~

Are you kidding me!

“Eejit!” I bit out at the thought of him having one over on me. “You almost floored me.” I lied, truth be told; I had never felt so safe and secure in anyone’s arms before.

“I think you have that the wrong way round. I saved your pride from hitting…”

“Put me down, or you’ll be the one getting hit, you big oaf,” I hissed out, just as my perfect hearing caught the sound of my sister, with her perfect blooming timing, coming from the kitchen. There I was in Jack Mackie’s arms like a bride on the threshold.

I was never living this moment down.

“She’s not for sale; we do food, coffee, and other beverages. I’d advise putting her down because that cat has claws,” Moira said, looking about as pleased as a woman could.

You’d have thought that she’d just tasted chocolate for the very first time.

Nope, not living this down anytime soon.

“I’ll have coffee, you can keep your sister,” Jack said, and I gasped inwardly at the nerve of the man. Cheeky blinder. I had a good mind to zap him.

“That’s what they all say,” Moira shrugged, and I could have zapped her as well, but I was too intent on finding my feet and not giving either of them the satisfaction of watching me face plant the floor.

“Eejit,” I muttered, taking a long moment to distract my temper by smoothing down my clothes.

“Weren’t you told never to darken our door again?” Moira said, and I managed a grunt of approval.

“That was your house, and I didn’t think you meant it,” Jack said, and tried his sexy smile out on my sister, she snorted in contempt.

“Not very bright, are you?” she tossed back, and I cheered inside.

“I’m bright enough to know that I need your help,” Jack said, and my heart lurched.

“So, you didn’t come here just…for the coffee?” Moira shot a quick look in my direction, and I glared at her. I knew what she meant; she’d thought the thoughtless human being had come here to make things right with me, well, Pah! It was Jack Mackie, what did she expect, that the man had grown a conscience or something?

“Yesterday there was some dead sheep found on the south of the Island…”

“Oh, you are seriously not even going to try to lay the blame of that on…” I bit out every word as my temper rose within me. Hit him with a skillet – I was going to throw a car at his thick head.

“They were mutilated and…” Jack kept going as if I hadn’t just warned him.

“Out!” I lifted my hand and pointed the way just in case he was as daft as he looked.

“Maggie…” he started, turning those soulful eyes on me and pleading with those expressive dancing eyebrows, but addressing me with a tone that said he was talking to a child.

“Don’t Maggie me, and don’t be doing that thing you do with those two little bushy things over your eyes, you…” I bit down on a million more swear words.

“My – eyebrows?” he looked amused, more than amused, his eyes were laughing again. I’d like to see how damn sexy they looked when he had two black eyes.

“Out! If you can’t remember where you left the front door just retrace your steps. That should be easy for a detective though, right?” 

   I wasn’t waiting for another round of dancing eyebrows, pleading looks, or Jack Mackie trying to dig himself out of the hole he’d gotten into, and I stalked toward Moira, the counter, and the sanctuary of the kitchen.

“You’re being unreasonable…” he called, and I spluttered out a chuckle of disbelief.

“Yeah, says you.”

“Anyone would think…”

“That a detective had two brain cells to rub together?” Moira asked. “You’re living proof that’s not always the case.”

“It’s just a question,” Jack said.

“And I have your answer right here,” Moira said, and I saw her flip that middle finger at him, and that made me feel a little better. Something needed to, because I was headed to the kitchen, and there were skillets in there.

 

~

 

“The nerve of that man!” Moira announced as she came through the kitchen door to find me elbow deep in chocolate. She froze in place, cocked an eyebrow, and lifted a hand to cover her eyes. “I’ll back out slowly, just don’t attack, remember – we’re kin.”

“Oh, hush up,” I grumbled before attacking the creamy milk chocolate bar like a zombie at an all you could eat human buffet.

“Mutilated sheep, the cheek. Like we’d know anything about that,” Moira grumbled as she went over to the side and started to make a pot of tea.

“We’re witches, of course, we’re into cattle mutilation,” I grumbled with a mouthful of sugary goodness.

“The dark arts,” she snorted a chuckle, tossing me a pitying look back over her shoulder.

“I guess he missed the chicken shed out back where we breed our own so we can kill them with a hatpin…” I grumbled.

“While dancing naked under the moonlight…”

“Jumping over an open fire…”

“And painting our bodies in blood,” she chuckled as she put the pot of tea and a cup down in front of me. “He’s a jerk.”

“Sexy though, right?” I covered my mouth as I spoke so as not to shoot chocolate bits at her.

“If you like that sort of thing,” she chuckled again.

“Not hairy enough for you?” I snorted a chuckle.

“Don’t make me make you bite your tongue,” she warned me, and I knew she meant it because there was a glint in her eye that dared me on.

“Teeth not pointy enough?” I couldn’t help myself, and the look on her face was priceless. I wish I had my camera.

“Just you sit there and put on twenty pounds while I work,” she hissed, and I hadn’t felt the sting of her magic yet, but I wasn’t about to push my luck. Oh, heck, of course, I was.

“Did you want me to get shaving foam for Ross or a gallon of hair remover?” She turned in place by the doorway, and I yelped, but you know what? That sting was worth it.

 

~

 

“Perhaps I should have a word with the detective,” Duncan said from his place beside me at the dinner table.

I guess my mother was still mad at me for something, putting me next to the vampire again, but I didn’t know what I’d done this time to incur her wrath.

“Do that voodoo that you do so well?” Moira muttered.

“Nobody needs to get mind f-oodoo-ed,” I said, almost forgetting where I was and curing at the dinner table. I like my lap without a bowl of soup in it, and I was already in mother’s bad books.

“I’ll be gentle,” Duncan offered me the kind of grin that should have come with a little fang, and I sneered back at him.

“I bet you say that to all your victims,” I countered.

“Only when I don’t mean it,” he whispered back.

“Watch yourself, Eileen, this one bites.” I leaned forward to get a good look at my sister, who was about to shove soup into her mouth, and when she hesitated in mid-slurp, her eyes flicking towards me, I crossed my eyes and offered her a toothy grin.

She snorted that soup and choked. Job done.

“Behave,” Dad moaned.

“They’re just having a little fun,” Gran said. “You were young and had a sense of humor once.”

“Pot-kettle,” he grumbled.

“I’ve been told I have a sunny disposition,” Gran shot back.

“By that they meant you flame grill people,” he muttered again, taking his life in his hands.

“Well, aren’t you a little ray of sunshine tonight?” Gran bit out.

“I don’t like this family being accused of cattle mutilation and dark arts,” dad said, resting his elbow on the table and jabbing his fork at the air. “That detective needs…”

“Air holes in his skin and you have the fork to do it?” Gran snapped back, and we all watch the verbal tennis match with interest. It was always fun when the conversation got lively.

“I’m serious – that man…”

“Has accused us of murder, what’s a little cattle mutilation?” Gran shrugged. “Do you think the neighbors won’t let us babysit their sheep if this gets out?”

I chuckled into my hand, others weren’t so generous, and Ross spat his soup clean off his spoon with laughter.