn’t counted on.”
There was a pause and Darla held her breath. Her son was difficult how? And how did Hadlee complicate things? And just what things was she complicating?
“I think the answer is clear. We take out the witch first.”
“But how?” Rumi asked.
Lars made an impatient sound. “We’ll knock her out and toss her body in the water. She’ll drown and it will look like an accident. Then we’ll strike Anders when he’s cowed with grief.”