by Bianca D’Arc
She looked up to find John staring at her. She did her best not to fidget under his warm chocolate gaze, remembering belatedly that she still wasn’t wearing any makeup and she was probably a mess from both the dust in the store and her headlong flight across the sand.
“Sounds like we’ve got our work cut out for us. Tell me what you need from me, Ms. Ricoletti, and I’ll see that you have it. Within reason, of course.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t be asking you to find eye of newt or anything like that,” she quipped, hopping down from her perch on the desk. “Though I can’t vouch for my sister on that score.” She tested out her knees to find that they were much more stable. Talking to Nonna had helped calm the last of her reaction high. Nonna had given her a plan…and marching orders. There was work to do. “Right now, I have to get back home. There are a few things I need to gather and prepare before dawn tomorrow. You’ll need to do a few things too.”
“Like what?” he asked, a bit of wariness entering his gaze.
“Nothing too hard, mayor. First, you’ll need to take a shower before you join me. Just water. No soap. No fragrances or anything fancy. Just the water and you, to wash you clean of the night and prepare your spirit for the work at hand. Then you have to dress in natural fibers. You own jeans, right? Cotton? And maybe a cotton shirt or wool pullover? Natural colors are best, if you can manage that. Browns, greens, black, white. You get the idea. Also, don’t eat before you meet up with me. The fasting period of the night will break with the dawn, and after I cast the wards, we can have breakfast. Not before. No casting on a full stomach for me, or for those observing. We’ll need a lantern or other source of open flame. I have a little brazier we can use, but we might need a windbreak depending on where we set up and weather conditions.”
John frowned. This sounded a lot more complicated than he’d thought it would be.
“Where do you want to start? Geographically,” he clarified when she just blinked at him.
“Oh. Yeah. I think we should start at the apex of the cove. Right across the street from the bakery. That’s pretty much the center of town, right?” John nodded. “Where is the circle of stones Nonna mentioned?”
John stepped over to the wall, where an artist’s rendering of the cove hung. Some of Tom’s finest work, John thought, and handy for this discussion.
“The stone circle is at the point,” he said, directing her to the southern point where the ocean was separated from the cove by a small triangle of land that jutted out into the sea. The northern point was a little less pronounced, but shaped somewhat the same. Between the two points was the mouth of the bay that formed Grizzly Cove.
“Hmm.” Ursula walked over to stand next to him, examining the painting. “That changes things a bit. We have four days and four ceremonies. We should spread them out in the most sensible pattern. I wanted to start here in town, but since we’ll be ending at the southern point, we’ll have to readjust a bit.” She seemed to ponder the problem a moment before nodding. “Okay. This is what we’ll do. We’ll start here.” She pointed to the northern edge of the town. “I’ll be facing east as the sun rises, but turn west when it shines over my shoulders. The first part of the ceremony will be the most dangerous. We need to start as close to dawn as we dare, without missing the critical moment.”
“Can we start away from the beach and walk closer after the sun rises?” John asked, considering the tactical aspects of what she planned to do. She looked at him with what seemed like surprise before nodding slowly.
“That might possibly work, if I cast my circle on the large side. It would protect more of the town as I work too. I’ll need a lot of salt. Can you rally your troops and get them to donate all their salt to the cause? Sea salt is better, but I’ll take any ol’ table salt too. The more, the better.”
“How about rock salt? We have a stock of that to de-ice the roads.”
“That could work. We’ll need to start early so I can cast a big enough circle, and we could probably use a few guards to make sure nobody messes with it. Just in town though. I don’t want anybody on the beach, in the danger zone.”
“I’ll get Brody and Zak and a few of the others,” John promised, already thinking ahead, planning the mission. It was one of the strangest ops he’d ever planned, that was for sure, but it might just be one of the most important—if it would help keep his people safe.
Chapter Four
They kept working on the plan for about an hour. Eventually, Brody came back, and John pulled him in to help keep track of what they would need, laying out the problem in impressively few words. John really knew how to boil things down to the basics, and that was something Urse could respect.
He’d even sent someone over to the bookstore to keep Mellie company, though Urse didn’t quite know how to feel about that. Was the man sent to keep her safe or to keep the town safe from the mad strega on the loose? Was the guy intended to be a companion or a jailer?
Urse figured she wouldn’t find out ‘til she got back to the store, and she couldn’t do anything about it at the moment. John probably wouldn’t even consider starting to trust her again until she proved herself in some way. Maybe after he saw her in action tomorrow at dawn, doing her all—and giving all her energy—to safeguard the town and its people. Maybe that would help win back his regard.
She found it mattered. A lot. And that was weird. It had been a long time since a man’s opinion of her had mattered quite this much to Urse. Not since Tony Albernoni had broken her heart in high school when she’d started acting weird because her power had been coming to life and she hadn’t known how to handle it back then.
Since then, in fact, she’d steered mostly clear of human men. There was the occasional passing warlock, but those guys weren’t really interested in long-term commitments with someone of her level of power. Her bloodlines were too diluted with the shifter blood—even as far back as it went—to interest any of the really powerful mages.
When it came down to it, the magical community was filled with snobs. Every last one of them.
Only among the strega did she and Mellie fit in. A sisterhood that traced its roots back to Italy and a small group of women who kept the magic alive in their families and their descendants. They had welcomed her, regardless of the shifter blood that others said tainted their line. Among strega, the Ricoletti name was well respected for its past deeds and unwavering service to the Light.
That seemed to count among shifters as well, which Urse liked. They weren’t snobs. At least not that she’d seen since moving here. They were good, honest, sometimes irreverent people who seemed to judge people on their actions.
Which was why she had a lot to prove to John tomorrow morning. She’d hidden the truth from him. She didn’t think it qualified as an outright lie, but it was something that definitely stood between them now. And more and more, she realized she didn’t like the distance between herself and the hunky mayor.
No, she liked John a little too much to tolerate his suspicion. She wanted it gone. And the only way she thought she could accomplish that feat was to prove to him that she meant no harm to anyone. She just wanted to coexist and make friends. That’s all. Nothing sinister or covert.
There would be no more hiding what she was. She was strega, and she was proud. And damn it all—she even had a bit of bear shifter blood in her ancestry, which should count for something among these people. It sure as heck had made her life difficult among magic users, who saw it as a major flaw.
“I think we’ve got just about every angle covered, right?” John said, breaking into her thoughts. “Unless you have something else to tell me?”
And there it was. He totally didn’t trust her.
“No, John.” She bit her lip and prayed for patience. “I’ve told you everything you can expect tomorrow. The only things I’ve left out are the things I can’t predict. Such as, how the creature is going to react, and what effect my spells will ultimately have.”
John met her gaze and leaned back
in his chair. They’d moved into his office to do their planning. It was just them, with John using his phone a lot to contact various people as the plan developed.
“One thing any old soldier will tell you is that the mission plan seldom survives the first engagement. But don’t worry. We’re experienced at this sort of thing. Well, maybe not dealing with sea monsters, in particular, but with unpredictable enemies and less-than-ideal circumstances. My men and I know what to do, and more than that, we’ll have your back, Ursula.”
She felt the impact of his statement down to her bones. Just like that, she felt more solid about what they were planning to do tomorrow. All the while they’d been talking about it, she’d felt very exposed by the plan. She was going to be the focal point, after all. The only magic user, surrounded by shifters who may or may not care if she lived or died. At least, that’s what she’d thought until about two seconds ago.
Urse saw the seriousness in his gaze, and she felt the pull of his words and his intentions. He was going to protect her to the best of his ability. Suddenly, she felt warm. Like the sun had come out on a rainy Pacific Northwest winter day.
“Thank you for that, John,” she replied quietly, with the utmost sincerity. “It makes me feel a lot better to know that I won’t be all alone, even if I am the only one wielding magic tomorrow.” She thought about that for a moment. “Well, besides the leviathan.”
And just like that, the nerves were back. She forced them down. She wouldn’t show weakness. Not now. Not ever.
“I’m still not clear on why your sister can’t help,” John said, standing as she did the same.
“Because her kind of magic is quite different and distinct from my own. Plus, Nonna said she was going to be busy brewing potions to purify the water, when the time comes. I’m the one who’s supposed to deal with the land.” She stretched a bit, feeling a tiny bit of soreness from her headlong run earlier. “And Nonna’s never wrong about who does what. We learned that early on when we were learning our craft from her. Any time we switched up tasks she had set for us, we screwed up royally. Nonna knows our skills almost better than we do ourselves. Trust me, John. She’s been at this for a very long time. Nobody argues with Nonna.” She smiled as she turned toward the door to his office.
“She sounds like a formidable woman,” he said kindly, which made her look up at his handsome face. He was smiling that crooked grin of his that was fast becoming her favorite of his many expressions. Probably because it was so rare.
“If she’d ever been in an army, she’d be a four-star general,” Urse quipped.
“I bet…” his voice dropped to an intimate level as they stood only a few feet apart by the door, “…you take after her.”
Urse couldn’t hold back her laughter. “Oh, man.” She continued to chuckle as she moved through the doorway into the hall. “I have to admit, the older I get the more I see the signs.” She went down the hall, toward the front reception area of the new town hall building. “Mellie takes more after our mom, whereas I greatly fear I’m turning into my grandmother.”
Urse found herself enjoying the light rumble of his laughter as they entered the open reception area. She turned slightly, expecting him to say goodbye and send her on her way, but he surprised her by walking past her to open the door and gesture for her to precede him.
“I hope you don’t mind if I walk you home. With everything that’s happened today, I want to make sure you get there safely,” he said, but she immediately became suspicious.
“Is this just a friendly gesture, or is it because you want me watched at all times?” Her resentment came through her tone, and she didn’t really care if he noticed.
“For now, just call it a friendly protective action. Honey, you almost bought it earlier today. I don’t want anything else happening to you before we do the deed tomorrow morning.”
Okay. First, he’d called her honey. After that little endearment slapped her upside the head with an unexpectedly erotic velvet caress, he’d said the words do the deed, and her mind had gone straight to the sex place. With him. The mayor of freaking Bear City, USA.
Okay, it wasn’t called that. Only in her mind, maybe. But it was definitely the shifter-iest place she’d ever been in her life. And every single one of them she’d seen had tasted of bear to her magical senses.
Most mages couldn’t differentiate between animals, but she had shifter blood, so she had a little edge. And her shifter blood was bear, so she recognized her own even better than the others.
And bears loved honey. And he’d just called her honey. Something he loved…
Oh, get a grip, Urse!
“Well, uh…” Much to her chagrin, she had to clear her throat before she could actually speak. “That’s mighty neighborly of you.”
Dull, Urse. Way to go.
But he hadn’t been talking about having sex with her. No matter where her wayward thoughts had taken her. He’d been talking about her doing magic while he did his best—with his team of bear shifter commandos around him—to protect her from a giant freaking sea monster that wanted her blood…and her magic.
So dull was good. She was fairly certain he wasn’t thinking about sex and her in the same universe. Why such thoughts were suddenly popping into her mind was beyond her. Except maybe it was that kind of thing where when you have a near-death experience, suddenly you want to celebrate life by grabbing the nearest hot guy and boinking like bunnies? Maybe?
Although…Urse had been in some pretty tight spots from time to time as she learned her craft. She’d come closer to dying than she was comfortable admitting a time or two. And she hadn’t felt like jumping the nearest stranger and doing him ‘til the sun rose.
So what had changed? Why now? Why him?
They walked down Main Street side by side. It was only a short distance from the town hall, which was on one end of the small strip that was considered the center of town, to the bookstore, which was just past the bakery, which was at the mid-point.
“Do you have enough provisions in your apartment or do you want to stop at the bakery and get something for dinner?” he asked solicitously as they walked along.
“I set up a pan of lasagna this morning. Mellie’s probably cooked it by now. There’s plenty, if you want to join us.”
Holy crap. Did she just invite John to dinner? Where the hell had that come from?
Probably from the same instinct that had sent her mind straight to the sex place at the least provocation.
“Real Italian lasagna?” John actually smiled at her, and her heart went pitter-pat without her permission. “How could I refuse?”
Sweet Mother in heaven, he’s going to come to dinner. Her inner teenager stood up and cheered, then squealed with excitement. Yeah, right. Real mature, Urse.
They made it to the bookstore without mishap, only to find that Mellie had already invited the guy John had sent over to keep her company to join them for lasagna too. Seemed like little sis wanted to get to know more about the big Russian named Peter Zilakov.
Urse was glad she’d made the big pan full of lasagna. They’d intended to freeze what they didn’t eat, but with two big strapping bear shifters joining them, there weren’t going to be any leftovers. That was okay. Urse liked cooking. She could always make more.
Peter owned the butcher shop. It was an old-fashioned establishment that catered to eclectic tastes. Urse had been able to get veal and mutton in addition to bison, regular pork, beef, and poultry. He also had some more specialized meats always in stock, such as alligator, ostrich and even rattlesnake. He apparently ordered some of the more exotic meats in, but he was also a hunter who would sell the wild things he and some of the others in town hunted.
Urse enjoyed his dinner conversation and the camaraderie between him and John. It was clear Peter respected John, but they were easy in each other’s presence in a way Urse hadn’t expected. She figured the Alpha of the Clan would be the grand poobah or something, but John didn’t really stand on cere
mony with his men from what Urse had seen.
Peter was telling them about how he was going to have to expand his business a bit when the new restaurant finally opened. Construction had just started next to the bakery, and the restaurant was going to be run by the current deputy, Zak, who was going to work part-time for the sheriff after his business opened. Which meant there might be an opening for another deputy when the time came.
“So who are you looking at to help the sheriff?” Urse asked John. “The town council must have some ideas.”
“Really, anybody could do it,” Peter put in, his faint Russian accent charming. “Most of the core group is ex-military. We all have the right kind of experience.”
“Yeah, but who wants it?” John asked rhetorically. “A lot of us are sick of peacekeeping. Done too much of it in every crappy corner of the world.”
“I could help out at night, maybe,” Peter offered. “I close the shop at three in the afternoon. After that, I’m mostly free.”
“That could work,” John said, considering. “Talk to Brody about it. I think Zak is going to work mornings for the town, then spend his nights at the restaurant.”
“When will it be finished?” Mellie asked.
“Depends on the weather, really,” John answered. “We get a mild winter, it could be done quicker than we think, but if we keep having other troubles—magical ones—then it might never get finished.”
That caused a bit of a lull, and Urse figured, since he brought it up, they might as well talk about it. John wouldn’t have mentioned it in front of Peter if he didn’t trust the man.
“Mel, I didn’t really get a chance to tell you about talking to Nonna today,” Urse began, but her sister waved her down.
“She called me right after she hung up with you,” Mellie said. Urse probably shouldn’t have been surprised. Nonna was always thorough, and she probably had a few words of advice she’d wanted to give directly to Mel. “She wants you to do your thing first, then I’m going to follow up with some pretty intricate potion work that could take a while. I might be ready by next month’s full moon, but that’d be pushing it. More likely, it’ll be a bit after that.”
