“Congrats, lady. I’d better be going to be the best man.”
“Of course you are, silly. Thank you. Now how are you doing? Reid’s just filling me in.”
I’d bet he was. Newly engaged males were randy as all hell.
“I need a favour. Could I buy you a coffee tomorrow and one of the nicest doughnuts around?”
“Oooh Jax’s?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. What time do you want to meet?”
“Well, that’s the thing. I want you to go without me.”
“Huh?”
“Let me explain.”
* * *
The following morning just after 10am my mobile phone pinged.
Kim: I demand you meet with me so I can explain everything. Stop being an arse Darius Wild.
I sat back and laughed, waited five minutes and then sent a reply.
Darius: Fine. Where then? This better be good. I don’t like my time being wasted.
In seconds I had a reply.
Kim: Eight pm. Hanif’s. I’ll pay.
Fuck. It went against every bone in my body to let a woman pay for dinner. I thought about my sister’s face if I said this, growled, and typed my response.
Darius: See you then.
I opened up a new message to Sierra.
Darius: Thank you so much. You’re a star!
Sierra: My pleasure. Her face was a picture. She deffo likes you, so something else must be holding her back. Anyway, good luck, bestie.
Hmm, could that be true? Was there something stopping Kim from being mine? I guess I needed to find out.
Chapter Five
Kim
I’d spent the night catching up on Stranger Things on the television. I’d had a good nights sleep. Life was good.
Today me and Lucy were going to get the staff room cleaned up, so I’d tied my hair up in a ponytail and put on my painting clothes. No point in getting dressed up if we were going to be knee deep in dirt. Shelley would man the phones and keep an eye on the emails. All I needed to do was go get a coffee and doughnut from Seth to get a head start on the day. The eye candy wouldn’t go amiss before all I could see was dust.
Once again the coffee shop was bustling. Jax spotted me and motioned for me to take a seat. Even better. Table service. She wandered over.
“The usual, babes?”
“Yes, please. Wow, it’s not letting up in here is it? Are you this busy all the time?”
“This is slow. I don’t know what Seth has but I need to bottle it if he leaves.”
I laughed. “If only you knew before that the way to a successful coffee shop was a hot barista. Now the other women, and some men, of Withernsea will be getting hooked on your superior brand of coffee. They are so lucky.”
“They are. Well, I’ll be back in a moment with your order. You staying in or taking it back to the office?”
“Staying thanks. I don’t start for another twenty minutes today.”
“Do you know, I'm going to come join you. I could use a rest, it’s been relentless.”
I was pleased for Jax. She’d been running the coffee shop for three years now and it really was an amazing venue. Choose what had brought in the extra custom—her products reputation or the hot new assistant—she deserved every success. I looked around the space. The atmosphere was amazing with everyone laughing and chatting.
Then I saw her.
Seated at a table near the counter.
I’d been so distracted from looking at Seth, I’d failed to see the other person under my nose.
Sierra Forrester.
There she sat with a friend. The large beaming smile on her face revealed her white movie star style teeth. Her chestnut curls bounced as her head went back with laughter. Even her freckles seemed to dance across her nose and cheeks.
Bitch.
Then her friend grabbed Sierra’s hand. Her left hand, and they both stared and admired a ring on her finger. My eyes zeroed in on it. At a large oval diamond. I checked out which finger it was on and felt my heart plummet. No. He wouldn’t do that. Would he? Had Darius proposed to Sierra? What had I done?
I only realised I was staring rather rudely when Sierra’s gaze caught my own.
Fuck, she was coming over! I froze.
“Hey there. Kim isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s right.” Look at her, smile. Come on body do something!
“The coffee here is fabulous. I shall have to come here more often although I’m not sure my fiance will approve of me hanging here with that hottie behind the counter. Am I right?”
“The coffee really is lovely here.” I forced out, refusing to acknowledge her use of the word fiance lest I leap up and pull a few of her curls out.
She swept a few said curls out of her face, using the aforementioned hand. The dazzle almost blinded me as the sun hit the diamond.
Just then Jax arrived with my order and a drink of her own. She sat down. “Am I missing anything then?” She asked me. “Any gossip. News? I get so bored sometimes stuck behind that counter all day. We’ve not had a girls night out for ages, we must have one soon.”
“No, nothing of any excitement to report.” I said.
“I got engaged!” Sierra squealed. “Sorry. I know Kim. My name’s Sierra.” She held out her hand for Jax to shake. “Your coffee is delightful by the way. I shall tell all of my friends and the pack. I know Darius comes here a lot already. Now I know why he was always hanging around. I couldn’t understand why he was always here before. Now I know. It’s the coffee and doughnuts.”
And me you cow. Before you stole him.
“Is that who you’re engaged to? Darius Wild?” Jax looked shocked as well she might.
Sierra giggled for longer than she needed to. Yeah rub it in, cow. You won. I was an idiot.
“Oh God, no. Ewww. Darius is my best friend. He’s like a brother to me. No, I’m engaged to Reid Woodland.”
“Oh I don’t think I know him. You’ll have to bring him in and have a coffee and bun on the house from me in celebration.” Jax said. “Won’t she, Kim?”
I was still trying to find my voice. She wasn’t engaged to Darius.
SHE WASN’T ENGAGED TO DARIUS.
A massive smile lit across my face and I grabbed her hand. “Where are my manners? Let me look. Oh my, that ring is amazing. You’ll have to be careful you don’t start a fire with that baby. Why wait for Reid? Why don’t we celebrate now? Let me buy you and your friend a drink and bun, whatever you like.” I was rambling but my mouth wouldn’t stop.
“Have you seen Darius lately?” I asked her. “Only I’ve tried to call him but there was a fault with his phone.”
“Yeah, he said there had been, but it’s fixed now, so you should ring him.” She replied.
Jax got up to get the drinks and buns leaving us alone.
“I don’t know what was going on that night at Beached when you ate with Jett, but it has caused problems for the pack.”
“Oh, I didn’t realise. I’m sorry.”
“Why did you date Jett anyway? Are you serious about him?” Sierra’s voice had softened.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Look, it’s none of my business but you need to be honest with Darius. He’s my best friend. If you don’t want anything to do with him in a romantic way, that’s fine. Just let him down gently okay?”
“I’m going to ask him to meet me, so I can explain.”
“Great.” She smiled at me. Fuck, I was beginning to like the bitch now. “Well, thank you for the coffee and cake. I’d better go back to my friend now.”
I took out my phone and scrolled through to Darius’ number and typed him a message.
Kim: I demand you meet with me so I can explain everything. Stop being an arse, Darius Wild.
Now I just had to wait.
Chapter Six
Shelley
I was in my office—alone.
Thank fucking God.
The last four months had been
a crazy whirlwind. I decided to write bullet points on the notepad on my desk so I could try to get my head around everything.
●Discover supernaturals exist.
●Meet and fall in love with a 126-year-old vampire.
●Discover your mother is a witch.
●Find out you have witch powers.
●Discover father is a wyvern.
●Inherit wyvern powers.
●Be informed that your future child shall be the most powerful ruler of Withernsea which started out as a place called Wyvernsea.
●Marry the vampire.
●Discover the ghost of your vampire husband’s mother lives in your new home.
●Have to defeat Satan.
●Find out you’re pregnant.
●Vampire husband decides this is a good time to redecorate and turn the farm into a Bed and Breakfast.
I think that was all. I stared at the list. There was no wonder I was having a little meltdown moment right now. On top of this, the dating agency business needed attention, and I was worried about my best friend. I knew Kim’s past, knew about her awful father and why she was so hesitant to commit herself to a relationship. Headstrong, stubborn, and impulsive, my bestie had made some rash choices of late and was now living with the consequences.
But picking dates off her work computer as she had with Jett had been a step too far.
One minute she did something crazy like this, the next she rocked up with big ideas for the place like the awesome plan to bring Lucy in. I really did believe that Kim needed a steady influence in her life. She didn’t have parents or siblings around and despite my best intentions, with work and my personal life getting ever busier, I wasn’t able to be there for her all the time like I could when I was single. The time when I didn’t have to look out for Withernsea, when I was just a normal resident and could have a piss in peace without a ghost floating in to tell me some gossip she’d heard, or a husband coming to make sure I was okay.
Thank fuck he slept all day, so I was able to spend the majority of my work hours in peace. Well, as peaceful as it got around here, bearing in mind we’d had Frankie hanging around for months and now we had Lucy. I didn’t know what her earth angel duties were about—she couldn’t say—but I hoped they didn’t have repercussions on my decision to let her have an office here.
The reason I had peace and quiet today was that Lucy and Kim were sorting through all the crap in the old staff room. I’d said I didn’t know if dust could affect vampire babies and so they’d agreed to keep me well out of it.
The only thing I was allergic to right now was drama.
I sat back in my chair and closed my eyes.
Peace and quiet at long last.
* * *
I woke with a stiff neck from being laid back on the office chair. For a few seconds as I came around, I stared at the clock at the bottom of my computer. I’d been out of it for fifty minutes. Swiping my bag off the floor I took out a bottle of O-neg and downed the contents, giving a satisfied belch at the end. What was happening to me and my life? I had to consider being turned into a vampire along with everything else. I think I was about to have a panic attack.
Instead I had a small heart attack when a middle-aged woman with long dark hair with a white stripe zapped into the room.
“Jesus Christ, mother. You can’t do that. You’re going to spook the baby out of me.”
“I detected anxiety in my firstborn. I had to come. What’s the matter, sweetheart. Can I help?”
“Yes, you can start by not doing that again, so I manage to stay alive a few years longer.”
My mum sat down opposite me. “What’s going on, Shelley?”
“I’m stressed. Overloaded. This time last year the most I had to think about was if I had any clean knickers. Now I'm worrying about being turned into a vampire, birthing a healthy child, keeping everyone in Withernsea alive, and my HUSBAND,” I began shouting, “starts decorating the house. Like there isn’t enough happening! Now there’s dust and mess everywhere and I’m not at the nesting stage, mother, NOT EVEN CLOSE.”
“Oh dear. I think your pregnancy hormones have kicked in a little, darling.”
“You think?” I spat out as I looked around at the papers that had shot off my desk and were falling all around the room. I’d never had a good handle on my powers mixed with my temper.
“As was.” I shouted, and they started to lift up and gather back into piles before they floated back down onto my desk. At least I knew how to rectify my disasters now.
“So is there anything I can do to help?”
I sighed. “Seriously, I doubt it. I’m just fed up is all. My life isn’t my own any more. Bloody Withernsea. I’m just glad the new Satan’s on vacation so there might be a little peace around the town.”
“No mother’s life is their own anyway. Comes with the commitment. Even though I had to give you up for adoption, I never stopped searching for you or trying to put things in place for when I could come back home.”
“What if I’m a useless mother? I mean if there’s a supernatural crisis in Withernsea I’ll have to deal with it won’t I? What if my baby hates me?” I started crying.
My mum rummaged in her bag and passed me a tissue. “Try not to cry, honey, because the blood stains.”
“What?” I wiped my eyes. Sure enough my hands were stained in red.
“Oh my God, I can’t even cry properly now.” I wailed, and the papers went flying around the office again.
“As is!” I yelled.
My mum stood up. “Come on, let’s go to Jax’s.”
“But I’ve gone off coffee. I mean that really is the Devil’s work, it’s got to be. Making me go off coffee and doughnuts is the worst evil I’ve ever encountered.”
“Well, I sure need one, so let’s go before I suffer death by a thousand paper cuts. Now come here and let me wipe your eyes because you look like one of those statues that weeps blood. We don’t want people stood staring at you praying for miracles.”
“I don’t mind if they pray for me to be able to drink coffee again.” I grumbled, but I let her dab at my face and then I stood up grabbing my bag and chucking my notepad and pen in it.
* * *
Jax’s had people queuing out of the door and was packed inside. Kim had mentioned it, but I’d thought she was over-exaggerating again. I looked at the front of the queue at the new barista. He was sexy, but this was a little bit overkill. Surely the women of Withernsea had seen a sexy man before? I certainly had. Theo was gorgeous. Darius was a hunk. Here at Jax’s they were acting like sex-starved women at a male strip club.
I mumbled some words so that to me and my mother everyone else was muted and then I magicked another table leaving all the room with the suggestion that it had been there all along.
“You aren’t supposed to use your magic for personal gain.” Mum said.
“It’s for the safety of these people here, or I might kill them all.” I snipped.
Mum tilted her head at me, “Pregnancy hormones really are the pits. Right, stay there while I go queue for my drink.” She held up a hand. “No more magic, Shelley.”
I had to sit there for twenty minutes while she queued, but rather than find it a hassle, it was bliss. With everyone muted, I could watch all their interactions but not get a headache from the noise. I started to realise how much people gave away with their body posture and mannerisms. There were so many hair flicks and smiles in the new barista’s direction. I focused in on him. The way the women were in here I would have thought he was an incubus, but he gave off no supernatural vibe whatsoever. He’d sent in an application form for the agency and I was in the process of inputting his application. Maybe he really was hotter than the coffee and my recent marriage had dulled my attraction switch. That and my current condition.
My mum returned and sat in front of me with a coffee and a chocolate doughnut. I had all on not to leap across the table and pull her hair out.
“Pas
s me your bag.” She said.
“What?”
“Stop questioning and just do it.”
She brought out of my bag a flask and a doughnut.
“What on earth?”
“It’s a glamour, you idiot. I’m surprised you didn’t think of it before. The flask that to you will taste of Jax’s coffee, is in fact your bottle of O-neg and your portion of liver will now taste and look like a doughnut.”
Why hadn’t I thought of that?
Because I’d been too busy drowning in self pity, that’s why.
“Mum, you’re a genius!” I told her as I bit into my doughnut, the chocolate oozing out of the middle. For the first time in days a beaming smile broke across my face.
My mum took a drink of her own coffee and smiled. “Mmmm, I swear this gets better.”
“Thanks, Mum. I needed this.”
“I know, honey, you basically sent out a mental SOS.”
“Did that happen when you were on the astral plane?”
She shook her head. “No. Until you came into your powers, I couldn’t locate you at all. They were the worst years of my life and I thank the powers that be every day now that I was returned to your life.”
It was hard to believe that my separation from my parents was due to the fact that my dad had left Lucy for mum, resulting in years in hell for my father, trapped by Lucy when she was a demon, and my mum stuck on the astral plane. I couldn’t equate that Lucy to the one I knew now, and that was probably a good thing. There’d been fault on all sides anyway, and it had cost each of them dearly.
“How is Dad?”
“He’s fine, lovely. He’s spending a lot of time swimming out at the caves. Oh, that reminds me, he says everything in the sea is calm, so you don’t need to worry about that anyway. Your father’s happy to keep an eye on the water.”
The Complete Collection: Supernatural Dating Agency Books 1-6 Page 28
