by Bella Falls
“Seriously,” growled Dash.
“Or I could zap you right here, right now,” I offered.
He gave in, and repeated the words, adding a cross of his heart for good measure.
I filled them in on my infiltration of Mrs. K's room. They agreed with me that it was more likely she had been attacked there rather than at the library.
“Do you think the wardens are close to figuring out who did it?” Ben asked.
I shook my head. “I don't think so. Right now, their biggest suspect is also the least likely.”
“That hasn't stopped my little sister from implicating Horatio.” Lily frowned.
“And the detective’s not asking for your help?” Blythe pushed.
“Perhaps he thinks she should stay away from a possible murder,” Dash suggested.
“But I can help,” I whined in protest.
We went through the possibilities of who might have wanted to hurt our old teacher. Even though we all had stories about her, we couldn't think of a reason why a former student would have waited to take their revenge now.
“What about one of the other candidates? I’d bet all the money I don’t actually have, placing the body in the library was meant to throw suspicion on Horatio,” Lily surmised.
“Except, Juniper is, although I can't imagine her being capable of hurting a flea,” I said. “And Flint is too sensible. Now Raif?”
Everyone agreed that he was the one in most opposition to Mrs. K’s points.
“The problem with her death is that it's weird,” I declared.
Ben snorted. “I don't think I've never heard a murder describe that way in my time as an advocate. But she's right. None of it makes sense, and the fact that there isn't a clear suspect is troublesome.”
Dash jumped into the conversation. “It means that anyone involved in the investigation could put themselves at risk.”
I turned to take him head-on. “And maybe the risk is worth taking if it means keeping friends from being hurt.”
“At what expense, Charli?” He huffed. “You just got your life back not too long ago. Now you're willing to put it on the line again?”
“If that's what it takes to keep the wrong person from being accused, then yes,” I countered.
Dash narrowed his eyes at me. “I thought you said that the troll was taken out of consideration. If that’s true, then there’s nothing for you to do but stay out of things.”
“For the time being, he’s not arrested. But if I can help find the actual culprit, then everything can get back to normal. Isn’t that worth a little risk?” I glanced around for support from my friends, and they all seemed busy with their new phones.
“Not if it means your life,” shouted Dash. His irritation grew with the volume of his voice.
The air in the room crackled with the shifter’s magic, and the rest of my friends scrambled to their feet. Peaches scurried to plant herself in front of the shifter and hissed at him, her back bowed and her tail all fluffed out in irritation.
“Party’s over,” declared Lee, rushing over to push his friend out the door.
After quick hugs, everyone left except Alison Kate, who waited for Lee to finish calming Dash down.
“I’m fine,” the wolf shifter bellowed.
Lee tapped his chest with his finger. “Make sure you stay that way. Charli, you want us to walk you back?” he offered.
Dash’s amber eyes flashed in the dark. “I’ll do it.”
Lee waited for my response. “Charli?”
Not one particle of me wanted to hear any more lectures from a man telling me what I should or should not do. First, Mason cut me off with accusations that working with me would be dangerous to me as well as to our whatever-we-were relationship. And now, Dash and his overprotective instincts threatened to tick me off.
Picking up my cat, I pulled her in tight to my chest. “I can make it on my own,” I declared, and stomped off, hitting the shifter’s arm with my own on purpose.
Dash followed a few steps behind me all the way back to my house in silence. By the time I climbed up the porch steps, I was ready for the night to be over.
“Charli, hold on a minute,” he called out, stopping me from going inside.
I walked to the edge of the top step. “What?” I asked in exasperation.
“I didn't mean to tell you what to do. But I don't like it when you seem to run toward danger instead of fleeing from it.”
“Not always,” I protested.
“But if your instincts were wired the right way, then you would know better than to hang out with someone like me.” Despite his words trying to push me away, he took a step closer.
“I like being with you.” A ball of nerves bounced around in my stomach at the spoken truth.
“My point exactly.” Dash closed the distance between us. “And if I were a stronger man, I would say away from you. But I like being around you, too.” He closed the distance between us and pulled me down a step until his face was level with mine.
I didn't need any moonlight to sense his intense stare. He lifted his hand and brushed my hair behind my ear, his finger stroking my cheek. “You’re a trouble magnet, Charli Goodwin.”
“I am who I am.” I tried to convey so much in those simple words but feared I failed.
He cupped my cheek. “I wouldn't have it any other way,” he breathed.
My nerves tingled down to my toes in expectation. He leaned in, his hot breath blowing against my lips. I closed my eyes in sweet anticipation.
A fire alarm sound screeched into the air, and I squealed. My new spell phone lit up. Dash closed his eyes and backed away, giving me space.
Reading the name on the screen, I cursed Blythe under my breath. The heated moment fizzled and faded as I flipped the phone open and hit the button with a groan.
“I truly hate you.”
Chapter Ten
Sitting on the stiff parlor sofa, I waited for Juniper to show me how much she would charge me to help with the house. Numbers and figures sparkled in the air as she twirled her finger, figuring out the math.
“It's a big job, Charli. It might take my whole crew if you want it done fast. Or I can assign one or two of my girls to it, but it will take much longer. However, either way you want to do it, I think this is my assessment.” She produced her wand and waved it, and a scroll rolled out of midair and floated into my hands.
“That's more than fair,” I agreed.
With confidence, the fairy gave me her breakdown. “Based on what you told me, you want us to collect any obvious paperwork and organize it to give you an opportunity to go through it. All objects will be sorted by size and functionality, including grouping them down into piles of broken or not.”
“About going through the paperwork, will you be one of the ones sorting?” I asked.
She quivered her wings and shook her head. “My schedule is just so full right now with the election and the other jobs I'm promised to. Why?”
I explained the nature of what I was looking for and requested her utmost secrecy.
“For a job like that, I highly recommend Moss. She used to work in an office building in another city, and might know what she's looking at in a glance,” said Juniper.
“But do you trust her?” I didn't know the fairy well, and giving her full access to my house went against my gut.
“She's been working with me for over a year, and I have nothing but compliments about her thoroughness. If you want, I can provide recommendations.” Juniper hovered in slight impatience. “I wish I could promise that I could do the job myself, but I'm doing my best not to spread myself too thin.”
After a pause, I signed off on the estimate, and the scroll rolled up again, tying a binding red ribbon around itself. It would be a relief to have a more organized way to sift through the last of Tipper’s life and begin to make the house my own. I trusted Juniper and her judgment. Plus, she promised she would be around to check in on any of her employees from time to tim
e.
“How's Horatio doing?” I'd waited to ask the question I really wanted to.
Her wings trembled in agitation. “Not well. He attempts to keep his troubles away from me, but I know how hard he’s struggling. It's taken him centuries to build his life away from his family and his kind. He's not welcome with them, and now he questions how long he'll be able to stay here in Honeysuckle after all of this.”
“Will he be dropping out of the election?” I asked.
Juniper sniffed and wiped a tear away. “He doesn't think he has a choice. He may not be under arrest, but the damage has been done. I want to quit, too.”
I gasped. “You can't give up yet.”
“That's what Horatio says to me every day.” She composed herself. “I’ll stay in the race for as long as I can. I know it's important that everyone has a choice, although I think my chances may be tied to my sweetie more than he thinks.”
“If there's anything I can do to help,” I offered, standing up from the sofa.
“I know it's customary to start a job on a handshake, but…” The fairy fluttered to me and kissed me on the cheek. “Thank you for your friendship.”
I smiled at her. “Thank you for staying strong.” I lifted my arm and bent it like she had the night of the speeches.
She scoffed. “I’m not really.”
“I know a troll who would disagree.”
With the worries about the state of my house gone, I rode my bike into town to have lunch at the cafe. Life's interruption the night before resulted in my agreement to check out the new hot guy in residence who supposedly came in every day and sat at the counter. I almost refused to come due to Blythe’s timely interruption, but I owed her more loyalty than spite.
Before I walked into the Harvest Moon, I spotted Dash leaning on the side of the building. “You're late,” he accused.
I stopped beside him. “How did you know I was coming here?”
He tapped his ear. “I’m a shifter. I keep telling you this, but you don't listen. I could hear the entire conversation.”
“Because you were eavesdropping?”
“No, because of how close in proximity I was to you.” He cocked an eyebrow at me, and my cheeks heated.
“Blythe isn't going to be happy that you’re crashing our covert mission,” I said.
“I know. That's why I have a built-in cover. Hey, man,” Dash called out.
Lee approached us and put his arm around both of our shoulders. “All good with both of you?” he asked.
“Never better,” replied Dash. He flashed me a teasing grin over Lee's head.
I placed a hand on my hip. “And how is bringing in another person going to serve as a cover?”
Dash mimicked my stance. “Relax. The two of us will sit at a table and let you sit at the counter. I'm just interested in checking out the competition for the current hot guy in town.”
“Yeah, me too,” joked Lee. He opened the door and walked inside.
Blythe’s face brightened as she checked to see who came in. When she spotted the three of us, she furrowed her brow. Lee and Dash did as they promised and occupied a nearby table. I sat my behind down on a stool at the counter.
“What are they doing here?” she hissed.
“Note to self,” I said. “Shifters have better senses of smell, hearing, and sight.”
Blythe gazed at me in confusion. “What does that mean?”
“It means I won't be talking on my spell phone anywhere near him anytime soon.” The sound of a chuckle earned the wolf shifter a dirty look from me.
The bells on the door jingled, and Blythe’s head whipped up again. The color in her cheeks deepened, and the eager smile that spread on her lips surprised me. “Hey, you,” she practically purred. “I’d like to introduce you to one of my closest friends, Charli.”
I swiveled the stool to get my first look at the specimen and gasped. “It's you.”
Damien widened his eyes and took the stool next to me. “It seems we were destined to meet, you and I. Pardon me for my confusion, but I believe you your name to be Charlotte, is it not?” he asked in his posh British accent.
Blythe jumped to answer for me. “Her name is actually Charlotte, but her friends call her Charli,” she clarified.
“And which am I?” Damien asked with interest.
“I’m not sure yet.” The same nagging recognition knocked at the back of my head, but I still couldn't pinpoint why.
Perhaps his devilishly good looks made me nervous. I couldn't tell his true age from his facial features. Not one wrinkle line marred his perfect skin. The symmetry of his face was pleasing, and he had a dimple in the middle of his chin that begged to be touched.
His plump lips broke into a smile, showing off his pointed fangs. “Then let me err on the side of hope and say that I am glad to meet you, Charli.” He took my hand in his and brought it up to his mouth, planting a light kiss on my skin.
Simultaneously, my friend frowned behind the counter, and an audible growl rumbled from the nearby table. If only the animal in the man could sense my absolute lack of interest in the perfect specimen in front of me, he might not need to make his displeasure known with such volume. I pulled my hand away and folded it in my lap.
“Blythe, there are other customers in here,” warned Steve from the pass-through window.
She gritted her teeth. “I’m on it,” she called out. “I’ll be right back,” she promised Damien in a singsong tone too cheery to belong to her.
“Talk me up,” she mouthed at me, taking out her pad to take orders.
The newcomer turned in his stool, so his entire body faced me. “I confess, I have been wanting to talk to you. Raif is absolutely useless when it comes to providing good intelligence on the citizenry of this quaint town.”
Something about the way he described Honeysuckle rubbed me the wrong way. “I spent an entire year away from home, and I chose to return, especially for the town's charms.”
He frowned. “Oh, dear, I fear I may have, how might you put it, stepped my foot into it. I, of course, am enjoying my time in Honeysuckle Hollow. I have traveled all over the world, and getting to know more about the small communities is what gives me the most pleasure. Especially when I find such interesting inhabitants in them.”
“Like Blythe?” I pushed.
“She has one of the most important jobs in town,” he insisted.
“Really?”
“Yes. By serving everyone who comes into the only food establishment, she exposes herself to everyone, and in turn is a wealth of knowledge. You could say that she is one of the most integral parts of your community.” He accepted the poured glass of iced tea from Blythe with a nod and thanks, causing her to giggle as she offered refills to the other customers.
That nagging feeling in the back of my head wouldn't leave me alone, but I liked how he saw my friend as more than a waitress. She deserved someone who saw the best parts of her as I did.
“That's a nice way of describing her.” Although he could technically say the same thing about Sassy, I was glad that it wasn't the annoying fairy’s shift right now.
Damien redirected our conversation. “I hope you have received an apology from my friend for his appalling behavior the other night with the temporary loss of his dog. I've never seen him act quite like that.”
“I’m used to people questioning my talents. Especially when I’m the only one with them in town,” I said with a shrug, stirring the ice in my tea with a straw.
“They are rare and wonderful. As I said, I have traveled the world, and if you possess the magic I think you do, then you could be making more than just a living elsewhere.” He leaned in closer and lowered his voice with a cold glint in his eye. “I know people who would pay good money.”
Blythe rejoined us. “My ears are burning. You wouldn't happen to be telling him any stories about me would you, Charli?”
Damien straightened up in his seat and turned to face my friend, his tone changing i
n a split second. “Only good things.” He reached his hand out and covered hers that rested on the counter.
It unnerved me to watch my friend’s normally cool and guarded demeanor melt like ice on a hot summer’s day. Her tittering giggles did me in. “I’m going to go join Dash and Lee, and give you two some space.”
“But you haven't had lunch yet.” Blythe pleaded with me with her wide eyes to stay.
“Fine.” I placed my elbows on the counter and held my head in my hands, enduring every flirtatious banter.
My friend never did take my order for food, and my stomach growled its displeasure.
A plate of fries appeared in front of me. Dash sat down on the empty stool next to me and grabbed one, swiping it through the ketchup and cramming it in his mouth. “Here. I know you're hungry.”
The way he sat so close to me made Damien take notice. He extended a hand out. “I don't believe we've met. Damien Mallory.”
“I heard. Dash Channing.” He gripped hands with the vampire, holding onto him far too long with a challenging gaze.
“Down, boy,” I admonished the shifter.
He let go of the vampire. Damien kept up a pleasant front but paid more attention to Blythe until he had to leave. He repeated reassurances that they would spend more time together soon.
Turning to Dash and me, he asked, “Would the two of you like to join my lady friend and me here some time?”
“The two of who?” I uttered, not wanting to really spend any time with the guy who creeped me out.
“You and your boyfriend,” Damien clarified, indicating at Dash.
I choked on a sip of tea. “I don't have a boyfriend.”
Dash patted me on the back. “Hey, I’m a boy and a friend.”
“Shut up,” I hissed at him.
Blythe interrupted us. “Charli, you wouldn't mind going with us on a picnic, would you?”
“We'd love to,” accepted Dash before I could decline.
I swiveled around to stare at the shifter. “What are you doing?”
“Making plans with your friend. Being social and taking an interest in the people of my town.” He ate another fry, holding it in his teeth to show off his smug smile.
