Page 88 of Bright Dark Curses

“Plain, cream cheese, and blueberry. I think I got enough for everyone.”

By the looks of it, she’d gotten enough for the whole city. But then again, we did have three shifters in attendance.

The outside fence doorbell chimed.

“That must be Dru,” I said, moving to stand.

“I’ll get it,” Alex said, and darted out of the kitchen and down the slope.

A couple of minutes later, Dru sat at the table with a fancy coffee concoction. She took one look at me and Ian and said, “About time.”

“He wasn’t here!”

Dru sipped her coffee. Alex and Key tried not to laugh. Shane grinned broadly, then took a plain bagel.

My cheeks heated, but I ignored their knowing smirks. “Is Ethan coming?”

“He’s busy, so he asked we call him in,” Key said.

“You think he skipped town?” Shane asked.

“Probably on the way to another country,” Alex said.

High chance he was right. “We can call him, but first, do you guys recognize this man?” I showed them a picture of McKee, which I’d found on the internet while waiting for them to show up.

They leaned in to study the screen.

Shane frowned. “I’ve seen him at the set. Likes chocolate Danishes.”

“You’re right,” Key said. “I can’t remember what department he’s in, though.”

Shane rubbed the back of his neck. “He never mentioned being local. I thought his accent was, but I didn’t ask.”

Key nodded.

“What did the list say he works on?” I asked.

“Oh, the list is just names.” Key brought out her phone. “Let’s call Ethan. He probably knows.”

Shane also took out his phone. “We should call Brett too.”

“Good idea,” I said with approval, going for a blueberry bagel.

Ian shifted me on his lap while they called Ethan and Brett and took another sip of his coffee.

“Brett’s on,” Shane said, putting his phone on the table.

“Hi, Brett,” I called out. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

“What did they say about your stomach issues? Poison?”

“They’re waiting for tests, but they think it might’ve been any number of natural poisons.”

“Then the magic on the cup was there to lure you into grabbing that specific drink.” As we’d guessed.

Key put her phone down next. “Okay, Ethan’s here too.”

---