Page 35 of Wicche Hunt

Dreading it, I leaned over the box and looked in. First of all, Declan was right. The stench was horrible, and my nose was nowhere near as sensitive as his. Second, the octopus was small and long dead, probably months ago and frozen. I’d guess someone in the pack worked in a restaurant and he took this poor little guy from the freezer for this bullshit prank.

The opossum, though, had been partially eaten. I said a prayer to the Goddess for these two and then used a scouring charm to clean out the box. Without me, he’d have spent the rest of the day trying to clean fur and guts from his very expensive tools and probably wouldn’t have been able to get it all out of the gears or the inside of handles. He’d have had to live with the stench for years before he’d finally replaced them all.

Declan came back a few minutes later with paper towels and cleaning supplies. Brow furrowed, he looked into the box. “How did you—oh. Right.” He stared at me, eyes still hot as they traveled up and down my body. “So, if you were able to do magic after I had my hands on you, does that mean the water works?”

With a grin, I nodded.

“Well, let’s go then.” He threw the cleaning stuff in his hands toward the open barn door. “Come on. Get in.”

“You’ve got workmen in there waiting for you,” I reminded him.

“Screw them. I have plans for the rest of the day. Come on.” He held out an arm to help me down.

Another car drove around the barn, this one holding Kenji and a woman. Declan glanced over his shoulder and dropped his head.

“The world is conspiring against me,” he muttered. He pinned me with his gaze again. “Tonight. After work. Okay?”

Kenji was a wolf and I didn’t want him listening to us, so I barely breathed, “I can still feel your hands on me. I want them on me again.”

“Hey, boss,” Kenji said as he and the woman stepped out of a sports car and headed toward us. “I wanted you to meet my sister. She’s the architect I was telling you about.” Kenji stood for a moment, looking between the two of us. “I can show her around the site for a while if you two need to leave.”

I shook my head, smiling at Kenji and his sister. Shouldering my backpack, I walked to the end of the truck bed and hopped off. I held out my hand to the woman. She was beautiful, with short black hair, warm brown eyes, and luminous skin. The woman knew how to moisturize. Wearing black trousers and boots with a terra-cotta blouse, she took my hand and shook.

“I’m Arwyn. I have the gallery across the road, the Sea Wicche.”

Looking surprised, she said, “Natsuki. I’m honored to meet you. What you’ve done with that old cannery is absolutely amazing. It’s the kind of project I would have killed to do. I can’t wait for you to open so I can see the inside.”

Kenji watched his sister, pride clear in his expression.

“You can come see it anytime,” I said. “Just call to make sure I’m around.”

“Thank you,” she said, nodding happily. “I will.”

“Good.” I looked between the three. “I’ll let you guys do your thing. I need to get back and paint.” I started to walk away.

“I can drive you,” Declan said.

I waved off his words, still walking. “I’m fine.”

“Be careful crossing that road,” he called as I rounded the side of the barn.

“I will,” I shouted back. Smirking, I thought he had it bad. I turned left at the road and walked along the line where concrete tuned to dirt and grass, waiting for a break in the traffic. Playing the moment over and over when he grabbed me and…Damn. I had it bad too.

FIFTEEN

Stranger Danger

My phone rang just as there was a break in the traffic. Sprinting, I swiped the screen with my thumb. “Hey, Mom.”

No response.

“Mom?” I made it to my side before a fancy sedan sped by.Slow down, you big jerk. There were pedestrians and cyclists all over around here.

“Darling, why does your voice sound so strange?”

“I was running across the street. All good now,” I said, walking the berm on my side of the road.

“That’s fine. I wanted you to know that Serena called. That man came in today, made the huge mess, and poisoned her tea. She caught it all on her security cameras, since she knew where to point them. The tea leaves and the surveillance videos have been turned over to the police. No lives were lost.”

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