Page 81 of Wicching Hour

“Thank you and sorry to mess with your plans,” she said. “I should be there in about ten minutes. If you’re not back by then, I’ll wait on your deck.”

“Sounds good.” I disconnected and found Declan in the living room, talking with Jake.

Tyler walked out of one of the guest rooms. “We like forest views anyway.” He grinned when he saw me. “You two should be the first to sleep in your bedroom. We told Declan to put the blow-up mattress in one of the guest rooms for us. The bigger question,” he began, turning back to Declan, “is whether or not you have Wi-Fi here.”

Declan was smiling at nothing in particular, and I felt another squeeze of my heart. “Yeah,” he said. “The network is Quinn Woodcraft and the password is Ursula, the number four, and good. All one word and only Ursula is capitalized.”

And there went that squeeze again. “I have to get back.”

Declan nodded. “We heard. I have them loading up chairs in the back of the pickup. I’ll take you back, the men will follow. They’re going to run along opposite sides of the road and search for cameras.”

I got a little lightheaded at that. It hadn’t occurred to me that there were more. I’d thought the one camera I’d found was unusual for the stalker. He seemed to like to film me himself. I needed sleep. My brain wasn’t working properly and I had a sorcerer to deal with.

“Oh, shit,” I muttered. I needed quiet and calm to get my head on straight. There was too much going on and no time to process it.

“What?” Declan asked, suddenly concerned.

I rubbed my forehead. “I’ve been so off lately. I’m slow on the uptake and I have a demon to best. I think Cal is getting in.” I thunked my head against Declan’s chest. “If I can’t rely on my own brain, my own magic, Cal wins and more people suffer and die.”

He wrapped his arms around me. “So you know what we’ll do?”

I looked up. “What?”

“It’s time for you to take another swim. The ocean will clear your head and mess with any spells aimed at you.”

I grinned. “You’re so smart.”

“I don’t have a demon trying to screw with my head,” he said.

“Or a detective pulling him away from what he was doing to find a serial killer,” Jake added.

“He also didn’t have a new living arrangement and relationship upgrade sprung on him,” Tyler said.

Declan rubbed my back. “And you’re used to working and living on your own, avoiding your mom and gran, saying hello to your ocean friends. Your life has changed a lot in a very short time. Being overwhelmed is a normal reaction.”

He glanced over my head at Tyler and Jake before returning his attention to me. “When we feel that way, we shift and go for a run. For you, it’s a swim. Let’s get out of here so I can toss you off the deck.”

Laughing, I nodded. “Deal.”

THIRTY-SIX

What?!

When we got back, I carried two chairs and Declan carried the rest. He didn’t like that. He wanted to carry them all, but that was silly. I had two arms just hanging off my body doing nothing. When I came around the corner of the gallery onto the deck, I found Bracken waiting.

He jumped up and took the chairs from me. “Let me, please.”

Declan followed closely behind. “Did Orla get home okay?”

“Yes,” Bracken said. “Lovely girl was so tired, she fell asleep on the drive. Luckily, she’s not a deep sleeper. I left her stumbling into her home to sleep properly.”

Flicking my fingers, I unlocked the door and tried to take a couple of the chairs from Declan.

“I’ve got it,” he said. “It’s more difficult to split them up now. If you could hold the door open, though, I’d appreciate it.”

I did and both Declan and Bracken brought the chairs in and set them up around my worktable.

A thought hit me. “I just remembered.” I went to one of my storage closets, the one with household things rather than art supplies, and rooted around until I found a long piece of folded material. “Mom gave me a tablecloth when I moved in—no idea why—but clearly she was thinking ahead.”

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