He reached for the key and closed his fingers around it. There was no harm in looking. If Jeremy Barnes came back, Logan would simply say that he’d gone in to check the shower. “I’ll go now.”
“I would. After last night in the restaurant…and then you asked me to make sure he doesn’t haggle for a discount on the bill... Well…it makes me think he was hoping the issue with his soup might have meant you waived his bill. You know how some people are.” Sophie smiled sympathetically. “Do you want me to come with you?”
“No.” He shook his head and turned away. “I can manage on my own.”
“As you wish.” She emphasized the word as he headed up the first flight of stairs to the room occupied by the warlock.
Or unoccupied, his wolf remarked as Logan opened the door to reveal an empty room.
“Son of a...” Logan left the word hanging as he stepped inside the room. There was no sign that the warlock had ever been here. The room was completely bare. After a quick look around, he went back out and locked the door behind him.
“Was I right?” Sophie watched him as he came down the stairs, those dark eyes mesmerizing as he reached the solid wooden desk.
“You were.” He placed the key on the desk and sighed. “Do we have his credit card details on file?”
“We do, I’ll hit him with the charge right now.” She tapped on the computer as Logan cursed under his breath. “You look as if you need a drink.” She nodded toward the gift bag in his hand.
“It’s way too early in the day for alcohol,” Logan told her.
“Are you sure? You do look as if you need to calm down. Why not just take a sip?”
“I can’t. I am taking Penny and Milo to the beach as soon as I’m finished here. Ivan and Rift are going to manage things for a few hours.”
“One sip won’t hurt. I’d love to know what you think of the scotch I chose.” She leaned over the desk, her eyes fixed on his, but Logan was immune to her charms and pulled away.
“Could you check those credit card details for me, please?” He tapped the palm of his hand on the desk and she straightened up, her forehead creased.
“Sure, I’ll get right on it.” She straightened up but as he walked away, Logan could swear he heard her foot stamp on the floor.
Perhaps she’s not as over us as she said, his wolf rolled his eyes in wonder.
“Logan. I thought you were going out for the morning with Penny.” Rift was in the kitchen talking with Ivan as he approached.
“I was. I am.” He sighed and held up the small gift bag from Sophie. “Sophie gave me this.” He set it down at the back of the counter.
“A make-up gift?” Ivan asked all wide-eyed and innocent while Rift chuckled.
“She did apologize for the way she behaved.” He raked a hand through his hair and decided to leave it at that. Hopefully, if he just continued as normal, she would get over him and move on.
“It’s good that you two have cleared the air.” Ivan nodded toward a small basket on the counter. “I made you guys a picnic.”
“The weather is freezing, you can’t picnic outside,” Rift said. “Penny and Milo will catch cold.”
“I was thinking you could go sit in one of the caves in the cliff face. The tide is low enough for you to reach them with ease and you could light a fire. There are usually stacks of driftwood in the caves.” Ivan waved a knife at the basket. “There are hot drinks in there, too.”
“You would make someone a proper housewife,” Rift joked as he lifted the lid on the basket and peeked inside.
“Don’t ever make fun of a dragon with a knife in his hand,” Logan warned as Ivan prowled toward the snow leopard.
“I wasn’t making fun.” Rift let the lid of the basket fall back into place and raised his hands as he backed away from Ivan. “I mean it, a woman would be lucky to have you as their mate.”
Ivan’s shoulders sagged as he went back to chopping up onions. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to find out. I doubt more than one of us is lucky enough to have their mate just drive into town. We’re going to have to face it, the rest of us are likely to be single for the rest of our lives.”
“Ouch!” Rift clutched at his heart. “You don’t need a sharp knife to wound me.”
“Come on, guys, I need you to focus. The real news is that the warlock has up and left the hotel.” This part of Logan’s news was met with surprise.
“He’s gone?” Ivan paused chopping the onions, which never made him cry.
“Yes, I went up and checked, the room is empty. Sophie is trying to charge his credit card for the bill. But the chances are it won’t go through.”
“Wow, he came here and caused trouble, and now he’s gone.” Ivan waved his knife at Logan. “You didn’t have anything to do with his disappearance, did you? You know the two of you never hit it off, all those issues with the shower.”
“Me, it was you who wanted to rip his head off last night when he put a mouse in the soup. Only Penny’s quick thinking stopped him from making a scene. Remember?” Logan nodded at Ivan. “Did you wait for him to leave the hotel and then swoop down and carry him off into the mountains? You could have just dumped him somewhere and left him to freeze.”
“Now you put ideas in my head.” Ivan tutted. “But no, it wasn’t me. Even if I do wish I’d done that.”
“You need to get more inventive with your dragon. He could so get rid of anyone we don’t like. Or even just for a time out.” Rift nodded. “Are you sure you didn’t take care of the warlock? You could just be lying to us. It wouldn’t take you long to fly to the mountains and back.”
“No, it wasn’t me.” Ivan wiped his hands and then put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Because I was at home last night studying the symbols on that talisman Milo found. I figured it might be important.”
“And is it?” Logan unfolded the piece of paper and smoothed it out on the counter. Rift peered over his shoulder as Logan tried to decipher his brother’s handwriting.
“I couldn’t decipher all the symbols and there are runes carved into the metal that are older than the dragons. But from what I can tell, it is a protection talisman. It disperses magic. So if anyone tried to cast a spell on you or tries anything of a magical persuasion, that will render the spell harmless. Not a bad thing when you’re a normal human surrounded by supernatural beings.” Ivan was deadly serious as he spoke about the talisman.
“You think it was meant for Penny?” Rift asked.
“That’s a question I can’t answer,” Ivan replied. “Milo found the talisman and he gave it to Penny. But then Penny gave it to you.”
“So the talisman could have been meant for any of us.” Logan put his hand in his pocket and took out the metal pendant. “I don’t see how it was meant for me. I’ve lived here most of my life and I’ve survived without protection.”
“Things change, people change, and threats change,” Rift said evasively. “Perhaps you are supposed to wear it now so that you can protect your mate and her child.”
“I can take a stroll down to the library when you get back this afternoon. I might find some books that contain drawings of the runes.” Ivan glanced at the clock and got back to chopping his onions. “You should hold onto it for now. Unless something compels you to give it to Milo or Penny.”
“Yeah, Logan, never ignore a good compulsion.” Rift picked up the picnic basket and handed it over. “Now, go and enjoy a couple of hours with that adorable new family of yours and let us worry about everything here.”
“Okay. As long as you’re sure. I have my cell phone with me in case you need to call. Please, don’t break anything.” He aimed the last sentence at Rift as he backed toward the door leading into the reception. He could sense Penny and Milo coming down the stairs and he didn’t want them lingering for too long around Sophie. Despite her apology, he didn’t feel ready to trust her with his mate.
“It’ll all be okay. Honestly.” Rift pushed him towa
rd the door. “Now go.”
Logan went. He reached the reception area just as Penny and Milo got to the bottom of the stairs. “Hi, Ivan made us a picnic. He suggested we go to the beach and make a fire in one of the caves to keep us warm.” Not that Logan would feel the cold. His hot shifter blood was on fire with his mate so close.
“Yes!” Milo jumped in the air.
“I guess that’s your answer.” Penny stroked Milo’s head. “Ivan is so kind to us.”
“Or he didn’t want you messing up his kitchen,” Milo said.
“Let’s stick with him being kind.” Logan took a sidelong glance at Sophie, but she was busy working on her computer. “This way.”
They left the hotel, Penny and Milo by his side as they crossed the parking lot to his truck. When they were safely inside, he took a quick look around, his eyes scanning the immediate area for danger. There was nothing there, yet as he looked up toward the clouds and their promise of snow, he had the uneasy feeling the clouds were not the only thing brooding in Wishing Moon Bay.
Chapter Nineteen – Penny
“Have I ever been on a winter picnic?” Milo asked as they parked at the beach and climbed out of the truck.
“No, and neither have I.” She wrapped his scarf around his neck a couple of times and tied it in a knot. “People usually picnic in the summer, not in the winter.”
“It’s not too cold.” Logan was dressed in a waterproof jacket, but he didn’t wear a hat or gloves.
“You are a hot-blooded shifter, you don’t feel the cold the same as we do.” She pulled Milo’s hat down firmly on his head. “Keep it on.”
“I will.” He put his arms out by his sides and twirled around and around like a spinning top. “Can I go down to the beach?”
“Yes, but not too far and stay away from the ocean. It’s freezing out there.”
“I wanted to go look for dolphins and mermaids.” Milo ran down the steps and raced across the sand.
“I was going to tell him there are no such things as mermaids.” She shot Logan a questioning look, but he smiled in reply. “That’s what I thought.”
“We don’t see them in town too often. Mainly in the summer, for most of the year, they keep to themselves.”
“How do they?” She screwed up her face. “Do they flop up the road like a fish out of water?”
“No, they kind of shift, their tails change into legs and they walk like a human.” Logan chuckled as he saw her expression. “I guess it all sounds strange.”
“There’s just so much about the town that’s different than the world I’m used to.” She turned around and looked at the houses and buildings. “Yet from here it looks like any other coastal town. The same kind of stores you would find anywhere.”
“We’re not so dissimilar. And once you get used to us, we’re not that strange.” His voice held a note of hope as he turned away from his world and watched her world as he played on the sand. “Our children play on the beach and swim in the ocean, they hike in the mountains and camp out under the stars. Shifters don’t shift until they reach puberty so it’s not as if Milo is going to be the odd one out at school. The kids there will seem normal to him.”
Penny reached out a gloved hand for the handrail that ran down the side of the steps leading to the beach. “Will Milo fit in?” She reached the sand and waited for Logan. “Are there other children here without any kind of magical abilities? I don’t want him to get bullied.”
“He’ll fit in. The kids here are very accepting. They are all different. Even shifters. Different animals, there’s always this rivalry between the felines and the wolves but the kids seem to find a way to get past that and just get along with each other. When I first started school...and I know it was a long time ago...but the other kids helped me. Sure, some of them teased me because my speech was behind, and I couldn’t read. Sometimes I even forgot to put my pants on.”
“Now you’re making it up.”
“No, I’m not. Clothes were new to me.” He blushed a little as he laughed nervously. “My wolf told me I should stop talking now. You don’t need to hear about my youth.”
“I like hearing about you. I suppose it makes me hopeful that we can fit in here, too.” She glanced down at the picnic basket. “So, where are we going for our winter picnic?”
“This way. We follow the coast around, it takes us away from the houses.” He pointed to the high cliffs to their left. “There are lots of caves in the cliff face. Some are inhabited, but the ones that flood in the winter when the storms make the waves crash against these rocks aren’t. There’s usually driftwood in them. People gather it and leave it high up in the caves so that it doesn’t get wet or swept out to sea. We use what dry wood we need from the cave and replace it with wood we collect on the way, so it dries out for the next visitor.” He led her closer toward the tide.
“I like that. It’s like paying it forward and paying it back.” Penny wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck as she followed Logan.
“Milo, are you going to help us gather wood?” Logan called.
“Sure.” Milo had been following a gull of some kind along the shoreline. She didn’t ask if it was a shifter, she preferred to think it was just a friendly bird.
“Our job is to collect the wood and then we carry it to the cave and leave it to dry out. We replace the wood we’re going to use. That way there’s always wood for the next person who comes along.” Logan hooked the picnic basket over his arm and strolled along the shore picking up long lengths of wood.
“What else do you find along the beach?” Milo asked as he picked up the wood and cradled it in his arms only to drop it when he found a new piece of wood.
“All kinds of things. Shells, starfish. Pebbles that look like gold.” Logan picked up a pebble and held it out to Milo. “See, it’s like gold. But it’s worthless. Unless you throw it back into the ocean when the moon is full and make a wish.”
“Is that why the town is called Wishing Moon Bay, because you can make a wish and they come true?” Milo weighed the pebble in his hand.
“Yes, that’s where the town got its name, hundreds of years ago.” He picked up another pebble and handed it to Penny.
She turned the pebble over in her hand. “It really does look like gold.” The pebble had a smooth surface, as if someone had spent hours and hours polishing it. As she held it up, the light glinted off small glittery flecks, reminding Penny of the gold star they used to put on the top of the Christmas tree.
“Come on, Mommy, we need more wood.” Milo ran on ahead and grabbed hold of what looked like a huge tree branch which was bigger than he was. Gripping it with both hands, he hauled it along behind him leaving a trail in the sand.
“It’s good to see him having fun.” Penny fell into step with Logan. As she walked, she picked up wood for the fire, the golden pebble safely nestled in her deep pocket. “Life hasn’t been fun for us for a while.”
“His dad?”
“Yeah. When he left, it tore us away from everything we knew. Life suddenly became uncertain and he had bad dreams where I was taken away from him.” She leaned down and picked up a log, underneath the log was a perfect conch shell. Penny picked it up and examined it closely.
“The same shells,” Logan said.
“The same shells.” She breathed in the salty air and the cold prickled her throat. “It is beautiful here.”
“If you think it’s beautiful now, wait until you see it in the summer.” He turned toward the cliffs. “Come on, there’s a good cave just around the next bluff. It’s fairly sheltered, and I doubt anyone else will be there at this time of day.”
“Or this time of year.” She grinned and rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe we are actually having a picnic on the beach in the winter.”
“In Australia, they have Christmas lunch on the beach,” Milo told them as he walked along the beach like he was drunk, swerving from side to side so that his trailing branch made a wavy line in the sand.
“It’s a lot warmer in Australia,” Penny replied as they cut straight up the beach. Sure enough, there was the cave.
“I like this. Can we live here?” Milo pulled his log into the dimly lit cave.
“No, the cave fills up with water when it’s stormy.” Penny dumped the wood on the ground. “You’re right, it sure is more sheltered in here.”
“The bluff keeps most of the wind out.” He dropped his wood to the ground next to hers. Then he leaned down and pulled out two short logs and set the picnic basket down on it. “Can I teach Milo how to light a fire?”
“Yes!” Milo yelled, dropped his branch, and ran back to Logan. “You can.”
“As long as you are sensible,” Penny warned him.
“We’ll talk about how to light the fire safely and how you should only light a fire when there is an adult around.”
“What about when I am an adult?” Milo asked cheekily.
“Hey, if you’re not going to take this seriously, then I might tell Logan you aren’t ready to learn to light a fire.”
“You always say it’s good to ask questions, that’s how I learn.” Milo grinned up at her and her heart melted. He was so damn happy, she could cry.
“It’s good to ask sensible questions. And that was not a good question.” She grabbed hold of him and hugged him. “And you know it.”
He giggled and pulled away. “Okay, sensible questions only.”
“I’m going to ask Logan if you’ve been sensible and since he can’t lie to me, he can’t cover for you.” Her words were met with a shocked expression.
“Logan can’t lie to you?” Milo gasped and looked at Logan as if he were the unluckiest man alive.
“No, I can’t. Your mom is my mate, and a shifter can’t lie to their mate.” Logan shrugged at Milo who looked at him with unfathomable pity. “Shall we go find some kindling?”
“What’s kindling?” Milo asked as he followed Logan into the cave.
“It’s smaller pieces of wood that light more easily. We put them down first and light them. When they are burning hot, we add bigger bits of wood and slowly build up the fire.” Logan took a flashlight out of his pocket and switched it on before handing it to Milo. “Can you shine it up there for me? See, that’s where the dry wood is. We’ll take what we need and then before we go, we can stack our wood up there to dry.”
The White Wolf of Wishing Moon Bay Page 14