Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

"You have a whisker in the middle of your forehead," Charlotte said in a matter-of-fact tone as she tied her long red hair up into a messy bun.

I jerked my head up and stared at her. "What?"

"You heard me, Bigfoot," my sister said as she tapped something into her computer.

"Bigfoot?" I gasped out, offended.

Charlotte threw her head back and cackled. "If the hairy beast description fits…"

"People don't grow whiskers out of their foreheads, Charlotte," I spat as I jumped out of my office chair and ran to the adjoining bathroom.

"You do!" she called after me.

I quickly checked and found a two-inch-long hair that was so pale and fine it was barely visible. Though Charlotte had seen it from ten feet away. Since she'd just gotten glasses for nearsightedness, suddenly I had to concede that Bigfoot might have been an apt nickname. With a groan, I pulled out my emergency tweezers and plucked the offending hair. Then I checked the rest of my face, making sure I wasn't sporting a collection of whiskers. When I was satisfied I wasn't growing a five-o'clock-shadow, I slipped back into the office and sat heavily at my desk. "I swear to the goddess, perimenopause is the worst."

"Is that what you think the issue is with your sudden ability to grow hair everywhere?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes. One hundred percent. So that's something you can look forward to," I quipped, making sure she knew she'd be dealing with the same thing someday.

"Please. I don't have to worry about that for what, twenty years? I'm sure by then we'll have plenty of advancements in aesthiology, so I won't have to deal with"—she waved her hand at me—"whatever you have going on."

I rolled my eyes at her and flopped back into my chair.

Charlotte peered at me and then smirked. "Honestly, I figured it was just a side effect from getting it on with your werewolf boyfriend."

I raised both eyebrows. "How so?"

"You know, sharing DNA. I figured that was enough to make you a little hairier. Now that he's a shifter, I did sort of wonder if it made him hairier now. Please tell me he doesn't have back fur when he's in his human form now."

"You're ridiculous," I said, unable to stifle my laugh. "No, he doesn't have back fur now." At least I didn't think he did. It felt like forever since I'd set eyes on my boyfriend, Jax Williams. After an unfortunate encounter with a werewolf, he'd been bitten and infected with the werewolf curse. He was now off with my previously-assumed-dead, former best friend, Trish, who also happened to be a werewolf shifter, and he was learning how to deal with living as a shapeshifting werewolf.

My chest ached with loneliness at the thought of Jax. It had only been six weeks since he'd left town, but since I didn't know when he was coming back, each day only made the wait seem a million times longer. I let out a quiet sigh and went back to working on an ad to try to bring in more business. After our client, Sara, had been accused of attempting to murder all the dates I'd set up for her, the business had taken a serious hit. Nobody wanted to work with a dating agency that had repped a murderer. Even though the charges were dropped and Sara was exonerated, there was still a public stigma. And if we didn't do something soon, I wasn't sure we'd be able to keep the doors open.

"That's good. I don't think I could deal with someone who had a rug on their back. Think of the waxing bill." She peered at me. "Speaking of waxing, you should probably make a spa appointment soon. You don't want to be sporting that mustache when Jax gets back in town. Some highlights would probably do you good, too."

My hand flew to my upper lip, and when all I felt was the smooth skin from my last waxing, I picked up the stress ball that was lying on my desk and threw it at her. Though she had a point about the highlights. Or hell, it might be time to go for a full dye job. I hadn't missed the hints of gray peeking through my own red strands of hair when I'd been inspecting the offending facial hair just moments ago.

My much younger sister was too busy cackling at her own joke to notice the ball, and it bounced off her forehead, making her laugh even harder.

"You're the worst," I said, shaking my head.

"You love me." She winked and then threw the stress ball back at me.

I caught it easily with my left hand just as the office door opened.

"Hey, you," Carly Preston said, poking her head in. "You busy?"

"Never too busy for you," I said, rising to greet her.

The down-to-earth movie star pushed the door open and swept in with an equally gorgeous and famous television star on her heels.

"Autumn," I said with a pleased smile as I headed straight for her to shake her hand. "It's a pleasure to finally get you into the office."

"The pleasure is all mine," she said, her easy smile reaching her bright blue eyes. "You know I've been wanting to do this for a while now. Plus Carly can't stop talking about you and your agency. I figured it was time to make good on that promise I made to check it out."

"Only good things, I hope," I said, relief rushing through me. Autumn was a well-known television star and getting her on board to try out and promote the dating agency was just the thing we needed to turn this business around.

Carly laughed. "Of course, only good things." She walked over and took a seat in front of my desk and waved for Autumn to follow her.

"Sorry I had to reschedule so many times," Autumn said. "With opening the pottery shop, I've had a lot on my plate."

"No need to apologize," I said quickly. "I'm just thrilled you're here at all. Can I get you ladies anything? Coffee? Tea? Water?"

"Coffee would be great," Carly said, looking lovely in her cream blouse and flowing navy-blue linen pants. From her freshly dyed blond hair down to her cream-colored stilettos, she looked every inch old Hollywood. "Black."

"Make that two," Autumn added as she took a seat next to Carly. The television star was dressed casually in jeans and a form fitting T-shirt, and I couldn't help but notice the clay stains around her cuticles. But she still had that fresh glow that all famous actors seemed to possess. She gave me a tired smile as she added, "That cup I had just after five this morning is long gone now."

"Five?" Charlotte gasped out. "That's unholy."

I cleared my throat and gave my sister an annoyed look as I shook my head slightly, indicating her input wasn't welcome, and then walked over to the coffee maker and got to work.

Autumn just chuckled. "I used to say that, too, but these days, I get my best work done early in the morning. Gotta get on it before my brain turns to mush in the afternoon."

"You noticed that, too?" Carly asked her. "I swear, if I don't finish my work by four, I'm a bumbling mess for the rest of the afternoon and evening. I even used to be a night owl, getting my best work hours in while everyone else was sleeping. Those days are long gone."

"Getting old sounds miserable," a familiar voice said from behind me.

I swallowed a groan as I glanced back at Celia, my resident ghost.

"Thank the goddess I'll never have to worry about that or saggy boobs," she quipped as she floated closer to Charlotte, her long blond hair flying out behind her.

"Sure, no saggy boobs, but no one will be able to touch them either," Charlotte said helpfully. "I'm not sure I'd want to give up sexy times just for eternally great skin."

Carly and Autumn laughed while I braced myself for the backlash. If there was one thing Celia hated about being a ghost, it was that she'd never again get to indulge in the pleasures of the flesh.

"That was just rude," Celia practically snarled at Charlotte. "Besides, Danny and I get up to plenty of fun. You ever heard of phone sex?"

"You talk to your ghost boyfriend on the phone?" Charlotte asked, raising one eyebrow.

Celia widened her Kewpie doll eyes. "Oh. Em. Gee. No, I?—"

"That's enough!" I held my hands up. "We don't need to hear about all that. This is a place of business after all."

"It's a dating agency, Marion," my sister said with a chuckle. "If we can't talk about sex here, where can we?"

I ignored her and turned to Autumn. "I'm so sorry. I wish I could say this isn't normal, but when you have a resident ghost with no filter, there's just no controlling things."

Autumn laughed. "Honestly, after being alone in my studio all week, this is quite the refreshing change." She glanced at Celia. "You have a boyfriend?"

Celia's smile widened. "Yep. We met at the Abs, Buns, and Guns show. He used to work there before his untimely death."

Autumn's lips twitched with amusement. "He was one of the dancers?"

"As a matter of fact, he was," Celia said, straightening as a look of pride washed over her. "You should come down sometime and meet him. He's still the most gorgeous guy in the place."

"Maybe for the next girls' night out," Carly said with a nod.

I grimaced, unable to imagine what would happen if the two Hollywood stars walked into the male strip club. No doubt the paparazzi would be all over it and the internet would go crazy. I cleared my throat. "Um, maybe we should shelve that idea for the moment. You're obviously free to do whatever you wish, and while I personally have no problem with male strippers, I'm not sure attending a strip club while looking for your soul mate is the message we want to send with this campaign."

Both Carly and Autumn started laughing. Carly laughed so hard that tears started to stream down her face. She sucked in a sharp breath and wheezed out, "You're right, Marion."

I blinked at her, wondering what was so hilarious.

"You have no idea how right you are," Autumn got out between giggles.

"What is wrong with them?" Celia asked me, sounding confused. "Strip clubs aren't that funny."

When Carly finally caught her breath, she wiped her eyes and said, "Autumn owes her success in television to Mika Malone. Ever heard of her?"

I shook my head.

"Right. She was slated to star in My Witchy Life as the sweet and naive Bianca Bellflower until she was caught on camera, clearly drunk with a cigarette in her hand as she stumbled into Peter Piper's Fantasy Palace in West Hollywood. The network cut her immediately, and that's how Autumn got the role."

"That's… terrible for Mika," I said, knowing that if the situation were reversed and that had been a man going into an adult entertainment establishment, it would have been covered up immediately.

"Yes it was," Autumn agreed. "But she was a back-stabbing bitch who slept with my boyfriend at the time, so I didn't feel too badly about taking that part."

"She also sold lies to the tabloids about anyone she saw as competition, including me," Carly said. "So don't think less of us if our compassion appears to be in the toilet."

"Screw Mika," I said as a sudden rush of disgust washed over me. Clearly Mika had gotten what she deserved.

"I do think those morality clauses in the Hollywood contracts are ridiculous, but I can see why the studio wanted someone with a wholesome reputation for Bianca," Carly said. "The success of the show would have been in jeopardy if she'd been seen as a party girl."

I could see that. My Witchy Life was a sweet family show that had dominated the airwaves for over a decade and was still very popular on a notable streaming network.

"Okay, so no strip clubs until after the campaign?" I said with a smirk.

"Let's be honest," Autumn said with a chuckle. "I'm not likely to ever make it to the strip club, but I'll be sure to be on my best behavior."

"Borrrrring," Celia said and then vanished from the office.

"She's fun," Autumn said.

"She is… usually," I agreed. She was also great at keeping an eye on anyone I needed to keep tabs on and had been a lifesaver when we'd been hunting down bad guys. Who knew having a ghost around all the time would prove to be so helpful? I tapped my computer, making it come to life. "Let's get started. What kind of man are you looking for?"

Autumn pursed her lips, indicating that she was thinking. "Someone accomplished. I don't mean he has to be rich or anything. Just someone who isn't threatened by my past success. You'd be amazed at how many men have such fragile egos that they can't stand it when I'm recognized or am invited to exclusive events because of my former life as an actress. I need someone who can handle that without acting like a manbaby."

"Absolutely," I said, jotting that down, though I really didn't need to. It was my mission to find my clients self-confident partners who celebrated their successes. "Any physical preferences? Age range? What don't you like in a partner?"

"Hmm." She leaned forward. "I tend to go for long and lean runner types, but I'm open to any physique. Typically, I find myself attracted to smart men who have a great sense of humor. Self-confidence is sexy, but arrogance isn't. And he has to love dogs."

We chatted a bit more until I was sure I had a good handle on what type of person Autumn was looking for, and then I told her, "This is good. Let me go through my client list and see who I think might be a good fit, and then I'll give you a call."

"Perfect." Autumn stood. "Anything else?"

"We're going to need to set up a photoshoot," Charlotte said. "And I'll need you to sign a release that says we can use your image in our social media posts and ad campaign."

I stared at my sister, marveling at her professionalism. When had she turned into such a pro? She hadn't worked with me for very long, but in those weeks, she'd gone from filing her nails on a daily basis to this person, who was clear-eyed and ready to start our next online campaign.

"Sure." Autumn and Charlotte took care of the nitty gritty while I chatted with Carly about the next coven meeting.

"Next Tuesday is the full moon," Carly said. "Grace wants to do a cleansing ritual. She said she's had too much questionable juju lately. Apparently, she's had three escrows fall through in the past month, and she thinks she picked up some bad energy from an asshole client."

"Oof, okay. We'll cleanse her energy then."

Autumn glanced at us. "Is this a closed coven meeting, or are random witches invited?"

Carly rolled her eyes. "Random witches? No. But you? Yes. Definitely. I'll pick you up on the way."

I smiled at her, happy to be including another witch. It wasn't that long ago when the Premonition Pointe coven had welcomed me as one of their own. As far as I was concerned, the more witches the better.

"Okay, we're done here," Charlotte said. "I'll give you a call about the photoshoot."

"Sounds good." Autumn held her hand out to me. "It was a pleasure to finally get the ball rolling on this. I look forward to finding out who you select for me."

"Likewise." I walked them to the door, but just before they left, there was a knock. I blinked at Charlotte. "Are we expecting anyone?"

"Nope," she said with a shake of her head.

I pulled the door open and found a tall, handsome man with piercing green eyes. "Hi there. Can I help you?"

"Are you Marion?" he asked in a deep voice that was even sexier than I could have imagined.

"Yes," I said as I glanced at Autumn, who was staring at him intently.

"Good. You're just the person I was looking for," the man said. "I hear you're the best matchmaker on the West Coast."

"That's flattering." I smiled at him.

His gaze flicked to Autumn, and I felt rather than saw an electric connection between them. I glanced at my sister, desperately wishing she was standing next to me so I could see their auras together.

As if Charlotte could read my mind, she hurried over to me and placed a hand on my arm. Immediately, both of their auras lit up and merged into a glorious shade of deep violet.

"Well, this is interesting," Charlotte said under her breath.

I cleared my throat and turned my attention back to the man. "And you are?"

He held his hand out. "Kai Gray, pack leader of the Diablo Wolf Pack."