by Black, Tasha
“Something she’s handled a lot,” Ainsley said. “You know - that means something to her.”
Jenny looked mystified, but Ainsley wasn’t going to get into her reasons. Most wolves distrusted magic. There was no point putting more distance between them.
“I guess I could find something,” Jenny shrugged.
“Perfect,” Ainsley rewarded her with a pleased-alpha smile. “Do you have any maternity exercise pants?”
“Um,” Jenny replied, looking miserable.
“Then we’ll do some shopping first,” Ainsley said immediately. “A little time pretending to be a regular person is just what I need.”
Half an hour later, they were walking the marble halls of the King of Prussia Mall.
“This place is insane,” Jenny grinned and took a gulp of her decaf latte. She’d been charmed by the posh little café and Ainsley enjoyed treating her.
“It’s a good escape,” Ainsley said. “I don’t run into a lot of wolves here.”
“Guess not,” Jenny said. “Is it true?”
“Is what true?”
“You know,” Jenny said, “that you lived as a human for all those years?”
Ainsley shrugged.
“Yeah, I thought it was easier that way.”
Jenny laughed.
“I get it now,” Ainsley grinned. “It’s better to be myself. Though being an alpha comes with its own challenges.”
“I guess so,” Jenny agreed.
It was clear that she thought Ainsley was rich and powerful and had no problems at all.
And compared with Jenny, Ainsley at least had some control as far as her problems went. It was good perspective to be reminded of, when Ainsley had felt anything but in control lately.
“Come on,” she said, dragging the girl into a high-end yoga shop.
After a whirlwind few hours of shopping, they pulled up at Ainsley’s house in Tarker’s Hollow. Ainsley unloaded a truly shameful number of bags. Jenny was fun to shop for. Her blonde hair and blue eyes meant Ainsley could enjoy experimenting with a different range of colors than she was used to.
“Ainsley,” Jenny said, putting a hand on her arm, “thank you.”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Ainsley laughed. “I swear I spent more than this on coffee in New York.”
“It’s not the clothes,” Jenny said. “I just… thanks for hanging out.”
The girl hugged her impulsively. Though Ainsley’s wolf would normally be indignant at such familiar contact, she found herself feeling good about it. But their gigantic bellies bumped before they could get their arms around each other.
Jenny laughed and Ainsley laughed too.
“I’ll see you in an hour,” Ainsley said. “And don’t forget to bring me something of Megan’s.”
Chapter 5
Cressida slipped inside the camera shop and blinked to assimilate the shady space after the bright sun of the boardwalk.
Summer was definitely on its way.
The shop smelled homey to her wolf nose, though she couldn’t place why - like old paper and light mechanicals with a faint edge of the chemicals they must use to develop the film.
“Hello again,” Reginald said.
The older gentleman was still dressed like Sinatra, but he had a decided spring in his step. Things must be going well with the boogie board shop lady.
“Hi,” Cressida said. “How’d the pictures turn out?”
“I haven’t been able to take my eyes off them,” he replied, gesturing to the counter, where some photos were spread out.
She checked his tone and expression for sarcasm and found none. He was subtle, but clearly he was fucking with her.
Not about to take the bait, Cressida merely smiled and leaned over the counter to look. Sure enough, they were hers.
“I went to school for photography,” Reginald said softly. “But there’s obviously no substitute for years in the field honing your eye.”
Cressida didn’t reply, but studied the pictures. They actually did look really cool. It was probably just the camera though. She had never taken pictures with a camera that fancy.
“Your composition in this shot with the rat on the bumper car is beautiful,” Reginald said, plucking that picture out of the pile and pushing it toward her.
“Yeah,” Cressida said. “That was one big rat.”
She noticed with pleasure how the picture really did capture the enormity of the rodent because of the way you could see the Ferris wheel in the background and it looked smaller than he did. She’d managed that after figuring out how to mess with the doohickey on the shutter.
“What a statement the broken bumper car makes,” Reginald sighed.
She snuck a peek at him from under her lashes.
He looked entirely serious. And her senses told her he wasn’t lying.
“I, er, wondered if you might be willing to look at some of my portfolio,” he said hopefully. “If you like my work, maybe you could give me some advice?”
“Oh, I have a couple of busy days planned,” she said, flustered. What in the hell was she going to tell someone about how to take pictures?
His shoulders sagged a little.
“But,” she continued, “I’ll try and make some time to get together after that.”
He brightened visibly.
She reached into her jeans for her wallet, wondering how much damage the pictures would do.
“Oh, no charge,” Reginald said immediately. “This was my pleasure.”
“Oh, no,” Cressida said, “you don’t have to do that.”
“I insist,” Reginald said with a smile.
He was still really handsome, even though he was old. Cressida enjoyed the view for a minute, then gave him a friendly wave.
“Thanks a lot,” she said sincerely. “I’ll see you soon.”
“I hope so.” He smiled and gave her a wink.
She stepped out into the bright sunshine again.
Javier was waiting for her, leaning against the wall of the shop, his tan skin gleaming as the sunlight did beautiful things to the contours of his rippling muscles and tattoos.
Wow.
If she’d thought Reginald was handsome, there were no words to describe how hot Javier was.
Luckily she was a photographer, not a writer. She lifted the camera that was positioned comfortably around her neck, and snapped a few shots.
“Whatcha doing?” Javier asked pleasantly.
“I’m not sure,” she said, suddenly thunderstruck about the conversation she’d just had. “The camera shop guy said my pictures were good, like really good.”
“Yeah?” Javier’s brows went up in surprise, and then he nodded like he thought it was cool.
“I mean, I dunno,” she mused. “I’m pretty sure he wasn’t lying or trying to get into my pants.”
“That’s awesome, Cress,” Javier said. “You’ve been talking about doing something more. Maybe photography is your thing. Does Tarker’s Hollow College have a program?”
“I don’t know about all that,” she said reflexively.
“Why not?”
She blew out a long breath and thought about it. “I don’t know,” she said at length. “I just never thought…”
“Well,” Javier said, “maybe it’s time to start.”
The whole thing seemed off, but still… There was a part of Cressida that was somersaulting on the inside.
“I guess it couldn’t hurt to take a class,” she allowed. “After all this craziness is over. If I’m still alive.”
“That’s the spirit,” he smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in to kiss her on top of the head.
She tilted her chin up for a real kiss and he didn’t disappoint. Javier had a slow and careful way of kissing her that made Cressida want to be fast and reckless.
She managed to pull away.
“I guess Grace is waiting for us.”
“Mm,” he agreed.
But he didn’t let go,
and they walked the rest of the way to The Grill Next Door with his arm draped comfortably over her shoulder.
Cressida braced herself to feel yoked. But after a few steps she realized it actually felt good, like they were the perfect height match, or like they’d been walking like that forever.
When they got inside Grace was already there, sitting at a table near the back.
“I talked to Esmerelda,” Grace said, as Cressida slid into the booth across from her. “I’m headed to see her after this.”
“Cool,” Cress replied.
Javier slid in next to her.
“What can I get you?” The waitress asked.
“Hey, Nancy,” Cressida said. “Cheese fries and a Coke, please.”
Grace winced visibly.
“Turkey club and a Coke,” Javier said.
“You got it.” Nancy dimpled at him, causing Cressida to want to yank the waitress’s golden curls.
“So what’s next?” Javier asked Grace, distracting Cressida from her dark thoughts.
“I thought we’d check out the VFW,” Grace replied. “See if my theory is right about the magic being more powerful near the portal, and how we can use that.”
Just then the bell on the door dinged and they all turned to see Glenn walk in.
“Hey,” Cressida called, waving him over.
His face flushed as soon as he spotted Grace.
Grace’s lips narrowed to a thin line.
Cressida wondered if it would even be possible to estimate which of them was more embarrassed. She knew that Grace had explained everything to him. Which meant Glenn knew about the magic now, the shifters, everything - even the price of Grace’s magic- which of course was why she had practically attacked him outside the motel.
But it looked like they hadn’t completely cleared the air between them.
“Hey,” Glenn said, scooting into the booth next to Grace but maintaining polite distance.
“Hi,” Cressida said back, Javier and Grace echoing her.
Glenn looked around frantically for the waitress, but she was nowhere to be seen. He turned back to them and buttoned his lip as if to promise that he would not add one iota to the conversation.
“So, Cress,” Javier said, “can we see those pictures you took?”
Thank god for Javier changing the subject. Of course she wasn’t sure she wanted to explore the topic of her maybe having found something she wanted to do with her life in front of everyone.
“Maybe later,” she responded.
“He said they were really good,” Javier persisted.
“Really?” Grace perked up.
“What does he know?” Cressida asked.
“He runs a camera shop,” Javier retorted.
“Come on, let us see,” Grace urged her.
Cress still wasn’t into it, but anything would be better than watching Grace and Glenn stare at each other awkwardly for one more minute.
She slid the pictures across the table, spreading them out a little so everyone could see.
Glenn sucked in his breath. “Nice.”
Grace grabbed the rat photo Reginald had liked so much and studied it carefully. Then she picked up one of the Ferris wheel.
“These are actually really good, Cress,” Grace said.
“Don’t sound so surprised,” Cressida smirked.
“No,” Grace said. “I mean, I just didn’t know you were into photography.”
“I used to take pictures for the school paper in middle school,” Cressida shrugged. “Jimmy Wagner, the editor, told me I was good, but I’m pretty sure he was just saying that because I let him look down my shirt when I leaned over the editor’s desk.”
Grace gave her a look.
“What?” Cressida asked.
“Well, he was right,” Grace said. “You should be doing more of this.”
Cressida’s chest filled with pride as she watched Grace shuffle through a few more pictures. There were shots of the fairgrounds, the beach, the shops.
“Hang on a sec,” Glenn chimed in. “Go back to that last one.”
Grace flipped back and they all looked at the picture.
It was Grace, standing on the boardwalk, shielding her eyes from the sun.
“There,” Glenn said with satisfaction, tapping the background of the shot.
Cressida looked. The bakery - a woman in a colorful sari was exiting. Linc and Josh’s Aunt Zara. Small world.
“It’s Zara,” Cressida said. “So?”
Glenn fumbled in his pockets, pulled out his notebook and flipped through it.
“Right here,” he said, tapping the page in question. “You told me Linc was in charge of the cake.”
“He was,” Cressida said.
“Then why is Zara Monroe visiting the bakery the day before the murder?” Glenn asked. “In her statement, she said she had never been there, or even seen the cake before the night of the party.”
“We know Cressida’s wolf could have saved her from the full effects of the poison,” Grace put in. “And that Linc, the real Linc, wasn’t even at the party.”
“Would this, whatever-it-was that looked like Lincoln Monroe, would it be immune to poison?” Glenn asked.
“I don’t know for sure,” Grace admitted. “But it’s a pretty safe bet. Which means the only two other people who ate the cake were Joshua - we know what happened to him - and Aunt Zara.”
“But no one actually saw her eat it,” Glenn said triumphantly. “We only have her word on that.” He tapped the picture again. “And now we have a reason to believe she isn’t telling us the whole truth.”
Grace suddenly sat up even straighter.
“Maybe we should pay her a visit.”
Cressida recognized that voice. If Grace was using her Officer Kwan-Cortez voice it meant two things:
Her earlier embarrassment with Glenn was forgotten.
And somebody was in trouble.
Chapter 6
Erik walked slowly down Princeton Avenue with Councilman Yusef Ennis.
The lush trees overhead sighed and shivered in the light breeze. He wished he could make the walk last forever. Not just for the scenery, but because he knew where the walk, and the conversation, was headed.
Jenny Wilks stepped out from behind the tall hedge as they reached Ainsley’s house. She was carrying two large bags and looking happier than he’d seen her in a long time.
Ainsley waved her off, a big smile on her face, which quickly faded when she caught sight of Ennis and Erik.
Erik wasn’t the only one who knew why the councilman was there.
Their time in paradise was at an end. Today was the day that Ennis was going to make his offer for a new Federation alpha official. They had been dreading this moment since Ennis’s arrival.
So quick bright things come to confusion.
The Shakespeare phrase insinuated itself into his mind as he watched his beautiful mate wrap a protective arm around her belly and smile bravely at Ennis. She would have liked to hear him quote A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but now was not the time.
Erik had been sent away to Copper Creek at the whim of the Federation. If he hadn’t sacrificed himself to bring the whole mine crumbling down, he might very well still be stationed there.
Now here the Federation was again, trying to tear his family apart.
His wolf rumbled in his chest and it took everything he had to suppress it. Getting them both banished or killed wasn’t an option.
“Ainsley,” Ennis shouted happily. “The summer flowers blush at your radiance.”
Ainsley shot Erik a questioning look as he and Ennis stepped onto the porch.
Erik gave a small shrug. He didn’t know any more than she did.
“Good to see you,” Ainsley said, allowing Ennis to greet her with a kiss on each cheek.
He winked at her and gave her a warm smile.
“I’ll put on some tea,” she said quickly, and hurried inside.
The two men followed her in.
Though they spent most of their time at his place, Erik loved visiting Ainsley’s house. He never entered the living room of the old Victorian without remembering all the times he’d been summoned here by Ainsley’s father. The pride he’d felt sitting with Michael Connor to discuss pack business, surrounded by the walls of built-in bookshelves, the colorful spines of the books watching over them like angels, still felt fresh in his heart.
The kitchen was already fragrant with the peppermint tea Ainsley must have made just before they arrived.
Nevertheless, she dumped the steaming kettle in the sink and filled it with fresh, cold water.
She was stalling, and Erik knew it. But they couldn’t outrun this.
For the millionth time he fantasized about trying to outrun it anyway - escaping to some little cabin on an anonymous lake off the grid somewhere, and holing up with Ainsley and their little one. Would the Federation be able to find them?
He looked to his mate and knew that she would never be happy like that, hidden away from her pack instead of leading them. And at the same time he knew she would do anything to keep their small family together.
Which was why he needed to be strong.
If Erik wanted his family to have the life they deserved, he would have to follow the wishes of the Federation.
Erik and Ennis sat down at the old kitchen table.
Ainsley wiped her hands on the kitchen towel and joined them.
Ennis leaned in, a beatific smile splitting his face. He grasped one of each of their hands in his.
“Congratulations,” he beamed. “The Federation has approved my recommendation for an alpha to fill the vacancy on the council.”
He looked back and forth between them, then finally released their hands, a perturbed expression marring his handsome features.
“I must admit I was expecting a little more enthusiasm,” he said. “This is usually considered quite an honor.”
“It’s not that,” Erik said quickly. “Not at all. It’s just… a lot to take in. Especially with everything going on around here lately.”
He glanced over at Ainsley.
Her face had gone blank. He couldn’t read her at all.