by Black, Tasha
Javier had even reorganized the stock room and gotten Mac’s inventory loaded onto a computer program.
He had no idea how Ainsley’s mom had kept things straight without better record keeping, but he suspected that growing up in the store and being both smart and magical, she had an intuitive way of knowing when she needed to order more rock salt. J.D. MacGregor had no such intuition, and his stockroom was a mess of over-ordered products and empty bins.
Javier had helped Mac mark down the unfathomable number of rakes and wheelbarrows he had ordered for some reason and place them outside with colorful sale tags. Within a month or so they had cleared out enough of what they didn’t need for everything to run smoothly again.
When that big job was done, he’d gone about cleaning the store thoroughly right down to the warped blades of the cheap ceiling fan that circulated fresh air and pushed the welcoming scent of sawdust out onto the sidewalk, where it served to remind passersby that they needed a little something, even if it was just the comforting therapy of hardware store talk.
You know those old clippers that were like, really sharp?
This was the kind of a question that Javier had learned would not lead to a sale.
He would walk the customer back to the gardening section and show them the various clippers, some of which were exceedingly sharp. The whole time, the visitor would regale him with tales of the garden shears her father used that he sharpened himself with a stone and the beautiful trees and flowers that used to grow before the dogwood blight and the change in climate or soil or whatever else it was that had made the past seem brighter than the present.
And it would turn out, after careful inspection of each set, that none of the available modern equivalents would do. But the customer might grab a pack of batteries on the way out because after all she did need them.
And Javier knew she didn’t need the batteries, not really. The purchase was in thanks for the talk about the beloved, long-deceased father and the happy memories.
But it wasn’t enough to keep him busy, so he paced the store restlessly, wishing there were another big project to lose himself in.
And it wasn’t just his own boredom that bothered Javier. The current level of business would never be enough to keep the place afloat.
Javier had seen the books. He knew Mac could hardly afford to pay him. With the construction across the street holding up traffic, it was hard to even get the regulars in for big orders.
He was grateful for the job. Though it didn’t pay well, it had given him a purpose, and something to do with his hands and his mind while he waited for Cressida Crow to be ready to be his mate.
The bell on the front door jangled.
“Javi,” Mac said in a friendly way.
“Hey, Mac,” Javier replied, feeling guilty that he wasn’t working on anything. There really didn’t seem to be anything left to work on.
“I can’t get over how much better the place looks,” Mac said. “I wish I could give you a raise.”
Javier laughed.
“I’m good, Mac. I’m glad to have a job.”
Mac leaned on the counter, his hand grazing the display of ‘uncommonly bright flashlights’. He studied Javier calmly.
“What are your plans, son?”
“Um, I’m not sure,” Javier said. “I guess we could try to work out a way to do deliveries, so the trucks don’t have to get through the construction zone for pick up - it might mean more orders.”
He’d been thinking about how that could work without hiring more employees. It was a long shot but it might be a help.
“Wow,” Mac said, “I never thought of that. But I was talking about your plans, for yourself.”
Javier felt his eyebrows go up slightly in surprise. He hadn’t expected the question.
“I don’t know,” he hedged.
“Have you ever thought about owning a hardware store?” Mac looked almost hopeful.
Javier opened his mouth and then closed it again.
He’d been so anxious to get away from his old pack he hadn’t really had a dream of a big career.
“I don’t mean, like, a competing one,” Mac said in a confidential tone. “You’d annihilate me in about two seconds. I meant this one. I can’t give you a raise, but I can give you shares in the business. And if you bring the place back to life the way I think you can, you could buy me out.”
Javier stared at Mac, incredulous.
He was blown away by the thought that Mac believed in him and was willing to help him launch a career instead of just take advantage of his cheap muscle then fire him when times got tough.
He had only been in Tarker’s Hollow for a few months, and already he felt more kinship with the wolves here than he ever had before.
He opened his mouth to thank Mac, to tell him he would be willing to do anything to make that happen.
But he found himself unable to speak.
He might like the idea for himself.
But he knew that if Cressida walked in here today and asked him to go with her, he would, no questions asked.
It was ironic, really. He’d left his old pack because he didn’t want to be a follower all his life.
But arriving here, meeting Cressida, he had found his destiny and he knew it was wrapped up in hers. He was fated to help her accomplish something incredible.
After all those years of wanting to lead, it turned out he was his best self in a supporting role - he just needed to be supporting the right person.
At any rate, if she came for him, he would go immediately. And he couldn’t take advantage of Mac’s generosity and then piss on it if the wind changed.
“Listen,” Mac said, “you don’t have to answer now. Just keep it in mind - an option. You’re a bright young man. You could do just about anything you wanted. It just seems like you’re really good at this, that’s all.”
“Thanks, man,” Javier said, disappointed that he couldn’t articulate the depth of his gratitude.
“I get it. The hardware life isn’t for everyone. I only bought this place to keep it from closing after Ainsley’s folks passed. I thought it was important to the town, and the pack. And Sylvia always made it look so easy. So I totally understand if you’re not interested.”
“It’s not that,” Javier explained. “I love working here. I just feel like I need to be able to drop everything if… the pack needs me. But I hope it won’t feel like that forever.”
“She’s very special,” Mac said, dropping the pretense that they were talking about the pack.
Javier searched the other man’s face for a trace of mockery. He knew Cress had slept with Mac at some point, with more than a few local guys by her telling. He didn’t give two shits about it either. It was her body and he was glad if she hadn’t denied herself satisfaction.
What did bother him was anyone gloating about it or judging her for it. That was fucking unacceptable.
But Mac was serious. He wasn’t making some kind of locker room joke about her skills in bed. He knew the real Cressida.
Javier nodded.
The bell jangled and a couple of Copper Creek guys came in. They were dusty from the construction across the street, but they seemed happy.
Ansel, Erik’s new right hand man, came up to the counter.
“Ya’ll got any sunscreen?”
“Sure, three kinds,” Javier said, pointing out the small display to the left of the counter.
“Thanks much,” Ansel said, pulling some cash out of his pocket to pay.
“Any time,” Javier replied, ringing him up. “How’s Erik?”
“He’s the best alpha Tarker’s Hollow ever had,” one of the men said from behind him, then laughed.
Ansel shook his head and rolled his eyes, but his lips were pulled up at the corners like he was trying not to smile.
Javier felt his hackles trying to rise at the slight to his own alpha.
Mac growled involuntarily and then tried to turn it into a cough.
“Ahem, that’s not appropriate conversation for town, boys,” he said lightly.
As if to prove a point, the bell rang again and in came two ladies, dressed in causal but clearly expensive clothing. Not wolves.
The hardware store wasn’t large. The first lady, in a crisp white blouse was practically in Ansel’s arms the moment she stepped in the door.
“Oh, excuse me,” she said in a way that made it sound like he should be apologizing for his big, dusty existence.
“No, ‘scuse me, ma’am,” Ansel replied politely. “We’ll be seeing you fellas,” he said to Javier and Mac.
The three Copper Creek wolves were out the door a moment later.
“Oh my god, Angela,” the one in the white blouse said to her friend in the pink sweater. “What is with this town? Did I take a wrong turn and end up in Texas?”
They both laughed in a snotty way and Javier felt his hackles rising again.
He might not like when the guys talked shit about which alpha was better, but he knew it was meant to be good-natured. Wolves stuck together.
Grace’s mom, Eva Cortez, stepped in as the door was still swinging shut from the men who had left. She listened to the two other women, her head cocked slightly.
Javier didn’t know Grace’s mom personally, but he had heard she was a really nice lady and did a lot for the town. Ainsley seemed to have a very high opinion of her, and that was good enough for him.
“There were about a million of them at the farmer’s market last week,” pink sweater lady said, rolling her eyes.
“Hello, Angela, Ellen,” Eva said in greeting to the women. “Are you talking about the ladies from Copper Creek? I’m so proud that our little town could commit to making a home for them, aren’t you? It was devastating to hear that so many of their townsfolk were lost in that mining collapse. Can you imagine losing your own husband or father to an accident?”
Angela and Ellen looked at each other awkwardly and then shook their heads.
Javier wanted to hug Eva Cortez. But Eva wasn’t finished yet.
“Did you know that a group of the ladies from Copper Creek volunteered to go to the farm and help Kate Harkness put together baskets for the homeless shelters in Philadelphia?” Eva shook her head and tears, real tears, glistened in her beautiful dark eyes. “It’s inspiring to think of these brave women who lost everything and had to move to a strange new place, still giving of their time and energy to help others. There’s a lesson there for all of us, isn’t there?”
She didn’t wait for Angela and Ellen to answer. It would have been a long wait anyway. They were gaping at her like a pair of fish.
“Dear, would you please copy this key for me?” Eva placed the key on the counter along with a ten-dollar bill. “I’ll be along to pick it up when I’m finished with my shopping if that’s alright.”
“Of course, Mrs. Cortez,” Javier said.
She left, and the other two women followed a moment later, with their tails between their legs - in as much as a human could be in that position.
Javier was turning to Mac to react to the whole scene that had just played out when the bell rang again.
Erik Jensen strode in quickly, a haunted look in his eyes.
“Javier,” Erik said without preamble. “Didn’t you say you used to do some scuba diving?”
Chapter 9
Erik pulled up his wetsuit and rechecked the oxygen level in his tank one last time. It was full - he was fine.
Javier gave him a big thumbs up from inside his own equipment.
“I don’t like this,” Ainsley said from further up the bank. Their special tree overhung the creek. Its branches filtered the sunlight, dappling her with shade, so that she looked almost like she was underwater herself.
Erik didn’t exactly love the idea of diving into the cavern that led to the portal either. But he needed to find out what was in that flooded chamber under the creek. He was just lucky that Javier was into diving and had extra equipment Erik could borrow.
“This is dangerous,” Ainsley continued when he didn’t respond. She had not been at all pleased with this idea from the beginning.
“I took lessons when I was in college,” Erik said, neglecting to mention he had never been out of the safety of the indoor training pool. “I’ll be fine.”
“It’s not the diving part I’m worried about,” she told him pointedly.
Truthfully, Erik wasn’t worried about that part either.
“If anything looks wrong, we will get out of there right away,” he assured her. “But we need to check this out. It’s our duty to keep the packs safe.”
She bit her lip, appearing to consider.
Both packs were on edge, he knew she felt it too. Whatever was in the woods was going to tear them all apart. They couldn’t keep going like this, the tension was only adding to the already unbearable situation with the Federation.
Something was bound to give.
“Then I should be the one going down,” she said. “I can handle whatever’s down there.”
Her hazel eyes flashed and the air around her seemed to be so charged that she appeared to blur around the edges. God, her magic was getting strong.
He didn’t doubt that she could handle anything she set her mind to.
That wasn’t the problem.
“I know you can, Ainsley,” he said, moving to her. “There has never been an alpha better suited to deal with this kind of thing. But,” he placed a hand against the swell of her belly. “It’s not gonna happen. Not today. The doc did not clear you for cave diving.”
She smiled at his feeble joke and nodded her head in assent. Erik found himself profoundly relieved that she hadn’t been offended.
He hadn’t meant to say that pregnancy made her weak. He had never been more in awe of Ainsley’s strength - both physical and mental.
It might have been more accurate to say that her pregnancy made him weak - weak with love and helpless with fear that something unexpected might happen to her or to the baby she carried.
But Ainsley understood him completely. She always had.
“I’m going to record it all on my GoPro, Ainsley,” Javier broke in eagerly. “You can look it over too. Make sure we don’t miss anything.”
Suddenly the air between them all was light again. Javier had that way about him. His optimism was catching.
“Fine,” Ainsley smiled, pulling Erik down and kissing him fiercely on the lips.
“But if you die, I’m never speaking to you again,” she added solemnly when she released him.
Erik knew it was a joke. But with Ainsley, it wasn’t exactly an idle threat. His mate had spoken to the dead more than once.
“See you in a few minutes, baby,” he told her.
She lowered herself to the bank and he turned back to the creek.
Javier had waded into the frigid water already. The guy was always right there to help - no questions asked. It made Erik suddenly wonder what had happened in his old pack to make Javier turn up suddenly in Tarker’s Hollow last fall, just as the shit was hitting the fan with the Federation.
He made a mental note to take Javier out for a beer one night soon. Things had been so crazy since Erik’s return to town he’d had no time to do anything other than assess whether Javier was a romantic threat as far as Ainsley was concerned.
He wasn’t.
The poor guy seemed to have a serious thing for Cressida.
Erik shook his head and followed Javier. The water was bone-achingly cold, even with an insulated wetsuit.
When they made it to the deepest part of the creek, they dove for the crevice below. The water was clear and Erik could see pebbles and moss colored rocks give way to a dark gash of… nothing.
The opening was small enough that they had to push their tanks through it ahead of themselves. Erik fought his wolf’s claustrophobia. Throwing himself into the creek was one thing. But he was ready to hop out and shake off now, not push his way through a tight tunnel.
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Easy, boy.
At last the dark crevice opened up into a huge cavern.
No.
It was a room.
No sooner did he recognize the domed ceiling than he saw the symbol on the floor. The same symbol he’d seen in the Copper Creek mine.
For a moment, Erik was filled with revulsion. His wolf, sensing the strong emotion prickled and snapped at his skin.
No, no, no.
If he shifted now he would die down here. The wolf would never fit back through the tunnel.
Breathe.
Javier turned back to him, an arc of bubbles streaming over his shoulder.
Erik waved a hand to show he was okay.
He studied the symbol on the floor again, calmly this time.
There was a huge crack running through it.
A dim glow emanated from inside. It was enough to illuminate the entire chamber.
The dread Erik felt at first seeing the symbol was gone.
In fact, the feeling that was coming off of the portal was good. It was somehow… refreshing. It reminded him of the energy that was crackling around Ainsley a few minutes ago.
Erik knew almost nothing about magic.
But Ainsley said hers had strengthened since the portal was partially opened.
Was that what he was feeling?
He swam a little closer and the warm feeling built. His chest swelled with joy and he felt almost euphoric.
It suddenly occurred to him that maybe his oxygen mix was off.
He checked the gauge, but all was well with the tank.
No, something about the portal felt inexplicably right. The exultant sensation washed through his body, soaking him to his core with joyous energy.
Javier floated near him, the other wolf reached out a hand toward the light, as if he, too, experienced this rapturous wonder.
Erik floated above the glow as if it were a campfire. He felt absolutely content, though his problem still wasn’t solved.
Whatever was down here, it certainly wasn’t what he had expected, and it was definitely not the source of what was infiltrating the college woods.
