Chapter 27

TWENTY-SEVEN

Oh , I was so screwed.

I showed my audience my automatic everything is fine, the coffee machine didn’t just go and die on me barista smile and retreated into the hallway.

“ Is she still there?” I whispered into the phone.

“ Yes . She wants her potion.” Brimstone’s tone turned censoring. “ You didn’t leave any instructions about a potion.”

“ I’m sorry. I expected to open today, but something got in the way.”

“ Where is the potion?”

“ I don’t have it yet.”

“ Then what am I supposed to do?”

“ Can you tell her…” I ransacked my brain for believable excuses. In situations like these, the best recourse was to go with the truth, plain and simple. Not the one where I messed up the spell, and a random online shop preyed on the goodness of my innocent buyer heart and misled me into ordering something they weren’t prepared to ship as fast as advertised, of course.

I might’ve been harboring some lingering resentment over the whole ordeal.

“ Tell her that unfortunately I’ve been called to help with an official paranormal matter and that I’ll have her potion ready later this evening.” Not only it was the truth, but hopefully it’d improve the Council witch’s opinions about my absences from my own shop.

Now , how I was going to procure the potion in such a short time, I had no idea. But I did know that explaining my issues with making the potion would go a lot better in person than through Brimstone .

“ Okay ,” Brimstone said in a way that told me he was not my lackey and how dare I use him to pass messages.

“ Also , can you…” I cleared my throat. “ Be extra nice to her? Use your, uh, wiles on her or something?”

“ What are you implying?” His tone was dead cold now.

“ Our customers love you, so I’m wondering if you can make her feel happy and glad to be there while you relay my message?”

There was a sharp inhalation. “ Are you asking me to debase myself by flirting with a customer?” Thunder reverberated through the call.

I snapped straight, vaguely insulted. “ Of course not. No flirting with the customers allowed. Just , you know.” I waved my hand as if he was in front of me. “ Be yourself.”

“ I always am, witch.”

“ Be extra you and the next special potion is on me.”

“ You promised they were part of my salary.” His voice lowered into a dark smoothness that lifted the hairs on my arms. “ Are you going back on your word?”

“ Absolutely not. You are one of my best employees and you absolutely will get the focus potions free of charge as part of our agreement.” In that moment, I missed Dru something fierce, even if she was sitting one room away. She’d been so much easier to work with. “ Please relay the message and thank you very much.”

“ Hmph . You’re welcome.”

“ Hey , Jeremy .”

“ Yes ?”

“ Do you have any friends who deal with charged crystals?”

“ No .”

He hung up, and I returned to the kitchen, feeling like the day was already a hundred hours old.

Everyone spared me a glance, then went back to whatever they were discussing now. From the sounds of it, it was how to find proof of McKee’s possible criminal acts.

Trying to appear casual, I slid up to Hutton , who was still leaning against the long counter.

“ Hey , does anyone in the pack happen to deal with crystals?” I asked with nonchalant smoothness while the rest of the group discussed different ways to break into people’s homes, work offices, and how to find secret death ritual spaces.

“ Isn’t that your field?” he asked, uninterested.

I shrugged one shoulder. “ Everyone can keep crystals. Even if you don’t need them for spells, they’re pretty and can help with the general atmosphere surrounding you. That’s why humans love to keep them around, you know?” Uh -oh, I was talking too much. Dead giveaway that I was up to something. “ Think about it. Maybe someone outside the pack that has helped with magical stuff from time to time?”

“ Can’t think of anyone.”

“ Are you sure ?”

“ Why do you need a crystal, anyway? Don’t you have suppliers for that kind of stuff?”

“ It seems to be in low supply.”

“ You should ask Mr . Preston , seriously,” Alex said, coming up to the counter. He rinsed his cup and left it on the drying rack. “ I bet he has one.”

“ Preston ?” Dru immediately asked from the table. How had she heard that over the other conversation? She was a demon, not a shifter.

I wanted to tell her it was nothing, but I was also aware she wouldn’t let it drop. “ Preston might have a crystal I need.”

Dru abandoned the table and joined us. “ What kind of crystal?”

“ The one I need to do the urgent special potion that broke when Ethan called?” I didn’t want Hutton to know about the Council’s test—who knew how he’d try to hold it over me for the purposes of nefarious blackmail?

Dru mulled the information for a few moments. “ The bastard does like to keep crystals around.”

“ You don’t mind if I ask him?” I asked tentatively.

“ Nah .” A devious grin curved her mouth. “ Make sure you write down his full address, though.”

Oh , boy. Someone was about to be signed up to a dozen random catalogs. “ Thank you.”

Dru crossed her arms and cocked one hip. “ Go ahead. Call him.”

I guess we were doing this right now. “ What’s his number?”

“ Here , use my phone,” Alex said, handing it over.

“ Thanks .” I found the number in his very, very long list of contacts, and made the call.

“ Alex ?” Preston answered in a warm, friendly voice. “ What’s up, man?”

“ Yes , hello. This is Hope Avery calling with Alex’s permission.”

“ Hope Avery ,” he repeated with a drawl. “ To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“ Alex has made me aware that you might be in possession of black jade in your collection.”

There was a pause. “ Alex would be correct.”

I gasped. “ Charged for spell use?”

“ Of course.”

I grinned at Dru . Dru mouthed full address .

“ That’s wonderful. Could I borrow it for one spell? I promise to recharge it as soon as possible and return it right away.”

“ Of course. Us paranormals gotta help each other, right?”

“ Right . Could we meet at the shop this morning? The sooner I make the potion, the better.”

“ Ah , that’s not going to be possible.”

“ Or I can meet you somewhere else, of course.”

“ Little Owls Cafe . Forty minutes.”

“ That’s perfect. Thank you.”

“ See you then.”

We ended the call, and I returned the phone to Alex .

“ Well ?” Dru prompted. Are you going to his house?

“ Meeting at the Little Owls Cafe in forty minutes.”

“ Will that be enough to make the potion?” Hutton asked with the merest trace of curiosity.

“ Oh , yeah. The spell itself is not too hard, but it’ll knock me out for the rest of the day.” I glanced at the table in disappointment. “ I’ll miss all the fun.”

Ian spoke from his chair. “ I’m sure there will be plenty of fun left.” Rufus was now lying next to him, his head on his paws, and I imagined they spent many a morning like this. And now, I’d join them, and maybe Fluffy would come to lie by my feet. The image made my heart flutter and do funny things inside my chest. It was almost too good to be true.

“ Nothing is too good to be true. If it’s true, it already is.”

“ No wonder that online shop scammed you,” Dru said, returning to her seat.

“ Amen ,” muttered Hutton .

I lifted my chin. “ You know, when your suppliers fail you, I’ll be here to lend my support.”

Alex patted my back. “ You’re a good egg.”

“ Thank you. I’m glad you noticed.”

“ Egg splattered on the wall at this rate,” Hutton contributed even though nobody had asked him to.

Alex winked at me and returned to the table. I followed, feeling like another big weight had lifted off my shoulders. At this rate, I might be weightless by the end of the day.

“ Have we come to a decision?” I asked Key .

“ We want to set up a trap. That way we can catch any of our suspects, in case it’s not McKee .”

“ That’s a really good idea.” Respect where it was due. “ What kind of trap? We don’t have anything to lure our UNSUB .”

Key made a face. “ We’re trying to figure that out.”

“ You have one thing,” Ian said, scratching Rufus’s head, which was now resting on his lap.

“ What’s that, boss?” Shane asked.

Ian jutted his chin toward Key’s phone. “ Ethan .”

Key looked at him in surprise, then realization dawned. “ Ethan is their perfect scapegoat if someone suspects magic. But if Ethan blackmails whoever was sending him the messages, they might try to silence him.”

“ He can say he has proof,” Shane agreed. “ Our saboteur will be forced to act.”

“ Act how?” Ethan asked.

I frowned, not liking the idea. “ I’m not sure it’s safe.”

Everyone at the table stared at me blankly. Probably because it had been Ethan who had put everyone at risk by starting this whole magical revenge thing. Still , one shouldn’t pay a petty bad review with another bad review. It was just not done.

“ Not safe?” Ethan repeated. “ Wait , you guys think I might be in danger?”

“ We can keep you away from wherever you’re staying now to make sure,” Key said. “ Plus , we have the magic-detection potion to test stuff that looks suspicious.”

“ You’ll be the bait,” Shane said. “ Send a message through the app and that’s it.” He glanced at Ian . “ What do you think, boss?”

“ I’m not the ‘boss’ here,” Ian said, nodding toward Key . “ She is.”

Key turned to me. “ Hope ?”

I smiled. “ You heard him.”

“ Why is nobody asking me?” Ethan demanded in a high-pitched voice. “ I don’t want to die!”

“ You’re not going to die, dude,” Alex said. “ Plus , you’re the one who got yourself into this mess. Contribute a little.”

Wise words indeed. “ What’s it going to be, Key ?”

“ We’ll try it,” she said with newfound determination. “ We’ll figure out how to keep Ethan safe.”

“ What about Officer Brooks ?” Alex asked. “ You were going to call her?”

“ I don’t want to be involved with the police,” Ethan complained. “ I’m not doing it. Nope .”

Shane rolled his eye. “ We’ll call her only if needed.” He checked with Key , and she nodded. “ If the person takes the bait, then we’ll bring her in.”

“ I don’t like this,” Ethan said.

“ Too bad,” Alex sing-sang. He rubbed his hands. “ Let’s plan this out.”

Unfortunately , I wouldn’t be around for the planning. Standing , I gave them an apologetic smile. “ Sorry , I have to go meet someone.”

“ Really ?” Key sounded crestfallen.

“ You got this, boss.” With a thumbs-up, I left for the front of the house to grab my jacket and my shoes. Ian followed.

“ You’ll watch over them, right?” I asked anxiously as I put on my sneakers.

He crossed his arms and leaned one shoulder against the door frame. “ I’ll make sure nothing too bad happens.”

Ian was definitely a “let them learn from their own mistakes” kind of guy. “ And you will text me as soon as they’ve decided on something?”

He leaned down and gave me a fast kiss. “ I’ll drop by later.”

“ With any luck, I’ll be passed out,” I warned him. “ If Preston has what I need, I’ll do the potion right away.”

“ Want to take the dogs?”

As if Fluffy had heard him, she trotted in from the kitchen, and I crouched to give her some goodbye pets.

“ Nope , you keep them.” I grinned. “ They’ve missed you very much.”

“‘ They ,’ huh?”

My grin turned cheeky. “ I don’t want to inflate your ego too much. Gotta keep you guessing.”

He gave me a knowing look, and memories of the night flashed through my mind again. Not much guessing to be made.

Blushing , I squeezed his forearm, warm and deliciously solid under my touch. “ I’m happy you and Hutton are getting along.”

He grunted, and I laughed as I opened the door and went outside.

The air was cold and crisp, the sky slightly cloudy, and with my potion crystal in sight and the new trap plan, opportunities were, suddenly, infinite.