by Sarah Beth
“What about you, Kyle? If I’m not pushing any boundaries by asking.” At Abby’s voice, Wesley was pulled back from his memories. He looked at Kyle across from him, saw his shoulders minutely tense before relaxing.
When he lifted his head to look at Abby, his expression was thoughtfully calm, “I was born in ‘89.” His eyes crinkled at the edges as he smiled for real at Abby, “So I’m still your elder, little witch.”
She smiled back at him, but Wesley got the distinct impression that she knew she had pushed a button. Deciding that changing the subject was a good idea, Wesley turned his attention back to the men across from him. “What did you two learn about the Portland murder?”
His pack mates shared a glance, before Warren shrugged one shoulder. He leaned onto the counter top, his hands clasped in front of him, “The body was mutilated in the same way as the Seattle murder, dumped on the Portland University campus. Clearly, both murders took place away from the location the bodies were found.”
Abby held her mug between her hands, her shoulders tense beside Wesley's. “Did your contact know anything else?”
Kyle shook his head, “Just like this one, there was nothing identifiable about the body or surrounding area.”
Warren nodded in Kyle’s direction, grasping his own mug of coffee in his hands, “He admitted that he had felt dark magic around the body, but that he hadn’t focused on it.” Wesley watched as Warren all but rolled his eyes. “Because the last recorded murder caused by dark magic took place over fifty-years ago, our contact brushed it under the carpet.”
A snort escaped Wesley before he was able to stop it, “And is this contact going to stay a contact?”
Warren met his eyes, raising one brow and inclining his head briefly, before shrugging. “For now, if and when we need him again. He’s the one that now has to live with the realization that we could have stopped this earlier, if he had just said something.”
Wesley shook his head, he couldn’t comprehend how their contact hadn’t thought to mention to someone that he had smelt dark magic on the victim. Rare or not, dark magic wasn’t something you just ignored.
Abby moved forward in her seat, causing their arms to brush again. “Is it possible that this contact isn’t on our side of things?”
Wesley looked at Warren, who glanced at Kyle and then back at him. He was sure Warren and Kyle had already had that exact thought. But proving or disproving that could prove to be challenging. Kyle rested his hands on the counter, palms up, “We had the same thought. But this contact has been working with the Portland Police Department for decades...finding any evidence against him would be almost impossible.”
“But not completely impossible.” said Abby, eyebrows raised in question and yet her voice held no inquiry.
A smile playing on his lips, Warren tipped his head sideways, “True, not impossible. Just incredibly difficult.”
Sighing, Wesley groaned, “Great, just another person added to the list of people we may not want to trust…”
Warren chuckled. Tipping his mug in salute towards Wesley, he said, “Don’t you worry about it, pup. It’s what I’m here for.”
Didn’t Wesley know that — all too well actually. Warren had proven himself the perfect investigator and bodyguard, when it was called for. He had sure gotten Wesley out of more than one risky situation during his rebellious teen years.
Glancing at Abby, who was smiling across the island at something that Kyle had said, Wesley wondered how many more situations his big brother was going to get him out of. Wesley only hoped that it would extend to Abby too. As Abby lifted her mug to her lips, Wesley cleared his throat and looked away, back to the men across from him, “We should probably get going.”
Kyle made a show of pouting, “Aw, so soon? You guys just got here.”
“Wesley’s right,” said Abby, smiling apologetically at Kyle, “We have to drive to the city and I have homework I need to catch up on before class tomorrow.”
Pushing away from the island, Warren opened a cupboard and pulled out two thermoses. “How about some more coffee for the road?”
Wesley smiled, he could always count on Warren to supply his coffee addiction. “That’d be great, thanks.”
Kyle took their mugs, depositing them in the sink, before following Abby to the door. Wesley watched them for a moment before joining Warren at the counter.
Speaking low, Warren said, “I don’t like you two going to the city alone, not right now.”
Wesley shrugged, taking one of the thermoses and adding sugar to it, “Honestly? I don’t either...but we can’t keep Abby from school. If she had decided to stay up here –,” he shrugged, “well we could’ve worked with that. But she wants to get back to her classes.”
Closing the other thermos, Warren grunted, “Yes, I know. And her classes are important...but so if her life.”
Resting his hands on the counter, staring a hole into the pot of coffee by his right hand, Wesley nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
Warren rested a strong hand on his shoulder, squeezing firmly, “Call if you need anything. I don’t care if it’s three in the morning and the hairs on your arms are standing on end, you call me. Got it?”
A small smile pulled at Wesley’s lips, “I will. I promise.”
A curt nod and then Warren turned away, carrying the thermos that Wesley had added sugar to, over to Abby by the door. Taking a deep breath, Wesley grabbed the other one and followed his family outside.
Chapter Twenty-Four
❖
Abby
With a groan, Abby fell into a chair at the coffee shop late Wednesday afternoon. Wesley smiled at her from across the table.
“Happy to be back, then?” His voice shook with laughter.
Tossing a glare at him, Abby set her backpack down and grasped the waiting mug of coffee between her hands. “Happy to be staying at Claire’s?”
He chuckled, reaching across the table to run his thumb over the top of her hand. “She’s already getting on my nerves, so nothing new.” When his hand touched her, a flurry of emotion flooded her senses for a moment. Happiness at seeing her. Relief that she was okay. As they melded together, it took her a moment to sort her feelings out from his.
She took a sip of coffee, to give herself a little more time before speaking. When she felt her emotions were under control, she smiled. Still trying to ignore the way her heart fluttered a bit faster as she watched his thumb move back and forth, she chuckled, “Well, just don’t kill her. I like hanging out with her.”
The corners of his eyes crinkled when he laughed again, his hand squeezing hers briefly before pulling away, “Hey, I haven’t killed her in the fifteen years I’ve known her. No need to get concerned now.”
Abby hummed as she took another sip of her latte. Oh yeah, she really needed the coffee. It took her hours to catch up on homework, finally crawling into bed well past midnight. Wesley and Claire hadn’t left her apartment until nine pm, so she had a later start than she had wanted to. Taking another large drink, she silently thanked whatever god invented caffeine. She looked over her cup to see Wesley smiling at her. With a small chuckle, she set the drink down. “Sorry, I really needed this coffee.”
He glanced down at the mug, the liquid inside having decreased considerably, and chuckled. “Yeah, I figured that much.”
She could feel a blush rising in her cheeks. To distract him, or herself, from the heat growing under her skin, she nodded outside. “I haven’t seen a nice sunny day like this in a while…”
He followed her gaze, nodding as he took a drink of his own coffee, “Yeah, Claire was pretty excited about it too. She had me doing work in her garden all morning, getting it ready for winter.”
An idea came to her then. With a smile on her face, she stood up and grabbed her backpack. Downing her coffee in two gulps, ignoring the slight burn, Abby reached for his hand. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.” He let her pull him to his feet, a chuckle escaping his lips, “The wind is a
little chilly out there, are you sure?” Pulling him towards the door, she rolled her eyes.
The sun shone through the barren tree branches, the chilly October wind threatening to unravel Abby’s hair from its braid. Although Abby didn’t hate winter, it certainly wasn’t her favorite season. She hated being cold. So maybe he had been right. Maybe the wind was a little crisp. Pulling her scarf tighter around her neck, she couldn’t help pulling Wesley closer to her side as they walked, hand in hand.
He chuckled, pulling gently at her braid for a moment before kissing the side of her head. Wesley had a thin coat on, but it wasn’t zipped shut. It fluttered all over the place in the wind. Damn werewolves and their abnormally high body temperatures. Why had she wanted to take a walk, again? The sun, right. Enjoy the sunshine before the endless winter sky shrouded it from view for months.
But as she looked up at Wesley’s face, she realized that a walk was a great idea. His features were calm and at home amongst the chilly breeze, chirping birds, and grass. Abby thought about how he hadn’t had the opportunity to shift and run, since they returned to the city. Seattle wasn’t exactly werewolf friendly. But he hadn’t complained once, seemingly perfectly happy to hang out around campus and in coffee shops, while Abby went to classes and did her homework.
A particularly harsh breeze whipped at her face, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut tight for a moment. When she opened them, her stomach dropped like a stone in a pond. Two sets of black eyes were staring at her from a few feet further on the path, ratty clothes and sunken cheeks jarring. Pulling Wesley to a stop, Abby stared at the kids. They made no move to get closer to her, but for some reason, they felt different to her than the last time she had seen them. A gentle squeeze on her hand caused her to turn her head in Wesley’s direction, but her eyes stayed focused on the figures before her.
“What do you see?”
It spoke to how well he knew her already, that he knew why she had stopped walking. “Do you feel anything?” She asked quickly, remembering he had the tendency to feel the presence of ghosts, sometimes. She saw his brows come together for a moment, regarding her face, before he looked around them. He took a few deep breaths, but Abby didn’t think ghosts had a smell.
“I feel spirits close…” he spoke slowly, softly, “But I feel them often when I’m around you.”
Nodding her head slowly, Abby took a deep breath, “These two kids...spirits...they used to follow me home from school almost every day...they’re here now.”
Another squeeze on her hand. Whether he knew what he was doing or not, his warm hand in hers was helping to keep her grounded and aware of the world around her. Not just the pair of black eyes staring into her soul.
“What do they want?”
Pulling her brows tight, Abby slowly shook her head, “I...I don’t know…” She had never thought to ask. They had never spoken to her and she had never spoken to them. But after everything she’d seen over the weekend, after everything she had done, she wasn’t going to turn her back on them again. Taking a deep breath, Abby reached inside herself, looking for that warmth that sat in her core. Slowly but surely, it filled her body all the way down to her fingertips, the cold breeze no longer bothering her. Another deep breath and she pulled Wesley a few steps closer to where the spirit children stood. When only two feet separated her from them, Abby stopped. Her hand firmly grasped to Wesley’s.
“What do you need?” She hoped her voice sounded as strong as she meant it to. Because inside, she thought her heart might beat out of her chest. It was taking all of her willpower to not walk back the other way.
For a moment they didn’t move, their eyes continuing to stare. Abby could feel goosebumps popping up on her arms, the air becoming even colder around them. As she exhaled, she could see her breath. It hadn’t been that cold a few minutes ago. Wesley’s hand squeezed hers gently, as if to remind her he was still there.
“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what you want.” She didn’t even know if there was anything she could do. What did you do for a ghost stuck in one place? Wasn’t that what exorcisms were for, or something?
When the children made no indication of talking, or moving away, Abby grew frustrated. She was tired of having spirits disrupt her day-to-day life. She may not know exactly what to do, but she wasn’t going to be passive about it anymore either. Reaching into herself, Abby pulled at her power, asking it to move away from her own body and outward. Closing her eyes, she felt it like a wave of energy as it flowed away from her. It passed over and into Wesley, pulsing in time with his heart beat, before moving further. She knew when it reached the children because it was like a flame coming up against an ice storm. Freezing cold and blazing heat clashing into each other. Her heart made a particularly fast beat, shaking her lungs in her chest.
Focusing on her breath, she fought against the coldness and pushed the warmth past the barrier, into the little children before her.
Images flashed before her eyes, things she knew nothing about and hadn’t experienced herself. Smoke billowed from the buildings of the surrounding city. The park they stood in didn’t exist. Buildings covered in soot and dirt surrounded them. A foul smell assaulted her nose but all she could do was take a deeper breath, trying to steady the rapid beat of her heart. The spirit children turned their backs to her and looked further into a dark alley beside them. There, hiding curled up in the shadows, were two children. Clinging together for warmth, they shivered as snow began to fall around them. Abby realized with a sickening feeling they were freezing to death. Doing the only thing she could think of to do, Abby forced more power into the wave of energy until it swept into the alleyway and blinded the scene before them in a warm light.
“Abby? Come on, love. You need to wake up.” It was the urgency in Wesley’s voice that made Abby slowly open her eyes with a groan. She was so tired, all she wanted to do was sleep.
His face was above her, brows drawn tight in concern. His hand ran along her forehead and down her cheek, “You back with me?”
She nodded her head, sitting up with his arm around her shoulders. Looking around them, Abby realized they were still in the park. But there were no spirit children to be seen.
“What...What happened?” She cleared her throat; her mouth felt like sandpaper.
Wesley let out a breathless laugh, “I hoped you could tell me. One minute I thought I was going insane and the next you passed out. I barely caught you before you hit the ground.” His concern and fear for her safety hit her like a brick wall, making her breath catch. His hands felt abnormally hot against her shoulders.
Holding her head in her hands, Abby took a deep breath. “Did you see all of that?”
His hand was on her shoulder, squeezing every so often. “Yeah...I...I did.” She looked up at him, and for the first time, saw something close to fear in his eyes. He shook his head, closing his eyes briefly before meeting hers again, “I’ve never experienced anything like that before.”
Join the club, she thought as she tucked her feet underneath her and started to rise. Not surprised when he gripped her arm to help her up. Once on her feet, Abby took a better look around them. No one else was walking through the park, the sun was still shining above her head. Nothing was out of the ordinary. “The children...did you see them?” She turned back to Wesley.
He shook his head, but his face was troubled, “I didn’t at first...until I felt your magic flow through me. Then all of a sudden I could — but that’s not all.” He ran a hand through his hair, pulling it away from his eyes for a moment, “It was like all of my senses were heightened. Colors were brighter, sounds louder. I could feel the vibration of cars on the road under my feet.” He shook his head again, his hand falling back to his side. “What did you do to me, little witch?” His lips quirked up with a small smile.
She couldn’t help but chuckle, reaching for his hand again and intertwining their fingers. With one last glance back to where the children had been standing just a little while
ago, Abby and Wesley walked towards her apartment. She had no idea what happened or where the spirit children went, but she wasn’t going to figure it out by herself. She’d ask Claire when they went over there for dinner, maybe she would have some ideas.
Chapter Twenty-Five
❖
Abby
Abby sat off of Claire’s kitchen, the small dining nook holding a red table with multi-colored chairs. It was big enough for three people, maybe four if you sat very close to each other. Smiling at the two people in the kitchen, Abby thought it was a very good thing that she didn’t mind bumping shoulders with Wesley. Claire and Ephram stood side by side — whatever they were making on the stove crackled and smelled divine. They were arguing back and forth over spices and how much was too much. Clearly, Claire liked things with a bit more heat than the werewolf did.
Wesley walked back into the kitchen, having gone to the guest room to change, and smiled at Abby as he sat down. “Have they stopped bickering yet?”
Abby hid her laugh behind a glass of iced tea. She said over the rim, “No, but they moved on from more ice in the tea to spices.”
Shaking his head, Wesley laid his arm on the backrest of Abby’s chair. “If I had known Ephram would be here so much –.”
Abby chuckled as she interrupted, “You still would’ve stayed here.”
He winked at her, bringing his own glass to his lips. She watched him take a drink, his Adam’s Apple moving as he swallowed. He smiled at her when he noticed her staring. Snapping her attention back to the very interesting table in front of her, she felt him chuckle silently beside her. They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, watching their friends finishing dinner a few feet away from them. It wasn’t until Ephram laughed, resting a hand on the small of Claire’s back, that Wesley went stiff beside her.
Casting him a sideways glance, Abby rested her hand on his knee underneath the table, “Relax. You don’t need to raise your hackles every time he touches her.”
