Chapter Eleven
“Christ, Gregor, it was one hell of a scary thing last night. I had Madeline with me,” William growled, staring out at the gently swelling ocean. “There was no warning, no sense of danger—nothing. One minute I’m making love to the lass, and the next minute they’re just . . . there. The goddamned beasts scared the hell out of my woman.”
“ Your woman, Killkenny?” Kenzie repeated, glancing over and lifting a brow.
William glared at him. “She willingly gave herself to me, and I accepted. I don’t care what century it is, that makes her mine. At least, for as long as we both agree,” he muttered, looking back at the ocean. But then he grinned to himself. “And I’m thinking it’s going to take quite some time for me to tire of the lass.” He looked at Kenzie again. “Ye should have seen her last night, Gregor. Madeline has the heart of a warrior; she kept her head about her, doing exactly as I told her when I told her, and she drove my truck like I ride a horse. Aye,” he said, leaning back to recline on his elbow. “I have a fear I might never tire of her.”
Kenzie chuckled. “If ye fear anything, it should be that she will tire of you.”
William scoffed that away. “Nay, I’ve learned enough about Madeline in the last few days to know how to keep her interested.” He lay back and laced his fingers behind his head to smile up at the fading stars. “But being a highlander, I can understand why ye think women aren’t easy to keep, seeing how ye had to get your pixie with child to catch her.”
“Your skills as a warrior are exceeded only by your arrogance, Killkenny. After last night, you’ll be lucky if Maddy even speaks to you again.”
William grinned again, pleased that he at least knew which of Kenzie’s buttons to push. “Were they a scouting party, do ye suppose? Trying to find our weakness?”
“Most likely. And now they know yours. You’ll be sleeping on Maddy’s knoll, I’m afraid, until this is over.”
William sighed. “If not for her daughter, I could be sleeping in Maddy’s bed.”
“Christ, I wish I knew where Fiona has gone off to,” Kenzie growled, shaking his head. “For as protective as she is of that pup, I don’t understand why she’s disappeared all of a sudden. She would have been a great help last night; she might have seen them coming and been able to warn you.”
William snorted. “Your little sister would likely have helped them kill me.” He glanced over at Kenzie. “Could she have gone back in time, do ye think? Maybe the pup gave her a clue to where she was from, and Fiona is looking for answers.”
“Aye, that’s what I’ve been thinking, too,” Kenzie said.
“Don’t worry, Gregor; the little termagant can take care of herself.” He chuckled. “In fact, if it truly is a man chasing our pup, I pity him. If Fiona discovers his identity, he best be sucking his sack up in his belly, or he’s liable to find his voice several notes higher.”
“She has good reason to hate men, Killkenny.”
“Aye,” William agreed. “I just wish she’d learn that not all of us are bastards.”
“With luck, she will someday. Were ye able to get a sense of what the wolves truly were or where they’re from?”
“They felt . . . old to me, far older than I am, even.” He sat up. “Maybe even as old as the coin Trace got from our pup. Ye didn’t say anything when he showed it to you yesterday afternoon, but did ye recognize the writing on the back? He said he believed it was Sanskrit, but I’ve never heard of that language before.”
“Nor have I, but there was something familiar about it. I made a drawing of the coin and sent it over the phone line to Matt. Maybe he can tell us something, as he has access to the collected knowledge of the ancient worlds.”
William lay back down just as the first hint of dawn faded the stars. “Something—or someone—other than me chased the demon beasts off as they were approaching An Tèarmann. Could Daar have had anything to do with it?”
“Nay, he has almost no power left.”
“Did Eve use the fancy pen ye gave her for protection?”
“I made sure she had it on her, but she said the pen never sensed any danger near the house.”
William sat back up. “Do you suppose it was some other entity, then? Could there be more than one person after our spoiled little seal?”
Kenzie stood up and smiled tightly. “If there is, then our job just got more complicated. It’s beginning to look like we will have to get Huntsman involved. When we meet him at the gravel pit this afternoon for another gun lesson, we’ll have to see if we can’t begin persuading him that the magic is real.”
William also stood up, groaning with fatigue. “And then maybe we can introduce him to the pup?” he asked, walking beside Kenzie as they headed back to the house. “I’m curious to see them meet face to . . . whisker,” he said with a chuckle.
“Nay, not yet. We need to make sure where we stand with Huntsman before we reveal all our secrets.”
“And Maddy?” William asked, reaching out to stop him. “Just how much am I supposed to reveal to her?”
“Nothing.”
“I was afraid you’d say that. Then how in hell am I supposed to explain what happened last night?”
“Ye don’t. When Eve got her first taste of the magic the night she rescued me on the cliff, I realized the next morning that it was something she had to ease into on her own. If I’d hit her over the head with a bunch of explanations, she would have decided I was crazy. And from that point on, she wouldn’t have believed anything I told her, and that really would have put her in danger. You said yourself you’re worried they have Maddy’s scent now. You alienate her trying to explain the magic, she very well might turn her back on you. And you can’t protect what ye can’t get near.”
“And you don’t think last night did that already?”
“It matters not how she feels about you now; she’s involved whether ye wish her to be or not.” Kenzie started walking again. “So it looks as if you’ll have to use that arrogant Irish charm of yours, my friend, if ye wish to remain close enough to your woman to keep her safe.”
Maddy sat on a stool in Eve’s store, trying not to drop crumbs on the floor as she slathered the miniature loaf of banana bread she’d stolen off the table with butter. “So you honestly don’t think all the stuff that’s been happening around here lately isn’t it bit strange?” she asked Eve. “I mean, really, you had to rebuild your home into a virtual fortress because of all the weird storms that keep hitting the bay. And that was no moose we saw that night; that was the same creature that ate that bear and those kayakers said they saw in Dragon Cove. And now there’s a rumor about a mermaid going around. Oh, and let’s not forget the pack of coyotes that chased us last night,” she said, giving an involuntary shiver.
“So they’re no longer wolves the size of ponies?” Eve asked.
Maddy gave her a sheepish grin. “I’ve decided I had a lot more to drink last night than I realized. So to block out my . . . um . . . lovemaking debacle, I instead built the coyote thing up to mythic proportions.” She shrugged. “It’s the best explanation I can come up with, considering I broke the front and back windows out of William’s brand-new truck by hitting two of the poor animals.”
“Did you tell anyone about last night?” Eve asked, perusing the baskets for something to snatch for herself.
“Are you kidding?” Maddy snorted. “My cousin mistook a harbor seal or porpoise for a woman, and now the entire town is saying Trace Huntsman saw a mermaid.” She widened her eyes in mock horror. “Dragons and mermaids in Midnight Bay, oh, my!” she whispered, breaking into laughter.
Eve snatched a cinnamon roll out of one of the baskets, unwrapping it as she walked over and sat down behind the counter. “Personally, I think it’s mass hysteria,” Eve said. “You know, like when we were walking down that dark road and heard a noise, and suddenly every tree looked like the bogeyman. Well, somebody saw what they decided was a dragon, and suddenly we have all sorts of mythological creatures running around. Add a couple of freak storms into that mix, and Midnight Bay has become the new Twilight Zone.” She broke off a piece of the gooey roll but stopped with it halfway to her mouth and smiled at Maddy. “And that, my friend, is how legends are born, which conveniently ups the tourist trade, which in turn ups our incomes. I’m sorry Trace got stuck being the brunt of the latest rumor, but tell him if it’s any consolation, every store owner in town thinks he’s a hero,” she finished, popping the piece of roll in her mouth then immediately licking her fingers.
“Yeah, well, I know it’s all a bunch of malarkey, but I didn’t imagine those coyotes stalking us last night, and that’s why I’m not taking any chances. At least not until the game warden hunts them down and shoots them.”
“What do you mean, not taking any chances?” Eve asked around another bite of roll. She stopped chewing. “Exactly what is that gleam in your eye all about?”
Maddy nudged her purse on the floor with her foot. “I dug out my forty-caliber Glock, and I intend to carry it everywhere from now on.”
Eve swallowed, her eyes having gone huge. “You have a gun in your purse? An honest-to-God handgun?”
“Well, my dad’s 30–30 rifle sure as hell won’t fit in there.”
“But Maddy, you can’t run around with a gun in your purse!”
“I have a permit that says I can.”
“You do? You actually got a permit to carry a concealed weapon? When? You just saw the . . . coyotes last night.”
“Oh, I’ve had a permit since I was twenty-one.” She shrugged. “And for some silly reason, I’ve kept renewing it ever since I got it.”
“But why did you get it in the first place?” Eve gasped. “You divorced Billy when you were twenty-one! But I thought the two of you parted on good terms. Did he threaten you or something?” she ended in a whisper.
“Billy? Of course not! He’s the one who bought me the gun.” Maddy smiled at her friend’s confusion and decided she might as well add to it. “It was a divorce gift from Billy. He bought me the gun, went to the firearms safety class with me, and then helped me get my permit.”
“But why?” Eve repeated.
Maddy shrugged again. “I didn’t move back home until my dad died. I rented a house halfway between here and Oak Harbor when we got divorced, and Billy said he didn’t like the idea of my living alone with a three-year-old kid, so the least he could do was make sure I could protect myself.”
“But what about Sarah? Maddy, you can’t run around with a loaded gun in your purse. You have a child who could get hold of it.”
“Have you ever tried to work the action on a forty-caliber Glock?”
“I don’t even know what a Glock is!”
“It’s what they call a Tupperware gun, because half of it is made from ballistic plastic so it won’t be so heavy—though when it’s full of bullets it’s not exactly light. But I have all I can do to jack a shell in the chamber myself, so Sarah certainly couldn’t. And it’s really only sort-of loaded. In fact, that’s why Billy didn’t want me to have a revolver; because you just have to pull the trigger on most of those.”
Eve’s gaze dropped to Maddy’s purse before slowly rising back to her. “You honest to God are walking around with a gun?”
“Drunk or not, something attacked us last night, and I don’t intend to ever find myself in that kind of helpless situation again. Instead of falling asleep last night, every time I closed my eyes, all I could see were huge, pointy fangs and glowing red eyes, and all I could think of were vampires and werewolves.” Maddy suddenly had a thought and jumped up off the stool, brushing the crumbs from her hands. “I should use the rest of my lunch break to go to the library and see if silver bullets kill werewolves like they do vampires.” She straightened from picking up her purse and canted her head. “I wonder if gun stores even sell silver bullets.”
“Madeline Kimble! Will you get serious,” Eve hissed, walking around the counter and snatching her purse from her. Her arm dropped, nearly dropping the purse on the floor. “My God, it weighs a ton!” She spread the flaps to peek inside. “Where is it? I don’t see any gun.”
Maddy took the purse from her, held it by the strap, and pulled down a hidden zipper between the two compartments. “Billy also bought me the purse when he bought the gun; see, it’s a holster purse. It has a secret padded compartment in the middle, and you access it from the outside.”
Eve was gaping at her again but then suddenly pulled Maddy’s hand away and reached inside the compartment herself. She stilled, and looked at Maddy. “You’re sure it’s not loaded?”
“There are bullets in the magazine but not in the chamber. What, you think I want to shoot myself in the hip if I bump into anything? Not that it would go off; it also has a safety.” She looked toward the front door and then nodded at Eve. “Go ahead, pull it out. I know you’re not afraid of firearms; you hunted with your dad all the time.”
“I carried the binoculars, and he carried the rifle,” she said, even as her hand emerged holding the pistol. “Holy shit, Maddy, this is a small cannon.”
“Billy said just showing it to anyone bothering me would probably be enough to make them run like hell, because most guys won’t stick around very long when they see a woman with a gun in her hand. But if that doesn’t work, I just have to fire at the ground, and they’ll skedaddle.”
“When was the last time you shot it? Don’t you have to practice regularly?”
“After we went home this morning, I dug it out of our gun safe, dropped Sarah off at rec, then drove to Pinkham’s gravel pit before work.” She grinned broadly. “And I blew three beer cans to smithereens from fifty feet away.”
Eve slid the gun back into the compartment with a grin. “You know what? I say good for you. I like the idea of knowing you can take care of yourself.”
“And my daughter and Mom and even my residents. What if those coyotes really are rabid, and they show up on the River Run grounds when people in wheelchairs and using walkers are outside? We’d never get everyone inside in time.”
“Are you going to tell your boss about the gun?”
“Heck, no—Doris would have a coronary. I’m legal, and as far as I’m concerned, only you and I have to know I’m carrying it. I especially don’t want Mom finding out.”
“What about William? Are you at least going to tell him?”
“What for?”
Eve arched a brow. “You don’t think it’s only fair to warn a man that the woman he’s dating is armed?”
“If we were dating, then . . . maybe I’d tell him.”
“You and William are no longer dating? After he blew your socks—I mean your stockings off three times last night? Um, does he know you’re not dating?”
Maddy slung the strap onto her shoulder, only to wince when the heavy purse slammed her hip. “If he can’t figure out that last night wasn’t exactly a woman’s idea of a fun time, then maybe he really did fly in from another planet.”
Maddy looked her friend directly in her eyes. “What’s going on, Eve? How come William seemed to know that the shadow he saw wasn’t just some dog? And how come Kenzie didn’t even question him when William told him to go get Mom and Sarah? And they spoke in some language I’ve never heard before. Who are these two mystery men who just showed up in Midnight Bay, one soon after the other? You know I love Kenzie and that I’m really happy for you, but honestly, Eve, your husband is more than a little bit old-fashioned. I know we tease each other about him being your knight in shining leather, but Kenzie is . . . he’s . . . there’s something . . .” She sighed. “All this strange stuff started happening right around the time he moved to town. And last night, I think William scared me more than the coyotes did; he was so controlled and . . . focused. And as I stared at your storm shutters trying to fall asleep, the only thing I kept thinking about was how much he reminded me of Trace.” Maddy touched Eve’s shoulder. “Will you please tell me who Kenzie and William really are and what’s going on? I know you know, because you wouldn’t be acting so calm about last night if you didn’t.”
Eve got such a pained look in her eyes that Maddy’s chest started to hurt.
“I-I can’t tell you,” Eve whispered, giving her a wrenchingly sad smile as she reached out and took Maddy’s hand, and held it between hers. “I love you like a sister, but please don’t ask me to break my word to my husband. I can tell you this much, though: William and Kenzie are noble, caring, capable men, and I would trust either of them with my life—and with the life of my child. And so can you, Maddy. No matter what happens in the coming days, please, please, trust William.”
Maddy pulled her hand away to hug herself. “Okay, now you’re freaking me out. What’s going to happen in the coming days?”
Maddy jumped when the bell over the door suddenly tinkled, and Eve pulled her toward the counter when a customer walked in. “That’s something you’ll have to ask William,” she said softly. “But until he tells you what’s going on, you’re just going to have to trust him. And you can trust Kenzie, too. And me,” she finished, plastering a smile on her face when the customer approached them.
“I-I’ll see you later,” Maddy said, more than a little confused as she turned away. Feeling as if her very best friend in the whole world had just punched her in the stomach, she quietly walked out the door.