Amanda shuddered. “They tried to do that?”
Laurie nodded. “Unfortunately. But I’m still here, and you’ll forge a path too.”
“I think Veronica is sleeping with Sandhouse,” Jazmine mused. “Do shifters normally do that?”
Laurie chuckled. “Of course. We date just like anyone would. And we aren’t discerning about whether or not our dates are human or shifters. We just don’t claim someone permanently until Fate chooses for us. And it’s rare the someone is human.” She raised her eyebrows at Amanda. “Lucky you.”
“Lucky me.”
Laurie stood. “I need to get back. I’m sure Corbin and Zach are pulling their hair out dealing with Miriam alone.” She smiled. “If you have any questions, call me.” She walked to the door and then turned back. “And please. Keep this to yourselves. Our lives are difficult enough. The last thing we need is added rumors that we’re werewolves or something. We’re harmless. In fact, we spend a great deal of time making life more pleasant for humans. We don’t want our existence to get out. It would change everything.”
Mary blinked at her. “I would never. Sorry for being such a hypocrite. And thank you for being there for Amanda. I’m sure she needs a friend who understands better than I ever will.”
Laurie smiled broadly. “She has one.” And then she left.
Amanda needed coffee. Worse than she had earlier. She hadn’t had anything to drink last night, but she felt hung over anyway.
“You okay, Amanda?” Jazmine asked.
“I will be.” She dragged herself to standing as though she weighed three hundred pounds and ambled back into the kitchen to grab her coffee and heat it in the microwave. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked the wall.
Mary’s soft voice came from behind her. “I didn’t think you would be supportive.”
“I’m not that judgmental, Mary.”
“I wasn’t sure. And it was easy to avoid. Only a handful of people know. If anyone found out in this town or Sojourn, we really could lose our businesses.”
Amanda grabbed her coffee and turned around. She took a long sip as she leaned against the counter. “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how awful that is for you.”
Jazmine came from behind and wrapped her arms around Mary. “I’m so glad we don’t have to act anymore in the apartment. That was wearing on me.”
“Me too,” Mary added. “I was having trouble sleeping worrying about your feelings and keeping Jaz at arm’s length.”
“For a month,” Amanda said. “You’re both crazy.” An ache formed in the pit of her stomach for her sister.
“Yeah, it wasn’t pleasant,” Jaz added. “Inside the apartment is the only place we can be ourselves. And that disappeared too when you arrived. It’s put a strain on our relationship to say the least.”
Mary angled her face to meet Jaz’s. “My fault. I’m sorry.”
“It’s over now.”
Their plight might have been over, but from Amanda’s perspective, “it” was just beginning. “I need to shower and pull myself together. If I don’t find Logan and Sawyer soon, I have no doubt they will show up here, and you don’t want to see that.”
“Maybe I do,” Mary responded. “I should meet these men.”
“Suit yourself. I’m sure if I waste enough time primping, you’ll get your wish.” She headed down the hall toward the bathroom, sipping her coffee and praying the rest of the day didn’t drop any more bombs.
Chapter Twelve
Pastor Edmund listened to his wife, Ada, rant on and on without taking a breath. The others in the room listened to her with wide eyes, pursed lips, and nodding heads. Ada could be long-winded when she thought it was necessary. Edmund simply wanted to get to the bottom of the problem and move forward. His church office was small. She didn’t need to speak in such a loud voice to be heard.
Cecil interrupted her finally. “Ada, I don’t think it’s wise to get carried away here. If we go off half-cocked, somebody’s going to get arrested. The sheriff’s office is watching us closely.” Cecil had been a lawyer in town for many years until his retirement. He was wise, and Edmund trusted him.
“We need to do something,” Florence, another woman, complained. “We can’t just sit back and watch our town fall apart. If Mary thinks she can let her sister stir the pot, she will be sorely disappointed.”
Edmund cleared his throat. Florence was no better than his wife at ranting. “We need to be subtle. We also need to be careful. If we get caught, Cecil’s right, arrests will be made. We’re no good spreading the word of God if we find ourselves behind bars.”
“Dear, you know we can’t sit back and let this Amanda woman tear our town apart,” Ada said. “I say we let her know she’s not welcome and hope she’s bright enough to take a hint. If we do nothing, our way of life may crumble around us. And no offense to the sheriff and his team, but they’re heathens. They have no idea what God’s wrath looks like when he’s angry. It’s no different than last year. We can’t simply sit back and do nothing, or we risk offending God ourselves.”
Florence nodded. “She’s right.”
Edmund blew out a long breath. They were both right. He knew that. He just wasn’t sure how to proceed. There had to be a way to get their point across without breaking any laws. Starting with a boycott. “I say we encourage people to pull their children out of Mary’s preschool. How many members do we have using her preschool?”
“Five,” Ada responded. “Not enough to hurt her business.”
Edmund tapped his chin with one finger. “No. But it’s enough for her to realize we want something from her. It’s nothing more than a warning. We don’t have to say anything, and we aren’t breaking any laws.”
“I’ll make the calls.” Florence used the arms of her chair to haul herself up. She was getting older, and her knees weren’t in good shape. Edmund watched her hobble toward the office door and step out gingerly.
Maybe this would work. It was worth a try.
Edmund had another idea, and as soon as everyone left his office he picked up his phone.
∙•∙
“Hello. Caleb?”
“Yes?”
“This is Pastor Edmund. I want to thank you for coming by last night.”
“My mother made me call you.”
“Ah. Well, she’s a good woman.”
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” Caleb bit his lip hard enough to hurt. He’d been through this before a year ago and knew what the members of his church were capable of.
“Oh, don’t worry, son. No one will get hurt. We just need to do our part to keep the peace in Cambridge. You’ve done a good deed, son. Listen, I need you to do something for me.”
Caleb swallowed hard. He didn’t like this plan at all. “What?”
“I need you to follow this woman and figure out where she goes and what she does.”
“Follow her? Sir, I’m in college. I’m not a private investigator.”
Pastor Edmund chuckled. “Of course you’re not. I don’t mean forever. Just long enough to get me a few locations. I’ll text you her sister’s address. It shouldn’t be hard to catch her there this morning and see where she goes.”
Caleb groaned inwardly. This was way more than he bargained for, and he secretly wanted to throat punch his mother for putting him in this position. As soon as he got out of college, he was going to leave this godforsaken town and never look back. If he made it that long and didn’t get caught breaking the law in the name of religion first. “Okay,” he breathed.
“Good. Call me later when you have something.” Pastor Edmond ended the call.
Caleb set the phone down, his arm shaking so badly he had to cross both arms to keep the shudder at bay. He hadn’t felt good about calling the pastor for a single moment since he’d made that call on Friday at his mother’s urging.
His church was already under close scrutiny with the sheriff’s department for harassing three people last year. And Caleb had been the
one to instigate that issue too. He didn’t like it. If he’d known how far the members of his church would go to make their point, he would have kept his mouth shut. And here he was doing it again.
He wished people would just get along and stop judging each other for their religion, the color of their skin, or who they slept with. His mother disagreed, however, and insisted a bit of gentle nudging to get the new woman to decide against taking that job was for the benefit of everyone.
She even implied it was best for the woman. After all, she was new to town and had no idea what she was up against if she decided to become an accomplice in the fight to end racial separation.
Granted, Caleb wasn’t fond of the idea of him and his peers mixing with the Natives either, but if history was any indication, his church would do far more than provide a gentle nudge. They could be destructive and dangerous at times.
»»•««
Logan unlocked the door to his condo and stepped inside with Sawyer right behind him.
Sharon was in the living room surrounded by boxes. She held up a hand. “Don’t even say it. I know the drill. The younger sibling moves back in with Mom and Dad while the older one figures out a place to live with his new mates. This has happened so many times in this condo it’s getting ridiculous.” She grinned.
“Yeah. Sorry. We don’t have many options right now,” Logan muttered. He did feel bad for kicking his sister out.
“I should have invested in a larger trailer. It’s more like bad camping, which is fine for me alone, but not a place to bring a woman.” He reached out a hand. “Sawyer. I know we met the other day, but we weren’t super civil that day. Let’s start over.”
Logan’s chest swelled at the kind gesture. Thank God he wasn’t mated to an asshole.
Sharon accepted his truce with a handshake and then turned back around to tape a box closed. “I saw the trailer. I can’t believe you actually live there. I thought it was more of a construction building just so you’d have some place to get out of the rain or something.”
“Ironically, if it rained in this area, I wouldn’t even be here. I was hired by the newly formed local branch of the wildland firefighters.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
Sawyer shrugged. “Not if you’re good at it.”
Logan shook his head. “Cocky much?”
“I have to be to stay alive.”
Sharon set the tape aside. “Well, in any case, the condo is yours. I’ll go back home. The big house is nearly empty anyway. It’s not like I’m stifled by Mom and Dad. They leave me alone and don’t ask questions. Take your time. I won’t be needing the condo myself until your brother Cooper decides to make himself available.” She rolled her eyes. “Hell might freeze over first.”
“I guess if you really wanted to get the ball rolling, you could make a trip to Spokane,” Logan teased.
“Hell no. The man knows where I am. He knows who I am. And he knows with almost certainty who I am to him. I’m not chasing his ass around the globe. When he’s good and ready, he’ll come to me.” She grinned wider. “Meanwhile, I’ll sow my wild oats.”
Logan cringed at the idea of his sister sowing any oats at all. “Please. Can we not have this discussion?” He shuddered.
Sawyer laughed. “Cooper is stubborn.”
Logan slapped his shoulder. “Only slightly more than you. Or me for that matter.”
“True.”
“Well, tell him not to come until I can have the condo all to myself. I’m the last sibling left standing, so no one will be around to kick me out when I need it.” She lifted the box sitting on the couch and headed for the door.
“Lord, Logan, what kind of gentleman are you? You gonna stand there and let your sister do all the heavy work while you watch?” Sawyer joked as he rounded the couch and took the box from Sharon.
“I’m not an asshole,” Logan grumbled. Sawyer was making him look bad. “I just didn’t know she was ready.” He grabbed another box from the black leather couch and followed his sister out the door to toss it in their dad’s truck. He supposed she borrowed it to make the move.
“Where is Amanda? I was hoping I could meet her.”
“She’s probably still at her apartment. We were giving her time to pull herself together.” Logan cringed at the number of hours they’d spent without her now. Like three, but he was already shaking like a drug addict needing a fix.
“Her time is almost up,” Sawyer grumbled. “It’s one thing not to finish the claiming. It’s another thing entirely not to be in the same room as her.”
Sharon patted them both on the back as she went back into the condo for another box. “I’m not looking forward to that feeling. But then again, I guess it won’t be the same for me. Cooper’s a shifter. I’m a shifter. We know the drill. I give us about two minutes of small talk, and then we can consummate the deal and get to know each other afterward.” She giggled as she stepped back into the condo.
Logan wanted to throttle her. “You aren’t making us feel better.”
“Sorry.”
Two more trips and her stuff was all in the truck.
“’K, I’m leaving. Go get your woman. And take it easy on her. She’s got to be freaking the fuck out.”
“We will.” Logan stuck his hands in his jeans pockets to pull the denim away from his cock at least far enough to alleviate the constant pressure.
As soon as she was gone, Logan followed Sawyer into the condo and gave him the quick guy tour.
“Got it. Master bedroom there. Master bath inside it.” Sawyer pointed down the hall. “That’s all I need to know. And probably that information isn’t really necessary for a few days because we’ll never make it that far,” he joked.
“Don’t bet on it.” Logan grabbed one of Sawyer’s two bags and headed for the bedroom. They’d gone by Sawyer’s place first and packed enough things to get by for a few weeks.
What they needed now was to get Amanda to come home with them and start building a relationship.
“Shower,” Sawyer said, heading directly for the bathroom.
Logan chuckled as he shut the door on that one-word declaration. He dropped Sawyer’s bag on the floor and made good use of his time by changing the sheets on his king-size bed and tidying up his space. He wasn’t particularly messy for a guy, but he could at least put shoes in the closet and clothes in the hamper before Amanda got there.
When Sawyer came out of the bathroom in a towel and headed for his bags, Logan took his place in the bathroom.
He stood under the spray of water a bit longer than normal, his hands shaking with the inability to cooperate. His cock was permanently hard, and he didn’t want to masturbate with Sawyer standing right outside the door. So he tried to ignore the pressure.
Ten minutes later, he was dressed and heading back to the living room to find Sawyer. His jeans were too tight, but it couldn’t be helped. Until they claimed Amanda, he was doomed to adjust himself several times an hour.
“We going to get her?” Sawyer asked, lifting himself off the couch.
“Yeah, but I think we need to call your sister Melinda first.”
Sawyer glanced at him funny. “Why would we do that?”
“To give her the head’s up on the spirit we saw last night?” Logan lifted his brows.
Sawyer rolled his eyes. “Right. That. Can’t it just go away? I’m in no mood for weird black smoky visions today.”
“Have you ever even met the rest of your family?” Logan teased. He pulled his cell out of his pocket and dialed Melinda.
Sawyer moaned. “Trust me. I’ve met them. That’s why I don’t want to open this can of worms today.”
Melinda answered on the second ring. “Logan?”
“Yep. It’s me.”
“Why are you calling me? You need to be with Amanda.”
“Yeah, heading to her apartment now. Listen. Something happened, and I wanted to make you aware.”
“I’m sure it did.” She giggled. “Don’t w
orry, Mimi told me about the other day. It’s not unusual for the spirits to get agitated when there’s a new mating. We’re all used to it.”
“Yeah, well there’s more. Sawyer and I went back to the logging site last night, or I guess it was really early this morning.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. We saw it again. It’s pretty angry, probably from lack of verbal skills,” he joked.
“Not funny. Don’t take these sightings lightly, and make sure you warn Amanda about them before she gets caught unaware. She’d probably freak out. I’ll look into it. If the loggers are working past their allotted time and taking more than they should, that could agitate the spirits. They’re generally known as protectors of the land, after all. I’ll make a few calls. I think I know who the safety manager is for this area.”
“Perfect. Thanks, Melinda.”
“Tell Sawyer I said hey, and don’t think about this again today. Go get her.”
Logan ended the call and turned toward Sawyer. “Your sister says hi. Shall we go find our human mate?”
“You see another option?”
“Nope.” Logan grabbed his keys from the table next to the door. “I’ll drive.”
“You suppose we should let her know we’re coming?” They both had her number programed into their phones. Laurie had texted it to them early that morning, probably while she was driving to Amanda’s, hopefully while she was at least at a stoplight.
Logan shook his head. “Gonna go with no on that one also. Element of surprise.” He opened the door and stepped out into the gorgeous day.
The weather was perfect. It had been for days and even weeks. In Logan’s line of work, the dry weather with optimal temperatures meant good business. People liked to hike with the sun shining and the weather mild.
He realized as they headed for the truck that in Sawyer’s line of work this weather was the kiss of death. Without any rain, a single spark from a cigarette or a lightning bolt or even a campfire could take out hundreds of acres of forest. Even though there was a widespread fire ban that had been extended indefinitely, people were stupid. And stupid people tended to ruin things for everyone.
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