by Bella Falls
I rubbed his back to calm his emotions, both for his sake and mine, since it was getting harder and harder to block them out. “All you can do is ask. It’s up to her whether or not to get involved.”
Georgia returned, carrying red baskets lined with parchment paper to catch the grease. It took her two trips to bring everything out. Instead of harassing her again, Dash busied himself with eating the meal.
Mike’s burger was truly amazing, and I gobbled it down with gusto. The morning had taken more out of me than I’d anticipated, and before I knew it, I’d polished off the entire burger and half of my chili cheese fries. Georgia had stayed away from the two of us while we ate, but she emerged from the kitchen to refresh our waters.
“I’m sorry, G. I shouldn’t have brought my problems to your doorstep again,” Dash apologized.
She blew out a long breath. “No, as my friend, you have every right to ask. It’s just…Mystic has been limping along since we got involved in your fight with your brother. It makes me a little touchy.” She wiped down some of the excess water that had spilled onto the bar. “That being said, I want to help you figure out what happened to Zach. You’d talked with such hope about him before. I’m sorry things turned out this way.”
Georgia came around from behind the bar and put her arms around Dash’s shoulders, leaning her head against his bicep. He relaxed into her embrace and accepted her comfort with no resistance, and a part of me couldn’t help but be a little miffed that he gave in so easily to her when it felt like he fought me all the time. I had no right to the slithers of jealousy that rose inside me since I had my own relationship. Maybe it was the effects of the binding that made me feel so…possessive.
Dash patted Georgia on the top of her head and ruffled her hair. “Thanks.”
With a sigh, she let go of him and held out her hand. “I guess I should take that bag from you.”
A thought occurred to me as I watched him place the piece of evidence in her palm. “Wait a second. Is there a way you can take enough to test but leave some?”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Why?”
“It’s just, maybe it’s possible I could use that bag to help us find where it came from.” Although my tracking talents usually worked best when I touched the person who I was working with, they’d grown strong enough that I should at least try to connect the drugs with their source.
Dash contemplated my proposal. “I would be lying if I said I hadn’t already considered that option. But I’m not sure I want to put you in the line of danger like that.”
I tilted my head at the shifter. “Aren’t you intending to find the dealer?”
“Well, yeah,” he admitted in a tone that made my question sound stupid.
I raised my eyebrows. “Then how do you propose doing that without me?”
Realization dawned on him. “Oh, right.”
Georgia watched our exchange with great interest. “So, you haven’t found a way to break your binding yet?”
I smiled to cover up my annoyance that she knew our magical personal circumstance. One more thing Dash had shared with her. “Not yet. My grandmother is doing her best to find what she calls a spellweaver. Someone who can literally undo the spell holding us together.”
Georgia’s eyes lit up. “You know, we used to have someone here a long time ago rumored to have those abilities.”
Surprise and excitement hit me all at once. “Do you think he or she would be able to help us?”
“She,” Georgia corrected. “Maybelline Josephs. And I don’t know for sure. She’s not exactly here amongst the living.”
“You think a ghost would maintain her powers?” Dash asked.
“Like I said, I don’t know. But I’ll ask around amongst her kind to see if she’s lingering anywhere in Mystic. If I find her, I’ll let you know.” She took the bag from Dash. “Let me go transfer some of this into a different container and I’ll bring it back to you.”
While she was gone, I picked at my fries, now soggy and a little cold. More questions about Dash’s relationship with the Whitaker sister who could see ghosts swirled in my head, but they felt petty compared to the task we had ahead of us.
“She’s just a friend,” he said in a low tone.
“I know.”
Dash chuffed in amusement. “Just making sure. Your emotions aren’t exactly quiet.”
I opened my mouth to protest the truth but gave up before I said anything. Of course, it stood to reason that if I could sense how he felt, that connection would go both ways.
“Sorry,” I muttered, drawing a line in the leftover chili at the bottom of the basket with a fry.
“Don’t be,” he reassured me.
He sat up straighter, and his head whipped to the back of the place. His head cocked in a manner that reminded me more of animal than man.
“Here comes trouble,” he muttered.
“No, here comes your loving brother whom you didn’t call to tell me you were in town.” Dash’s younger brother Davis strutted in like he owned the place. “Seems like you’ve been keeping a lot of stuff from me, brother.”
Instead of heading straight for Dash to greet him, Davis stopped and stood by me, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “Hey, Charli. Someone told me the joyous news. Congratulations!” His eyes twinkled with mischief when his brother growled at him.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, glancing at Dash to see if he understood.
Davis clapped a hand on both mine and Dash’s back. “Why, the news that you are officially slated as betrothed to the alpha. At least, that’s what’s going around the gossip mill of the pack.”
“Betrothed?” Georgia shouted, her brow furrowing as her eyes flitted to examine the fingers on my left hand. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“We’re not,” both Dash and I protested at the same time.
Our reaction amused Davis, who burst out laughing. “Well, since you made me hear about it through the wolfy grapevine, you can make it up to me by buying me some food and drinks, big brother. At least while you’ve got the money to pay.”
Dash’s scowl deepened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Davis chose a barstool from the end and dragged it across the floor with deliberate intent, the scraping noise grating our nerves. He set himself up between his brother and me.
“It means, oh brother of mine, that you’ve got some bigger problems to solve than what’s just starting to boil underneath the surface.” He slapped us both on our backs hard enough to make me cough. “There’s a volcano of chaos brewing, and if you’re not careful, it’s going to explode and blow up your entire world.”
Dash shrugged off his brother’s touch. “What are you talking about?”
“Georgia, pour us some shots. I’ve got a feeling we’re all gonna need them,” his younger brother warned.
Chapter Eleven
“So, on top of a major death that’s shaking up our pack, you’re telling me we’ve got a money problem?” Dash scowled with this new information.
Davis picked up one of the shots Georgia had poured and handed it to him. “I highly recommend you have this before I continue.”
Instead of protesting, the alpha did as his brother asked and downed the alcohol. He smacked his lips after he finished and glanced at our volunteer bartender. “That wasn’t normal moonshine.”
She placed an unlabeled bottle on top of the bar. “Nope. That’s one of my latest combinations I’ve been trying before I distill a large batch. It’s infused with cherries, although I’m trying to get the right balance so that it tastes like real ones, not those sickeningly sweet unreal red ones you see at Christmas time.”
I held out my palm to Dash. “Guess I get to drive your sweet car back to the farm.”
His eyes turned apologetic. “Shoot, I got distracted.” He dug in his pockets and dropped his keys into my waiting hand.
“Hold on!” Davis objected. “You’re going to let her drive your Impala?”
“Yep.” Since he now had a designated driver, he took one more shot from his friend and downed it.
“That is so not fair. You never let me drive your baby,” his younger brother complained.
Dash pointed at me. “That’s because I know she’s not gonna try to push my car to its limits, go into a parking lot and burn the rubber off my tires doing donuts, or any other stupid thing that will make me have to fix my baby.”
“I like your level of trust. It’ll make it so much easier to get away with it when I try something,” I teased, pocketing his keys before he could snatch them back.
Davis grinned at me in approval. “You know, I’m liking you as a match for my brother more and more. Although, you know you could definitely do better.” He jutted his thumb at Dash. “Who’s going to put up with his grumpy antics every. Single. Day? It’s exhausting.”
Dash smacked his brother upside his head, causing Davis to lurch forward and spill his shot. In retaliation, he stomped on his older brother’s foot, and the two of them jerked off their stools and stood chest to chest with each other.
“Boys, I swear, if you do anything to ruin this magnificently pristine bar—which, I might add, is the only bar in our small dilapidated, rundown town—then Charli and me will hex you seven ways to Sunday,” Georgia threatened.
In girl solidarity, and just to antagonize the two wolf brothers, I let a little energy flow to my fingers and zap across them for show. “Yeah.”
They both stared at us in disbelief before disengaging. Davis clucked his tongue. “Man, you girls are such buzzkills. I haven’t had a good fight in ages.” He tilted his head from side to side, cracking it.
“Pfft, like you know I wouldn’t pound you into the ground. Always have, always will,” Dash stated, picking up his stool that had fallen to the floor and righting it. After he sat back down, he gazed at his brother. “Have you shifted lately?”
Davis dropped his bravado, his jaw tightening as he clenched it before responding. “Don’t ask me questions you don’t want to hear the answers to. Of course, I haven’t. That’s why I’m still here, living with the other misfit toys. Except instead of us living on a deserted isle waiting for Santa to come pick us up, we’re existing in a magically protected mountain town that’s practically deserted.” He picked up another shot and held it in the air. “Here’s to those of us who are broken.”
I could sense the heartache and frustration rolling off of Davis even without being connected to him. But Dash’s pain at his brother’s struggles made it hard for me to breathe through all the tension it caused in me.
“You’re not broken,” he insisted in a quieter tone.
“Don’t you dare pity me, big brother.” Davis slammed the shot glass on the bar. “It is what it is, and I’m dealing with it every single day while living here.”
“You’re hiding here,” Dash pushed.
His brother’s eyes flashed yellow in anger. Despite his implications that he didn’t have his wolf, Davis’s animal still displayed its presence when riled up. Perhaps that meant that he would get his wolf back someday.
“Don’t pretend that the pack would accept me as I am right now.” The growl in his voice sounded so much like Dash’s. “And I’m not about to try and rock the boat just because I’m related to you. You’re attempting to bring the pack back up to normal. My presence would only create roadblocks for that mission.”
Dash laid a gentle hand on his brother’s shoulder. “You are not a roadblock.”
“But you know the older generation wouldn’t accept me. I can’t shift into my animal, and I’m the brother of the alpha, which means my failure would stain you.” Instead of taking another shot, he asked Georgia for a glass of water. “I want you to succeed, and I really don’t mind it here in Mystic, despite my jokes. We’re starting to get some interesting newcomers. Like Big Mike.”
I leaned forward to glance into the kitchen. “I don’t know why I thought he was a regular resident.”
Georgia half-smiled. “Nah, he showed up about a month ago out of the blue. Just asked if we were okay if he stayed for a bit. I think he might be on the run from someone…or something. But he hasn’t really opened up.”
I glanced at Dash. “He kind of reminds me of Horatio back in Honeysuckle. He’s a troll who claims to have known William Shakespeare,” I explained to the other two.
“Probably because he is one. Or at least half one. I’m not exactly sure,” Georgia said with a quizzical expression. “I don’t feel it’s my place to ask, but he’s more than welcome to stay. I have to admit, me and my sisters were influenced pretty heavily by your own hometown, Charli.”
I raised my eyebrows. “In what way?”
Georgia sighed. “We don’t want this place to die, and so many of the residents that were left bugged out after the shifter battle that we were in danger of it. So, we kind of put it out there to invite any and all who had no place else to go.”
I couldn’t help the smile that widened on my face. “You’re creating another magical sanctuary town.”
“Yeah, I guess. Although Davis is right. The few that are trickling in seem to be ones who are…not as whole as they’d like to be,” she admitted. “But I think Mystic could become a healing place for anyone who needs it. It actually used to be a resort town back in the fifties and sixties. Kinda like the one in that movie with Patrick Swayze.”
“Dirty Dancing?” I squealed. “I love that movie!”
“Me, too,” Georgia gushed, leaning her hands on the bar. “Don’t you just love at the end when he lifts her in the air?”
“I think it’s funnier when they’re practicing in the water.” I giggled. “If that had been me, it’s the only place my behind would have been safe. No doubt I would get dropped.”
Davis clapped his hands to interrupt us. “Hey, could you two girls stop being…you know, girls for a second? That movie is older than dirt. How can you still get excited over it?”
We both stared at him like he’d sprouted a second head. “Uh, because Patrick Swayze is hot,” I declared.
“Yeah, and stop trying to dictate our fun,” Georgia complained. She winked at me. “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”
Davis groaned and rolled his eyes. “We’ve got bigger problems to discuss than the hotness of some dancer dude.” He retrieved his discarded stool and set it back up to sit down next to his brother. “Like I said so very long ago, something’s not right with the pack accounts.”
Dash morphed into business mode. “Explain.”
Minus his usual snark, Davis proved himself to be on another level with his accounting skills. He explained the discrepancies he’d found in such great detail that it sounded like he was speaking a foreign language.
Dash made a T with both his hands. “Time out. You’re going to have to lay this out in simpler terms.”
Davis moaned, as if the task to make his point clearer physically hurt him. “Cash that was coming in no longer is. Accounts that should be adding up are losing money. I’d bet everything I have in my pockets, which ain’t much, that someone’s skimming.”
Dash jolted off his chair and paced the floor. “As if we don’t have enough to deal with right now.” He pointed at his brother. “You need to keep up with all this. Can you do that without getting caught?”
His younger brother screwed up his face like he’d asked a dumb question. “Before I left, I made sure I would keep access to all online accounts so I could monitor them. Call it instinct or whatever, but I thought you’d be too busy to keep track on your own. Plus, I’ve learned that it’s dangerous to blindly trust anyone.”
Dash pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and retrieved a few bills. He tossed them on the bar. “Can you print out a more detailed report for me?”
“Already working on the spreadsheet.” Davis grabbed his brother’s arm. “If I were you, I’d watch your back. I can only spy on stuff that’s being reported online. If whoever’s doing this is old school, they’ll be keeping
physical records instead. And I can’t hack those.”
“Thanks.” Dash pulled his little brother in for a long hug. He patted Davis on the back while whispering something in his ear. Whatever he said, it made the younger one choke up a little.
“I will,” Davis promised in a low voice followed by a nod. He sniffed once and turned to me. “I know we were joking about the whole ‘you’re my brother’s intended’ and whatnot.” He made air quotes with his fingers. “But honestly, I think you’re going to need that layer of protection right now, so be sure to play into the whole role. Whatever’s going on and whoever is messing with things, they’ll be less likely to target you if you’ve got pack support.”
I grimaced. “I’m not sure if I’ll earn all that, but my boyfriend and I believe that it’s the right choice for now.”
“Well, since the word’s gotten out and spread like wildfire, you really don’t have any choice anymore,” Davis said. He extended his hand to shake mine. “Welcome to the family.”
I batted his arm away in jest and addressed Georgia to thank her. The brief scowl on her face disappeared as she accepted.
“I’ll call you when I get the results of my tests,” she promised to Dash. “In the meantime, it sounds like you need to stay on your toes.” She followed behind us as we walked toward the back door. Before I exited, she gripped my arm to hold me back.
Davis noticed my absence. “What are you two ladies up to?”
“Girl stuff. You know, makeup, hair, bathroom products—”
“Fine. Don’t tell me. Yuck!” He held up his hands in surrender and went to talk to Dash.
The door closed, leaving me alone inside with Georgia. “What’s up?” I asked her.
Her determined expression faded as she bit her lower lip. “Listen, is Davis right that you’re acting like Dash’s fiancée?”
“He is,” I admitted. “It was Dash’s idea to explain why I needed to stay close to him. With our binding, we can’t be too far apart from each other or things get…well, let’s just say it makes life very uncomfortable.”
