As he drove through the center of Havenwood Falls, he became aware that not all of the people were human.
The shuttle parked along the curb in front of a gorgeous Victorian house, but Daniel kept going around the square. He pulled in next to a police cruiser when he parked in front of City Hall and caught the distinct odor of wolf. He turned in the direction of the scent and noticed the sheriff’s deputy sitting in the cruiser, also scenting the air. Daniel hadn’t gone undetected, either. The deputy narrowed his eyes, and they flashed a deep gold before returning to brown. Leaving his truck unlocked and windows down, figuring it was going to be searched anyway, Daniel left to find Parker’s Perfect Placement Agency. According to the directions Patty gave him, it was located on Eleventh Street next to the bank, Havenwood Falls Savings & Loan.
A secretary sat behind a wide metal desk, typing away. Her fingers hitting the keys made a loud clacking noise. Her gray hair curled out at the ends and brushed the tops of her shoulders. She had a matronly look about her, and when she glanced up at Daniel, she pushed her tortoiseshell horn-rimmed glasses up her nose.
“Can I help you?” she asked in a no-nonsense tone, while still typing at a rapid-fire pace.
“Yes, my name is Daniel McCabe. I’m here to see Patty Parker.” He handed her the flyer, and she gave it a brief glance before sighing and handing it back to him.
“Hold on, please.” She stood and walked down a narrow hallway. There were two doors on the right and one on the left. She knocked on the door on the left before opening it and disappearing inside. She returned a moment later to bring Daniel back.
They stopped in front of a closed door. The bottom half was dark wood and the top half frosted glass, and etched in the glass in block letters was the name Martin Parker. A woman sat behind a cluttered desk. Her hair was brown and twisted up into a beehive. He showed her the flyer, and she grinned at him, her blue eyes sparkling behind her black-framed glasses.
“Mr. McCabe, pleased to meet you, finally. Patty Parker,” she said and stood up to walk around the desk. She was taller than he expected and wore navy capri pants with a short jacket. “Please have a seat and pardon the mess. It’s my husband’s, and I’m attempting to organize.”
Daniel took a seat in one of the two available chairs, and Patty handed him a clipboard with a bunch of forms. About fifteen minutes later, he was just finishing the last form when his nostrils flared. He scented the presence of a vampire—it had been a few years since he last encountered a vampire, but he’d recognize their scent of dusty blood anywhere—and two other creatures he wasn’t familiar with. Suddenly the office door opened, and three people filed in: a tall older man with intense blue eyes and silvery blond hair that draped down to his lower back; the man next to him was the vampire, his grayish green eyes unlike any color Daniel had seen before; and the other man’s scent was spicy, but his species eluded Daniel. What was going on? Everything about this situation was unusual, but things just kept getting more bizarre. His gut was telling him to proceed and that he wasn’t in danger, so he decided to stay.
“You’re a mountain lion shifter, correct?” the tall man with silvery hair asked.
“Yes. How did you know?” Daniel sat up straighter in his seat, taken aback at the man’s directness.
“We have our ways, Mr. McCabe. I know you sensed we’re not human, and there are others in town like us.”
“Yes, I did.”
“My name is Elsmed Fairchild, and I’ll tell you, so you can stop guessing—I’m a fae. The vampire is Mihail Petran, and he owns Whisper Falls Inn. This other gentleman is Del Augustine, and he’s a mage. Havenwood Falls isn’t like other towns. Sure, there’s the chamber of commerce, city hall, and city council, but the supernatural population requires a different structure and type of policing. That’s where we come in. We sit on the Court of the Sun and the Moon and make sure everyone behaves in this town. If not, there are consequences.” His blue eyes flared at this, driving his point home.
Daniel tapped his fingers against his leg, waiting for the other shoe to drop. So far everything had been going too smoothly.
“Relax, Daniel,” Patty reassured him. “If we didn’t think you’d be a good fit here, you wouldn’t be sitting there.”
“Exactly,” Del said, his voice a soothing baritone. “The flyer you saw was spelled to only be seen by supernaturals.”
“Oh, that makes sense. My mom said she smelled magic.”
“Either she has a very keen nose, or I’m slipping,” Patty said with a laugh that broke some of the tension in the room.
“The rules are simple, Daniel,” Elsmed continued. “You can’t show your shifter form or abilities in public, specifically in front of humans. This includes hunting. You also need to know that wards are in place that will alter your memory. If you leave Havenwood Falls, your memories of this town will fade until they’re gone forever. Finally, you will be marked with a tattoo that identifies you as a supernatural and has certain magical qualities. For example, you’ll have better control over your shift. We’ll start you off with the temporary one and if you decide you like Havenwood Falls and want to live here long-term, we’ll upgrade your tattoo. A permanent tattoo has benefits, such as being able to leave the wards for a full lunar cycle, or twenty-eight days, without your memories being affected. Any questions?”
“You want to tattoo me because I’m not human?” Daniel stood up, prepared to walk out. “Identifying a certain group by marking them is a tactic of war. I’m not comfortable with this.” He crossed the room to the only window and peered out onto the side street. A mountain, one of the many peaks that surrounded Havenwood Falls, loomed above the neighborhoods behind the agency, and the evergreen tree line beckoned him, a promise of nocturnal romps within the forest. Perhaps this town is too good to be true, after all, he thought to himself.
“It’s a temporary tattoo unless you choose to stay and make it permanent. It doesn’t even have to be visible. It is a requirement if you plan to take the job and stay here.” Del Augustine approached Daniel. He wore a three-piece suit, and gold cufflinks with the letter A inlaid with onyx stuck out from beneath the sleeves of his tailored jacket. Daniel tensed up when Del drew too close, and the mage backed off. “You don’t trust easily, do you?” he asked Daniel.
“No.”
“I understand, believe me. Our kind have been persecuted for centuries. Right, Patty?” Del called out across the room.
“We sure have. My ancestors fled Salem. Left in the dead of night before they could be accused.”
“You see, all of us have been hunted or treated differently. Havenwood Falls was built as a safe haven for our kind. The rules we have are to ensure that safety isn’t threatened.”
As Del spoke, Daniel listened with all of his senses, and he didn’t detect any type of deception. Taking a deep breath, he turned away from the window and faced the room.
“Fine. I’ll agree to a tattoo, but it has to be invisible.”
Chapter 4
The sun was beginning to set when Daniel left PPP Agency. In his hands he had the keys to a cabin and the paperwork to start his new job the next day. His right shoulder blade itched. True to their word, his tattoo was invisible, but he still felt the tendrils of magic seeping into his skin. Still in shock and unsure what to make of his good fortune, he sat in his truck for a few minutes, letting everything sink in. First, he had to call his mom and let her know he’d made it to the town, and as his stomach growled, he realized had to find something to eat. Remembering the market he passed on the way in, he fired up the truck and backed out of the parking spot. Within minutes, he was pulling into a space along the curb right in front of Campbell’s Market. A strange sensation, like his pulse beating along the surface of his skin, began when he stepped onto the sidewalk, and it grew stronger when he entered the store.
To the right was a single register and checkout counter, and next to it a stack of baskets. He grabbed one and made his way over to the refrige
rated case along the back of the store, where all the meat was kept. Apparently, the cabin he was renting came fully furnished, including dishes and pots and pans. Daniel was used to his mom cooking for him, but he thought he could handle frying up a steak on the stove and making a potato. It couldn’t be that difficult. Throwing a steak and a package of bacon in the basket, he made his way down the case and added a dozen eggs. As he walked down the canned goods aisle, the thrumming sensation on his skin increased in intensity, becoming more of a buzz, like he was on the receiving end of continuous low-level jolts of electricity. What in the world? he thought to himself, thinking it was the tattoo causing the sensation. And then he saw her, and he forgot about everything.
A young woman stood behind the register, ringing up a customer. Her hair was silken gold, and her skin the peaches and cream described in fairy tales. She reminded him of Grace Kelly, but he thought she was far more beautiful. She was the most gorgeous creature he had ever laid eyes on. The woman smiled at the customer, her full lips parting to reveal straight white teeth. Daniel stood frozen in the aisle, staring like an idiot. Even his inner beast had stilled, captivated by the tiny beauty.
Slowly he breathed in deeply through his nose. He filtered out extraneous odors, like the onions and peppers in the produce section and the bananas that were too ripe. Her perfume was a soft floral and so very feminine, but masked her true scent, and that was what Daniel was after. Buried underneath the perfume and soap was a scent that reminded him of sunshine and moonlight all at once. It called to him, and without realizing, he had taken a few steps forward, his body being pulled to her. Then his brain finally caught up with his senses when he fully processed what was unexpected about her scent.
She was human.
This fact stopped him cold, and he almost dropped the basket. Daniel was positive this woman was intended to be his mate. The visceral response to her left little doubt, but how could she be? He couldn’t be with a human. That was an affront to his kind. As if he were standing next to him, his dad’s voice echoed in his head. “Humans are the predators, son. They seek out and destroy or try to control anyone they see as different.” Daniel knew this; history had proven it. So, with a heavy heart, he set the basket down and quickly left the market, ignoring the instinct that was urging him to claim the woman.
Sitting in his truck with the windows down, Daniel took several deep breaths in an attempt to clear his head, which was at war with his heart. The papers for his job and the keys to the cabin lay on the passenger seat. The promise of a life with some permanency was within reach, and he didn’t realize how badly he wanted that until it was offered. The human woman complicated things.
A rap on the passenger door pulled Daniel from his thoughts. He turned his head to look at the older man who was bent over, elbows on the sill of the door, peering into the cab of the truck. He had deep wrinkles around his mouth and eyes, which were shrouded by wiry, bushy eyebrows that resembled steel wool. His gray hair was slicked back with pomade.
“Well, I’ll be. You’re the spitting image of him.”
“Of who?”
“I wasn’t sure, I mean McCabe is a common name, but when Elsmed told me you were a mountain lion shifter, I had to see for myself.”
“What are you talking about and who are you?”
“Jerome Brewster. Are you heading to the cabin? I’ll explain along the way.” Daniel watched in disbelief as Jerome opened the door and climbed inside, sliding the paperwork and keys along the bench seat toward him. “Well, don’t just sit there and stare at me catching flies. Drive. I’ll give you directions, since you’re new to town.”
Shaking his head at the audacity of the strange old man, Daniel started the truck. He was curious who Jerome was and who Daniel reminded him of. Hoping the saying “curiosity killed the cat” didn’t hold true, he pulled out onto Main Street and followed Jerome’s instructions.
Once they were out of the downtown area, they followed the main road back out of town, until the sign showed it changing to County Road 13, although Jerome called it Burdorf Pass. When he turned right onto a dirt road, he recognized the cabins he had driven past on his way into town. Several log cabins were scattered among the trees, many partially hidden in shadows as the sun dipped behind the mountains to the west. He spotted cabin number four and pulled up in front of the single-story building. It was a simple structure with a window and a door on the front. A metal stovepipe rose from the roof.
Grabbing his suitcase from the bed of the truck, Daniel climbed up the three steps that led to the door and unlocked it. Pine-scented cleaner and wood polish assaulted his nose, and it took him a few minutes to adjust. Opening up a few windows to air the place out helped. On the counter there was a basket of cheese, sausage, crackers, and some apples as a welcome. Between that and the few sandwiches his mom had packed in a cooler for him, at least he had something to eat, since he left the market empty-handed.
The living room consisted of a love seat in the most god-awful pattern and a rocking chair.
“Have a seat.” Daniel sat in the rocking chair, which creaked under his weight, and Jerome sunk down onto the loveseat, his equally creaky knees popping.
“Your grandfather saved my life,” Jerome announced.
And the revelations kept coming. Daniel was surprised he wasn’t dizzy from all the information being dumped on him. First the supernatural secret society of Havenwood Falls and now this. “What?”
“I was at Sunset Creek that night everything went to shit. You do know about Sunset Creek, don’t you, son?”
Daniel nodded. “Yes, my dad told me—he even brought me there.”
Jerome shook his head and frowned. The wrinkles around his mouth deepened. “I know Ian got his wife and son out. Then he came back to help others escape. I was the last one he saved. As I was running with my son in my arms and my wife running alongside me, I briefly looked back over my shoulder just as a burning building collapsed. It was like a wave of fire washed over your granddad. Only a fire dragon could have survived that.”
“Wow.” That’s all Daniel could say. After seeing the decades-old ruins in Sunset Creek when he was a teen, it was easy to imagine his grandfather’s painful death.
“What are the odds that you show up here,” Jerome said and rose to his feet with a groan. “I can’t pay your grandfather back for saving me, but I can return the favor to you. Anything you need, boy, don’t hesitate to ask. My family has a cabin just around the bend—number 9.”
“Thank you.” Daniel shook his hand and watched as the old man sauntered down the driveway.
“What are the odds, indeed?” Daniel muttered under his breath.
Chapter 5
One minute the handsome stranger was standing in the aisle, resembling a deer trapped in headlights as he stared at her, and the next minute he was gone. He had set his full basket down on the floor and bolted out the door like his Levi’s were on fire. Before Colleen could call after him, the door had swung shut.
Maybe he forgot his wallet, she thought to herself, and shook her head. That wasn’t the first strange thing to have happened in town, and surely wouldn’t be the last. She did wonder about the man. He wasn’t from around here, for she would have heard about him from her girlfriends. A man that looked like he did would not escape their attention. He was tall, muscular, and had the most incredible blue eyes that were accentuated by his dark eyebrows. His reddish-brown hair was thick on top and had a slight pompadour. Sideburns added to the definition of his sharp cheekbones. If she hadn’t been busy ringing up a customer, she probably would have been caught up in his intense gaze. Sighing, she smoothed the apron she wore over her Madrid print capri pants and salmon-colored blouse, before retrieving the stranger’s basket and putting back the items, taking note of the toiletry items and the thick steak swimming in blood.
Perhaps he was a tourist passing through Havenwood Falls, here to take advantage of the hiking and fishing. Maybe he was visiting family. Colleen hoped
he came back, so she could at least learn a name to go with the handsome face. She grinned at the memory of doodling her name in her school notebooks and adding the last name of whoever she had crushed on at the time. Sadly, none of those crushes had panned out. Some turned out to be jerks, and others left Havenwood Falls after graduation and never returned. Now some of her friends were beginning to settle down. At twenty years old, she was already past the age her mom was when her parents were married. So far, Colleen hadn’t found anyone even remotely close to husband material, and in the small town, her chances of finding someone were slim.
She shook her head and scoffed at the direction her thoughts had taken. Just one glimpse of the handsome stranger and she was already thinking marriage. Perhaps planning her friend Peggy’s bridal shower was responsible.
The small bell above the front door to the store chimed, and Colleen looked up from where she was dusting and straightening the rows of canned vegetables. Her dad walked in, carrying a wooden box with the Stone Falls Winery logo burned into the side.
“Howdy, pumpkin!” he called and set the box down next to the register. The bottles inside rattled slightly with the movement.
“Hi, Daddy!” Colleen said and walked over to meet him.
“The Blackstones gave me a great deal on this case of cabernet.” He pulled out a bottle and held it up to the light. “I can’t wait to bring this home for your mother. Her bridge club will love it.”
He winked at her and set the bottle back in the crate. While he went to the back of the store, where his office was located, Colleen counted down the register and started closing everything down for the night. The sun had set, and the dinner rush was over. At seven o’clock on the nose, she locked the door and flipped the sign from Open to Closed.
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