Chapter 4

Chapter Four

SIMON

It'd been months since I found the whistle, and I still had told no one about it. Mama suspected I was keeping a secret, but she didn't press me for details. Not yet. But I doubted her restraint would last long. She'd heard about my visit to the police station all those months ago. I hadn't even finished giving my statement when she blew up my cell phone.

At that time, she'd accepted the same story I told the police, but she was getting suspicious now. Even when she was in her human form, I swore I could envision her tail twitching back and forth as she studied me. It wouldn't be long before she pinned me down about it.

Her curiosity was legendary. That she hadn't found out about the whistle already was surprising. It felt like a lifetime had passed since I found it by the tunnel entrance.

So much had happened since then.

Not only had the wolves gone back to the inn to steal more things, they'd gone on to blow up the tunnel. I'd heard some awful things had happened out at their pack lands too. Clive , Warren , and our younger twins had gone out there to snoop and scavenge after the police had finished their investigation. They said the place reeked of blood. I shuddered at the thought. I hadn't gone out with them, but I still had nightmares about it.

But I was losing more sleep over my whistle than my nightmares.

And Mama had noticed the bags under my eyes.

At breakfast this morning, she'd asked me over for supper, claiming it was to make sure I had a hearty meal before heading out for the night. That was a lie. We both knew it. She wanted to corner me and unravel my secrets without my brothers around to distract her. So I made up an excuse. I felt guilty for lying to her, but… I wasn't ready to say anything yet.

And worse? She knew I was lying because she knew my schedule better than I did. She kept better tabs on all her kittens than the paparazzi did on those famous humans in Hollywood .

But now that I'd told her I was busy, I felt like I needed to go do something. My guilt was almost a living, breathing entity. What was I going to do?

Despite not having a shift at the motel until tomorrow night, I still attempted to maintain a nocturnal schedule during my free time. I had been raised that way, and breaking those habits was hard. Years ago, I'd tried to question Mama about our nighttime lifestyle after my high school biology teacher taught us cats were crepuscular, not nocturnal. Mama hadn't been impressed, nor had she felt inclined to change how we lived.

When we were in grade school, our schedule was more nocturnal than most of my classmates. We slept as soon as we were home from school so we could be up all night. It'd made making friends difficult, since we couldn't join most extracurricular activities. Not that I would have been very good at team sports—the very idea of participating in a game where you had to perform while everyone stared at you was horrifying—but something else might have been nice.

I'd been off work the night I found the whistle too. That was why I'd been out roaming. But I didn't want to roam too far tonight. Going out and hunting held no appeal. All I wanted—this was going to sound crazy—all I wanted to do was hang out with the whistle.

But my guilt over lying to my mama meant I had a heck of a time falling asleep after breakfast and it didn't get any better throughout the day. A series of catnaps broken up by staring at my whistle wasn't helping me think any more clearly.

Finally , I gave up around dusk and wandered over to the Willow Lake Inn . My mama would at least hear I'd gone out tonight, and I could pretend that had been my plan all along. Besides , I hadn't eaten since breakfast, so dinner at the pub sounded like just the thing.

I debated leaving the whistle in my apartment, but the thought of leaving it behind made me queasy. Like every time I went out with the whistle in my pocket, I prayed Paws and all the other supes who hung out at the inn wouldn't sense its magic on me. I wasn't a thief—me keeping the whistle was more of a finders-keepers situation—and I didn't want to be blamed for its theft.

Yes . I know. My reasoning was a little suspect. I could hear my mama's voice in my head saying that I needed to return the whistle to Jake , but… Not yet, okay?

Soon .

Pinky promise.

Worries and hopes whirled through me by the time I arrived at the door to the pub. What if this time someone talked about a missing whistle? Or , better yet, what if someone mentioned what it did? I braced my shoulders and kept my hand in my pocket with my fingers tight on the whistle as I pushed open the door to the pub.

The Willow Lake Pub was attached to one end of the Willow Lake Inn . The building used to be the old werewolf pack house back in the day, but the wolf pack had broken up when I was a kid. Hayden had sold the building to wormy nosed Ulric , who'd still owned it when I'd gone to the pub for the first time as an adult.

The place still stank of wolves on an average day, but it was worse on muggy days. And everything was old, not the fancy old things that rich people liked to buy, but this-should-be-thrown-away old.

The inn was changing now, though. The bombing hadn't given Jake any other choice but to renovate.

Hmm … How was Jake paying for all those changes? It wasn't any of my business, but it still made me curious. Because if he was selling some of his grandfather's things to pay for the repairs, then maybe I didn't need to feel so guilty about keeping the whistle. Maybe I'd start leaving him some bigger than normal tips, kind of like an installment payment plan for the whistle.

The smell of new paint and sawdust assaulted me when I walked into the pub. I sneezed. Every head in the place turned toward me.

I cringed and thought about shifting and hiding to escape their stares. Luckily , when they saw it was me, the regulars all turned back to whatever they'd been doing. I crept forward, trying to avoid catching anyone else's attention.

Through the corridor that connected the pub to the inn came the sounds of hammers and saws. It was already evening, so I was surprised there was still construction happening. At least the pub was still open while they renovated the rest of the inn.

The pub itself had sustained minor damage in the bombing. The biggest problem was the lingering smell of smoke. Jake had tried to fix that by painting the walls and putting new fabric on the chairs. The result wasn't perfect, but I thought it was enough. I hated change. The pub's familiar atmosphere was comforting.

Half the tables were empty, which made sense since it was a weeknight. I recognized everyone, and all of them were supes. To my right sat the pool table, and just like every other time I'd been in here, Carter Jones was leaning over the pool table, displaying his muscular behind, with his big beefy hand wrapped around a long, sturdy pool cue. If he wasn't such a big bear of a man—even in his human form—you'd think he was compensating for something, given the way he was always fondling that big stick. Old Thom , a grumpy ancient-looking troll, was in his usual spot in the corner. Sally the Succubus , with her tight pink jeans and puffy platinum blond hair, sat on her usual barstool, watching Jake mix a drink.

Mama had said something about Sally now being in a relationship with the couple who owned the bakery, so she didn't need to find partners at the pub anymore. But she had decided she needed to watch over Jake , so she still came in here regularly. At least that's what Mama figured. I didn't know why Jake needed a surrogate mother since he was a grown man and was mates with one of the most powerful supes I'd ever met, but Mama still ruled my world, so I wasn't one to argue about mothers or mother figures.

Should I go over there or sit at the bar?

Unlike when I first found the whistle months ago, Jake knew about supes now. He even had his own supernatural abilities. If I was going to hear anything juicy, I'd need to be close to him. After all, it was his stuff that had been stolen. If anyone was going to talk about what was still missing, it'd be him, right?

Except I never sat up there.

People would wonder what I was doing if I switched things up now. That's how people got caught, right? They started acting out of character. That's what Mama's mystery shows said.

Okay , sitting at the bar was out of the question.

Or maybe I was overthinking it.

Wait … Jake was an oracle. What if he'd had a vision about me and the whistle? What would his demon boyfriend do to me if he thought I stole from Jake ?

My stomach felt like it dropped about five inches. Fur sprouted along the back of my neck just so it could stand up and quiver. My gaze darted to Jake . He wasn't looking at me. Would he look at me if he'd had a vision about me? Would he keep an eye on me until someone took me into custody? He still wasn't looking at me. Did that mean I was safe?

I let out a shaky breath. Relax . It's fine. Except it didn't feel fine.

I really wasn't cut out for a life of crime.

I should give the whistle back.

My fingers tightened on the whistle in my pocket. At this point, I'd probably have the engravings embedded in my hand for the rest of my life.

" I'll be over in a minute to get your order, Simon ," Jake called out.

Everyone looked in my direction. I gulped.

Sally turned on her stool and tapped her bottom lip with her finger. The shiny bright pink polish on her fingernail glittered under the lights. Mama always told me to stand at least six feet away from the succubus. Something about pheromones or something. I hadn't paid much attention. Women weren't my thing, especially not a woman who was older than my mama and looked like an extra in the movie Grease . Her gaze grew assessing as I squirmed under her attention. What was she thinking?

Did she know I had the whistle?

Alice rushed in, with flushed cheeks and red, wet lips, as if she had just been thoroughly kissed. The sexual energy around her distracted the succubus and drew Sally's gaze from me .

" Sorry I'm late," the brownie said as she threw her purse behind the counter.

" How long were you sitting outside making out with Buddy ?" Jake teased.

" Shut up." She laughed and punched him lightly on the arm. " Like you don't get distracted by your mate."

As if her words summoned him, Jake's boyfriend walked through the door leading to the inn. Before the renovation, the demon had always been ridiculously clean in pressed shirts and trousers, so I almost didn't recognize him in stained and sweaty construction clothes. Sawdust covered him all the way up to the tips of the horns protruding from his dark hair.

" See ? I have perfect timing," Alice said as she shooed Jake away. " Go sit with your mate."

Jake grinned and hurried around the bar to Gage . Their kiss was almost X -rated. You'd think they hadn't seen one another for months. They were oblivious to everyone else. No one had ever kissed me like that. I couldn't imagine being so lost in someone's mouth that I forgot everything else. Losing awareness like that was just asking to lose one of your nine.

Of course, I wouldn't want to kiss Gage —not only was he Jake's mate, but he freaked me out almost as much as old Ulric had. At least now I didn't have to worry about where to sit. I wasn't getting any closer to the demon than I had to. People said he was nice and all—some amazing protector for Willow Lake or whatever—but Clive and Warren had forced me to watch too many horror movies when we were kittens. The demons in those movies might have been fictional, but I didn't care. I didn't need to find out the difference between fiction and reality for myself. And wasn't Van supposed to be our protector? He was a hellhound and a police officer. Why were people letting this new guy come in and take over?

I'd never ask those questions though. Not out loud.

I didn't want that demon looking at me, wondering why I was stirring up trouble for him.

I chose a small empty table within hearing distance of the bar and sank into a chair. My gaze darted around the room. No one was paying any attention to me. Not that I could see. But what if they were being sneaky about it and I didn't notice? My leg bobbed up and down. My free hand rapped a chaotic rhythm on the scarred wooden surface of the table. My other hand remained wrapped around my whistle.

When Jake and Gage separated, Jake's lips and cheeks were as red as Alice's had been. He glanced around the room, as if suddenly remembering where they were. His gaze landed on me. I ducked my head, but I was too slow. Jake was already dragging his boyfriend to my table.

" Hey , Simon ," he said. " Can we join you?"

I wanted to hiss and hide, but all I could do was nod. Once they took their seats, the creepy cat-like creature Paws joined my table as well. Mama would have been thrilled to know I was sitting with so many influential Willow Lakers , but all I could think about was escaping. My whole body was numb.

Was this an intervention? Had they found out about the whistle? Were they going to corner me and demand it back ?

The demon narrowed his eyes at me. I hunched. Jake swatted his boyfriend playfully.

" Quit that," Jake admonished. Then he looked at me. " Crap . I forgot to take your order, didn't I ?"

" It's fine." My voice cracked, betraying my nerves.

" You were too busy sucking on Gage's tongue," Paws muttered.

Jake's cheeks darkened as he waved Alice over. The blush stretched down his neck and seeped into the strange tattoo he had that matched his mate's. I knew those marks were given to fated mates, but if I ever found my fated mate—not that I was looking— I hoped I got a bit of color in my hair like Mercer and Oak . I didn't want a tattoo-like mark like these two or like Ash and Dillon . I was not a tattoo kind of person. Once we ordered our drinks, silence fell over the table. Awkward .

" What is the matter with you people? Why aren't you talking?" Paws asked. His black, white, and orange tail flicked back and forth across the table. Mama would have skinned us alive if we ever dared jump on the table in our cat forms.

" Paws ," Jake admonished. " Be nice." I'd heard that tone before. The don't scare away Simon was implied.

" You disrupted my afternoon nap again," Paws said. He was staring at the demon.

" Construction is noisy," Gage said, not at all bothered by the complaint.

Paws harrumphed. " And what about my food dishes? Who moved those? They were in the perfect place. Out in the open. Away from the smelly garbage. Now some asshole's moved them over in a corner by the garbage can. I'd like to see you assholes eat in those conditions."

Gage lifted one of his eyebrows. " Did you want them filled with sawdust and drywall dust? I can move them back where they were."

Paws , somehow, scowled. I didn't think I'd even seen Mama scowl in her cat form the way Paws was scowling right now. I didn't think cats' faces did that. Sure , they could look unimpressed or pleased or content, but this look was next level. It was one more sign of how freaky the strange creature was.

" So , Simon ," Jake said, leaning forward, abandoning his boyfriend to Paws and his complaints. The oracle smiled widely. It was the smile I'd seen him use when he served drinks at the bar. The smile was friendly, but it lacked the happy energy he showed when hanging out with his friends. " Jeremy keeps including you on his group texts, but I feel like I haven't truly gotten to know you."

His words surprised me. He wanted to get to know me. Why ? " Uh … Okay ?"

" I know your mom," he said. " She's in my painting group. She talks about you and your brothers a lot."

I squirmed. I could only imagine what Mama would have said. Her pride in us was legendary… and a bit misplaced. Well , it might have been appropriate for Justin . I wasn't sure what he'd done since he moved away, but it involved a lot of secrets, which made it seem important.

" How is the renovation going?" I threw out the random question like a smoke bomb. Anything to steer the attention away from me.

" Good ," Jake said, gracefully accepting my change of subject. " The upper floors need a lot of work, not just because of the recent damage, so we've been concentrating on the main floor and the common areas first while we come up with a plan for the rest. We've put plywood over the broken windows and that's about all so far on the top two floors."

" Makes sense," I agreed. I knew nothing about construction.

Jake nodded. " It's hard to remember we need to space out the repairs. I want to do it all. We had to prioritize the dining room because it sustained the most damage and couldn't be sealed up with a few pieces of plywood, like the broken windows."

While we were talking, Van —the freaking head of the local police department—arrived and sat down with us. Once Mama had realized most—if not all—of her sons were gay, she'd turned her eyes to the eligible bachelors in town and, in her opinion, Van was the most eligible one around. I agreed with Mama that he was handsome and successful and had a steady job. That his job was being a police officer didn't even deter her, although Pops always looked like he had indigestion when she talked about the hellhound dating one of her kittens.

Mama would vibrate if she saw me sitting with him. If she were here, she'd be kicking me under the table, trying to get me to flirt with him. Yeah . I wouldn't do that. Besides , I suspected he had feelings for Doctor Roberts . He'd never be interested in a simple cat shifter like me when he had eyes for a successful doctor who was also a sphinx.

Van settled into a conversation with Gage and Paws . No one was paying much attention to me, except Jake . I prayed to the Eternal Magic it would stay that way.

At least Alice had brought our drinks over so I could take a deep gulp of my cream ale. It didn't taste like cream, which was unfortunate. Still , I hoped it would help me get through this.

I reached down and felt for my whistle. It was still in my pocket. At least that was something.

Maybe I could guzzle my ale and get out of here.

A few minutes later, I chugged the last of my pint and was ready to bolt when the woman on Gage's team swept into the pub like a modern-day Marlene Dietrich , complete with wide-legged trousers, a matching fitted jacket, a tie, and a cap. She styled her hair with tight waves, resembling a character from a period drama. I only knew about shows like that because Mama loved them. She hated watching them alone and I could never figure out how to escape like Pops or my brothers.

" Gage , we need to talk," she said as she elegantly slipped into the last empty chair at the table.

The air in the pub grew heavy the minute she said those words.

The demon looked around the pub, as if hunting for threats. " What's happened, Davina ?"

" Stand down, big guy," she said as she waved a folder at him. " I've been re-checking everything in Ulric's room with him. He's remembered a few more things. Things that are still missing."

Ulric was dead. How could she…? Oh . She must be able to see ghosts. I shivered and looked around for signs of invisible beings, not that I'd ever been able to see ghosts before. Although I knew some cats could, like my brother Justin . I found it unsettling how his gaze tracked things I couldn't perceive. Now I wished I'd asked him more questions. Like , how far could a ghost move? Could Ulric have been there when I picked up the whistle? Did he know?

" We suspected there was more out there that we haven't found yet," Gage said, like he wasn't worried.

Davina tapped on the folder with a very shiny, very pointy red fingernail. " Except we didn't know the damn mage had kept such dangerous shit. That gramophone thing wasn't the worst of it."

" What ?" Gage demanded. His skin turned a strange red color. Uh oh. That was his demon side coming to the surface.

Van's had gone all fiery like his hellhound was ready to burst free too. The flames were bright against his dark skin. Everything that made an eye look like an eye—his dark brown irises, his pupils, and the whites of his eyes—had disappeared. That was freaky. I'd never get used to that. Eyes were supposed to look like eyes, not bonfires.

I sank down in my seat.

I wanted to run, except… what if they talked about the whistle? I wanted to know what they knew. Based on how quiet the room had gotten, everyone else in Willow Lake wanted to know too. Davina glanced around the room, as if suddenly realizing that everyone was eavesdropping.

" Should we talk about this somewhere else?"

Van glanced around at the pub's patrons. " They're all local supes. Ones I trust and who've been called on in the past when things have gone to shit. You might as well say what you have to say. "

Davina pursed her lips.

" It's better if they can prepare in case we need their help," Van continued when Davina didn't say anything.

" Fine ," Davina agreed with a scowl. She flipped open the folder and shoved it between Van and Gage . Paws stepped closer to read the page too. She tapped aggressively at what appeared to be a list. I waited to hear her describe my whistle. I tightened my fingers around it. " Look there."

" A Coven of One ring?" Gage looked up sharply. " Are you sure?"

Van cursed and rubbed the back of his neck.

I huffed out a relieved breath, but I was the only one who did. Around the room, people gasped.

" What is it?" Jake asked.

" It's a ring that multiplies the power of one mage until it equals that of an entire coven," Davina explained. Then she turned to her left, where no one was standing, and frowned. " Oh , don't start making excuses. You knew it was dangerous. You should have destroyed it as soon as you acquired it."

She was talking to a ghost, probably Ulric .

" Holy Michelangelo ," Jake muttered. " I wish I hadn't asked."

" That would explain the cages we found in Babette's warehouse," Gage said.

I didn't know what they were talking about, but I wasn't about to ask questions.

" Exactly ," Davina agreed. " We thought there was a coven involved, given the amount of magic needed to trap so many supes, but we might just be looking for a single mage with that damn ring."

" So maybe we aren't looking for a rogue demon?" Van asked.

No one seemed to know what to say to that, but I really wished they'd say something about it. They couldn't toss out a phrase like a rogue demon without causing panic. Then again, no one in the pub looked panicked. Except me. I was panicked. Very , very panicked.

Rogue demons were scary. Dangerous . Murderous . Powerful .

Why in all Magic was I the only one worried about this?

" What else is missing? Anything dangerous?" Gage asked as he scanned the list.

Davina pointed out a handful of other things. Right in the middle of the list were two whistles. One of those had to be mine. I wanted to ask about them, but that'd bring unwanted attention my way. If I had to lie, the hellhound would know. And why would Davina describe the whistle as dangerous? It was a whistle, not a sword. She'd obviously made a mistake.

" We need to get this information to the SC ," Van said. " Do you want to do it, Gage , or do you want me to?"

The SC ? As in the Supernatural Council ? I gulped. I knew Gage and his team had connections with the SC , but would this bring more teams to Willow Lake ? Would they conduct door-to-door searches? Would they demand people empty their pockets to see if they were hiding anything?

I couldn't go to a supernatural prison. I wasn't cut out for a life like that. I was a simple cat shifter. More domesticated than most.

Fudgesicle .

I couldn't do this.

I stood abruptly. The chair tumbled back. Everyone in the entire place turned to stare at me again. If I'd suspected people were looking at me earlier, I knew they were now. Drat . Drat , drat, drat.

" Simon ? Are you okay?" Jake asked.

" Fine ," I wheezed, barely able to get enough air in my lungs to push out the single syllable.

" It's okay." Jake tried to use a soothing tone. " These guys know what they're doing. They're good at their jobs. There isn't anything to be worried about."

If only this was about my normal scaredy-cat impulses.

" I gotta go." I yanked out a handful of bills and tossed them on the table. That should be more than enough to pay for the pint.

My hand shook as I scrambled to fix the stupid chair. Then I ran out the door without any thought for my previous hunger. The cream ale was churning in my empty stomach, and I hoped I'd make it outside before I lost it. I may enjoy pampering myself like a house cat with regular meals, but I'd survive without eating tonight.

Across the street from the inn, Willow Lake glittered under the setting sun. The days were getting shorter as fall approached, but tonight the late summer's heat lingered in the air. Light bounced off the undulating water and seemed to call me to it. I'd never liked big bodies of water all that much. I pretended it was a cat thing, but my brother Warren loved swimming, so I knew it wasn't really that. But tonight, for some reason, the water captivated me. Maybe because the undulating surface reminded me of the etchings on my whistle.

The lake was large enough that the water lapped at the shore. The sound was sort of soothing. If you liked that kind of thing. I climbed onto a large boulder that sat right where the water met the land and stared at the water.

My phone pinged, announcing a text message. Dread coiled in my belly. I hoped it wasn't Jake or Gage or worse— Van —demanding answers for my weird behavior. With a trembling hand, I pulled it from my pocket and found a text from Jeremy .

Jeremy had recently started texting me. One day, he'd asked me to feed his cat. I'd said yes, mostly to get away from him so he wouldn't ask me a bunch of questions. I'd seen him working his way through the supes around town. He asked a lot of questions. He was more curious than a cat, and that was saying something.

Then he'd asked to exchange numbers. I didn't know how to say no, not after I'd agreed to feed his cat. If something went wrong with the cat, I'd need to phone him. He'd tried to convince me to put his contact information in my phone under some weird name. I hadn't.

After that, things got weird.

I should have known he'd use it for more than just checking in about his cat, but I hadn't expected the guy to be addicted to texting. And the stuff he asked? It was super strange. Most of the time, I didn't answer him, but I still opened every message. Like now …

Jeremy : We're getting together Saturday night to watch " The Lord of the Rings " movies at the inn. Have you seen them? It'll only be you, me, Ash , and Jake , so I need you there to help answer questions Jake and I might have about the magic in the show. Like , do you think a magical ring could make you invisible? Do you think actual supes inspired the species in the show? Oh … and one elf can sense the future, so I thought Jake would appreciate that. But mostly we're watching because Jake needs to have more pop culture in his life and it's our job to help him. Anyway , don't worry about bringing anything, but if you really want to, a bag of chips would be great.

" Huh ?" I blinked at the message.

I hadn't agreed to any of that, had I ? I ignored the message and shoved my phone back in my pocket. My fingers brushed against the whistle, and I forgot all about Jeremy .

I pulled the whistle from my pocket and stared at it.

It was too pretty to be dangerous.

Maybe if I blew on it once, it'd satisfy my curiosity enough that I could give it back. Then the SC wouldn't have any reason to come after me. My mouth went dry at the thought of putting my lips on it. Who knew where the whistle had been? Should I wash it first ?

I dunked the whistle in the lake water, then dried it off with the sleeve of my hoodie. Then I stared at it some more.

My heart pounded as I lifted it to my lips.

My hand trembled. Was I really doing this? I pulled it away before the metal touched my mouth. Why did this seem so important? It was just a whistle, right? Right .

I brought it to my mouth again. This time, I wrapped my lips around the cool metal mouthpiece without yanking it away.

I blew softly.

A faint noise came out, but it was hardly noteworthy. I frowned. Was it a fancy dog whistle or something? No , I would have heard that, even in my human form. I hoped it wasn't broken. Maybe if I blew on it harder, it'd sound better. I licked my lips, sucked in a deep breath, then blew into the whistle with everything I had.

I wanted this to work. I wanted to know what it could do. I wanted…