Chapter 15

FIFTEEN

I jumped with a scream. His scowl deepened as his eyes tried to bore into me and his breath fogged the window.

What on Green Mother’s Earth ?

I hurried to disarm the alarm and let him in, my heart hammering in my throat.

“ Good morning to you,” I told him as he stalked inside.

“ What’s going on with my shifter and your strays?” he demanded, towering over me.

“ Oh , that.” I exhaled with relief, then pulled up the rest of the blinds. “ You gave me a scare.”

“ I’ll do more than that if you don’t tell me what’s going on, witch .”

I shook my head as I walked around him to slide behind the counter. “ You know I hate it when you say it like that.” I lifted a mug. “ Coffee ?”

He studied the mug like I was offering him poison. “ Sure .”

“ Take a seat.” I filled his mug and even added a cookie to his plate.

He also stared at the cookie like it was made from the hearts of cursed souls.

“ Completely blood-free,” I assured him, pushing the plate his way.

His head snapped up. “ What ?”

“ Veva’s friend makes them.”

Narrowing his eyes, he picked up the cookie, sniffed it, then shoved it in his mouth. A few chewings later and it was gone.

“ Why did my shifter spend the night at the clinic?” he asked in arctic tones.

I felt a flutter of giddiness in my belly. Ah , but how he reminded me of Ian ! “ He was poisoned at the filming location.”

“ I know that.”

“ Then why?—”

He pointed at me. “ Why was he poisoned? Why has he been hanging around Ia — Cavalier’s strays? What is going on?”

“ Did you talk with Brett yet?” I hedged.

He pounced on that like he’d been waiting for the pizza delivery guy while starving. “ How do you know his name? I knew it! There’s something going on, and you’re involved.” He leaned over the counter and let out a small growl. “ Tell me or?—”

An answering growl came from the bead curtain. Rufus had come to investigate the ruckus. Fluffy let out a brave yip, then ran to hide behind him. Couldn’t blame her— Hutton’s alpha aura always messed with animals’ instincts.

I herded them back into the backyard. “ It’s okay guys, Hutton is just worried. He means no harm.”

“ I will if you don’t tell me what’s going on,” he called out from the shop.

“ Don’t listen to him,” I told the dogs in soothing tones. “ Play for a little longer, okay?”

I closed the back door and returned to the shop. “ You need to put the alpha aura away when you go visiting. It’s hard on the nerves.”

“ Doesn’t seem to affect you,” he muttered, taking a sip of his coffee.

“ That’s because I know where it’s coming from.” My potion-making kitchen.

His scowl reappeared at that. “ What’s that supposed to mean?”

“ Nothing . Your aura is very scary, and I’m shaking inside.”

He harrumphed. “ What’s going on, Hope ? I know something’s up.”

His use of my name made me all teary-eyed. Progress ! “ Didn’t you talk to Brett ?”

“ He was still sleeping it off when I dropped by.” He grew serious. “ If there is a threat to the shifters, I need to know. They are my responsibility.”

He was completely right. I was torn between the need to update him and my promise to Key . She was the lead of this case; she got to decide who to let in. Brett hadn’t wanted Hutton to know, and that was something I also had to take into account. Just because they were all about twenty and I was six years older, it didn’t make them incapable of making decisions I had to respect.

Hutton opened his mouth again, but I lifted my hand to stop him. “ Hold that thought.”

Ignoring his grumbling, I went into the back, locked myself in the small bathroom, then called Key .

She picked up, sounding groggy. “ Hope ?”

“ Good morning. Hutton’s here and wants to know what’s going on. Do I have permission to tell him?”

I waited while her sleep-addled brain digested my query. “ Why are you asking me?”

“ You’re the lead in the case. If you tell me to hedge, I’ll hedge.”

Another long pause, then, “ Brett didn’t want to get Hutton’s attention…”

“ I’m afraid that ship has sailed.”

“ Uhm . Let’s not tell him yet. Give us one more day.”

“ I’ll try my best. Go back to sleep.”

“ Sure ,” she mumbled, then hung up.

When I returned to the front, Hutton was all but frothing at the mouth, so I gave him a second cookie.

“ Witch ,” he warned. “ You better?—”

“ Don’t worry, nothing’s coming after the shifters,” I said, because he had a right to know that much.

“ I’ll be the judge of that. What’s going on?”

“ Do you think there’s a curse on Olmeda ?”

He blinked. “ A what?”

“ A curse on movies being filmed in Olmeda . Jim from the haunted house said there is one.”

“ Bah .” He waved Jim aside with half a cookie. “ Curses don’t work like that.”

Finally , someone who understood.

His scowl deepened. “ Wait , does this have something to do with Brett’s poisoning?”

I was saved from answering when the front door opened and Veva’s friend came in with a pile of plastic containers in her arms. She stopped abruptly at the sight of Hutton .

“ Uh , hi,” she said, somewhat shyly.

I rushed around the counter to take the containers from her. Yay , fresh muffins!

“ This is Hutton ,” I said, bringing the goodies to the counter. “ Hutton , this is Mei .”

Hutton grunted. I kicked him in the shin.

“ What ?” he asked, all outrage.

“ Be nice,” I chastised. Not that Mei had noticed his rudeness, mind you. She was staring at Hutton like he was an A -list movie star.

Hutton had a bit of a reputation among the paranormals. Objectively , he was good-looking enough, and of course he had the whole macho alpha thing going on, but how anyone could think him the better pick out of the two brothers had always confounded me. Ian was superior in every way. From the top of his brown-haired head to the tips of his big feet.

“ Thank you, these are great,” I told Mei , opening the containers and checking on the delicious muffins and cookies inside. I brought out the empty containers from her previous delivery from behind the counter.

She made no move to take them. Instead , she dug into her coat’s pocket and handed me her receipt blindly. “ Here ,” she murmured, her eyes glued on Hutton .

Hutton didn’t appear to notice as he peeked into the full plastic containers. “ These look good.”

Mei sighed deeply.

“ Thank you,” I said for her. “ Mei only bakes the best. Much better than Fairy Circle Cakes .”

That shook Mei out of her stupor. “ Yes . Best baker in town.”

“ She is,” I agreed.

“ I see.” Hutton grabbed a muffin, took a large bite, and fixed me with a warning glare. “ I’ll be keeping an eye on the…situation.”

“ Don’t talk with your mouth full. It’s rude,” I said.

He held my gaze, took another bite of the muffin, then turned and sauntered toward the door.

“ Hey !” I exclaimed. “ You haven’t paid for that!”

The door closed behind his back.

“ Jerk ,” I grumbled, putting the boxes aside.

“ You’re so lucky,” Mei said with another sigh. She was staring at the windows. “ I wish Hutton came to visit me .”

“ Open your bakery and he might.”

“ Nah . I like baking from home. Less stress.”

And speaking of baking… “ Say , have you thought about expanding into savory items?”

A new spark came into her eyes as she leaned her elbows on the counter. “ What do you have in mind?”

I didn’t have an opportunity to tell her because Norman Moore chose that moment to come inside.

“ Good morning,” he said brightly.

Mei smiled and took her empty containers. “ We’ll talk later?”

“ Later ,” I agreed.

Norman rubbed his gloved hands as he studied the blackboard menu. “ Oh , how lovely. I’d like the day’s special and a muffin to go.”

“ Coming up,” I said, turning to prepare the ginger tea.

“ I love the atmosphere,” he said approvingly. “ So cozy.”

“ Thank you.” I studied his profile covertly. Nothing in his expression or posture screamed evil. Nothing felt evil about him. But how could anyone not sense the horrors emanating out of the pieces in his gallery?

He caught my stare and his smile grew. A friendly smile in a friendly face with warm, friendly eyes.

Very suspicious.

Grandma would not have approved of my unwillingness to give him the benefit of the doubt, but Grandma had probably not been stabbed as many times in the back as I had.

That I knew of.

But what if she had? What if she had met disappointment and betrayal but had risen over the defeats to still see the goodness in the world?

“ Let experiences guide you, not shape you,” I murmured, handing Norman the tea and the muffin.

“ What was that, dear?”

“ Just talking to myself.” Grandma was right. I needed to hope for the best.

Besides , it’d be really awkward if I sprayed moon water on him and tried to figure out if he was hiding magic.

But could I suggest he visit the Crawler ? Maybe Mark would do me a solid and tell me if their paranormal-type detecting ward lit up under Norman Moore .

“ How are you enjoying Olmeda so far?” I asked.

“ Oh , it’s such a lovely, lovely place,” he said enthusiastically. “ I’m so glad I chose to open the gallery here.”

“ Were there other candidates?”

“ Yes ! But my family is originally from here, you see, so when my agent told me about the Corner Rose being up for sale, it was like fate had come knocking on my door.”

The warmth in his words made me smile. “ I do believe in fate. So your parents grew up here, then moved away?”

“ My great grandparents. They kept a photo of their old house back home. It broke them to leave, but my great grandfather had a job offer he couldn’t resist.”

Considering it was Olmeda , Norman was lucky his great grandparents had moved because of a job offer and not because of horrible murder. Maybe that’s why he was impervious to the evil auras in his gallery— Olmeda was in his blood and with it came the ability to ignore the many horrors committed here.

Or maybe he was evil incarnate playing a part.

The moment he left, I rushed to the backyard with a stool and stood on it to peek over the fence and overgrown ivy into the Corner Rose’s own backyard. Someone had dealt with the weeds and the old, dead plants. There was a shiny new flagstone floor now with round, empty spaces delineated by metal rings. For displaying statues, maybe?

Nothing appeared out of sorts. No evil witch’s garden was being planted.

Chewing on my bottom lip, I got off the stool.

“ Don’t try this at home,” I told a rapt Fluffy and an unimpressed Rufus , then returned inside.

Just in time for the Council witch to step through the front door.