He tipped his head to the side in acknowledgment and narrowed his eyes in rebuttal as if to say that getting old wasn’t something to worry about.
Paige held up her hand. “She’s used to doing everything on her own. She was our matriarch.”
He winced at her, pulling his head back in question.
“Uh, she used to be the head of our household. Managed the budget, the kitchen, the house. The wards.”
“Wards.”
“Magickal barriers that protected our home. What we set up yesterday.”
“Ah. Okay.” He looked up toward the top of the mountain. “And now she’s…?”
The light was getting brighter. “Doing none of that. Well, less of it. We’re sharing the load. And to be fair, we probably should have been doing this a lot sooner. I mean, we’ve been living in her home for most of our lives.”
“You never left the nest?”
“Oh, we did, but Grandma’s house was so big and she likes us around.”
“You think.”
“Yeah.” Right. They did and she never said anything different. “I know that most of America is like, grow up, move out, make a life of your own. And, maybe we’re just weird, but we stayed close.” For the most part. “We raised our kids together.” When they had them. “We’re stronger together.”
“I had wondered. You know, the Blackmans, they’re, well, different. They all stay up on their compound and bring their produce to the farmers market, but the family stays very close together. I think it’s almost family law.”
She sucked in a breath. “I went by there yesterday.” She winced. “They live a different kind of life than I could.”
“So, you guys aren’t like that?”
“No.” She held up a finger and counted off the ways they were different. “For one thing, we can leave whenever we want and it’s okay. I did. I lived in Denver on my own for five years.”
“Then came back?”
“Well, Dexx had been bitten and I’d been—well, accepted, I guess you could call it—by the animal spirits. It brought a whole new light to the witch and shifter wars that I couldn’t ignore. Especially, when I heard that Merry Eastwood had gone to Texas.”
“It’s a big state.”
“She was in Dallas, right next to us. Trust me. She was close and it scared the crap out of me.”
“You could have left. The danger was you.”
“Yeah. I could have, but—” She took another sip of her coffee. “I was surrounded by all the awesomeness of being in a big family.”
“The noise. No privacy.”
She smiled. “Yeah. That. But it’s more than that. It’s…hearing Mandy exclaim because she set her hot cocoa on fire as she practiced warming it up with her magick. It’s about watching Tyler slide into the kitchen with his cape every single time he comes in. No joke. It’s about eating a bowl of cereal with your big sister and conversing without words because you know each other that well. It’s about knowing that your son is okay without you because you’re not the only one he has to rely on. It’s about knowing that your daughter is safe with her cousin and they’re probably getting into the kind of trouble that most likely won’t get them killed because they’re together.”
Tuck nodded, his lips flat. “I never had that. Only child. Mom did the best she could. Dad was never around. Then, I married Beth and we had two kids. One died in the war. The other one’s in California as a fluid analytics engineer.”
“Oh, wow. What’s a fluid analytics engineer?”
“I’ll have her tell you sometime. I’d just jumble it all up.”
Sounded lovely and kinda lonely. “Awesome.”
Tuck met her gaze. “Well, sun’s up. Ready to work?”
“I’m marginally caffeinated. I’ve started on worse.”
They turned and headed back into the building.
“I’ve got a tentative plan on how to handle these cases. I can tell by some of the evidence about what we’re trying to track down, not necessarily who. But it’s a starting point.”
“That’s good because we had none of that.”
“I just need to make sure that the murder cases in Portland don’t get pushed back.”
“Well, I understand that. And I was thinking that maybe you take a more hands-on approach with that case.”
“But…” Paige narrowed her eyes and sat in her chair behind her desk. “I thought I wasn’t supposed to be active.”
“Not always. There’s a lot of other things you’ll need to do that will have to be your main focus.”
She gave him an open and frank look. “You’ll have to let me know what that is because this is all, still, pretty new to me.”
“Understood. But since this case involves witches, you’re the best one suited for it.”
“True statement.” She felt good because that meant she’d be able to do the things she was actually good at. “Well, in that case, I’ll shift a few things around here—”
The building shook.
Leaves fell through the air.
The picture of Leah fell to the floor, the glass cracking on impact.
“What was that?” Tuck asked in confident alarm.
Her wards screamed at her. “An Eastwood is in town.”
Tuck narrowed his eyes at her. “And this happens every time they show up?”
“Well, I don’t know because this is the first time they’ve been here after I got the wards up.” She hoped not, though, because she’d have to seismically brace everything on her desk if that was the case.
“Well, what do we do?”
He’s coming here, the voice of Blue Dress, the ancestor who had helped rebuild the wards, said.
Who? Paige asked. Is he alone? With the entourage?
It is Oliver and he comes alone.
Bold move. Paige took in a deep breath. “Well, it’s Oliver Eastwood and he’s alone and on his way here. So, I guess, we go out to meet him.”
Tuck raised one gray, bushy brow and stood, leaving his coffee cup behind.
Paige led the way out the front door and stopped on the sidewalk, crossing her arms over her chest just as a black, shiny sedan pulled up.
The man from the previous two Eastwood visits who had stayed that extra second or two as if trying to tell her something stepped out of the car. Oliver Eastwood. He walked up to her and stopped. “Impressive wards.”
A tinge of pride washed over her. He’d noticed them. “They seemed like a good idea.”
“I agree. Would you care to remove the tether?”
In her witch vision, Paige saw a green and black tether latched onto him that ran all the way up to the dome of the ward overhead. She blinked her witch vision off and shook her head. “Nope.”
“It’s leaching my magick.”
“Then, doubly nope. What are you doing here, Oliver?”
He set his lips and braced his feet. “I want to help you bring down my mother.”
Paige looked at Tuck in question, not sure she’d heard what she thought she’d just heard.
He raised his eyebrows and shrugged, gesturing behind them. “You want to drop that thing or whatever you two were talking about? That ward tether thing?”
As if she could. She hadn’t even known that the ward would give an outsider a tether. Hey, um, could you ease off a little?
I’m not letting go, Blue Dress’ voice said.
I get that, but ease up a little. Okay? Give him room to breathe?
Paige didn’t get a verbal response.
But Oliver sighed in relief. “Thank you.”
Yeah. Sure. Whatever. “Step into my office and let’s talk.”
Oliver nodded curtly and followed.
Paige was half-way tempted to take him to the interrogation room. But, if he was seriously wanting to help take Merry Eastwood down, that wasn’t a great way to cultivate a relationship. She pointed to one of the two free chairs on the other side of her desk.
“I like what you did with the pla
ce,” he said, his voice smooth.
She glanced out the windows of her office to the flora-lined bullpen. “Thanks. What are you offering?”
“Information and whatever else you need to take her down.”
Paige narrowed her eyes. “Why now?”
Oliver glanced significantly at Chief Tuck.
Paige shook her head, her lips flat. “Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of him.”
“Do you realize how many rules you’re breaking by sharing this kind of information with a mundane?”
“Yes. And, let’s be clear, the Council of Elders and the Shadow Sisterhood are supporting this. Our society needs a judicial system and the only way that happens is if there’s an open line of communication with people like him, mundanes who know how to enforce law.”
“We rule our own.”
“Sure looks like it’s been working great for you in the past.”
He winced, his right eye crinkled as he looked away.
“So, again, why now?”
He looked at Tuck again. Then, he shifted in his seat and straightened his shoulders. “Mother is going to kill us soon.”
That didn’t make sense. Oh, wait. Except, in her file, her sons didn’t survive much past Oliver’s current age. Why? “What do you mean?”
He clamped his lips shut.
“You came to me.”
“That was before I knew how closely you were working with the mundanes. And the Council of Elders.”
If he thought that relationship was bad, she’d hate to see what he thought of her other relationships.
Tuck looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, his lips pursed as if thinking the same thing.
“Do you know why we broke away from the Council?”
Paige shook her head. “Because Merry decided she only had to answer to one person. Herself?”
Oliver ground his jaw and looked away. “Their laws are barbaric. And they have their own judicial system they use to inflict those laws upon us.”
“Sounds like living in society.”
“But we are above them.”
Well, wasn’t this an interesting side to Oliver. “Are you sure?”
He opened his mouth. Then, he frowned, his expression going pensive as he sat back.
“What happens when humans—regular humans—feel they’re above the law?”
Oliver stared at her, not quite meeting her gaze.
“They destroy hundreds of thousands of lives. Now, right now, even human laws can’t touch those people, but that will change. The people will riot up and take control and find a way to get back at those one percenters who have ruined their lives.”
Oliver lowered his gaze to the table.
“So, now, think about this situation. Without law, without order, what have you done? According to my records, you and your entire family have gone on a killing spree.”
His eyes widened as he finally met her gaze.
She raised an eyebrow. “The humans may not know it’s you. The paranormals do, though. They see you as the power hungry people outside the system that you are.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed.
“So, what happens when one of them get the courage to stand up against you?”
His eyes tightened and his lips flattened.
“Exactly. He’ll die. And then the two people who champion him. What will happen to them?”
His eyes narrowed.
“You’ll make them wish they were dead so they can go back and tell the others that fighting against the Eastwood family is a really bad idea. What happens when their story spreads? These are not a peaceful people, Oliver. They are passionate and just want to live.”
“You think they’ll riot?”
Frankly, she didn’t know. The first paranormals she’d met were the ones on her team and the ones she’d interviewed. She knew a lot of shifters and they were ready to fight. “I think they’ll start that war your mother wants to wage and they will win. They have the numbers.”
Oliver tipped his head to the side, taking in a breath and holding it as if knowing what she was about to say.
“And they have me,” she said quietly. “So, yes. It’s law and order dictated by the Council of Elders, or it’s war, a war you will lose.”
He watched her for a long moment.
“Okay.” Paige folded her hands and leaned forward on her desk. “Then leave.”
Oliver ran his tongue along his molars, mulling it over. Finally, he shook his head. “I can’t. I have to protect Daniel.”
“Who?”
“My cousin and your nephew.”
Paige leaned back in her chair, waiting for him to continue.
“Really? The Council of Elders?”
“Really,” she said, her tone low. “The Council of Elders.”
“We could create our own council.”
“I’ve seen how the Eastwoods and the Blackmans live. Creating our own council would be a bad idea. You’re all too high on yourselves.”
“You could rule it.”
“Like I need that on top of everything else. No.” Besides, she knew firsthand what kind of crappy leader she was. Nope.
He thought on it a moment longer, then relaxed his stance slightly. “Fine.”
“Good.” She glanced at Tuck.
He widened his eyes and resituated in his chair.
Oliver glanced at Tuck, too, then returned his attention to Paige. “Mark and I had a third brother. He married a woman Mother didn’t approve of. She gave birth to a son, Daniel. Shortly before his son was born, Mother had my brother killed.”
Shortly before Leah had been born, Mark had been killed. Coincidence?
Oliver dropped his gaze. “She did the same with Mark. Mark knew the consequences, but he didn’t care. He loved you. He loved your family. He wanted nothing more than to leave us behind and build something good, something clean.”
Paige watched him for any signs of bitterness. He showed none.
“I was jealous. He’d found something real with you, but I knew. He wouldn’t be able to keep it. Not with Mother around.”
“And Daniel?”
Oliver licked his lips. “This year, I turn forty.”
“Congratulations.” Forty was the new twenty. Right? She sure hoped so because her turn was coming up in a few years.
“Mother doesn’t let her male heirs live past the age of forty. On my birthday, I will die and no one will be there to protect Daniel. And with as powerful as he is, she won’t allow him to live much longer.”
“She fears people of power?” Tuck asked.
Oliver nodded. “Fear might be a strong word, but she doesn’t allow powerful people to remain around her for long.”
Paige licked her lips and looked away. “Wow. Forty. That’s a lot longer than she allows her female heirs to live.”
“You’ve done your homework.” Oliver smiled with relief. “I am glad.”
Why was he glad?
“She knows about Leah.”
Fuck. Paige took in a deep breath. “She realizes that we don’t want to claim the Eastwood fortune. We want nothing to do with whatever life she’s built.”
“She understands that’s probably the way you see it now, but that you’ll change your mind as soon as you see what her kind of power can offer your daughter.”
“Her kind of power?”
“The money? The political power?” Oliver gestured around her. “Imagine it. Leah could go to any college she wanted. She could become anything she set her mind to. The sky’s the limit.”
“We live in the United States of America and I’m pretty solid middle class. Trust me. If she sets her mind to it, she still could be anything she wanted. She’d just have to work harder for it.”
“It would be easier for her if you used Mother’s influence.”
“If I wanted easy, we wouldn’t be here. Right now. We’d be in Aruba.”
Oliver studied her. “Are you serious about building a case
against my mother and taking it to the Council?”
“And take her down lawfully? Yes.”
“How?”
“I can’t lay all my cards on the table.”
“And where would you keep her that she couldn’t just break free?”
Paige remained silent for a long, tense moment, holding Oliver’s gaze in her own. “Trust me,” she said softly. “I’ve got a few strings up my sleeve. She won’t be breaking free of the cell we’ve got planned for her.” At least she hoped not. Lovejoy had seemed pretty confident that she had all the kinks worked out.
Oliver thought about it for a long moment. “What do you have against her?”
“I’m not telling you.”
“You don’t understand.” He sighed and sat up straight, leaning forward on his elbows. “There are two killers out there.”
That seemed a little too coincidental.
Oliver held out his hands, palms up. “Vivien Blackman is staging murders to look like Mother did it in an effort to frame her.”
“Why would she do that?”
Shaking his head, Oliver fell back in his chair. “Because Mother is too good at hiding her tracks.”
“And Vivien?”
Oliver tipped his head to the side and released a pain-filled breath. “After mother took Eldora’s daughter into her circle and then sacrificed her—”
“What?” Tuck asked.
Paige winced. “I hadn’t had a chance to fill you in on that one. Apparently, Merry killed Shelia. The good news is that Shelia gave us a new way to track Merry’s kills. Whenever she uses her blood magick—”
“—she kills all living plants and small animals for a fifty foot radius,” Oliver finished for her. “You’ve been talking to the Blackmans.”
“Charming people.”
“And your siblings,” Oliver said cautiously. “You’d be wise to consider them allies.”
Paige shook her head, her lips tight. “I don’t know. I have a hard time trusting that they’ll back my play when they’re backing both ponies.”
“Fair enough. But they are your family.”
“They’re their family. I’m just a cannon they hope to hide behind.”
Oliver looked up at the ceiling then ticked his head. “True enough. Anyway, Vivien isn’t like the rest. She’s only partial Blackman, doesn’t even carry the family name. Her magick isn’t strong. Eldora refused to let her into her circle. Then, after Mother killed Shelia, she hoped to win Eldora’s favor by being allowed into Mother’s circle where she planned on bringing Mother down from within.”
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