A few feet away lay Benjamin. Dean knelt beside him stroking the Rottweiler’s fur with a surprising tenderness.
I staggered over. “Benjamin?”
Without looking up, Dean spoke, “He took a beating—got torn up pretty bad—but he’s going to be OK.”
I laid down beside Benjamin, so he could see my eyes. He blinked at me with his tired yellow eyes. Relief washed over me as I noticed that his breathing was strong and consistent. I touched his paw, noticing chunks of Liam’s black fur were stuck on his nails. “How are you feeling?” I whispered. “Can you hear me?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Loud and clear,” he said. Then he paused as he took a couple gasping breaths. “Really, Natalie. Is your next question going to be how many fingers are you holding up? Because if so, this is the worst medical examination I’ve ever had.”
Tears pricked my eyes as a warm rush of joy filled my body. “Thanks for not dying, you surly mutt.”
Benjamin closed his eyes. “Ditto.”
“You won’t believe what happened. Lenny cracked the mirror, and it made that boulder start rolling down the mountain.”
Benjamin gave a quiet snort. “Who’d have thought?”
I gave him a kiss on the nose, and sat up looking over Benjamin’s body.
There were dark, wet stains on the grass, but Benjamin didn’t seem to have any cuts or marks on him.
He looked almost healed.
“It was the werewolf blood,” Liam said. He stood off to the side, as if not sure how to help. “We both drew blood with our bites—Benjamin and me. My body starts healing as soon as it’s hurt, and I guess it did the same thing for your dog.” Liam pursed his lips, unwilling to meet my eyes. “I’m sorry for this. I tried to control it.” He blinked and turned away. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
I went over to him. “It’s not your fault,” I said, touching his forearm. “You didn’t do this. Lenny did.”
“Say whatever you want, but I did do this.” Liam said. His eyes had lost their perpetual twinkle. “I’m a werewolf. I’m programmed to attack any living thing I encounter while I’m in my wolf form. One bite was all it would have taken to turn Lola into a monster like me—one single bite.” The corners of his mouth turned down in disgust. “Your dog kept Lola safe. The little guy never stopped fighting me. He blocked me every time, and took the bites that were meant for Lola.”
“He’s going to be OK, and so is Lola,” I said. “You’re not a monster. Monsters don’t care who gets in their way. You, Liam, are a good man with blood that can heal almost anything.” I gave his arm a squeeze before letting it fall limply to his side. “If the situation was reversed, you’d be the one taking the hit to save someone else’s life, so I don’t want to hear any of this ‘I’m a monster’ garbage.”
“Do you think Lola will see it that way?” he asked, his eyebrows lifting.
I paused, my gaze moving back to where Angie held Lola.
The red-headed baker still appeared to be in shock.
I sighed. “Eventually.”
And I hoped like crazy I was right.
Epilogue
Ida Honeycutt used the hem of her blue flour-streaked upon to dab the beads of sweat off of her brow. She stepped over to the register and rang me up for a custom cake I’d ordered before Lola had left for her extended vacation. Judging by the scowl on Ida’s face, she didn’t seem to be that thrilled about running the diner in Lola’s absence.
Or maybe Ida was upset that her daughter had finally found out everything her mother had been hiding from her.
Ida slid the white cardboard box across the counter. “Lola said this cake will be good for up to five days in the fridge.”
I smiled, balancing the box on my forearm as I stuffed my wallet back into my purse. “Oh, I think this will be gone by tomorrow. Thank you,” I said. “Any news on when Lola’s coming back?”
Sadness washed over Ida’s lined face. “No,” she said flatly. “But she hasn’t been the same since her memories came back. I just hope she doesn’t do anything crazy.”
“Like what?” I asked.
Ida shot me a dirty look. “Like looking for things that are best left in the past.”
I took that to mean the conversion was over, so I took my cake and headed to the corner table where Benjamin and Dean sat, sipping coffee.
Well, Dean was sipping his. Benjamin was noisily lapping it up, sprinkling brown drops of liquid all over the table.
I slid into the seat beside Benjamin and set the closed cardboard box in front of him. “Surprise!” I said, throwing my arm around the Rottweiler.
Benjamin lifted his head from the coffee mug and sniffed at the box. Then he gave it a lick. “I’m hardly surprised that you brought me a baked good when we are sitting in a bakery.”
I rolled my eyes. “That statement alone just proves how spoiled you are,” I said. “But it’s not just any baked good. I had Lola make it special for you.”
Benjamin gently bit the edge of the cardboard box and lifted the lid odd. He stared at the cake, maintaining a perfect poker face. “A poodle cake.”
“Isn’t it adorable?” I gushed, giggling at my joke.
Benjamin glared at me. “Do you expect me to eat it? That’s barbaric. Do you think I’m some kind of cannibal?”
I cut into the cake and started serving it up on the small glass plates at the end of the table. “If you don’t want any, that leaves more for Dean and me.”
Dean leaned back into the seat cushion, admiring the cake. “I never appreciated how good Lola’s cooking was until I experienced how truly horrible her mother’s was. I feel back for you non-blood-suckers. At least I can still get a decent meal around here. You all are stuck with whatever Ida Honeycutt can manage to scrap out of a skillet.”
“Lola will be back,” I said. “She just needed to process, like, the last twenty years of her life.”
Dean shrugged. “I’m not so sure. I heard she was going to look for her sister. And we’ve all been in Blake’s memory. Sarah Honeycutt has ten times the temper her momma and baby sister do.”
I held up my hand to silence him. “That’s a problem for another day. Some days we narrowly escape death by a psychotic serial killer, some days we eat cake. It’s called balance.”
A lazy smile appeared on Dean’s chiseled face. “How very zen of you, Wilder.”
I laughed as Benjamin scarfed down his slice of poodle cake as soon as I put it in front of him. Dean and I started on our pieces, too.
The vanilla buttercream frosting was as fluffy as a cloud. The coffee was hot And all my friends were safe. It was important for us to enjoy the time we had with each other. Talking to Lenny Holmes had made me realize that things can change in an instant—especially here on Wolf Mountain.
“Hey Dean, I’ve been meaning to ask you—do you know about Angie’s boy, Chris.”
“I’m assuming you're referring to his supernatural status, since he was in your house the night of the equinox party, and he wasn’t writhing in pain from old Mattie’s wards.” Dean playfully tipped his head to the side. “Sure, I know about the kid. I thought we established already that I know everything about everything,”
I leaned forward. “Who is his father?”
Dean held his index finger to his lips. “You know, I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” He caught hold of my wrist. “But I can assure you it would be the most pleasurable death you could ever imagine.”
“Ew.” I jerked my hand away. “Fine, I’ll find out myself.”
Dean smirked. “I have no doubt you will.”
Just then, the bell above the door jingled and in walked Blake and Liam. Both of them were red-faced and wore sweat-drenched muscle tanks. They must have both just finished up at the gym.
“Apparently, we all got tickets to the gun show today,” Dean said, winkling up his nose. “You know Ida’s cooking’s bad when the stench of two sweaty dudes is an improvement.”
I wav
ed them over.
Blake sat next to his brother, and Liam squeezed in with Benjamin and me.
Dean spoke up. “Are we sure we want to associate with this guy?” He pointed his index finger at Liam. “I know I don’t need to remind you that this is the only diner in town.”
Liam interlaced his fingers behind his head and leaned back. “Actually, Ida’s been decent to me. I think she’s just happy Lola and I broke up.”
“You didn’t break up,” Dean said. “She dumped you, and put your arms down, man. You see like Blake’s gym socks.”
A muscle pulsed in Liam’s jaw as he lowered his arms. “I’ll have you know, I’m moving on,” he said. “We’re absolutely through.”
I caught Blake suppressing a smile.
“She’ll come back,” I said, patting Liam’s sweaty shoulder.
Liam lifted his chin defiantly. “And when she does, I’ll have a new girl, maybe two or three,” he said, grinning.
“You’re all talk,” Blake said.
“I most certainly am not,” he said, bristling. He held up his phone. “In fact, I’ve already got five women who are chatting with me on this dating app. I’ve only downloaded it this morning.”
“Hand on a second.” Dean moved with lightning speed to snatch Liam’s phone from his phone. Dean’s eyebrows shot up. “Yeah, you’re going to want to be unmatched with that brunette right now.” Dean tossed the phone back to Liam.
“You know her?” Blake asked his brother, as he reached across the table with his fork to get a bite of my cake.
“Not like how Liam wants to know her,” Dean said, folding his arms. “That girl’s a fairy.”
“A what?” I asked, leaning over to get another look at the woman’s photo.
Liam was also squinting at the phone now. “I was wondering why her ears were so pointy.”
“Pointy ears are not the problem,” Dean said. “Fairies are crazy—everyone knows that. If you don’t believe me, ask Benny, here. He knows about fairies.”
Benjamin lifted his head, licking his jowls enthusiastically. “Fairies are in no way, shape, or form, suitable lover.”
I frowned. “How would you know?”
Benjamin gave me a hard stare with his yellow eyes. “My dear, Natalie, you have so much to learn.”
The End.
About the Author
Hi, I'm January Daphne, and I write about ghosts, witches, vampires and things that go bump in the night!
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Starstruck Witch Page 15
