Page 48 of Starry with a Chance of Nightshade

Dana and her friends, Marcy and Poppy, had arrived in Grimm Cove three months prior. They’d settled in nicely, each married now. Dana was just about three months pregnant and, at the rate Jeffrey was going, the woman would end him far before she came to term. Dana could do it with ease. She was the daughter of the head of the Van Helsing slayers, who also happened to be a powerful vampire, and her mother had been a natural-born slayer and witch. She could basically kick someone’s ass with her eyes closed.

Her husband and true mate, Jeffrey Farkas, was the head of the local wolf pack that was anything but small. By all accounts he was an alpha male shifter who could more than hold his own. Not when it came to his wife. Next to her, he looked like a tame puppy. Their relationship was somewhat comical, but it worked for them.

Stratton lifted an arm, motioning for Dana to go ahead of him. “By all means, caffeinate. Far be it from me to stand between you and it.”

She winked, her green gaze amused. “Smart man.”

Jeffrey eased past Stratton, rubbing his mate’s shoulders lightly before pushing her long hair aside and kissing her neck. “Remember, just a small coffee, okay?”

She growled, sounding like she was the shifter in the relationship.

Jeffrey didn’t seem the least bit fazed by the unspoken threat. “Legs, you know I love you, right?”

“So you keep telling me,” she said, leaning back against him. “You know what says ‘I love you’? Backing a truck full of coffee up to my office window and handing me a straw. Not telling me to get a small cup of it, or getting rid of all the coffee we had in the house. I swear, you want me to murder you in your sleep.”

“Mmm, you can do anything you want to me in bed.” Jeffrey wrapped his arms around her waist, his hands instantly going protectively over his wife’s abdomen. “About that small cup of coffee versus the jug you try to drink daily.”

Stratton attempted to hide his laugh under a cough.

Jeffrey shot him a hard look. “Just wait. You’re going to end up mated one day and I hope your wife is as stubborn as mine.”

Stratton had been alive a very long time. The odds of him having a mate, a special someone created just for him, were low. He’d have crossed paths with her by now. He could have let that bother him, but he chose to look at the bright side. He was free to do as he wanted. He wasn’t bound to any one person. Plus being mated to him would come with a life most wouldn’t understand or accept.

What he did was dangerous, and that wasn’t even taking into consideration the law enforcement side of things. That was the least risky thing he did. He was duty-bound to hunt creatures that proved themselves to be a danger to humans or the exposure of supernaturals.

The birthright came with great pay, which was a perk, especially considering how dangerous hunting was. He’d not told anyone in Grimm Cove about that side of his life. A fair number were now aware of what he was and that he was a member of the Nightshade Fae Clan, but unless they were well versed in the various Fae factions, it was all simply words.

Dana turned partially in her husband’s arms. “Pardon me? Stubborn?”

Jeffrey grinned from ear to ear. “Did I say stubborn? I meant sexy.”

“Get a room, you two,” said a tall man as he came from the order pickup area. He was holding a small brown bag and a to-go cup. His dark gaze landed on Stratton.

Dr. Donte Hartshorn was a local veterinarian who had a lot more in common with animals than most would think. His dark hair was clipped close to his head, and he wore a full beard, one of those kinds that seemed all the rage with men as of late. Long and full, but well-maintained. From the various looks he was getting from the female patrons, it was working for him.

“Detective, how goes it? Any more information on whatever it was that killed that black bear?”

“No,” said Stratton, the toll of yet another all-nighter leaving him drawing in a deep breath in hopes of waking up. Still, hunting for a killer was far more interesting than looking for a mailbox vandal who had been taking out mailboxes all over town for the past week.

He’d not left Chicago and the police force there to look for mailbox vandals. “Sorry. I ended up putting a call in to the Department of Natural Resources. Someone should be contacting you today about what you found when you examined what was left of the bear.”

Donte nodded. “The scanner was going nuts last night for the county over.”

“Yeah,” said Stratton. “I was called in to help. Brett is still over there as we speak. They’ve got a mess going on. Three bodies in a week.”

“They thinking it’s supernatural related?” he asked, after doing a fast glance around at who was standing in earshot. “Heard that was the running theory.”

Stratton gave a curt nod, wanting to avoid any details until he had a better understanding of what was going on.

Dana groaned. “This kind of conversation would have been weird to me three months ago. The fact it’s not anymore is troubling.”

Jeffrey kept hold of his wife. “Look at you fitting in and all.”

Donte smiled at Dana. “How is your dad doing? I ran into him and Marcy the other night. She was dragging him out to the woods not far from my place. Something about it being the best spot to see night sprites. I don’t know. I couldn’t follow her train of thought with as many times as she kept talking to that squirrel of hers.”

“You meet the bird yet?” asked Jeffrey.

“No, but I met the raccoon,” said Donte with a snort. “In fact, you could say I knew the raccoon first.”

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