Page 91 of Starry with a Chance of Nightshade

“You’re lucky I like Faye, or I’d kick your ass here and now,” said Dave to Jim.

Jim snorted. “You and whose army?”

Stratton would have commented but the same feeling he’d had earlier at Demon Grounds came flooding back. The one that made him acutely aware of a Dark Fae creature in the vicinity. It was separate from what he’d thought he’d sensed with the teens. He twisted around and spotted Faye hurrying over from the chicken place.

Jim’s playful banter stopped, and he was to his mate in seconds, helping her over the divider. “What’s wrong?”

She pressed to him. “I don’t know. Astria and I were out back, near the restrooms, and then there was a weird sound. Kind of like someone was walking but shuffling their feet or even dragging them. Then I smelled rotting meat. Like roadkill. I felt it then, something bad was getting closer. Astria told me to go out front and I did but then I turned around to go back for her—” Faye’s gaze landed on Stratton. “She’s not there.”

“What do you mean she’s not there?” asked Dave, worry in his voice.

“I mean she’s gone,” said Faye. “There is no sign of her. I couldn’t get her scent either. The smell of roadkill is too strong back there right now.”

Stratton didn’t wait to hear more. He was running and leaping over the divider before anyone could comment further. His heart slammed into his throat as he ran for the back of Chicken on a Pitchfork. Normally it was well lit, but tonight it was nearly pitch black.

The others were close behind him.

Dave turned, his attention going to an open door. “Someone was in the supply closet.”

Faye looked around. “Is it me or did all the lights back here go out? They were on a few minutes ago.”

They flickered, reminding Stratton of the lights at the Frankenstein Manor all those years ago. Blind fear slammed through Stratton, not for himself but for Astria. All he could think about was Peggy’s warning. The one Marcy had given her. That the next dead body he’d be called to the scene of would be Astria’s.

He put his hands up and began to draw upon his power, unconcerned with who might see.

Dave grabbed him by the shoulder, spinning him around. “Get a grip, Bright! You unleash that here, on the grounds ofmylot, and it’s going to react with the wards I’ve got in place. You want that? You want a bunch of innocents hurt because you got a case of prematurepower-lation?”

“Power what?” Stratton barely managed to contain his magik, his breathing harsh. “I have to find her. I have to…”

He tried and failed to focus. He was a trained hunter. He was better than this. Better than simply reacting in a state of panic. Yet that’s exactly what he was doing.

Jim stared at him a second before glancing to his wife. “She wouldn’t happen to be your mate, would she, Stratton?”

“My mate?” he asked, unsure why the man was asking him something as ridiculous as that at a time like this. Instantly, he thought of how he’d felt when he’d heard her voice in the café. Then how he’d reacted when he’d seen her. How he’d wanted to grab her and kiss her. How he’d worried nonstop about her all day. How he was willing to overlook her questionable past to be near her. And how he felt right now, knowing she was in danger. His eyes widened.

Faye clutched her husband’s shirt. “Look at him, Jim. He’s beside himself. Had Dave not stopped him, he’d have set off a mystical bomb here for her.”

Jim slid his gaze down to his wife. “I’d do the same thing if you were in danger.”

She sank against him, looking at Stratton as she did. “You’ll find her. She’ll be okay. I know it.”

Dave grabbed his shoulder again. “Is she your mate?”

“She can’t be,” said Stratton. “She’s not a supernatural.”

Dave snorted and patted Stratton’s shoulder. “I sensed there was more to her five seconds after she showed up at my place wanting a job years ago. If that wouldn’t have been enough, the minute I caught sight of her necklace, I knew. When I learned who her father was, it made sense. I promised him I’d keep an eye on her and then she up and vanished out from under my nose. I’m not sure he knows where she is. I planned to reach out to him when you left.”

“She mentioned her father went to prison,” said Stratton. “Is that why you kept an eye on her?

Dave clucked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. “Her father isn’t in prison.”

“He got out?” asked Stratton. “She never mentioned that.”

“He never went to prison,” returned Dave.

Faye moved toward them. “We need to find her. Now. We can discuss her father later.”

“No. You need to stay here,” said Jim. “We’ll find her.”

---