Chapter 21

Instead of going to the private entrance of the cemetery, I made my way to the fancy Gothic wrought iron gates. One side stood open, and a small group had gathered right inside. The strays had placed a table covered by black fabric by the entrance with a sign that read “BUYYOURTICKETSHERE.”

Inodded with approval. We had opted to sell half the tickets in advance, and make the rest available for walk-ins. Tomorrow they’d hang another sign on the gates with the tours’ starting times.

“You made it,” Ian said from behind me.

Iturned to see him leaning against the brick column supporting the closed gate, and a familiar fluttering filled my belly. Goodness, but he was a balm for my sore eyes from staring at Dorsey’s conniving, wrinkled face. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Steppingcloser, I examined him under the light attached to the fence. He was wearing black slacks, a crisp white shirt, and a blazer instead of his usual jeans and sweaters, and the theme fit him very, very well. He should definitely dress up more often. PerhapsI’d introduce a “suit only” clause to our dates. Yes, I thought, licking my lips. I should definitely do that.

Leaningin, I whispered dramatically, “Are you aware you’re wearing…white?”

Hearched an eyebrow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Iplaced my hand on the center of his white shirt, the heat of his body producing a distracting sensation against my hand. Magic tingled in my veins, daring me to do something silly like pour my being into his heat and see what came out of it. Tapping my fingers against the fabric, I said, “This right here.”

Hecovered my hand with his. “This, huh?”

Istood on my tiptoes. “Indeed.”

“Let’s never mention it again.” He snuck a hand around the back of my neck and pressed his lips against mine, soft for a moment, then hard and insistent. I opened up, allowing him inside, my hand making a mess of his ironed shirt before drifting around his waist. For a few seconds, the world fell away, and it was only him and me and the feel of his body under my hands and of his mouth against mine.

Someonecoughed nearby.

“NoPDA allowed during the tours,” Alex said with fake seriousness.

Webroke apart, and I was a little startled to find everyone watching us with varying levels of grins and snickering. I had completely forgotten where we were. To my surprise, Brimstone and Destruction was part of the group, and…Natalia?

Igaped at the older teen shifter who’d come with her friend to buy a dark magic love potion from me a couple of weeks back.

Alexintercepted my look and threw an arm around the girl like she was his best buddy.

“This is Natalia,” he announced. “She’s here to help.”

Nataliascowled. “I’m here to help.”

“You aren’t with the shifters?” I asked, confused. As far as I knew, the pack’s shifters were really into their Halloween preparations for Garreth the Hound.

“We are shifters, boss,” Alex said jovially.

Ipointed at him with mock severity. “Don’t make me curse you. The pack’s shifters.”

Helaughed as Natalia crossed her arms, her expression growing thunderous. “They’re idiots.”

Rememberingwhat I knew about the shifter teens, I wasn’t about to dispute that. “I see.”

“They wouldn’t let me play Garreth,” she spat out.

Iwinced. “Boys’ club, huh?”

“They’re such sexists! It’s not like anyone’s going to go around checking our private parts.”

“You are absolutely right,” I said. “Why shouldn’t anyone get to play Garreth?”

“Exactly,” she exclaimed. “Alex said I could help out, and you’d let me play Garreth.”

Ilooked at Ian, searching for advice, but he put up his hands and said, “Your tour, boss.”

“We broke the shifts into three,” Shane said. “We’ll howl at certain spots during each tour and make an appearance at the end between two graves.”

Alexand Natalia nodded.

“Yeah, boss,” Alex said. “It’s all taken care of.”

“You okay with this?” I asked of Key.

Shealso nodded, reluctant to speak up. As if realizing what she was doing, she cleared her throat and straightened her spine. “It’s all good, boss.”

“Hope. The name is Hope.”

“Sure thing, boss,” Shane drawled.

“I’m going to take care of the tickets when I’m not on my Garreth shift,” Natalia said proudly. “I’m good with money. I worked at one of the pack stores this summer.”

“No fangs, no claws,” I warned her. “If we get drunks trying to sneak in or steal something, you call for reinforcements.”

Hergaze shifted sideways. “Sure thing, boss.”

Oh, boy.

Alexgrinned. “No worries. We got it covered.”

Iwondered if they had stolen some freezing or memory potions from someone in case there was trouble.

Betternot to ask.

“What about your friend?” I asked Alex.

“We have Allan hiding and ready to scare people,” he said. “We got Rachel too. She’s going to play the scary murdered lady from the ThreeSisters since Jim gave the role to someone else this year.”

“That asshole,” came a faint shout from farther inside the cemetery.

Shaneshowed me a small microphone clipped to his jacket. “We got comms going.”

“Excellent.” Rubbing my hands, I smiled at the group. “Let’s get this started, then.”

Alexsaluted, and he and Shane jogged toward the gravestones. There was little ambient light, and the strategically placed lights on the marked path and spotlights on some of the statues and mausoleums left the rest of the space drenched in creepy shadows.

Keymotioned forward. “UncleJeremy, you go first.”

Brimstoneand Destruction was dressed in a three-piece black suit with a blood-red shirt. His dress shoes gleamed under the lights, not a speck of dust from the dirt path marring their beauty, and his blond hair had been slicked back.

Hestraightened up to his full height and gave us all an imperious look.

“Welcome to the CavalierCemetery special Halloween tour,” he announced in a sepulchral voice. “Prepare to meet the ghosts of the past, but be careful, for they don’t always welcome visitors.”

Thundercracked in the distance.

Keyand I clapped, very impressed. Natalia studied the starry sky, a frown forming between her brows.

Brimstoneturned on his gleaming heel. “If you will follow me, we shall begin this tale of death and despair.”

Keyand Natalia fell into step behind Brimstone, while Ian and I followed a few paces behind.

“I think they’ve taken some liberties from your mother’s story,” I whispered to Ian. Something told me his mom’s tour had involved less Gothic drama.

“Not as many as you might think,” Ian said fondly. He had been a boy when his mom had moved them away, so he’d probably never gotten to experience the tour firsthand. Was that why he’d allowed this, beyond wanting to make me happy? The thought dissipated some of the guilt at basically forcing his hand.

“Where are Fluffy and Rufus?” I asked. I’d missed their reassuring presence today.

“In the house. I thought it’d be better. I don’t want them chewing on the cables or knocking over stuff.” He sent me a knowing look at my pout. “Don’t worry, you can say hello later.”

“Don’t mind if I do. You’re dressed up today,” I added, unable to stop myself from running a hand down his sleeve. Ahead of us, Brimstone talked about a man who had made a deal with the devil, then tried to cheat his way out of it. In response, the devil had dismembered the man and buried his limbs in different parts of the cemetery, condemning his soul to never find peace until the body was whole again.

“And even now,” Brimstone said in a dark voice that send shivers down my spine, “the remains of his hands crawl under the earth through the other graves, trying to find each other.”

“He’s good at this,” I said with another shiver. “Thank you for letting him help. It means a lot to Key.”

“As long as he doesn’t set the place on fire,” Ian murmured.

Ilooked at him in surprise. “You know he’s a fire mage?”

Ianarched a brow. Duh, of course he knew. He likely knew everything about every paranormal in town.

Isupposed it was time to come clean about everything.

“He’s one of my dark magic clients,” I whispered.

“Why else would he have brought Key to work for you?”

Witha groan, I slipped my arm around his and rested my head on his biceps. “You knew about that too?”

Therumble of his silent laughter reverberated through his arm. “I’m good at math.”

“Two and two equal four, huh?”

“Apparently.”

Aspotlight suddenly came on next to us, illuminating a dangling skeleton. I jumped and grasped Ian’s arm. Natalia let out a small shriek.

“Banston,” Brimstone said. “Who killed his own brother, buried right here in 1873, then was haunted by his spirit until he was convinced the only way to rest in peace was by digging his brother up and burning his remains.”

“Did he do it?” Key asked.

“No.” Brimstone’s voice reached theater-highs. “When he opened the casket, he found it…empty!”

Keyand Natalia let out fake sounds of dismay.

“What happened to Banston?” Natalia asked.

“Nobody knows, but the gravestone keepers found him hanging from that tree, utter horror contorting his face!”

Theskeleton cackled loudly, and I jumped again. MaybeI should’ve taken a better look at the script.

“Scared, are you?” Ian whispered as we moved on.

“They’re good.”

“That they are.” He didn’t bother hiding the pride in his voice.

“For someone who wanted no involvement in this tour business,” I teased, “you sure seem very invested.”

Heshrugged. “I’m just watching.”

“Like a proud alpha.”

Hescowled. “I don’t have a pack.”

Smiling, I patted his arm. “Sure thing, alpha. You haven’t told me why you’re all dressed up.”

“I had a business meeting before this.”

Must’vebeen important for him to ditch the jeans. “Rich people?” Preston betraying Alex and going to Ian directly? “Anyone we know?”

“A local historical housing association.”

Igasped. “They want you to help with a historic building?” When he nodded, I hugged him tight. “That’s great, Ian. Congratulations!”

Hesmiled faintly. “We’ll see. I’d be working with restoration experts, so it should be an interesting project.”

“There she is,” Brimstone exclaimed, pointing at a spot in the distance. Another spotlight clicked on, illuminating a statue. A female figure dressed in a nightgown covered in blood and a dark wig dusted with spiderwebs jumped from behind a statue to the cheers of Key and Natalia. The figure gave us a thumbs up, took on a dreary gait as she walked around a few nearby graves, then got back behind the statue.

“Good job,” I shouted, cupping my hands. “Jim doesn’t know what he’s missing!”

“That’s right,” answered the figure.

“I’m glad Alex invited his friends,” I told Ian happily. “This is fun.”

“It better be,” he grumbled.

Thespotlight turned off, drenching the graves in darkness once again. We moved on, and Brimstone pointed at the group of oldest graves surrounded by three weeping trees artfully illuminated by another spotlight.

“Aww,” I said dreamily. “Such good memories.” They were the oldest graves in the cemetery, and Ian had allowed me to take some dirt from around them to vanish the ghost in my bathtub. The reminder doused some of my happiness. Somewhere here was Crane’s body, and I still was no closer to discovering his murderer nor figuring out if leaving Crane in my shop, and possibly drawing the pentagrams, was the start of something bigger and more sinister.

“What is it?” Ian murmured, feeling me tense.

Ichecked Natalia and Key were out of hearing distance and lowered my voice. “I’m worried I’m missing something about Crane and the pentagrams. Do you think anyone has noticed he’s missing yet?”

“NothingI’ve heard yet. I’ll talk to Wyatt after this.”

Thatwould help, I told myself, trying to raise my spirits. I still had leads, and Ian was helping out. We’d catch this bastard.

“The bodies of one of Olmeda’s founding families are buried there,” Brimstone said. “They?—”

Thespotlight illuminating the graves clicked off.

Keygroaned.

“Lights!” Brimstone exclaimed, as if the things were on voice command.

Ihoped he didn’t decide to create his own illumination by setting a tree on fire.

“I’m on it,” Alex called from the darkness. “Move on for now!”

Brimstonegrumbled to himself and walked on.

“Wait,” I said.

Theyall stopped and turned toward me.

“You’re great at this. Let’s hear Key do the rest.” I beamed at Key.

Keyjolted in surprise. “ButI was going to do the next round.”

“Let’s do it now,” I said encouragingly. “You’ve practiced enough.”

Brimstonestepped aside and gestured toward the path at his feet. “Niece.”

Keybit her lip, then straightened her shoulders with sudden determination. “Okay.” She stepped to the front of the group and looked at us gravely. “If you’ll follow me, the row of outlaws awaits.”

Iclapped softly but enthusiastically, and she sent me a grateful smile.

AsKey walked on, talking about a grave robber who had frequented the cemetery until one day he’d fallen into one of the freshly dug graves, dislodging the earth and ending up buried alive, I decided it was time to return to more recent topics if I wanted to sleep tonight.

“I have a theory.” In whispers, I told Ian about the old dark magic coven and how perhaps a descendant had come to Olmeda looking for payback. “Do you know anything about them? I’m going to visit the coven leader’s house tomorrow.”

“I don’t know much about them,” he said in a thoughtful voice. Being the practical kind, Ian focused more on the living paranormals. “But it’s a good theory. You think there might be another pentagram there?”

“There being only four pentagrams bothers me,” I admitted. “If it’s a witch, the number feels wrong.”

“If it’s a witch.”

“It’s too much work for it to be anything else.”

“The pentagrams could still be unrelated to Crane.”

Whichis why I needed to investigate both. “With any luck, they are related. Make it easier on us.”

“And now we come to the mausoleum of our most famous guest,” Key said in a loud, clear voice with a hint of Brimstone’s theatricality. Blood was truly thicker than magic. “LucindaCavalier, married five times and said to have poisoned each of her husbands. She had them interred in a row before her family mausoleum, and it is said that their remains dig at night, trying to bring the walls of the mausoleum down so they can get to her corpse and get their revenge on her bones!”

Ilooked up at Ian, impressed. “Your ancestor was a black widow?”

“Allegedly.”

“That’s kind of cool.” I grinned at the roll of his eyes. “But not as cool as my grandma.”

“Nobody is as cool as your grandma,” he replied very seriously.

Andthis is why Ian was the absolute best.

So, why did the concept of being true mates bug me so much?