by Laken Cane
“I don’t just bake,” Lucille said airily, then grinned and placed a pan of something that looked like hot, frosted cinnamon buns in the center of the table. “I love to cook.” She pulled out a chair across from me and sat down. “And I’ve seen how you eat when you come into the bakery. I imagine from the look on your face that you’re starving right now.”
In heaven was what I was. Heaven. “But…”
“You’re wondering where all this food came from?”
I nodded and gingerly reached for one of the biscuits. “I think I had some milk in the fridge and maybe some protein bars in the cupboard?”
“The milk had gone bad,” she said, shaking her head in disgust. “I picked up fresh when I ran to the grocery store and bought you a shitload of groceries. Oh, and I borrowed your car to make the run. I hope you don’t mind. You owe me two hundred and thirty-seven dollars, by the way. This should get you through the week.”
I barely heard her. “Fine,” I said, my mouth full of biscuit and crisp, hot bacon. “Oh my God, Lucille.”
She giggled and filled her own plate. “It’s good to see someone appreciate my cooking.”
“I am going to miss this when you’re gone.” I poured half a bottle of syrup over the butter and pancakes and began forking them into my mouth. I was starving. Then, “And you, of course.”
We both laughed at that.
“So here’s what I was thinking,” she said casually, a few minutes later.
I paused midchew and squinted at her. “Yes?”
“You’re too skinny, for one. You need someone living with you who can cook. I need a place to stay. You have that lovely extra bedroom.” She didn’t look at me when she spoke, which let me know that this was a serious and important request. “I thought maybe I could live here. I could be your live-in cook slash housekeeper, sort of.”
“I don’t know you,” I pointed out. “And you don’t know me. I might murder you in your sleep.” But I didn’t hate the idea. Not because I wanted a cook—okay, not only that—but because I was a wolf. We needed people in our lives. I was lonely living by myself, and it was as simple as that.
“I see you at least three or four times a week,” she pointed out. “So we kind of know each other.”
“You have references?” I asked, reaching for my orange juice.
She stared at me in a tentative and hopeful surprise. “Yeah.”
“You ever been arrested?”
“Not even close.”
“You have any kids or pets?”
“No. I love them both, though.”
“I guess we could give it a trial run of say…a week? I’ll know by then if I can live with you. So don’t move your stuff in just yet. I’ll—”
She rocketed from her chair, barreled around the little table, and flung herself at me, hugging me like I was about to save her from a rabid animal. She didn’t say anything, not at first. Finally, she whispered, “Thank you, Kait,” then went back to her side of the table and left me to my enormous and delicious meal.
“My friends,” she said, as we were clearing the dishes, “call me Lucy.”
I was so full I could barely move. I stuck a plate in the dishwasher then turned to get another, waiting for her to rearrange the plate I’d just put in before I handed her the other. “Bit of a perfectionist, are we?” I asked, after she once again arranged the dishes.
“Bit obsessive compulsive,” she answered, then shut the door and turned on the machine. “Now. Can we talk about the sexy hunk of dangerous male who visited you in the wee hours of the morning?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Where were you hiding? I didn’t sm…see you.” I’d almost said smell, but she might have taken offence at that, not knowing I was a wolf with a pretty good sniffer.
“I heard voices and naturally wanted to make sure everything was okay. I tiptoed to the end of the hall and saw him as he was leaving. And I must say, if he’s your guy, Kait, I am impressed. And if he’s not your guy, might I get his number?”
I felt like I knew this woman. It didn’t make sense, but I was as comfortable with her as I would have been with someone I’d known for years. Still, I wasn’t about to blurt out that werewolves existed, though she was apparently a psychic, had seen a demon, and could likely handle the fact that I was a wolf. Maybe. “His name is Jared Walker. He’s an asshole,” I said, instead. “And no, you can’t have his number.”
“I had trouble sleeping last night,” she told me, changing the subject so fast my head spun. “I couldn’t sleep for thinking about that demon. I mean, that was real, wasn’t it? They’d somehow summoned an actual demon?”
“Yes.”
“My mother is very religious,” she said, and something shifted in her voice. I doubted she was aware of it, as her expression didn’t change at all. “So I’ve grown up hearing about demons, angels, God…but to see one.” She shook her head. “How did it go with the three summoners? I’m really worried about Jessie and her baby.”
That reminded me. I still needed to visit Jessie’s ex. Tonight on my way to the Gray Shadow Clan, I’d stop by his house and encourage him to leave Jessie and her kid alone. It was none of my business, and I was well aware there were two sides to every story, so I’d tread carefully. But if he’d been abusing her…
“Did she tell anyone?” I asked Lucy.
“I don’t know. I do know that he hit her a few times before she left him for good. She said the baby gave her the will to stay away from him. She adores that child. Also, she has the full support of her parents. That helped her when she made the decision to leave.”
I nodded. “All right. What are you doing today?”
She made one last swipe at the sparkling countertop. “Nothing fun until tonight, then I’ll quite possibly hook up with one of my “friends with benefits” friends.”
“Want to take a little trip to the country?”
She didn’t even hesitate. “I’m up for that! What’s in the country?”
“My mother.”
“Oh.” Something flashed through her eyes, there and gone. She straightened her shoulders and grinned, and the sunshine was back in her face. “I would love to meet your mother. And I’m sure she’d like to meet your new roommate slash cook.”
“Potential roommate slash cook,” I said, but my voice was weak and we both knew she’d already won me over with breakfast. Manipulated me over, more like.
I had myself a housemate.
I wondered if eventually she’d dream about my wolf, and if, when she did, she’d regret moving in with me. Hell, I might regret letting her move in if she kept having dreams about me.
I had my secrets, and no desire to share them with Lucy. Not yet, anyway.
“I have a car,” she told me, as I drove us out of the city and toward Huntersburg. “Drop me at my place when we come back into the city and I’ll start packing my belongings. I don’t have a lot, so I can have everything in your—our—house by tonight.”
She’d forgotten that I’d told her to wait before moving her stuff in, but it seemed inevitable, so I didn’t argue. I’d already given her the spare key to my house. Might as well get her moved in. “Do you need me to help you pack?” I asked, hoping she’d say no.
“No thanks. As I said, I don’t have much.”
“Where do you live, Lucy?”
“I’m currently living in a piece of shit rental close to my mother’s house. And it’s time…past time, actually, that I moved on.”
I shot her a glance. “She going to be unhappy with that?”
She grunted, then turned to stare out her window, her sunny mood darkened. “She is always unhappy.”
“You must have gotten your cheerful disposition from your dad.”
“No. I just…” She shrugged. “I just got it from myself.” She made an obvious attempt to push away her sudden blues, taking a deep breath and forcing a smile that soon became real. “What’s your mother like?”
I grinned. “She’s a littl
e bit of everything. Wise and strong at times, overly dramatic and teary at others. She takes in strays…”
“Dogs?”
“People.”
“Oh,” she said, nodding. “You take after your mother, then.”
I laughed. “You’re not a stray, Lucy.”
“You never mentioned your father,” she said. “Are he and your mother divorced?”
“He’s dead,” I said, my voice flat.
“I’m sorry, Kait.”
“Yours?”
“He died when I was eight years old.”
Something we had in common. I wondered how he’d died, but I wasn’t going to ask. She was sad enough as it was.
“How did you kill that demon?” She changed the subject before I could. “You wear a knife on your hip, and you sure looked like you knew exactly what you were doing.” She planted her heavy gaze on me and didn’t remove it.
“I grew up handling blades,” I told her. “And I’ve been investigating the paranormal for years. I fell into it when I saw a story on the news about a family who swore they were being attacked every night by an evil spirit.” God, that seemed like a lifetime ago. “They lived on my block, so naturally, I had to pay them a visit. I wasn’t the only one—but I was the only one who could…see what was in their home. I saw the demon, and I sent him back to hell. I’ve sent a few of them back to hell—but I’ve never fought a boss demon in his own body and actually killed him.”
She shuddered. “I know why he came, but the spirit demons—do they come to possess people?”
“They come for many reasons—possession being one.” My stomach grew tight at the thought of that demon and what it might mean that I’d been able to kill him. I knew it wasn’t common for shifters to fight demons, but for me, it felt natural.
“I think spirits hide themselves from people, only some people—sensitive people—won’t let them hide. You, for instance.”
I said nothing.
She continued after a moment of silence. “What other spirits have you seen besides demons?”
I hesitated. “Ghosts and demon spirits aren’t the only things out there, Lucy.”
She gulped. “There are things like vampires and other monsters? Not from the spirit world, but here, living among us?”
Monsters. “Yeah. The world is full of…monsters.”
She said nothing, but I could feel her curious stare. She was aware that I was a little upset, but unsure why. I took a deep breath, then blew it out slowly. I felt like a monster sometimes—not because I was a wolf who fought supernatural creatures, but because I was a wolf who’d never shifted. I was pretty sure my poor wolf was broken beyond repair, and who knew how she’d come out—if Jared Walker could really do what he said and unhobble her.
“So do you—”
“Let’s not talk for a while,” I interrupted, not caring if I sounded grumpy or rude. I needed some peace and quiet.
For the rest of the drive, neither of us said another word. She actually leaned her head back against the seat and went to sleep, and I drove on in blissful silence.
Chapter Six
My mother had taken in another stray. She was wandering up the winding driveway to my mom’s house, and I stopped to pick her up.
“Heading to Susan Silver’s place?” I asked, though I knew she was.
“Yes.” She climbed into the back seat. “Thanks for the ride. It’s getting cold. I like the cold, but I’m not really dressed for it.”
I stopped the car in front of the house and we all climbed out, the girl chattering away about nothing. She reminded me of Lucy, though Lucy was currently uncharacteristically subdued.
The girl was human, eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing a calf-length off-white strappy dress despite the chill in the air. Her long, stringy dark hair was loose and tangled, and she wore a pair of worn black ankle boots. Her legs sported tattoos from the knees down, disappearing into the tops of the boots, and as I had ink myself, I looked at them with an admiring eye after we exited the car.
She noticed, preening a bit as she returned the admiration by running her gaze over the ones she could just see creeping up the sides of my neck and the moon tattooed on my right hand. “Nice,” she said.
“Back atcha.” I grinned, then held out my hand. “Kaitlyn.”
“Oh, I know. Your mother talks about you all the time. And there are all those pictures on the walls…” She snickered, then, “I’m Hannah.”
I sighed. I hated clutter, and a bunch of framed photographs on the walls and tables and windowsills was definitely too much clutter. I gestured at Lucy. “This is my friend Lucille.”
Lucy moved a little closer to me and smiled. “Pleased to meet you, Hannah.”
At that second the front door flew open and my mother strode out onto the porch, all smiles and energy. “Get in here, girl! I’ve been waiting since you reached the main road.”
My mother was fifty-three years old, but you’d think she was in her thirties to look at her. I’d gotten my long, light-brown hair and hazel eyes from her, but my height came from my father. Mom was five feet five inches tall, which still put her a few inches above Lucy.
As soon as she saw my mother, Lucy’s reserved attitude disappeared. She ran across the yard and up the porch steps and threw her arms around my mother, enthusiastically joyful.
My mother’s expression didn’t change at being hugged by a stranger. She was accustomed to people being drawn to her, especially, she’d told me once, the lost ones. Always humans, as she didn’t appear to have quite the same effect on supernaturals.
“Mom, that’s Lucy,” I called, as Hannah and I walked to the house. Hannah watched the exchange with the tiniest of lines between her eyebrows. She was a little jealous, or maybe just a little threatened. She’d find out soon enough that my mother didn’t have favorites.
Mom patted Lucy on the back and pushed her away. “Come in, everybody. Laura Jean and Maria are in the kitchen making lunch. Everybody hungry?”
“I could eat,” I said, patting my tummy.
“Are you serious right now?” Lucy asked. “After what you put away at breakfast?”
Mom stepped into the house, glancing back at me over her shoulder. “You finally get serious about someone, honey?”
I frowned. “Huh?”
“Lucy. She mentioned breakfast, so I assumed—”
Lucy laughed. “She doesn’t look at me like that. She’s more interested in the hunky Mr. Jared Walker.”
My mom stopped walking. “Lucy and Hannah, into the kitchen. Tell Laura Jean and Maria we’ll be in directly.”
I glared at Lucy, who shot me an apologetic look and rushed to obey my mother. I started speaking before she had a chance. “He came to visit me. That’s why I’m here.”
She lifted an eyebrow.
“One of the reasons I’m here,” I amended.
“We’d better sit down.” Once we were sitting on the couch before the big picture window, she nodded. “I can’t say I’m surprised. You can’t leave what you are behind. Not forever.”
“Twelve years,” I growled. “Asshole didn’t come to welcome me into his pack, anyway. He wants me to work for him.”
Now her eyebrows nearly disappeared into her hairline. “Work for him.”
“Apparently he knows I investigate supernatural crimes.”
“Oh, I’m sure he knows your reputation. I’m sure he knows everything about you. And he wants you to stop whatever it is that’s killing his wolves.”
I gaped at her. “How do you know what’s happening in his pack?”
“I hear things,” she said mysteriously, then, “What did he offer you in return, besides a boatload of cash? Did he offer to give you a place in his pack? Make you one of his?”
“I don’t want in his pack,” I said coolly. I looked down at my clasped hands, calming myself by concentrating on the busy, happy sounds coming from the kitchen. The sporadic laughter, the clink of glasses, the clank of pans.
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My mother put her hand over mine. “Tell me,” she said quietly.
“He said he can free my wolf, mom,” I whispered, hesitant to say the words because I was terrified she’d tell me there was no fucking way he could free my wolf.
“Oh my,” she murmured, and then she pulled me into her arms while I sobbed almost silently, my heart bursting and breaking at the same time.
At last, I sat up and mopped my face with my shirt. “He can’t, can he? He’s lying?”
“Sweetie, if Jared Walker tells you he can unhobble your wolf, then I would believe him. He must have touched her.”
“Then why wouldn’t the bastard pull her out right then and there?” I asked.
“It’s going to be dangerous when it happens. You know that. There will have to be some planning and securities in place. You’ll have to be protected from yourself, Kaitlyn. And maybe for weeks. He wanted to get the evil spirits out of the way first, I’m sure, so he could concentrate on you.”
“You really believe this,” I said slowly. “You think he can bring my wolf.”
“Yes,” she said simply.
“The chances of an alpha being able to undo what another alpha did to one of his own wolves…” I took a deep breath then blew it out slowly, but still my voice was watery when I continued. “I would never have believed it. If I had, I’d have gone to every alpha in the world, trying to find one to set me free.”
She shuddered, and there were oceans of sorrow in her eyes when she looked at me. “I am so sorry for the horror of your life, sweetheart.”
“Not your fault,” I said, surprised.
Twelve long, dark years.
“When it happens,” she said, getting to her feet and pulling me to mine, “I’d like to be there, if he’ll allow it.”
“He’s not my alpha, mom. He doesn’t need to allow anything.”
She said nothing, and I knew she wasn’t convinced. I also knew she understood things that I didn’t, and that she apparently believed it was best to keep her secrets. It didn’t matter. It only mattered that she believed Jared Walker could break my chains.
