Loch

by Amy Star

  “But you and Johnny still ended up as friends.”

  “We did.” Garret nodded. “It took a few years after the incident, but it happened.”

  “Thanks to Pearl?”

  “Yup.” Garret grinned. “Once Johnny simmered down, it was a lot easier to get to know him.”

  “What about Loch?”

  Garret’s smile faded. “Loch never simmered down.”

  “Was he really that bad?”

  “Bad?” Garret shook his head. “He’s had a rough go of it, but I never thought he was a bad guy.”

  Holly arched a brow.

  “Okay, I thought he was bad when he tried to take you into Golden Oak territory, but I don’t think that anymore.”

  “You swear?”

  “I swear! I made the guy breakfast yesterday. That counts for something, doesn’t it?”

  Garret pulled his truck onto the singular main road that ran through the town proper. Town residents milled about, conducting their business and running errands. It looked so ordinary.

  “How many of them are shifters?” Holly asked.

  “It’s generally frowned upon to reveal someone else’s status as a shifter,” Garret explained. “The paranoia from when our kind was hunted hasn’t gone away.”

  “I see.” She nodded. “You’ll have to clue me in on all the do’s and don’ts of being in a shifter society. I don’t want to piss anyone off.”

  Garret parked the truck in front of his store.

  “I’m excited to see the place.” Holly grinned. “I feel like your life has completely revolved around me since I arrived.”

  “That’s not an understatement.” Garret chuckled. “But I’m not complaining.”

  “I am. I feel like the most self-centered person on the planet.”

  “Considering the circumstances, you’re allowed to be self-centered.”

  Holly hid her face behind her hands and groaned. “Stop being so nice!”

  Garret paused with his hand on the door of his store. “Yeah, I’m not going to do that, but I appreciate the suggestion.” He opened the door and gestured for Holly to go inside.

  Griz’s General Store looked exactly how Holly imagined a general store set in a movie to look. The hardwood floors were appropriately scuffed but not shabby. The walls that weren’t covered in signs and products had antlers or paintings of the mountains mounted on the wall. Birds nested in the peaks of the A-frames.

  “This is adorable.” Holly grinned.

  Garret’s brows drew together as he laughed. “Never heard that one before. Thanks?”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Holly wandered around while Garret checked in with his employees. The majority of the shelves were stocked with hardware supplies rather than general goods though there were plenty of those to be found as well. Everything from lawnmowers to corn starch was carried at Griz’s. She was pleased to see that most of Garret’s suppliers were also from Silver Spruce. A handful of them were from Gallant Green, one of the neighboring towns.

  Gallant Green was originally part of Silver Spruce, but they had split off years ago. Holly didn’t know much about the state of the town today. There were a few small shifter clans there, but none of them caused any trouble lately.

  That anyone knew of.

  When Holly and Garret entered the store, it was all but empty. Now, people were flooding in. It was as if everyone in town needed something from the store right then and there.

  Holly moved toward the front of the store in time to see Garret jump behind one of the unoccupied registers. Lines quickly formed. The only other operational register was worked by a skinny, red-headed boy who couldn’t have been more than sixteen. He looked like he was going to pass out. He must’ve been a new hire.

  Holly worked her fair share of retail jobs. Without hesitation, she jumped behind one of the empty registers. Thankfully, it didn’t use any complicated software that required an employee passcode. She was immediately able to start ringing people up.

  Customers came one after the other. Every once in a while, Holly was able to steal a glance at Garret. When he wasn’t working just as hard as she was, he was staring at her in awe.

  “Are you new?” a middle-aged woman with a kind face and thick glasses asked Holly.

  “Sort of.” Holly laughed. “I’m just helping out for the day.”

  “I meant, are you new in town? I don’t recall ever seeing you before.”

  “Oh!” Holly quickly scanned and bagged the woman’s items. “Yes, I am new in town.”

  “How long have you been here?”

  Holly wasn’t sure what to say. Technically, she’d been here close to a month, but she rarely left the house. A normal person wouldn’t hole up in their home for a full month before venturing into town. She could say that she was Pearl’s granddaughter, but should she be offering that information to anyone who asked? What if someone here was secretly working with Trevor?

  “I didn’t mean to catch you off guard.” The woman smiled kindly.

  Holly had a hard time imagining her wanting to live as a vicious bear with no moral compass.

  “I can see you’re busy,” the woman said. “My name is Betty. I run the boutique down the road.”

  “I’ve been meaning to stop by.” Holly smiled. “I’m sure I’ll see you later, Betty.”

  With a final smile, Betty gathered her bags and left. The next customer stepped up.

  “I couldn’t help but overhear. You’re new, right?”

  Holly held back a sigh. Without meaning to, she’d set herself up for an involuntary meet and greet with the entire town. “That’s right,” she said. She bagged his items and rang him up before he could ask anything else. She repeated the process until the rush finally died down.

  When no one else stood in front of her register, she collapsed against the counter. “That…was intense. I haven’t done that in a good five years.”

  “I’m impressed.” Garret laughed from beside her. “That wouldn’t have gone as smoothly if you hadn’t been here.”

  “You’ve saved my ass so many times since I’ve met you. It’s about time I’ve returned the favor.”

  “If you want a job, all you have to do is ask.”

  “Thanks.” Holly stood up straight and stretched her arms over her head. “But I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m happy to get out of the house, but I probably shouldn’t put myself on display regularly.”

  “Odd way of phrasing that.” Garret laughed.

  “Oh, shut up.” Holly laughed. “You know what I mean.”

  “I do. You’re right. We shouldn’t make a habit of being so conspicuous. I hate to think there are people in town we can’t trust, but it looks like that’s the case.”

  Trevor came to mind once more. She couldn’t keep him a secret from the others forever, especially when they were putting themselves at risk to protect her. She just needed a little more time…

  “Hungry?” Garret asked.

  “Starving, actually.”

  “Great. If I’m not putting you on the payroll, the least I can do is buy you lunch.”

  “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

  Garret took a few moments to check in with the remaining staff. He instructed them to call him if another rush happened unexpectedly.

  With the store well in hand, Holly and Garret made their way to the diner down the road.

  Holly had been there once before, on her first day in town. Johnny had taken her there after she had crashed her car into a tree.

  Crap! My car! Panic seized Holly’s chest. She’d completely forgotten about her car. Last she heard, no one could figure out what was actually wrong with it. She made a mental note to ask about it later.

  Garret opened the door to Robeline’s Diner. Nearly every table and booth was packed. Dozens of heads looked up from their meals as the bright beam of light from the open doorway sliced through the low lit room.

  “Garret!” a female voice cried.
/>   A woman bolted up from her table and ran right into Garret’s outstretched arms.

  A prickle of jealously made its way down Holly’s spine.

  The woman in Garret’s embrace looked at Holly. Her brown eyes went wide with excitement.

  “Is this her?” she asked Garret, who nodded.

  The woman released Garret only to throw her arms around Holly. “I’m so excited to meet you! I wish I’d known you were dropping by. I should’ve invited you over for dinner ages ago. I’m so sorry.”

  “Um.” Holly’s ribs ached as the woman squeezed her tighter. “That’s all right. I’m not offended.”

  “Holly, this is my sister, Jess. Don’t worry, she’s always like this.”

  “Oh!” Holly felt foolish for being jealous. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

  Jess released Holly and took a step back. She looked nothing like her brother, which wasn’t a surprise. Garret was adopted into a Silver Spruce founding family after his own family had rejected him when his shifter powers became evident.

  Jess was the same height as Holly, if not an inch taller. Her complexion was fair, almost alabaster. Where Garret’s hair had a reddish tone, Jess’s was honey blonde. She was slight. She had the willowiness seen on so many runway stars. Holly wondered if Jess ever modeled.

  “Is Mom here?” Garret asked.

  “Yeah!” Jess’s entire face lit up with excitement. She was easily the most expressive person Holly had ever met.

  Jess looped her arm through Holly’s as if they were old friends and steered her toward the table. She decided right then and there that she liked Jess very much.

  “Mom is going to go nuts!” Jess gushed over her shoulder to her brother.

  “She’s going to have my hide for not calling enough.”

  “That, too.”

  As Holly and Jess approached their booth, a woman stood up. She was the tiniest woman Holly had ever seen. She couldn’t have been more than five feet. Aside from the obvious difference in height, she was nearly identical to Jess.

  “Look who’s here!” Jess gushed. “It’s Holly!”

  “Holly!” Garret’s mother’s eyes went wide. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

  “Sorry, Mom,” Garret said sheepishly from behind his sister. “Holly, this is my mother, Grace.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Holly offered.

  “It’s nice to meet you too, sugar.” Grace reached out and squeezed Holly’s arm. “We’ve heard so much about you.”

  Grace peered over Holly’s head to fix her son with that special kind of withering glare only mothers could do. “Didn’t I raise you better than this? You’ve barely called! I can’t remember the last time you came over for dinner. What’s going on?”

  "There’s an excellent explanation for that, Mom, I swear.” Garret stepped around Holly and Jess to hug his mother.

  Holly couldn’t help but smile at someone as large as Garret hugging someone as small as Grace.

  “There better be.” Grace took her seat in the booth.

  Garret slid in beside her. Jess urged Holly to sit next to her on the other side.

  “Holly,” Grace said. “Let me say, I’m so sorry for your loss. Pearl was such a wonderful woman. I miss her every day.”

  “Were you friends?” Holly asked.

  “Oh, yes!” Grace brightened. “We were in the same book club and knitting club. She loaned me the use of her kitchen and dining room more times than I can count. Half of my functions would’ve gone under if it hadn’t been for Pearl.”

  “Pearl babysat me all the time when I was a kid,” Jess added.

  “From what I hear, there isn’t a single person in this town whose life she hasn’t touched,” Holly said quietly.

  “That’s true.” Grace smiled. “But we don’t have to talk about it if it makes you sad.”

  “It’s all right,” Holly said. “I like talking about Pearl. I wasn’t close to her when she was alive. I only ever met her once.”

  “Oh.” Grace drew her slender brows together. “Well, ask anything you want. I’ll tell you whatever I can.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Do you have enough supplies?” Jess asked. “If you need me to lend you anything else, just let me know.”

  “You lent me enough to restock my closet ten times over.” Holly chuckled. “Actually, I’m planning on stopping by one of the shops today. I’ll be able to get your things back to you soon.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Jess waved her off. “You can keep everything. It’s not stuff I wear.”

  “Jess likes to keep getaway bags at the ready,” Garret said.

  “You make me sound like one of those nutty doomsday preppers when you put it like that.” Jess frowned.

  “You are one of those nutty doomsday preppers.”

  “There is nothing nutty about being prepared. You know as well as I do that things can go south for us.”

  Holly’s mouth dropped open as she recalled something Garret had told her a while back. Garret’s adoptive family had shifter blood on his mother’s side. Grace was a shifter. Holly was willing to bet Jess was, too.

  The idea of someone as small as Grace shifting into a bear almost made Holly laugh.

  “Nothing’s going to happen to us,” Garret said in a hushed tone. “I’m working on it.”

  “Is that why you’ve all but disappeared?” Grace asked.

  “More or less.” Garret’s gaze shot to Holly.

  “Do they know?” she asked.

  “Know what?” Jess looked from Holly to Garret. “What don’t we know?”

  “They don’t,” Garret said. “But I think they should. Do you mind?”

  “Not at all.”

  “What are you talking about?” Grace drummed her manicured fingers on the tabletop. Nervous light danced in her eyes.

  “Holly is the Maiden.”

  CHAPTER TEN—Holly

  Jess looked like she was either going to laugh or cry. Holly couldn’t tell for sure.

  “Are you sure?” Grace asked, stone-faced.

  “Yes.”

  “Prove it.”

  Now, it was Holly who bore the weight of Grace’s piercing gaze.

  “I hear her voice,” Holly offered.

  “What?”

  “The Maiden,” Holly explained. “I’m not a reincarnation. I’m a vessel, just as the first Maiden was.”

  “A vessel?” Jess said. “Like, the Maiden possesses you?”

  “If only it were that easy,” Holly muttered. “It’s closer to indentured servitude if you ask me.”

  “I can’t imagine…” Grace trailed off.

  “No, you can’t.” Garret’s voice took on a grave tone. “Holly was kidnapped last week. Shifters are gathering near the silver mines. They want to return to the dark ways.”

  “I knew my getaway bags weren’t insane,” Jess said pointedly. “Who are they? Are they from Silver Spruce?”

  “I don’t know,” Garret replied. “Holly didn’t see much.”

  “Why didn’t they kill her?” The ice in Grace’s voice sent a chill down Holly’s spine.

  “What?” Garret’s brows pulled together. His upper lip curled up in the slightest of snarls.

  “Don’t bare your teeth at me,” Grace warned. “Think about it. The Maiden is what stopped dark shifters last time. Why would they hold her for a week when they could just kill her and eliminate the threat altogether?”

  Holly felt like she was going to be sick. She knew exactly why she wasn’t killed in the silver mines.

  “I don’t want to think about what was going through their sick minds while they held her,” Garret shuddered. “What’s important is that we got her back, and nothing like that is ever going to happen to her again.”

  “Whose child will you carry?” Jess asked, her eyes lighting up with excitement once again.

  It was obvious to Holly that Jess hoped her brother would be the chosen one.

  “Jess!” Garret hissed. “C
an you not?”

  “What?” Jess shrugged. “We all know the prophecy. She’s bound to have thought about it.”

  “Actually, I haven’t,” Holly admitted. “I’m not sure if you know, but I didn’t know anything about shifters until after I got here.”

  “What?” Jess exclaimed so loud that half the diner turned to look at them.

  “You’re the master of subtlety, Jess,” Garret groaned.

  “I’m sorry! I just—” she stammered. “I don’t understand how that’s possible. No one told you? Not even Pearl?”

  “Pearl planned how she wanted me to find out about all of this,” Holly explained. “It was an extensively elaborate plan that, unfortunately, went to shit in the early stages.”

  “Pity.” Grace frowned. “I’m sure Pearl knew what she was doing. Her gifts were invaluable.”

  “I’d give anything to talk to her now.” Holly sighed. “It’s not fun making all this up as I go along.”

  “I don’t envy your position.” Grace bit the inside of her cheek. “If you need anything, I’m happy to help.”

  “Me, too!” Jess chimed in.

  “Thank you.” Holly smiled. Her gaze locked on Garret’s, who’s smile was soft and sweet.

  “Shall we order?” Grace said, breaking the silence.

  “Yes.” Holly nodded. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hold up your lunch.”

  “Nonsense,” Grace waved her off. “You’re part of the Silver Spruce family now. You’re part of our family.”

  Unexpected tears welled in Holly’s eyes. She buried her nose in a menu before anyone could notice.

  Orders were placed. Food arrived. The conversation at the booth turned to more regular matters.

  Holly was grateful for it. Ever since she had arrived in Silver Spruce, she felt as if all she’d done was talk about her grandmother’s passing, shifters, and the Maiden. She needed a break.

  She listened in silence as Garret, Jess, and Grace fell into normal family chatter. Holly was reminded of family dinners back home in Louisiana before she had moved to California.

  She missed her sisters. She hadn’t seen Jasmina and Rosaline in over a year. Not for the first time, she wondered if they knew about Silver Spruce and the shifters. Their faces weren’t painted on the family tree in Pearl’s study. That had to mean something.