Chapter 26

TWENTY-SIX

My attention snapped back to Ian . He was studying Hutton with a considering expression on his face. After a second, he put a hand on Rufus to calm him down, then motioned for his half-brother to enter.

Hutton narrowed his eyes, then stepped in.

“ What do we do now?” Brett asked eagerly, unaware of Hutton’s presence.

“ We go back to Clawstone Park ,” Hutton said loudly.

“ Aw , crap .”

I stifled a laugh. So did everyone else at the table but for Ian . He was still watching Hutton closely as the pack’s alpha went to the coffee machine and scowled at the empty pot.

“ Sorry , Hutton ,” Brett said, contrite.

From the annoyance written on Hutton’s face, not as sorry as he was going to be. I winced inwardly for the shifter.

“ Don’t worry, Brett ,” I said in a bright voice. “ Hutton is simply worried about your health. I’m sure he knows you needed some time away from home to recuperate in peace. It would’ve been impossible at home with everyone wanting to ask a hundred questions, right?”

“ Yes !” Brett exclaimed. “ That’s right.”

Hutton grunted, then began setting the coffee machine for a second pot. Once the machine was happily gurgling away, he returned to the table and picked up a cream cheese bagel.

We all held out breaths to see what would happen next.

“ Erm ,” Ethan said. “ What’s happening?”

“ Brett’s alpha is here,” I said.

“ His alpha ?” Ethan squeaked.

“ Oh , don’t worry, he doesn’t care about the sabotage.”

“ I don’t?” Hutton asked, raising one eyebrow. He leaned against the counter and took a bite of his bagel.

Ian shifted in his chair to keep him within his line of vision. His granite facade was full-on, and I couldn’t read a single thing on it.

A happy night did not immediately make an Ian dictionary.

“ Why are you here?” I asked.

Hutton shrugged. “ I heard Cavalier was back.”

It was Ian’s eyebrows’ turn to rise.

“ How ?” I asked.

“ I have my ways.”

“ Did you spend the day at the edge of the forest spying on Ian’s house with binoculars? That’s kind of stalker-like.”

He choked on the bagel. “ No ! Paula’s cousin works at the gas station outside town and saw him stop for gas.” He pointed at Ian . “ Cavalier . Fix this mess.”

“ You don’t even know what’s happening,” I said, irritated now. Sure , Ian had given us a clue about our new main suspect, but we were perfectly capable of fixing this by ourselves.

Other than the whole probably-murder thing.

“ Don’t tell him,” Ethan pleaded.

“ He’s going to torture Brett until he spills,” I told him.

“ What ?” Brett screeched through the phone. “ Boss , I swear I didn’t do anything wrong, or go furry in front of humans or anything like that!”

Fluffy let out a distressed bark and ran up to me. I leaned down to pat her reassuringly.

“ Don’t worry, Fluffy . Hutton understands Brett takes his shifter responsibilities very seriously.”

Hutton didn’t appear convinced. “ I do?”

“ Who’s Fluffy ?” Ethan demanded. “ Is someone else there?”

“ It’s the dog, dude,” Alex said.

“ Who are you ?”

“ It’s Alex , remember?” Key said soothingly. “ He’s one of us. We introduced him earlier.”

“ Oh yeah, right. Sorry , man.”

“ No worries.”

“ Tell me what’s going on,” Hutton said, impatient now.

“ You do the honors,” I told Key .

Key jumped in her chair. “ Me ?”

Shane patted her back. “ You , boss.”

She bit her lip, then told Hutton about the strange accidents on set, Brett’s call for help, Ethan’s involvement, our suspects, the possible murder, and everything in-between. First she did it haltingly, but then her words smoothed out and she met Hutton’s gaze straight on. I was so proud of her, my heart was close to bursting.

After she was done, the room fell silent as Hutton digested the information.

Then he pointed at Ian again. “ Fix . This . Mess .”

Key and Shane tensed.

Ian shook his head. “ They took the job. They can finish it.”

Key’s expression brightened, and Shane’s frown eased.

Ian appeared not to notice, but I knew he did. Aww .

Unable to stand it anymore, I went to him and kissed him on the cheek. “ Good answer.”

Ian’s mouth kicked up at the corners, then he snuck up a hand around my neck and gave me a long kiss.

“ Oh , for the love of God ,” Hutton muttered.

I straightened and gave him a superior what? look.

“ What’s happening?” Ethan demanded.

“ Nothing ,” I said, returning to my seat. Sitting on Ian’s lap again was tempting, but it was time to focus. “ Until yesterday, Lydia Lee was our prime suspect. She could’ve been around all the incidents, and she had two vials of possible potions in her room.”

The coffee maker beeped and Hutton poured himself a cup of coffee. “ Possible potions?”

“ We , ah, didn’t have the time to test the contents. By the way, do you have blood testing kits in the pack? The kind that tells you if there’s human blood on something?”

“ I have no idea.”

“ Could you ask? Maybe get one of your contacts to get some?”

“ Why ?”

“ It’d make detecting dark magic in potions a lot easier.”

His eyes widened a fraction, and he stared intently at me. “ Absolutely not. Find your own supplier, witch.”

I supposed if my alpha powers were dependent on a dark magic potion as Hutton’s were, I’d also not want any kind of dark magic testing device near me. “ Fine .”

He bored his pointed gaze into me for another long second, then said, “ Being denied the main role doesn’t seem motive enough to sabotage the whole movie.”

“ Oh , she’s a total diva,” Ethan said. “ She would totally do it.”

“ Why is it the actresses who are always the divas?” Key asked in annoyance. “ What if she was just trying to get things done and people didn’t listen?”

“ Nah ,” Brett said. “ She told me to get coffee for her one day. She was really mean about it.”

“ Sanders is kind of an ass too,” Ethan said. “ We should investigate him next.”

“ We’re investigating Charles McKee , previously known as Craig Turner . You both saw him around two of the incidents, he had access to the trunk in the truck, and he has a grudge against the city.”

“ We don’t know if he’s a paranormal,” Shane warned me.

“ He is,” Hutton said.

We all turned to him.

He smiled—a little meanly if you ask me—and took a long sip of his coffee.

“ Care to elaborate?” I asked, tapping my fingers on the table.

He set the cup down by his side on the counter and crossed his arms. “ Dad had some dealings with his father. He’s a witch.”

My attention immediately moved to Ian , who appeared unaffected by the information as he looked back at Hutton .

“ What kind of deals?” I asked slowly.

“ Nothing illegal,” Hutton said with a warning note in his voice. “ His family is known for putting down good wards, so he asked McKee’s father to strengthen some of the ones on the walls.”

That was surprising. The Council hadn’t told me about a powerful witch family living in the area. Perhaps they had assumed, like Wyatt , that he had stayed away after the arrest instead of moving back to Olmeda ?

“ He didn’t use Bagley ?” I asked.

“ He always said why go for the jack of all trades when you can hire the expert?”

I was so saving that for the next time Bagley said something rude. Which would be about ten seconds after I freed her from her plastic container. I could hardly wait.

“ I remember that,” Ian murmured. “ Mom said he used to say that a lot.”

“ Oh , I know, believe me,” Hutton said dryly. “ He all but tattooed it on my forehead.”

The two men shared a glance, and something seemed to thaw between them. Ian’s straight line of a mouth softened, and Hutton’s shoulders lost some of the tension they’d gained as he’d mentioned their dead father.

I stood, walked up to Hutton , and gave him a hug.

“ What are you doing?” he exclaimed, disentangling himself from my arms.

“ You looked like you needed a hug.” I sniffed loudly.

“ What ? No !” He sounded so outraged I wanted to laugh.

Instead , I moved to Ian and sat on his lap to give him a hug too. “ You also get one,” I whispered into his ear.

“ I was getting worried,” he murmured back. He caught my gaze and kept it.

Dru threw a piece of bagel at my head. “ Concentrate , Hope .”

“ Sorry .” I slid off Ian’s lap and began pacing by the table. “ Charles McKee is a witch, has good motive and great opportunity. We should definitely look into him. Ethan , do you have his home address?”

“ I can try to find out.” He didn’t sound sure, though.

I turned to Ian . “ Can you?”

He leaned back against his chair and linked his fingers over his taut stomach. “ I can use internet searches, yes.”

“ I mean the bounty hunters’ database.”

“ There is no bounty hunters’ database.”

Hutton snorted and drank more coffee.

“ There must be an easy way to find where he lives, this day and age,” I murmured, resuming my pacing. “ We’ll check out his place and see if he has any potion-making paraphernalia. We’ll need to get a blood testing kit too to check for dark magic.”

Hutton set his cup in the sink. “ I have a better idea.”

“ Oh ?”

His mouth curved into a humorless smile. “ I’m going to pay him a visit.”

“ Why ?”

The smile widened, keeping a scary edge to it. “ To ask him some questions.”

It suddenly dawned on me, and I felt silly for asking. McKee had possibly hurt one of his shifters, and he was ready to pay the favor back. “ He’ll get spooked if you go. He’ll deny everything.”

“ Oh , I have my ways.” Hutton cracked his knuckles.

“ You can’t just go in there and beat him into a pulp until you have proof,” I said, worried now for McKee . “ Innocent until proven guilty.”

“ I have proof,” Ethan said immediately. “ Messages !”

“ They were erased,” Key reminded him.

“ But it’s like software, right? Maybe they got stored somewhere in the cloud?”

“ If it were so easy to get them back, the dark web wouldn’t use the app,” Shane said.

Ethan cursed.

My phone rang. Brimstone . Time had flown by—it was already opening time. I should get going, make sure the Council witch didn’t catch me out of…

Wait .

Oh . Oh , no. The Council witch’s potion!

I answered the call in a panic. “ Yes ?”

“ Boss ,” he said, very put out, “the woman from the other day is back, and she’s asking for her potion.”