“You want to try her with Dark Prince,” he said without inflection.
“Of course.”
“That’s not taking time off like I intended.”
“It is for me. My horses aren’t work,” she retorted, grinning as she scooped a handful of her basil and dumped it into a bowl to mix with the rest of the dry ingredients. She stirred quickly, then poured it into the water boiling in the cauldron. “Accept or leave.”
“Accept,” he answered, smiling as well. “Have they been getting the exercise they need? One is looking particularly chubby.”
“I know! I need to get her moving more. How about you ride her for a little while, until your mare is through her season?” Addy needed to get her horses moving more, but she only rode Dark Prince for the most part. He was perfect in temperament and intelligence for her, which was why she wanted to breed him so bad. Any young from him would be excellent, and yet she never got any.
“I can switch with you for a few weeks. That’s not a worry,” he promised. “Maybe I can come up in the mornings and exercise them while I’m waiting for Valen to wake up? If I’m going to sell once he’s up and the saloon is open, that gives me time to come out and do some work with them.”
“I’d like that. Thank you.” She patted his chest. “I really appreciate that.”
“Well, you used to be home most days and would spend hours with them. It’s the least I can do to help you adjust to this new exciting life of yours. Let’s go.”
She checked her cauldron one more time before following him. “We have three hours,” she told him.
“I know. I helped you develop the potion, Addy.”
“Look—”
“Addy.” He grinned over his shoulder. “The horses. Leave the potions for a minute. I know how long we have.”
“Well, fine,” she muttered petulantly, but couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.
They got to work quickly, bringing all her horses out of the field and into the barn. She cleaned them off while he cleaned their gear.
It was quiet work, but it was work that made her happy. The first thing she learned when she came out West was that the work, and how happy it made her, mattered. Staying busy was the best thing to do in a world where watching tumbleweeds was the entertainment, because boredom often meant something important wasn’t getting done. So she kept busy doing everything she could. Her horses, her potions. She kept her home clean and tidy to pass the time, and also because she refused to live like a slob. That might be my mother’s fault, though, and not how boring it can be out here. She was anal-retentive about cleanliness of the home. Not that she ever cleaned, but that’s neither here nor there.
By late afternoon, they were done and her legs were tired.
“Tobias, bring him in,” she called, waving for him to get off her Dark Prince. “He didn’t need the exercise.”
“Maybe I just like riding him!” Tobias yelled back. He looked majestic on the back of her stallion.
“He’s mine!” Everyone loved riding Dark Prince, but her stallion had to be in the mood for it. Apparently today he was in the mood. Normally, no one could get on him without a fight. Well, Tobias does have a way with animals I’ll never understand. It was one of the things she was always a touch jealous of.
“Possessive, aren’t you?” he teased.
“Yes. Dark Prince is mine. All the men in my life are mine. No one else can have you.” She wasn’t thinking as she said it, just joking around, but she also meant it, and that was the bad part. The part that made her pause as she realized exactly what she had said. She had always been jealous of other women with Tobias and Valen. Hell, she was even jealous of women around Maxwell. They were her friends and she wanted them to herself, but she also wanted them happy, and that had kept her sane.
“I’m fine being yours, but maybe one day I would like a family,” Tobias replied as he rode closer and dismounted. He handed her the lead. “I mean, you know, before I’m old.”
“There’s probably some girl out there for you I don’t hate,” she answered, shrugging off her own possessive nature, or trying to.
“I can think of one,” he mumbled, looking away. “Let’s get him cleaned up and finish the potions.”
“Let’s do that,” she agreed. She didn’t want to touch his comment with a ten foot pole.
It went fast. Dark Prince was outstanding for her and tore back off into the field the moment she was done. He sniffed around the mares for a minute, and she hoped she would see some real action, but it didn’t happen. Yet. One day I’m going to have baby Princes even if I have to use a damned fertility spell on them.
“Adalyn!” someone called. She looked down her main trail to see Easton and Remy riding up. “We brought home things for dinner.”
“Oh! I had no idea it was time for you two to get home! How was your day?” She waited for them to come closer.
“Uneventful,” Easton answered as he swung off his gelding. Before she could say anything, he leaned down and kissed her nearly senseless. “How was yours?”
“Busy. A good busy. It’s nice just working around home sometimes.”
“Well, it’s time for you to sit down and let us make you dinner again,” he murmured against her lips.
“Really? You don’t have to—”
“Valen told me one of your favorite recipes,” he crooned.
“Well, fine.” She pushed him away, smiling. “Go on then. I’ll handle your boy.”
“I’ll help,” Remy offered, sliding up to her side. “Or I can help Easton, your call.” His hand touched her lower back and roamed down. When he gave it a light squeeze, she playfully hit his chest.
“You get inside too,” she ordered. “I’m not in the mood for whatever you’re thinking.”
“Not yet,” he taunted.
“Not yet,” she agreed. When the two men were gone, she turned on Tobias. “Would you like to stay for dinner?”
“No…” He shook his head. “I’ll bottle up the potions while you deal with their horses, then head out.”
Guilt suddenly slammed into her. “Are you sure? You said you wanted to get to know them.”
“It looks like they want to do something special with you tonight. I’m not going to intrude.”
“I don’t get more days off for over a week thanks to the schedule—”
“It’s fine,” he promised, backing away. “We can pick this up another time.”
She could really only nod as he walked away, leaving her with the horses. He was obviously uncomfortable with Easton and Remy’s displays of affection, and that really drove home the predicament she hadn’t thought she would find herself in. She had a man in love with her while she was parading around with two men she cared about. How the hell was she going to dance between them? Should I even try, or is that a pointless endeavor that’s only going to drive me insane?
As she walked inside the house and smelled what Easton and Remy were cooking, she decided to keep the course she was on. She would let Tobias down gently if he pressed his feelings for her, telling him honestly that she wasn’t ready yet for the commitment he would want. She would keep all of them in her life where she wanted them, and they would just need to deal with that.
And she kept some hope they would get along as they got to know each other.
“Tomorrow, you’re back with us,” Easton said as she walked in.
“Yes, I am,” she agreed, nodding. “Back to paperwork and petty drama for a week.”
“It can’t be that bad!” Remy said, laughing.
“No, it’s not. I just like whining about it. I don’t get to whine enough. I’ve never been much of a whiner. More of a ‘take action’ kind of girl.” She chuckled. “I just hate paperwork that much.”
“Can’t say I blame you.” Remy was still laughing as they started to eat.
9
Adalyn
For the seventh damned day in a row, Adalyn sank into her chair behind the back desk to do her morni
ng paperwork after a long night of toiling over her cauldron. Another day, another small stack of reports to look over from the small incidents around Redstone. Over a month on the job now, and she noticed the stacks were getting smaller every day, something she found curious and a bit of a relief. Maybe they were finally making headway on everything that needed to be handled from the year where there had been no sheriff.
Not likely, but a girl can dream. Doesn’t help that I’ve spent the last week half doing this job and half trying to think of everything I need to do with Tobias for our potions business.
She sighed, grabbing the top file. She enjoyed the active part of the job, no doubt. This was just tedious and unnecessary in her mind. She opened it and frowned. Everything was filled out, and she just needed to sign. She recognized the fluid, beautiful script handwriting of Easton. She read over it quickly and added her own signature, putting it on the ‘finished’ stack, then grabbed the next file. When she opened it, she smiled.
They didn’t.
Remy’s not-as-neat handwriting this time. It was just as thorough as Easton’s, though, detailing everything that happened in the mediation between a vampire and a human who hadn’t realized what his payment for his evening was supposed to be. He was now properly educated about how the rules worked in Redstone. Good. She signed the bottom and put it away.
And every file after that was the same. She was baffled. She had been on all these small cases, and figured she would need to write the reports, but they were all done. There was always something small going on in the town. She knew other sheriffs weren’t so involved, but in a town of supernaturals, she had to be hands-on with everything. Who knew when someone would piss off a bear shifter and get killed?
This was sweet of them. She was still smiling as she signed the last one and found herself done long before she planned to be. It wasn’t even close to lunch. She stood up and stretched. That meant she could wander around a little.
Walking back out of the office, she considered working more on her jail. She wanted to finish her renovations before they were needed. She was in the process of adding some high-powered spells to the walls, and it was a slow process to make sure she wasn’t recasting them every week. Runes, incantations, and a touch of blood magic she shouldn’t be using were involved. The blood magic, she smartly didn’t tell anyone about. She had learned her lesson about the really dark magic she had done, but this was just a strengthening spell to what she was already doing. There were no portals to Hell or anything.
“What are you doing?” Easton asked, coming up behind her as she considered the cells.
“Oh, nothing,” she evaded, turning to him. “Just want to work on my upgrades to the jail, since someone seems to have finished all my paperwork for me.”
“Hm. Someone isn’t noticing we’ve been doing that for you for over a week now.” Easton smiled, leaning against the wall.
“Is that why my stack is getting smaller?” She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at him.
“We’ve been taking a little bit more for ourselves each day. We’re filling them out and filing them since they’re ones that don’t need your signature.”
She wanted to kiss him for that. So she did. She grabbed his cheeks and pulled him down to her level, planting a kiss on the soft lips she knew so well. He wrapped an arm around her, his large palm on the small of her back. When she pulled away, he was still leaning close, his sapphire eyes practically glowing.
“If that’s the thank you I’m going to get every time, tell me…what else can I do for you?” He gave her an uncharacteristically crooked smile. She found it charming, like he always was. If she didn’t know any better, she would think the kiss surprised him.
“Nothing. I’m going to work on this on my own.”
He seemed reluctant to let go of her, but he did.
“What’s Remy doing for his day off? He was still sleeping when we left.” She hoped he knew, because she could never guess what he was doing while she wasn’t around. Their schedule was falling back into place again since Tobias got back. They each took two days off, meaning they only had three people in the office one day a week, but it was only fair on them. They couldn’t all be working all the time. The job didn’t pay that well.
But it meant she didn’t always know what they were up to. She would come home to a clean home on her work days, knowing it had been swept before she ever stepped foot in it, but there were other strange things happening. Like one day, she found a vase she never used full of wildflowers. It had been Easton’s day off, and she had no idea where he’d gone to get them. He never told her, either, or even acknowledged them. Remy once groomed all the horses in the field and cleaned the barn. She had tried to say thank you but he’d brushed it off, ignoring that he’d done it.
“Who knows?” Easton evaded, his smile changing into the one she knew well. The sly smile that had secrets. The enigma.
Oh, these boys are plotting, and I’m not sure whether to kiss him again or be very afraid. What have I done to deserve this?
She shook her head, making him laugh. “You work on your witch things. I’ll man the front. If I need a hand, I’ll call for you.”
“Thank you.” She pushed him away, knowing she couldn’t work with him around. He would give her a speech about how Maxwell didn’t want her dabbling in the type of magic she was about to do. Maxwell, who refused to send her letters for some reason, was still in touch with Easton, of all people. Easton. He’d sent a letter with his little candle trick only a few days before, saying it was their one month anniversary on the job and he hoped everything was going well. Easton had read it out for them at dinner, making Remy laugh, but her? She wanted to set the damned letter on fire again and send it back. How could he have become friends with her deputies? How dare he!
It’s a good thing, though. When he gets back, they’ll have more friends. Especially since they haven’t exactly hit it off with Tobias.
At that thought, Adalyn rolled her eyes. She had told Easton that Tobias offered friendship and they’d said they tried and never did. It was like they didn’t care. Tobias, when she relayed that, hadn’t cared either. It was like the offering had only been because they were in her bed, not because he actually wanted to know them. With that, she had given up hopes for them hanging out together. If she wanted her best friend and her lovers to know each other, she was going to have to force it, which wasn’t a can of worms she wanted to open yet.
Men. They’ll work it out when they want to work it out. I’m not getting into whatever invisible pissing contest they might have going on.
It was a damned shame. As she pulled her knife and stepped into the cell, she was still thinking about it. Maxwell would also need to work with her deputies. She couldn’t really be too mad about him sending her roommates letters. There was really only one reason it was bothering her. It’s fucking Maxwell. Like, why can’t that guy send me a letter? I’m the new sheriff. Seriously. And we just reconnected. We just started fixing things. That fucking man.
She pricked her finger and began to murmur the spell. This wasn’t a wild magic thing. She had to do this by the book. Normally, she snuck in and did it when no one was looking. Today, she wanted to add a little more to the spell’s parameters, which was why this was such a time-consuming process. She had covered shifters, werewolves, and werecats already, making sure none of them would be able to use their supernatural abilities in the cell. Today it was vampires.
She continued to murmur as she tapped her pricked finger on each wall and the floor. She had a chair in the room so she could reach the ceiling and touch it as well. With her blood in the very infrastructure of the building, it would be potent. She went to the bars and touched each of them, feeling how the magic radiated between them. Her spells were seriously powerful now.
By the end of the process, going around the room several times, she was drained. It would pass, she knew, but this was one of the cases where magic didn’t give her a rush. She had put s
o much of herself into the security of the cell and still had another one to work on. She needed to eat first, though, before diving into it. With that in mind, she walked out to the front of the building, cleaning her finger off as she went. She found Easton sitting quietly, reading another one of her spell books. She watched his luscious lips sound out a word, but nothing happened. He couldn’t use her type of magic, like she couldn’t do whatever it was he did.
“Have we done anything about lunch yet?” she asked.
He pointed to something on the desk near him. She opened the small box and found what she was looking for.
“Did you run out and get it already? How long was I back there?”
“Long enough that I knew you would want lunch, and no, I never left my post. I sent a message to Remy, who stopped in town to grab it for us and drop it off. He’s already gone back to whatever he was doing.”
She chuckled and grabbed a chair next to him behind their reception desk. Lunch was a sandwich, and she bit into it without considering what was on it. Valen knew all her favorites like no one else. He was also a genius. Not like he ever cooked. She was positive he never touched a wooden spoon to stir a stew. He just waved his hand and food appeared. Dirty cheater.
“How is it?” Easton asked as she swallowed her second bite.
“Perfect,” she answered, smiling.
“Good,” he purred, leaning over to kiss the edge of her mouth. It made her stupidly breathless for a moment. Those little things were showing up more often since the night where they took care of everything. That night seemed to have changed everything.
She finished the sandwich, trying not to stare at the Nephilim’s chiseled profile as he went back to reading. When she was done, he reached out and began to clean up for her, making her narrow her eyes at him.
“Get back to whatever you were doing, boss.” He just dismissed her casually, that enigmatic smile back.
“When I’m done, I’m going to run and check on Tobias in the saloon. I want to know how our new stock is doing.” She didn’t wait for him to respond, walking away before anything else strange could happen, like him offering to do that for her. Her potion business with Tobias was hers. They needed to keep their helpful hands off of it and just on her, where she wanted them.
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