Black hat 8 gray seas, p.11
Black Hat 8 - Gray Seas, page 11
With my legs pinned under me, I was starting to lose feeling in them, but I didn’t care.
The combination of our workout and his presence caused my eyelids to flutter with exhaustion.
“We should get dressed,” he said, jarring me awake. “You can sleep on the drive to Salem.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
I didn’t move.
Neither did he.
But all too soon a firm knock on the door forced me to accept the truth.
There was a roomful of people waiting on us before they could leave.
And every single adult would know exactly what we had been up to for the last few minutes.
Ugh.
“What if we just stay here?” I flung out my arms across the duvet. “Like forever?”
“You know as well as I do forever would last five minutes, maybe ten, before Clay broke down the door.”
“Probably.” I attempted to sit up but failed. “I can’t move.”
Grunting as he shoved onto his elbows, he managed to sit up then pull me upright against his chest. “Better?”
“Better would be rolling over and going to sleep.” I rested my chin on his shoulder. “But this works too.”
The comfort of his embrace convinced my eyelids to sink lower and my arms to grow looser.
“Two-minute warning,” Clay called through the door. “Then I’m coming in.”
With great effort, Asa disentangled us and set me on my feet before standing. “Shower?”
“Does it sound like he’s going to give us the luxury of more naked time?”
Together we shuffled into the bathroom to clean up and pull on fresh clothes, and I was struck by the domesticity of it all. Despite losing the shop, my home, and my town, I still had this. I had him. Asa was my home. The same as Colby. As long as he was with me, I could handle anything life threw at me.
Time to stop pining for what I had lost and be thankful for what I had gained.
“You’re smiling.” Asa paused in brushing his teeth. “Why are you smiling?”
“I’m happy.” I elbowed him. “Can’t a girl be happy?”
“Happy isn’t a word I associate with you and mornings, no.”
“Maybe you should wake me up like this more often then,” I teased him, loving his faint blush.
The door to our room swung open, and three heads stuck in the wide gap.
Marita. Derry. And, of course, Clay.
They watched me floss and Asa rinse with varying degrees of relief and disappointment.
Moving behind Asa to begin brushing his hair, I let my voice ring out, “Can we help you?”
“What do you want for breakfast?” Marita barged in. “I was thinking pancakes.”
“What about that French place?” Derry leaned in the doorway. “Omelette au fromage.”
“Colby ordered takeout thirty minutes ago,” Clay informed them. “As soon as it gets here, we’re out.”
The promise of food was all it took to make the Mayhews disappear to stalk the windows.
However, as usual, Clay stayed behind, making a gesture that encompassed us and the room. “Well?”
“Well, what?” I cut a sharp part down Asa’s scalp with a comb then began braiding. “Be more specific.”
“Everything is operational again?”
Mouthwash exploded past Asa’s lips, splashing the mirror. The minty-fresh liquid hit with such force, spatter bounced off and hit me in the eye, which burned like nobody’s business.
“Clay.” I had to drop Asa’s braid and fumble blindly for the sink to rinse my face. “I’m going to kill you.”
Footsteps pounded away, our room door slammed. Seconds later, the hotel room door slammed too.
“The coward ran, didn’t he?” I did my best to put out the fire by splashing my face with cold water. “Does he think that will save him?”
“He’s most likely planning to intercept the food, which he hopes will distract you from your vendetta.”
“Ha.” I got my vision back slowly. “I’m nauseous from smelling the clambake in trash bags.”
There was no hope of Clay earning forgiveness by feeding me. None. Whatsoever.
CHAPTER TEN
I might have been hasty when I told Asa that forgiveness couldn’t be bought with breakfast. I meant it at the time, but I hadn’t seen what Clay ordered, so it wasn’t my fault I changed my tune when he presented me with a slab of churro French toast. Baked like a bread pudding, it was then sliced thick and fried until the exterior was golden and crispy. The syrup was infused with cinnamon liqueur, and even the candied bacon on the side held an earthy nutmeg flavor.
“Am I forgiven?” Clay wiggled a cinnamon latte in one hand. “It’s got those hot candies sprinkled on top.”
Unable to hold a grudge and my food at the same time, I caved to the promise of caffeine. “Fiiine.”
While Clay scattered the feast across the hood to mix and match, I pulled Marita aside for a talk.
After I left my breakfast with Asa, who I could trust not to inhale it while my back was turned.
“Blay is back on his feet.” I picked at the cardboard insulator cuff wrapping my drink. “We’ve got it from here, if you and Derry are needed at home.” I rolled into my pitch. “You’ve got family here. Do you—?”
“You’re cute.” She pinched my cheeks. “You think getting rid of me is that easy?”
“You guys are the alphas, and I wasn’t expecting a twofer…”
“Even alphas get vacations. You heard Derry. He took the week off for this.”
“Okay.” I rubbed one side of my stinging face. “Glad we had this talk.”
“Me too.” She stole my cup, which I should have also left with Asa. “We’ll let you know when we need to go home.”
Walking away with my coffee, she climbed in the SUV beside Derry. I crawled in to find Asa waiting on me with my food. Ready to dig in, I managed to hold on until Clay passed out all the boxes and to-go cups. Before he took his seat, he handed me a caramel macchiato to replace what Marita had stolen.
“What did you get?” I peeked into Asa’s lap for the big reveal. “Same as me?”
“My French toast is walnut caramel apple.” He handed his container to me. “Want a bite?”
“You have to ask?” I set my food in the floorboard as Clay wiggled into his spot. “Of course I do.”
And not only for poison-testing purposes. It smelled amazing. The tiny bite I tried did not disappoint. Once Asa got us on the road, I set about feeding him pieces I cut and dipped into his apple butter sauce.
“What about your food?” He dodged the third forkful. “It’s going to get cold.”
“I can help,” Colby volunteered and floated onto the dash. “I’ll have to size up first.”
After scooping her onto my lap, I waited for her to shift then set her cat-sized fluffy self on the console.
“Here you go.” I surrendered his box and fork to her. “This stuff is heavy. Can you handle it?”
These slabs were like bricks. Delicious bricks. And whoa boy did they believe in healthy helpings.
“I got it.” She balanced it with the use of her multiple arms. “Now eat before yours congeals.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I was happy to collect my food and dig in. “Any news?”
“No.” She used two hands to guide his spoon. “Nan hasn’t made a purchase since last night.”
“She must either be staying with a friend or owns property in the area.” I crunched into my bacon and wished I could live off its spicy sweetness forever. “That, or we tipped her off by arresting the Ogunquitch.”
“Nan doesn’t know the, uh, Ogunquitch was taken into custody. Not for sure. Fergal kept it off the books.” Colby chuckled as she fed Asa. “But I get what you mean.”
“We still don’t know why Nan visited her,” Clay mumbled around his fork. “Nan might have skipped town but stayed close to wait on a delivery. Maybe the type of intel you don’t transmit over the wires. Maybe an artifact to help Luca achieve her goals. Maybe even a meeting of like-minded individuals in the area that the Ogunquitch arranged for her. Whatever it was, when it falls through, that’ll tip Nan off sooner rather than later.”
“Maybe we’ll get lucky,” Marita added, “and she got what she came for while she was there.”
The drive to Salem only took about an hour from here, so it could go either way.
“There was no trace of magic in the shop,” Derry countered. “She must have charmed it to prevent folks from walking in and getting a nose full of…” His focus drifted to me. “Um.” He shoved sausage in his mouth. “Nuffing.”
“Black magic stinks.” I chuckled. “I’m aware.” I sipped my coffee. “You don’t have to tiptoe around it.”
“Was there a record of the shop—” Asa gagged when Colby used his open mouth as an invitation to shove in a syrupy square Clay would have had trouble chewing, “—or the store owner in the database?”
“No.” She wiped his mouth, smearing goo under his nose. “Moon Water is listed as human owned.”
“Huh.” I tried not to laugh, but I was enjoying Colby’s help way too much. “That doesn’t mean the staff is human.”
“Doesn’t mean the owner is either,” Marita. “Plenty of paras lie to hide from organizations like Black Hat.”
“Not only the guilty ones either.” Derry munched philosophically. “Plenty of prey species don’t want a record any black witch with a rumble in their tummy can skim like a menu.”
Black Hat did a lot of good to justify its existence, but it left plenty of collateral damage in its wake.
“We’ll see what we see.” Clay shoved an entire orange slice I was pretty sure had been intended as garnish into his mouth. “No use worrying until then.”
“That’s a very Zen outlook.” Marita turned to him. “You’re not usually so chill.”
“Food coma.” I sipped my drink. “He turns into a fortune cookie when he’s overdone it.”
“I’ll have to remember that,” she said thoughtfully.
The rest of the trip passed in a sugar haze that allowed us to relax and enjoy one another’s company.
Not until we rolled into Salem did reality settle around us once again as I sized up changes to the town.
“This place is adorable.” Marita rolled down her window and stuck out her head. “Absolutely precious.”
“This is your first time?” I laughed as she named off all the shops she wanted to visit. “With your family so close to the area, I figured the potential for danger would have lured you here.”
“Nah.” She got out her phone to snap photos to remember the names. “Never interested me much.”
“Besides,” Derry added with a grin, “we didn’t get into half as much trouble before we met you.”
“That’s not exactly true.” Marita bounced in her seat, kicking the back of mine. “Derry is kind of a big deal, so we got invited to settle pack disputes for our allies and extended families. We just didn’t get into exotic trouble, like ghost hunting, sea monster wrangling, or explosives, until we met you.”
“It’s good to know what I bring to our friendship.”
“Mystery, murder, and mayhem.” Marita slung her arm around my seat, almost choking me out with her hug. “Much like my name, all the best things begin with the letter M.”
When she let go, I began to wheeze a request to Colby. “Can you play GPS?”
“The shop we want is in the Essex Street Pedestrian Mall.” She flicked an antenna. “We’ll have to walk.”
Downtown Salem was extremely walkable, and Essex Street was its crown jewel. The mall was more of a pedestrian-only street populated with dozens of small stores, attractions, and places to eat.
“Then let’s hang right.” I pointed to an orange sign. “There’s a parking garage around the corner.”
We parked, gathered our trash, and prepared to set out with Colby tucked into Clay’s jacket pocket.
As luck would have it, an ice cream shop sat on the corner across from the entrance to Essex Street.
The side trip cost us ten minutes, but a snack break made for good camouflage among the visiting humans. Or so Clay assured me.
Halfway down the strip, a powerful ward throbbed along my jaw like a sore tooth. Three witches were posted at the front door of the shop anchoring it, all of them staring at me. Hard. I was impressed they revealed themselves, but it worried me they might overestimate the strength of their ward. I could tear it down, if I wanted, and the most they could do was use the distraction to run.
White magic, and theirs definitely was, wasn’t much of a challenge to someone like me.
If the diversity of our group surprised them, they gave no sign. They probably recognized the uniform.
But more than one slid their gaze to where I held Asa’s hand, my hair bracelet visible for all to see.
We passed them without comment and aimed for Moon Water, which had no protection whatsoever.
“If you need something to wash those down,” the cashier said, noticing our ice cream cones, “we have blackberry tea chillers.”
Their selection of herbal tea-based smoothies was impressive, but I wouldn’t drink anything from this place until we determined what business Nan had here.
“We’re just looking.” I smiled at her then began admiring a display of crystal pets. “Fan out.” I kept my voice low until we determined the cashier’s species. “See if you pick up on any traces of magic.”
“The front is clear,” Asa murmured beside me, picking up a selenite tower with black eyeballs and a carved smile. “Do you want me to stay and watch the door?”
Adorable as his obvious concern over the witches was, I harbored no worries they would approach us. That would put them outside their wards, thus outside their safety zone. They wouldn’t risk that.
“I would rather you take this guy and ask the cashier what he’s made of.” Selecting a green pet from the bin, I pressed it into his hand. “I’m not sure she’s human, and I don’t want her to catch a whiff of me.”
Even with the grimoire’s stain on me, I didn’t reek like a black witch unless I touched my powers. More like its powers. The book was the problem. It had been since the day Asa entrusted it into my keeping.
“All right.”
While he determined her species, to tell us if we could risk questioning her, I moved on to a display of stretchy bracelets made with various protection stone beads. I brushed my fingers over a snowflake obsidian one, and a faint tinge of relief spread through me. About the time I decided it was, very slightly, dampening the grimoire’s hold on me, the Hunk vaporized the entire bin in case I got any ideas.
The stink was terrible, and I coughed into my sleeve, but worse was that my magic had leapfrogged onto the other bracelets without me touching them.
Goddess bless, that never got less terrifying.
“Fire.” The cashier, whirling away from Asa, began screaming orders. “Everybody out.”
Scooting from behind the counter, she swept through the store, ushering customers to safety.
Her genuine concern told me she wasn’t a black witch long before Asa returned to my side to report in.
“Not a black witch.” I beat him to the punch. “Human?”
“Human,” he confirmed, examining my handiwork. “The Hunk?”
Polite to a fault, he didn’t draw attention to the smell, which gave it away as my doing.
“Those were mostly protection stones. Fluorite, pyrite, kyanite, black tourmaline, obsidian, citrine.”
“That’s an extreme reaction to a minor dampener.” He took my hands and examined them, but I didn’t have a mark on me. “Did you put one on?”
“I didn’t get an opportunity to before it decided not to take any chances.”
With skill I had to admire, Clay intercepted the cashier and escorted her to the doorway, where he flashed his FBI badge. He talked with her for a moment, his expression stern, then sent her on her way.
When he strolled back in, swinging her keys around his finger, I asked, “How did you manage that?”
“I told her Ace was my partner, and we were investigating a similar incident at another store.”
“She bought that?” Marita caught up to us. “Humans will believe anything.”
“It’s the badge.” Derry rubbed his jaw. “Maybe I should have some minted for the pack enforcers.”
“Forget that.” Marita had a better idea. “Maybe you should have some minted for us.”
Any alpha who required a symbol of authority to get their pack to listen wouldn’t be alpha for long, but I was trusting Marita’s goldfish memory to forget this conversation before it reached the design phase.
“We’ve got maybe fifteen minutes.” Clay clapped his hands. “She’s grabbing a sandwich then coming back.”
“You heard the man.” I shooed them deeper into the store. “Get hunting.”
While the others finished up out front, I snuck into the back, finding a room much like the one in Hollis Apothecary. Boxes of stock filled one corner, and a desk with a lunchbox on it sat opposite. I hit the desk first, rifling through each drawer’s contents, but I came up empty.
There was no scent, no vibe, no indication whatsoever that this was anything but a souvenir shop.
“Find anything?” Asa entered behind me, sweeping his gaze around the room. “What’s in the boxes?”
“Stock.” I pointed to the shipping label. “I recognize this herb supplier. I passed on them for the shop.”
“Quality?”
“Yeah.” I picked at the adhesive to distract myself. “Their prices are great, until you see the product.”
“This store sells in bulk to people it never sees again.” He watched my hand, drawing my attention back to the box. “What…?” I caught it then and leaned closer. “There’s another label.”
The box could be a return, where you stick one label over the other, or it might be a clue.
“Can you tear off the top one?” He leaned his hip against the desk. “You might as well check.”
“I can try.” I had years of experience in labeling, but not much in unlabeling. “Here we go.”
