A Shifter's Fevered Heart (Distant Edge Romance Book 3)

by Chloe Adler

  I took his face in my hands. “No, that sounds thoughtful and kind.” I looked back at Burgundy, who had gotten into the car and was now checking her phone, giving us a minute alone. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you the thought of you out there with those crazies worries me, though. A lot.”

  “Can’t let them intimidate us,” Alec said, his eyes holding mine.

  “You’re right, of course. Here.” I handed Rex’s leash to him. “If you take Rex with you, I’ll let you go.” I flashed him a smile. He threw his arms around me and pulled me in for a very long, deep kiss. I ran my tongue along the inside of his warm mouth, not wanting to let him go. His hands moved down, squeezing my butt.

  There was a loud car honk and Burgundy yelled out her window. “Get a room!”

  We stepped apart, grinning like idiots. “Here’s the list of his commands.” I removed the folded sheet from my pocket and handed it to Alec, then bent down to talk to Rex.

  “Hey, buddy, you’re going to go with Alec for a little while. Be a good boy.” Rex wagged his tail in response and pressed his cold nose into my hand.

  “Meet us at the Casa later?”

  “Only if you’ll do me a favor,” said Alec.

  “Of course.”

  “You won’t clean up anything until I’m there. We’ll do it together. Okay?”

  “Well, in that case, I’ll wait at Sadie’s until I hear from you.”

  “Sounds great.” He leaned in and pecked me on the lips, turning to go.

  “Want a ride?” I asked.

  “Nah, it’s not that far and it’ll be good for Rex to walk.”

  “See you later, lover boy.” I patted his ass.

  Alec rolled his eyes at me over his shoulder as he pranced off.

  Burgundy pulled up. “Where’s he going?”

  “Wants to help clean up the circus.”

  “Well, isn’t that sweet of him.” Her eyes narrowed slightly but she didn’t say anything else.

  Always protective, that one. “Let’s get to Sadie’s. He’ll meet us at home later.”

  Burgundy drove there in virtual silence. Our friendship was so strong that we didn’t have to talk and it suited me fine. I was too busy mulling things over. All of this drama had taken me out of myself. Out of focusing on what I wanted in my life, which was not to be a bartender anymore, but then what? What could I possibly do? I had zero skills.

  “You’re scowling over there,” said Burgundy. “What’s up? Worried about Iphi? The Trackers?”

  “Yes, but worrying doesn’t solve problems.” I turned to her. “I’m really not happy working at the V anymore.”

  “I gathered.” She reached out and pet the back of my head. “So quit. You know you can have free rent for as long as you need. Just take some time to find yourself. You’ve been working there since you were eighteen.” She shrugged.

  She was the most self-assured woman I knew. Of course it helped that she was forty-something and financially secure. She earned a nice wage stripping at the club, usually about six hundred a night, sometimes more, which she dumped into her savings account. And being an uber-rich lawyer, her father had bought her Casa Mañana with cash. Even though no one knew Burgundy’s exact age—she refused to tell any of us—she didn’t look a day over twenty-five. Shifters aged like humans, but for the rest of the Signum—the witches and the vampires—it was like the opposite of dog years. Every ten of theirs was like one of ours.

  We pulled up in front of Sadie’s house and parked. The beachy cottage garnered a wide front porch that Sadie had adorned with patio furniture. We all loved sitting outside in the warm summer months.

  Their front door was open and I had a momentary jolt of panic as I pushed inside. “Sadie? Ryder?”

  “In here,” Sadie called from the kitchen. “Sorry, we just got home ourselves. We were with Iphi at the hospital.”

  “How is she?”

  “She’s in great spirits, considering. I swear there could be a nuclear holocaust and that girl wouldn’t miss a beat.”

  “I wish we could bottle her enthusiasm,” said Ryder. “We’d make a fortune.”

  “Did you see Aurelia?” asked Burgundy, entering the kitchen behind me.

  “No. Chrys and Carter were there but I needed to get them out before she arrived. She’s still not speaking to Chrys. Acting like she only has two daughters.”

  “Wow, it’s been, what, six months, and she’s still holding a grudge?”

  “Seven, actually. But you know my mother. Once you turn her into a frog, there’s really no going back.”

  “Where are Chrys and Carter anyway?” I asked.

  “They went back to the docks to spend time with Alistair and Julian,” said Ryder.

  “Go sit in the living room with Ryder. Burgundy and I will make you two some tea,” Sadie said.

  “Sounds great.”

  Ryder and I retreated to their living room. I loved Sadie’s modern, uncluttered style, which mixed well with Ryder’s Caribbean influence. A lovely glass table sat between the couches, which were flanked with modern white end tables sporting boho metal lights with colorful shades.

  We sat across from one another on their tufted cyan daybeds.

  “So what’s up, man?” Ryder asked me.

  “Well, let’s see.” I held out my hand and counted off my fingers. “In the last twenty-four hours, our house was trashed by Trackers, you bought us an awesome new dog, I spent a delicious night of sin with a disinherited stud, my sister who I hadn’t seen in six years vanished again, and Iphigenia almost died at the hands of yet more Trackers. I think that’s it.”

  “That’s a lot.” Ryder crossed over, sitting down on the couch and putting his arm around me. I leaned into him and we sat like that until Burgundy and Sadie returned with our tea.

  They sat together on the couch across from us.

  “So, Jared,” Sadie said, looking at me rather intently.

  “Sadie,” I responded.

  “Burgundy tells me you’re not happy bartending anymore.”

  “This is true but I’m not going to just quit without finding something else first.” I looked over at Burg and shrugged. “I can’t do that. It’s not me.”

  She nodded, her eyes soft.

  “Well I know you’re good with your hands,” Sadie said, smiling. Ah, sexual innuendos.

  “I’m not going to jack guys off for money, Sadie,” I snorted.

  “While the thought of that is extremely hot, that’s not what I had in mind.”

  I pulled my head off Ryder’s shoulder and looked at her.

  “Sadie started her new business,” said Ryder.

  “And I already have three clients. So I need to hire employees.”

  I gasped.

  “You wouldn’t officially be an employee, I’d have to 1099 you so you’d be a freelancer. You’d also have to take a pay cut.” She was not wrong—bartending at Benedict’s was darn lucrative for an hourly gig. She held up her hands in apology. “I’m already borrowing from Burgundy to set everything up legally, and for the marketing and advertising budget, so I can’t pay more than the going rate. But it’ll give you something to do while you figure out your next move.”

  “Sadie . . .” I got up and threw myself on her, knocking her back against the couch and smooching her all over her face.

  “I guess that’s a yes?” Burgundy said with a tinkle of laughter.

  “There’s quite a bit of manual labor involved because we are landscaping, but two of the jobs are more straight gardening,” Sadie said between my head and shoulder.

  “I’ll take it, but you have to promise not to use my nickname on the job.”

  “Promise.” She giggled and held three fingers up next to her face.

  I kissed her full on the lips before jumping off. Then I kissed Burgundy and Ryder as if I were an equal-opportunity smacker. I really only smooched on the girls so I could kiss Ryder but they didn’t have to know that.

  Chapter Twelve
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br />   Sadie was making us all an early dinner when Alec texted.

  “Invite him over,” Sadie said. She had changed a lot in the past year. Not only was she much more approachable and open, Ryder was teaching her how to cook.

  “Did you try calling Benedict?” I asked my roommate, who was frowning at her phone.

  “I’m going to try him now. Be right back.”

  I set the table in the kitchen for five with Ryder’s help. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang and I ran to answer it.

  Alec stood on the stoop, holding a summer bouquet of wildflowers in one hand and Rex’s leash in the other. “These are for the lady of the house.” A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

  “Very thoughtful.” I pulled him into a tight embrace, taking Rex’s leash from him. “She’s in the kitchen. I’m going to check on Burgundy.”

  “Oh she’s over on the side of the house, in a hammock, talking on the phone.” Alec pointed to his left. I cupped his butt a moment before he walked into the house, earning me a lopsided grin.

  I rounded the corner with Rex to find Burgundy swinging in Sadie’s new double hammock. Ryder had installed it between their two sycamore trees. She was listening and shaking her head. When we came into view, she threw her legs over the side, bent to scratch Rex’s head and then rolled her eyes at me, mouthing, Not good.

  “Hold on a sec,” she said into the phone and then held it away and whispered, “Aurelia insisted on pressing the aggravated assault charges.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Of course she did,” I said quietly. “I’ll meet you back inside when you’re done, no hurry.”

  Alec was in the kitchen when I got back, arranging the flowers in the center of the table.

  Sadie looked up at me and smiled. “Look what Alec brought. So lovely.”

  “Yes, he is.” I crossed over to him and took him in my arms, meeting his lips with mine.

  Sadie squealed happily and then went back to arranging the delicious food Ryder had made for us on contrasting matte plates. How he’d managed to whip up poyha in an hour I’d never know. Ryder often cooked delectable Native American food. His stepmother, Katharine, was a Native American and his guide. It smelled sublime. My mouth watered.

  “Wow,” exclaimed Alec, helping put the plates on the table. “I need to visit you more often.”

  “You’re welcome here anytime.” Sadie flashed him her most winsome smile just as Burgundy entered the kitchen, heaving a sigh.

  “What’s up?” Sadie looked concerned.

  “Let’s enjoy your fabulous dinner first,” said Burgundy. “The most important news is that Iphi is home healing.”

  We all took our seats around the kitchen table.

  “Is it just her leg or did she hurt something else?” Alec asked, concern lacing his voice.

  “It’s actually not too bad. A clean fracture in her calf. Just one bone,” said Burgundy.

  “Was it the tibia or the fibula?” I asked and heads swiveled toward me.

  “You know about this kind of thing?” Ryder put a forkful of the chicken into his mouth.

  “Well, yeah. From high school. We had a really cool junior anatomy teacher and I fell in love . . . with the skeletal system.” I winked.

  “How come we never knew this?” asked Sadie.

  I shrugged. “It never came up. Anyway, Burg?”

  “I don’t know, whatever the larger leg bone is.”

  “In the calf, that’s the tibia.”

  “Well that one then.” She reached for the salt. “She has a cast and will be on bed rest for a day or two and then she can get around on crutches.”

  “Can’t you all cast a spell to heal it?” asked Alec.

  I smiled kindly at him. He obviously hadn’t spent much time with witches. “No, witchcraft doesn’t work that way. She can only help speed up the formation of osteoblasts, I believe.”

  Ryder nodded. “You’re as well versed as I am.” A smile danced on his lips.

  “Not quite. You’ve gone through much more schooling than I have. Paramedic training is a lot more intense than high school anatomy, I’m sure.”

  Ryder nodded. “Of course, but have you ever considered a job in the medical field?”

  Alec’s head snapped to attention, his eyes darkening.

  “I haven’t, no.” I reached out, patting Alec’s hand, which was poised midair with a steak knife.

  His eyes cleared and he mouthed Sorry at the same time I mouthed it to him. The others were too busy eating to notice, which was no surprise—the food was divine.

  After dinner we all helped clear the plates and load the dishwasher before lounging in the living room.

  “So,” Burgundy started.

  We all turned toward her. She was sitting on one couch with Sadie and Ryder. Alec and I were on the other couch with Rex, who had his head in Alec’s lap. I was glad the two had bonded.

  “Aurelia is full steam ahead, which I’m sure we all could have guessed.”

  Sadie rolled her eyes. “I’ll talk to her. If I can get her to realize it would be safer for everyone if she dropped it, maybe she will.”

  “Maybe,” I said. “But for now?” I was looking at Burgundy.

  “For now, let’s find out where the bastards are.”

  “And then take care of them ourselves,” I finished for her. “Now it’s personal.”

  “It was always personal,” she said, not unkindly. “I suspect this all has to do with you.”

  “Me, I can handle. Our house pissed me off, but not like hurting Iphi did. She’s an innocent and there’s a marked difference between our stuff and our friends.”

  Alec sighed deeply.

  “What is it?” I turned to him.

  “That’s part of the reason I went back to help clean up,” he said. “To find out what happened. And the silk she was on was cut clean through by something very sharp, from the top.”

  “What could have done that?” I asked.

  “Hold on a sec.” Sadie got up and left the room.

  While we waited for her to return, I whispered in Alec’s ear, “What was the other reason?”

  His eyes twinkled. To audition, he mouthed back.

  My eyes widened as Sadie reappeared clutching her crystal ball and stand. She placed them on the coffee table, then set up candles in the shape of a pentacle around herself.

  “You don’t need to cast a circle for scrying,” said Ryder, looking at her quizzically.

  “When there’s only one witch and this many onlookers, it’s safer,” she responded.

  We all stood aside as Sadie lit each of the candles and cast the circle. Then she knelt down in front of the ball and ran her left hand over it. The clear crystal filled with a smoky haze before presenting a moving image. We all leaned as close as we could without breaking the circle. Inside the ball were a large number of people, all dressed in white, assembled in a town hall or church, having a meeting. Yes, a church, complete with Jesus hanging on the cross behind the head of the leader.

  “Can we hear them?” I asked.

  Sadie shook her head. “Shoot. We have some of the herbs but there’s one more we need.”

  “Ruta,” Ryder said, heading into the kitchen.

  “That won’t work in this case. That’s only if there’s one person in the room. For this, we need orris root and we’re out.”

  “I don’t understand, there’s only one person talking.” My frustration was mounting.

  “Yes, but there’s more than one in the room. Trust me, I know my stuff.”

  If only we could hear them. My frustration gave way to annoyance. “What the hell are we supposed to do then?” I snapped, unable to rein it in.

  “Let’s watch for a minute. Maybe we’ll spot something useful.” Sadie’s voice was placating. Soft and calm.

  “Where are they?” Burgundy asked. “I don’t recognize that church.”

  “Aha, it’s definitely somewhere in San Diego,” said Sadie.

  “How do
you know?” asked Alec.

  She jutted her chin toward the crystal. “Those Torrey pines, peeking through the cathedral windows. They’re native to our county.”

  I exchanged looks with Alec. “Great, we can find them,” I said. “How many churches can there be?”

  “At least two hundred,” said Ryder. “It’s a pretty big county, over three million people live here.”

  “Look,” Sadie said and we turned back to the ball.

  The man at the front was rubbing his hands together, almost maniacally, before motioning to someone out of view. They entered, dragging a woman dressed in jeans by the collar of her shirt. Her hands were bound behind her back and her head was down so I couldn’t see her face until the man in charge lifted it. My breathing stopped. It was Sam.

  “Sam!” I screamed and ran toward the ball but Burgundy held me back.

  “Don’t break the circle,” she whispered. “There’s nothing you can do right this second.”

  “If they hurt her, I will kill every single one of them,” I snarled.

  No one said a word. We all watched as the man spread his arms to the crowd and their mouths opened as they surged forward, but no one touched her.

  “I need to hear what they’re saying, what they’re planning. Why they have Sam.” I was desperate. I checked my watch. “Shit, we can’t buy any orris root, the witchcraft supply store is closed. I’ll drive to San Diego.” I started walking toward the front door.

  “Wait,” commanded Sadie. “You have no idea which church. You’d be driving around for hours and that’s not helpful to Sam.”

  I threw my hands into the air. “Goddammit. Isn’t there anything else you can use besides orris?”

  “I can call my mom and have her check our grimoire,” Ryder said softly, trying to placate me.

  “Grimoires don’t work like that, sweetie. There’s no list of alternative herbs to use for spells,” said Sadie.

  “There should be,” I growled.

  “Give me a minute.” She opened the circle, sat on the couch and placed her head in her hands. We all waited in complete silence. I paced.

  A minute later she clapped her hands together, “I’ve got it. It’s a little tricky but it grows out back. I saw it last week. Wolf’s claw. It’s a moss that usually grows as a shrub. We can use it but—”