Page 294 of Warlords, Witches & Wolves

Chapter 1

Mia

Fifteen years later

Ipulled into the gravel parking lot of Cole’s Bar and Grill. I hadn’t been back to Woodland Falls in what felt like forever. After that one summer, my poor excuse for a mother left me home alone. I guess I should’ve thanked her for at least coming back for me. Though, countless times, I wished she had left me with Joan. The second I could move away to college, I did, thanking all the gods above for my art scholarship. Without it, I wouldn’t have an education. Or a life.

I killed the engine. Heavy rain pelted the car with no end in sight. I considered waiting in the car until it slowed but the sooner I met with the lawyer dude, the quicker this trip ended. I eyed the entrance to the bar. If I ran, I might make it inside semi-dry.

I grabbed my purse from the passenger seat and draped my jacket over my head before opening the car door and bolting to the entrance.

This town had two seasons: freezing cold or stormy.

I halted just inside, shook the rain from my jacket and brushed my fingers through my hair. Once I thought I looked semi-respectable, I surveyed the bar. The lawyer said he’d wear a navy sweater, which narrowed it down to about six patrons. I tucked my purse under my arm and scanned the faces, not that I knew what the guy looked like. I’d only spoken to him twice on the phone.

On the far left, I spotted a long bar with empty stools. Rather than waiting by the door, I’d sit there, and the lawyer could find me. After a full day road trip, I was in serious need of a drink.

I weaved between a few tables with the bar in sight until a guy called out from my right.

“Miss Jones?”

Clearly, an out-of-towner was easier to spot than a lawyer wearing a navy sweater. I swung around and found a guy waving from a booth along the outer edge.

Navy sweater: check.

I diverted to his table. “Ashton?”

“Sure am,” he said, holding his hand out. “It’s nice to officially meet you.”

“Likewise.” I shook his hand. “Sorry I’m late. The drive was longer than I expected.”

“Don’t worry about it. This isn’t the worst place to wait.”

He gestured for me to sit, and I slid into the booth, stowing my soaked jacket and purse in the empty space beside me. “The rain’s pretty wild out there.”

“Welcome to Montana summers.” He chuckled. “This shouldn’t take long, then I’ll give you the keys and you can get dry.”

“That’d be great.”

I glanced toward the bar, unsure why. Liquor bottles lined the wooden shelves resembling any other bar. But a weird feeling tugged at me. A sense I’d been here before, which I knew wasn’t the case. I doubt the bar was here when I stayed with Joan that one summer.

Shrugging it off as fatigue, annoyance, frustration, and every emotion I could think of, I turned back to the lawyer. “What do I need to sign?”

From an old-fashioned leather briefcase, Ashton pulled out a large envelope and handed it to me.

“There are two copies. One for you to sign and return to me, the other is yours.”

My heart thudded. People died all the time, but it had never happened to someone I knew. Though, it shouldn’t surprise me. Tragic was obviously my family’s middle name.

I stared at the envelope in my hands.

“Did you know her well?”

I shook my head. “I hardly knew her at all.”

I wasn’t the most gracious teenager. Could anyone blame me? From the age of ten, I practically raised myself. Why did that poor old woman have to die? Why couldn’t Mom…

I halted that thought. Sure, my mother continually treated me like an outcast, but I wouldn’t let my shitty childhood define me any longer. I was an adult who made my own choices. Including the choice to disown my sorry excuse for a parent the second I walked out the door for college.

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