Once Hunted, Twice Shy: A Cozy Paranormal Mystery (The Happily Everlasting Series Book 2)

by Mandy M. Roth

  As all the pieces fell into place, Curt’s words began to make sense.

  Curt quietly watched him as if he were waiting for it all to sink in. When it did, Hugh grabbed the glass of whiskey and drank it down in one gulp. It burned, but so did the knowledge that he’d not only met his mate, but she was from a family that had a history of killing his family. One that had rumored ties to his mother’s death.

  Could he live with that knowledge? Could he love Penelope as fate had decided he should?

  Another sobering thought hit him: he was already falling in love with the quirky, quick-witted woman. If he was being truthful with himself, he’d always been in love with her to some degree, even from a young age. He didn’t chase after every car leaving Everlasting, but he had when her grandparents took her from town twenty years ago.

  The truth that he wasn’t a playboy and really did want a future with the woman who wore puppy dog sweaters crashed into him.

  “Poodles with umbrellas!” he shouted, only serving to make Curt laugh.

  “You’re totally fearsome now. Some alpha wolf you are,” said Curt. “Next you’ll be yelling about teddy bears.”

  Hugh snarled, letting a bit of his wolf side show through. “I wonder if Polly’s spell extends to me strangling you?”

  Curt laughed more as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Probably not, but this is too good for me to pass up.”

  “The man turns into an animal,” Penelope said, still staring at the lit candle. Her expression was blank, like the words weren’t totally computing in her brain as of yet. The smallest of snorts came from her. “All men are dogs, so this really does just confirm it.”

  Hugh grunted as Curt found more humor in the situation.

  Curt lifted his hand high in the air. “Not all men are dogs. I’m a cat.”

  Penelope didn’t so much as blink in their direction. “Sure. Why not? You should have picked a unicorn, not a cat. I’m allergic to those. Or a pony. I always wanted a pony.”

  “It doesn’t work that way, honey,” said Hugh, feeling bad for all she was trying to wrap her mind around.

  “Unicorns are real,” said Curt, partially under his breath. “She has a point. It would be cooler to be a unicorn-shifter than a cat one.”

  “You’re not helping,” stressed Hugh.

  “I know.” Curt flashed his pearly whites.

  “When you find your mate, I hope she takes you and gets you fixed,” said Hugh. “Or at the very least, declawed.”

  Curt’s eyes widened. “Bite your tongue. I’m nowhere near ready to settle down. And I like all my bits just where they are, thank you very much.”

  “And you think I was ready to settle down this morning when I woke up?” asked Hugh.

  It was Curt’s turn to pale. His face was ashen as he swayed in place.

  “Yeah, chew on that thought for a while,” snapped Hugh.

  “Excuse me,” said Curt as he hurried into the back office area, looking as though he might be sick at the idea of finding his mate.

  “Chicken!” called Hugh, happy that word had been the one he’d been aiming at. He then turned to face Penelope and realized he was the real chicken in the situation, not Curt. He’d tried to tell himself he was giving her space to process everything she’d seen tonight when in reality, he was avoiding her. Digging deep to find his suddenly cowardly alpha side, he covered the distance to Penelope. “Honey, I know this is a lot to absorb. I wish I could make it easier for you. I’m sorry so much has been sprung on you in such a short period of time.”

  He was just about to touch her shoulder when someone began pounding on the locked front door. This time of night there shouldn’t be anyone down near the docks. At last check, none of the locals who docked boats at his marina were out on the water, and even so, they wouldn’t have any reason to be at Curt’s restaurant this late at night.

  The idea that someone might be there to try to harm Penelope hit him hard, and Hugh had to fight with his wolf side to keep it under wraps while he assessed the situation. “Don’t move,” he said to Penelope before remembering she’d not so much as budged from the second he’d set her in the chair.

  Hugh took a few steps in the direction of the front door and then spotted Wilber Messing through the glass.

  “Boy, you’ve got one second to get your backside over here and open this door, or I’ll break it down and have your hide on my wall,” said the older man, his threat real. “I might even mount your head above my fireplace.”

  Curt rushed out from the back area of the restaurant, his eyes wide. “Oh crap. He looks ticked.”

  “Yeah,” said Hugh, marching for the door, his fear of Wilber gone. With what he’d been through so far today, a hunter really didn’t rank high on his worry list. He opened the door wide and folded his arms over his chest, his gaze firm and on Wilber. “Calm down. She’s had a rough night, and she’s scared enough as it is. Seeing us go at it won’t help her any.”

  Wilber grinned slightly, but the smile never reached his eyes. “I wondered when you’d find your spine around me, Lupine.”

  Hugh nearly took offense. His pride was low on his list of concerns at the moment. Penelope was his main worry. Right now, she needed reassurance, not Hugh wrestling with her grandfather. “Come on in. Maybe you can get her to snap out of her shocked state. We can’t.”

  Curt put his hands up and took a giant step back. “I’m innocent in this. Don’t make a rug out of me.”

  “Relax,” said Wilber, hurrying past Curt on his way to Penelope. “I already know what happened. My crystal balls showed me. You okay? What I saw wasn’t pretty, and for a minute I didn’t think you’d make it.”

  Hugh was surprised the man cared enough to bother asking. He wasn’t that taken aback by the crystal ball comment. Everlasting was full of weird things, and Wilber was known to collect and oversee them. It made sense the man would be in possession of crystal balls. “I’m fine. Thanks to your granddaughter. Her quick thinking saved my life.”

  “She’s a good girl,” said Wilber, heading right for her. He knelt near Penelope and put a hand on her thigh lightly. “Hey, sweetheart, you had one heck of an eventful evening, didn’t you?”

  She faced him, her expression blank. “I saw a ghost in boxers, got accused of murder, hit a guy with my car, had the best date ever that suddenly turned into a scene from the movie Jaws. It’s been an eventful day, Grandpa.”

  The best date ever?

  She’d enjoyed herself? At least up until the attack?

  Wilber sighed. “I know, sweetheart. I’m sorry. Everlasting tends to never have a dull moment. Seems as though it had some catching up to do with you since you were gone so long. I suspect things will level out soon enough.”

  She put her hand over her grandfather’s. “Hugh was so worried about me during it all. I could sense it. I just knew he was thinking of me, not of the fact he was about to drown. I could feel it deep down, and for a second, I could have sworn that I heard his panic in my head. He didn’t care about his life. He was only worried about me. I wasn’t the one about to be eaten by a Kraken. He was.”

  She’d sensed that? How?

  Curt covered his mouth partially and did a rather poor job of whispering, “Yeah, in no way is she your mate.”

  Wilber’s gaze snapped up and landed on Hugh. He then regarded his granddaughter and Hugh once more before sighing. “I really wish you weren’t the one fate brought her back to Everlasting for. I was hoping it was Curt.”

  “Gee, thanks,” said Hugh, folding his arms over his chest. Wrestling with the man sounded better and better. “Love you too, Gramps.”

  Wilber narrowed his gaze on him.

  Curt eased his way closer to Penelope and Wilber. Within seconds, Penelope was sneezing nonstop.

  Hugh snorted. “She’s allergic to you, Curt.”

  Penelope looked up, her eyes finding Curt. Hugh assumed she’d burst into tears. She didn’t. Instead, she started to laugh—hard. “Oh
my stars, I am allergic to you. You really are a cat-shifter, aren’t you?”

  “Guilty,” said Curt with a soft smile. “Lion-shifter.”

  Penelope touched her grandfather’s arm lightly. “Grandpa, the stories you used to tell me when I was little…”

  Wilber nodded, leaning in toward his granddaughter. “Weren’t just stories. I know, sweetheart. I never knew how to fully get the truth of it all across to you. Your father wasn’t big on me telling you any of it. He seemed to think he could raise you here, free from the taint of our family’s long history.”

  “Grandpa, did my parents really die in an automobile accident?” asked Penelope, sounding so young and vulnerable that it broke Hugh’s heart.

  “No,” said Wilber, his voice tight. “They stood up for the supernaturals here and in the end, outside forces didn’t much like that. They stepped in and put a stop to it.”

  Hugh drew in a deep breath. Penelope’s parents had died because they’d protected the supernaturals in Everlasting?

  Wilber glanced up and met Hugh’s gaze. “When my daughter-in-law took a stand against my extended family and what they did to your family, it was the line in the sand. My son stood by her choice. I didn’t understand it fully then, but I do now. It was the right thing to do.”

  Penelope remained strangely calm. “I don’t want anything to happen to anyone in Everlasting either. Does that mean a target is on me now too?”

  Growling, Hugh nearly lunged forward in protest, but Curt caught him, obviously sensing the pending outburst.

  “Take a deep breath, Lupine,” warned Curt.

  “Anyone tries to hurt my woman, and I’ll shove my dandelions up their watermelon,” snarled Hugh.

  Curt laughed. “Gee, that will show them.”

  Wilber looked confused but focused his attention on his granddaughter. “Sweetheart, the faction of my family that hurt your parents have been dealt with accordingly. While they are no longer a threat, there are others out there who share their opinions. They won’t be happy to hear a natural-born hunter and a wolf-shifter are together. They may try to interfere. You should know that you’ll have me at your back, and I’m guessing that heathen you seem to like so much will also be there to protect you.”

  “Without a doubt,” said Hugh.

  Curt nodded. “I will too. And I know everyone she’s met here so far would stand behind her as well. Plus, from what I was told by Hugh, Penelope is fierce when need be.”

  Pride shone on Wilber’s face. “She was born with the gifts of my kind. They’re in there. She just needs practice.”

  “We’ll work with her every day,” said Hugh quickly.

  Penelope’s shoulders slumped. “I could never hunt anything or anyone. That isn’t me. None of this is me.”

  Dark shadows appeared around Wilber’s eyes. “You’re going to leave Everlasting now, aren’t you? This scared you away, didn’t it?”

  Hugh’s throat closed quickly as worry that Penelope would leave him hit him hard. “No!”

  All eyes went to him.

  With a cough, he cleared his throat. “She can’t go.”

  Wilber quirked a brow. “And why might that be?”

  The man was going to make Hugh say it out loud. With a grumble, Hugh spoke. “Because she’s my mate.”

  Curt clapped quickly and then stopped just as fast. “Champagne is probably out of the question?”

  The look Wilber gave Curt shut the man right up.

  Penelope turned to face Hugh. Her expression was blank, and he knew she was still in shock. “I don’t know what that means. Are you saying I’m your friend? We can be friends and not be in the same town, Lupine.”

  He hid a smile at her sass that managed to poke through even in her state of shock. She’d been hit with a lot in one day. It could make anyone question everything. She was handling it all better than most would.

  Better than he would if he were in her shoes.

  He eased up alongside her and knelt, mirroring Wilber but on Penelope’s other side. He touched her arm gently. “Honey, it means so much more than that.”

  Her brow crinkled. “So, you don’t think I’m going to really poison you now?”

  He snorted. “Well, I know me, so I’m guessing at some point in our life you will totally give it a try.”

  “Just give him chocolate,” added Curt from the peanut gallery. “It doesn’t do good things for dogs.”

  “Not helping here, Curt,” stressed Hugh.

  Wilber grinned from ear to ear. “Oh, I think he’s helping a ton. Carry on.”

  “Onions and grapes would do the trick too,” offered Curt, laughing as he did.

  “Tell me again why we’re friends,” said Hugh, staying close to Penelope.

  Curt chuckled. “Because Sigmund and I are the only two people dumb enough to put up with you.”

  “He has you there, Lupine,” said Wilber.

  Penelope locked gazes with Hugh. “I don’t mind putting up with you. Jolene told me you’d be difficult, but that your bark was worse than your bite. She said she wouldn’t have thought to pair me with you, but she’s not been wrong before about who goes with who around here.”

  Hugh and Wilber stared at each other, their expressions the same—shocked. Jolene’s matchmaking skills had never once been wrong. And if she said Penelope and Hugh were a match, that meant he was right; she was his mate.

  The odds of a Messing and a Lupine being a mated pair just became a heck of a lot higher.

  Hugh cleared his throat. “W-what?”

  Wilber scowled. “You heard the girl. As much as I dislike you, you foul-mouthed heathen, Jolene has never been wrong. And the crystal balls showed me what my granddaughter did to get you out of that water and away from that creature. She tapped into a side of herself she’s always denied. She pulled on the hunter in her bloodline to save you, a shifter. Guess times certainly are a changin’.”

  “I’d say so,” added Curt.

  Hugh cast his friend a hard look.

  Curt winked. “Call me a poodle with an umbrella. I like that one best.”

  “What’s he going on about?” asked Wilber.

  Hugh sighed. “Did you hear about the bet he and I made?”

  “The one that says you can’t go a month without saying something foul?” asked Wilber.

  “Yeah, that one.”

  Wilber nodded.

  “Polly took it upon herself to make sure I couldn’t lose.”

  Wilber’s eyes widened. “I almost feel sorry for you. She tried to help me find true love once, and my car kept breaking down for three straight months. I’m pretty sure Jolene thought I was sabotaging the darn thing myself just to see her.”

  Penelope leaned in toward Hugh, and he wrapped an arm around her as she looked at her grandfather. “She cares for you, Grandpa. A lot.”

  “Who? Polly? She’s got a thing for old Cornelius.”

  “The ghost in the boxers?” asked Penelope.

  Wilber groaned. “Yeah, that old goat.”

  Penelope shook her head. “I wasn’t talking about Polly. I was talking about Jolene. She’s got a thing for you. I think you’re the love that got away from her. Her chance at happiness.”

  Wilber drew up short.

  Penelope stood slowly, and Hugh did as well. She turned into his arms, and he pulled her close, hugging her tight and rocking their bodies. He kissed her forehead lightly. “Thanks for saving my life.”

  “Least I could do since I ran you over with my car,” she said.

  “That was hardly a car,” he returned, knowing it would make her smile. He wasn’t disappointed.

  Wilber gave him the side-eye. “Penelope, we should get you home so you can rest.”

  As Penelope drew back from Hugh, he instantly felt the loss of her. Worry tugged at him. He didn’t want to let her out of his sight. Something had attacked them tonight, and he didn’t want to risk anything else happening to her.

  Curt spoke up. “Should we put
a call into the sheriff about what happened out by the cliffs?”

  “We should tell Deputy March,” said Penelope. “That thing that attacked us might be what killed those men.”

  Wilber cringed and glanced away quickly as lines of strain appeared on his face. He was hiding something.

  Hugh thought about the number of times he’d tried to reach Deputy March throughout the day. And then he thought about Wilber’s disappearing act. “Messing, you wouldn’t happen to know where Jake is, would you?”

  “Why would Grandpa know where Deputy March is?” questioned Penelope.

  Hugh kept his gaze fixed on the older man. Penelope may still think he was innocent, but Hugh knew better. “Gee, I don’t know why. Could be because Jake liked you for the murders and your grandfather would do anything to protect you.”

  She went to her grandfather’s side. “Tell them that isn’t true.”

  He cleared his throat. “Sweetheart, March was going to create a whole lot of problems for you. I simply made sure he was out of the way while I tried to figure out what really happened to those men.”

  “Oh my stars, you killed Deputy March?” Penelope shook her head. “Grandpa!”

  Wilber huffed. “I didn’t kill him. I just tied him up in one of my tucked-away safe houses, just outside of town. I left a television on for him. He’s fine.”

  Curt laughed.

  Hugh shot him a nasty look. “How is Wilber tying up Jake funny?”

  “How is it not?” countered Curt.

  Wilber looked to Curt. “You can come out with me while I untie him. Then you can tell him what happened.”

  “That would be better coming from Hugh. He was there,” said Curt. “I can get Penelope back to your house.”

  Hugh didn’t want to leave Penelope, but he trusted Curt with his life. Now he’d need to trust him with his mate’s life. “Stay there until we get back. I don’t want her alone right now. Not until we know more about what is going on.”

  “One hair on my granddaughter’s head gets so much as out of place, and I’ll make you into that rug you were so afraid of,” warned Wilber.