Black Moon: Hamarsson and Dempsey 3

by Keaton, Elle

  “Sir?” Birdy said again.

  Mat leaned back in his chair and looked over at her, one eyebrow raised.

  “I think you should take the rest of the day off. Now that the agents have left, surely you deserve a little personal time. I’ll call Deputy Holstrom in a bit early, and we’ll make sure the island stays safe.”

  Mat mulled over Birdy’s offer for about thirty seconds. “Okay. I may take tomorrow too, depending.” His mother’s words about taking time when you had it floated back to him.

  “Not a problem. With Jorgenson coming aboard, we’re going to have plenty of coverage.”

  “Don’t say that too loudly,” Mat admonished. “You’re going to curse us! But you know where to find me if something does happen.”

  “Yes sir, boss.”

  “Oh, hell no,” Mat protested. “Not all in one sentence!”

  Birdy chuckled while Mat shook his head and began to gather up his belongings so he could head home to his man.

  28

  Chapter Twenty-Eight—ten days later—Mat

  “I think that went… well?” Mat said hesitantly, as he wasn’t exactly sure what they’d just done. Both of them smelled slightly smoky, like sage (the plant, not the person) and the other herbs Sage and Maddie had used for purifying and then laying—he wasn’t even sure if that was the right word— protective wards on Mat and Niall.

  Niall shrugged. “It’s not any weirder than appealing to Frigg and Freya, which, I’ll admit, I do quite often.’

  “Oh yeah? Norse gods?”

  “Goddesses. Although I generally skip the sacrificial parts, I don’t think they mind too much. So far it seems to be working. You come home to me every day.”

  Christ, when Niall said stuff like that, Mat didn’t know how to respond.

  “I love you; I’ll never not want to come home.”

  “I know that. My heart worries sometimes, though.” Niall glanced over at him, his light green eyes full of love.

  Niall was driving their new-to-them car. When they’d finally made it to Anacortes to pick up the Subaru, instead of bringing it home, they’d gone straight to a dealership where they’d traded up for a larger SUV. The older car was too small for their family to pile inside along with Fenrir—who was also family—and tiny Hel, who wouldn’t leave Fenrir’s side. Buying a car together was such a boring domestic thing, but to Mat it felt like another comfortable milestone in their relationship.

  “Hey.” Mat pointed. “Turn down here.”

  Niall didn’t ask why, just took the turn past Chester’s that led to a lookout point facing the mainland. From here a person could see Lopez and, farther along, on a clear day, the North Cascades and even Mount Baker. There were no other cars there today. Niall parked off to the side, and they both got out.

  There was an indignant woof. Niall shook his head and rolled his eyes before opening the back so Fenrir could hop out.

  “Hel is not getting out,” Niall muttered. She’d valiantly fought being tucked into a travel crate, though she seemed to have settled down a bit after her initial outrage. It was her own fault for not wanting to stay at home. Fenrir just wagged his tail and trotted off to sniff the tall grass on the other side of the road. Niall tugged his fuzzy wool cap down over his ears. He insisted the thing was called a toque. Mat begged to differ, but it wasn’t worth arguing about—unless, of course, he wanted to tease Niall a little.

  Zipping his coat up to his chin, Mat stepped around to the front of the car and leaned against the hood. Niall joined him, the SUV settling under their combined weight. The day was clear and cold. Mount Baker was magnificent, white with snow and gleaming in the sunshine. Niall slung one arm over Mat’s shoulders and pulled him close. It felt perfect. They didn’t need any words right now; together they gazed out at the wide world in front of them. Mat inhaled, then let the air back out, relaxing into Niall.

  The past week or so had been a whirlwind of paperwork and phone calls between him and the feds, and Mat had somehow ended up spending a lot of time talking with Cody Prescott. He was Paul Prescott’s heir, it turned out, and was very much struggling with the loss of his mentor and father figure. Funeral planning was not in Mat’s job description, but it seemed Cody didn’t have anyone else to turn to, so Mat had stepped up.

  He’d also had the malicious pleasure of setting up a meeting with Jeffrey Reynolds so he could let the creep know he didn’t have any information for Mat worth a deal. Had it been a petty move? Absolutely. Had Mat enjoyed making sure Reynolds knew he was going to stay right where he was for a very long time? Yes.

  Mat knew it was ridiculous, but the fact that Reynolds had dated Niall before him rankled—even though he knew Niall was his now and nothing was going to change that. Jeffrey Reynolds was a person Mat could not find anything redeeming about. Hell, Birdy Flynn couldn’t find anything good about him, and she found something good in almost everyone.

  Then there’d been the arrival of the forensic team from WCF. It had taken Ethan Moore and his team just four days to exhume the remains. The group of investigators had done their best to be unobtrusive, but having strangers on the property digging stuff up had been an issue—especially for Fenrir, who’d taken an instant dislike to his forest being invaded.

  Niall had complained the entire week about the low-grade grumbling and growling that had occurred whenever Fenrir heard the team’s voices outside, apparently also paired with pacing to the front door and back to Niall asking to be let out so he could, what? Dismember the archaeologists? Mat had no idea, but the entire household was glad when the team finally packed everything up and left. The results would likely land in Mat’s in-box in a few days, something he both dreaded and looked forward to.

  It was also far past time to sit down and talk to his mom about his dad’s death, about Mat’s all-but-confirmed suspicion that Duane Cooper was the one responsible. In a sense, justice had already been served, however late—and neither man would be coming back—but Alyson Dempsey deserved to know what Mat thought had really happened: that his dad had, inadvertently or through investigation, discovered Cooper was smuggling and confronted him about it.

  Over the past few days, Mat and Niall had come up with all sorts of scenarios about how it might have gone down, but he figured it was likely fairly straightforward. They’d been out on the water together and Cooper had straight-up hit his dad in the head, pushed him overboard, and then lied about not being on the boat—there’d been no witnesses to dispute Cooper’s claim that Sheriff Dempsey had been alone, checking on a distressed boater. It had been that simple.

  “Get back here.” Niall’s voice pulled Mat from his thoughts, and Mat realized Fenrir had wandered to the cliff side of the logs that kept cars from driving over the edge. The dog gave Niall a look but obeyed and ambled over, sitting on his haunches on the other side of Niall and leaning against him.

  “It’s a Niall sandwich.” “Sandwich time” being Riley’s new favorite joke.

  “You are such a goof.”

  “Are you talking to me or Fenrir?”

  Whatever Niall responded with was whipped away by the wind. Maybe he hadn’t said anything. Niall pulled him even closer and pressed his lips against Mat’s in a gentle kiss. Mat couldn’t help but part his lips and dart his tongue out so he could taste Niall.

  Too soon Niall pulled back, his arm still over Mat’s shoulders and other hand against Mat’s cheek. Mat stared into his eyes. Love and just a tinge of uncertainty swam there.

  “I can’t believe,” Niall’s voice was husky, “of all the people in the world you picked me.”

  “It goes both ways, believe me.”

  “I love you, Mat Dempsey. I love your family too—because of them I have a family now.” He traced a long finger down and along Mat’s jawline. “I love you and everything you bring to my life.”

  Mat couldn’t help but kiss him again. Their cold noses bumped against each other. Leaning away, Mat smiled at his man. “I guess we should get going.
Mom’s expecting us.”

  Niall nodded. “Come on, dog, get back in the car.”

  Once the conversation with Alyson was over, he and Niall were leaving Hel and Fenrir with her and Riley for the afternoon and driving into Hidden Harbor, where Mat had an appointment for the beginning of a tattoo that, he hoped, would cover the scars on his chest.

  “You don’t think it’s a ridiculous, me getting a tattoo?” he asked for the hundredth time, as he opened the door and settled into the passenger seat. He felt like a teenager, getting his first tattoo at an age he didn’t want to think about.

  “You saw what Kim drew you. It’s amazing.” Niall started the engine, maneuvering the car around so they were heading the right direction.

  “It’s beautiful. I’m not sure I’m worthy.”

  Kim had sent over the design, an intricate Celtic knot with a sword running through it. The whole thing would be done in black ink. Mat was thinking he might add a little color at the end, but the design had to be inked on in black first anyway.

  “You don’t have to get such a big one, though,” Niall continued. “You could start out a bit smaller and see how it feels.”

  “That’s not how I roll.”

  “Oh?”

  “When I decide on something, I want the whole thing. Not a section, or a slice, or a taste: I want the whole damn thing.”

  “The whole thing, huh?”

  Niall’s wicked chuckle did something to Mat’s dick, and he shifted to adjust himself.

  “Yeah, the whole thing. The good—the reasons for that should be obvious. The bad—because you can’t have good without bad, and bad makes the good even better. And all the stuff in between, because those are the things that make life, right? Life isn’t just one thing, life is all the things. Life is…” Mat cast around. “Sitting out on the porch with you watching the waves. Cleaning up the mauled toilet paper rolls (Hel was costing them a lot where toilet paper was concerned). Taking the trash out. Getting up at three in the morning to watch meteor showers. Doing dishes knowing I’m washing two plates and two sets of silverware—even laundry. It’s all those things.” He trailed off, glancing at Niall.

  “I’m starting to believe you might like me okay,” Niall said with a grin.

  “You know I do.”

  “Does that mean you’ll help design a new cabin?”

  And, yeah, Mat had been holding back: afraid to make any decisions, to influence Niall, because the old cabin hadn’t been Mat’s space, not ever. But if he was going to pontificate about love and how it was everything, then he needed to accept that Niall wanted to build a new cabin with him, with both of them in mind, together. The new cabin would be a home where he and Niall would move forward as a couple, syncing their lives.

  Mat released a satisfied sigh and couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, okay.”

  Epilogue

  Seven months later—Mat

  “You may now kiss your husband,” Shay Delacombe solemnly announced.

  Mat took another half second to contemplate his husband, the tall, dark, and broody man he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. They’d both shed tears during the ceremony. It had been more difficult than Mat had expected speaking his vows, and hearing Niall say his own back to Mat, in front of approximately sixty of their friends. But they’d managed it. They had declared their love and promised themselves to each other. It was… overwhelming, and wonderful and a whole host of emotions he couldn’t name at the moment.

  “Well?” Shay teased. “Second thoughts already?”

  His joking words lightened the mood that was close to suffocating Mat. In tandem he and Niall leaned in, hands still clasped together. Their lips barely touched. Mat breathed in the scent of Niall’s cologne. Beneath it he could smell Niall himself. Mat would know his woodsy-cinnamon-coffee essence anywhere.

  The audience collectively sighed. Mat heard someone sniff from the front row. Ending the moment, Mat moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with his husband, facing their guests.

  “Everyone,” Shay said to the crowd, “refreshments will be served in a few moments. Please make your way to the main hall.” So only Mat and Niall could hear, Shay added, “But let the grooms get there first, because they both need a drink.”

  “Hey!” Mat protested.

  “Am I wrong?”

  No, he wasn’t.

  They’d decided to hold the wedding at Walker Winery and Tasting Room in Skagit, so there was plenty to drink. And after the dinner and reception, Mat and Niall were heading to Sea-Tac, where they’d board a plane headed for Thailand. Neither one of them had traveled much outside the US before, and Thailand seemed perfect—and relatively LGBTQ friendly. They were spending a few days in Bangkok before heading to Chiang Mai and then Phuket. The trip of a lifetime with the man he loved. He couldn’t wait to get started.

  Niall, who hadn’t let go of Mat’s hand since they’d slid the rings onto each other’s fingers, tugged him toward the first group waiting to greet them. They’d decided against a formal receiving line. They’d mingle and greet all the guests over the course of the evening.

  “Uncle Mat!” Riley cried, “You look handsome. Are you really going to see the elephants? Can I have a piece of cake now?”

  Mat eyed his sister Ella. “Did you tell her she had to be polite before she could eat?”

  Ella laughed. “I did my best to set some ground rules.”

  Mat ruffled Riley’s hair with his free hand. “Let’s see… Thank you, yes we are going to see elephants, and there’ll be cake after dinner.”

  “Hmph.”

  Riley looked adorable in purple cowboy boots, denim skirt, and red shirt. The ensemble was paired with a pair of bright orange tights covered with multicolored flowers. One thing Mat and Niall had insisted on was casual attire; they did not want their guests to dress up if they didn’t want to. Plus, since it was in an old barn, fancy dress seemed ridiculous.

  His mom had been right when she said Skagit was far enough away to deter drop-ins. But everyone they’d invited had come. Including Niall’s new coworkers Leo Zelinsky, Kimball Frye, Ryder Mann, and Scarlett Weaver. Of course, Birdy Flynn was there, along with Patrick Radden and Theo Jones. Soren Jorgenson, as the newest had drawn the short stick and was in charge of the Sheriff’s Office while everyone else was gone.

  “You’re going to take good care of Fenrir and Hel while we’re gone?” Niall’s rumbly voice sent shivers down Mat’s spine. Their flight didn’t leave until the wee hours of the morning, so they’d gotten a hotel room close to the airport. Mat didn’t plan on using the room for sleeping. They could do that on the plane.

  “Yes, Uncle Niall, I promise. We have plans. I’m going to go on an adventure too.”

  Mat could practically feel Niall melt at the casual way Riley called him “uncle.” The man was tough and grumbly, with walls built so high most people gave up, but Riley had snuck around them.

  Caleb Collier raced up to them. “Hi, misters.” He slid to a stop and looked at both of them, then Riley. “Riley, come on, I want to show you something!” Everyone snickered at Caleb’s lack of interest in the grooms. He obviously wanted to explore the barn, and the property owners had a kid too, so there were plenty of kid things to do.

  Riley and Caleb dashed off, Shay and Ella following them, leaving Mat and Niall alone for the moment.

  Mat took Niall’s other hand and turned so they were facing each other, as they had during the ceremony. “Husband,” he said, staring into Niall’s agate-green eyes.

  “Husband,” Niall repeated, one corner of his mouth curling upward in a rare smile.

  “We did it. I kind of can’t believe it,” Mat said.

  Niall huffed and rolled his eyes. “Me either. I thought we might have to elope after all.”

  “I kind of wish we had, but at the same time it was nice being surrounded by family.”

  “Huh,” Niall grunted.

  “Yeah, ’cause now you have one, with all the warts and sun
shine.”

  “Warts and sunshine?”

  Mat shrugged. “I’m no poet. I’m just your husband.”

  Letting go of Mat’s hands, Niall grabbed his lapels and shuffled closer, so they were toe to toe, foreheads touching.

  “Mind the suit,” Mat protested, but he wasn’t serious. Niall could handle him however he wanted.

  “I love you, Mat Dempsey,” Niall growled. “We didn’t need to do all this. No matter what, I love you. You’re the only one for me. You always will be.”

  “That’s a long time, always.”

  Niall released one of Mat’s lapels, bringing his hand up to cup Mat’s cheek. “Forever. That’s all I need.”

  * * *

  Not ready to leave Piedras Island yet? Preorder Mackerel Skies (Soren and Dany’s story), Book One of Island Time (a Hamarsson and Dempsey–Accidental Roots story)—Coming April 29, 2021

  Two men from opposite sides of the law: will they be able to put down their differences and trust love?

  * * *

  If you enjoyed Hamarsson and Dempsey check out the Accidental Roots series beginning with Storm Season.

  Death brings him home, will love keep him there?

  Agent Adam Klay is home to bury his father, not fall in love. Storm Season is a dual POV about a terminally grouchy Federal Agent who discovers his softer side and a sweet man who thought he had nothing to live for.

  * * *

  Are you yearning for something sweet-with-heat? Be sure to read Love Limited Edition and the rest of the Home in Hollyridge series.

  Will bookish magic, an adorable dog, and a little assistance from their friends, help Brett and Rory realize the world is what you make of it? That a chance at happiness is something to be seized, not tossed aside?

  * * *