Chapter One
Aimee pulled her car into a spot at the rear of the mercantile. She’d walk over to Katie Faith’s house from there because her driveway was currently housing construction stuff they’re using on some remodeling going on.
The breeze on the back of her neck was unfamiliar, but she sort of liked it. She loved the soft fuzz at the base of her skull.
She headed across the lawns, pausing to breathe in the life her best friend had brought with her when she’d moved in. Roses burst forth over every planter box. They climbed up trellises and spilled across the edges of all the walks.
In December, this sight would be totally unreal in any other place but Diablo Lake. In Diablo Lake, roses in December meant a witch lived there and gave the earth her power.
A bunch of gorgeous men stood outside her best friend’s place, all sweaty from building things. She paused to take it in, because life presented you blessings and it was disrespectful not to enjoy and appreciate them.
Hot werewolves with tools. It should be a calendar. Aimee made a mental note because, come to think of it, what a fantastic fundraiser idea for the organization she worked for.
She hummed her delight at the thought, and being werewolves with super hearing, the group of ’em all looked in her direction. They hadn’t been alarmed, which meant they’d recognized her scent and most likely her magic.
“Hey, y’all,” she called out, pretending she’d been thinking about cobbler instead of pecs and abs glistening in the sun.
Jace, Katie Faith’s husband and most assuredly a gorgeous werewolf, paused, his eyes widening and his smile of welcome dropping into surprise. “You cut your hair.”
Suddenly she went very shy and sort of embarrassed before reminding herself that hair grew back.
“I like it.” Damon, one of Jace’s brothers, stepped a little closer. “It’s got blue in it. I didn’t see it at first because your hair is already dark. Saucy. Diablo Lake definitely needs more saucy.”
Saucy she could do.
Moment of panic passed, she said, “Thanks. I just thought a change would be nice and since the wedding is over and I don’t have to worry about pictures, I figured why not do something big?”
Katie Faith came out onto the porch. “Did I hear Aimee out here?” Then she gasped, rushing over to get up in Aimee’s space to get a look at her new haircut.
“It’s fantastic. Flirty. So sexy. Mysterious even. My God, why do you have such perfect features for short hair?”
Aimee, used to the way her best friend talked, understood it was all compliments and let herself be drawn into the house as she said her goodbyes to the others over her shoulder.
Once they were out of immediate earshot—though if they’d wanted to, the wolves could easily overhear though it was considered good manners to attempt not to eavesdrop—Aimee grabbed Katie Faith’s hand.
“Spill this story.” Katie Faith pointed at Aimee’s head with her free hand. “This is a reaction haircut. With some get-me-over-something colored tips.”
“This calls for liquor.”
Katie Faith nodded and led the way. In the large and old-school kitchen, her friend poured them each a shot of tequila and then she clinked her glass to Aimee’s. “All right. Let’s hear it.”
“So, Bob called me yesterday. Totally out of the blue.”
Three years before she’d met Bob through her job as a rural social worker. He worked for one of the agencies the grant that funded her job came from.
They’d been on and off over those years. Meeting when she went to Knoxville to check in with some of her clients and at the main office of the social service agency she worked for.
Katie Faith’s “bullshit” eyebrow rose. “Did he, now? In a booty-call way?”
Aimee got up to paw around through the cabinets until she found some chips and came back over.
“Well, it was weird. You know, he and I finally and truly broke things off more than six months back now. I haven’t seen him or spoken to him since. And, well, I know this sounds mean, but I really don’t miss him. It was fun while it lasted, but it was never going anywhere permanent.”
Even if they had both wanted to get more serious, there was still the problem of him not being from Diablo Lake. Bringing a human into town was a big deal. Marrying them into the community took dedication and a real match.
That was never what it had been with Bob.
“So,” Aimee continued, “he told me he wanted to meet up because he’d been thinking about me and I was like, ‘Dude, no, really it’s okay. I’ve moved on, I’m not mad but I’m done.’ So then he’s like, ‘Please can you just meet me? Just a few minutes.’”
She tore open the bag and stuffed her face in between the next two shots.
Katie Faith leaned back in her chair and gave her an appraising look before shaking her head slowly. “Oh, Aimee-girl, you’re going to kill me with this story, aren’t you? Last time you took this many shots of liquor in a short period of time it was the night I got left at the altar.”
Aimee snorted, remembering that gawdawful scene when Darrell Pembry left her best friend waiting at the church to run off with another woman. “Well, this isn’t as horrible as that, at least. However, you don’t even know half. Just wait for it.” She waved a hand. “So it was Friday and that’s when I go down to Knoxville anyway. I agreed to meet him for coffee. Because, girl, no one gets between me and lunch and if it was going to go badly, I didn’t want to mess up a meal.”
They bumped fists. “So say we all,” Katie Faith intoned, which made her laugh.
“I get there and he’s sitting at a table already. I go over and he gives me the gracious-ex cheek kiss and hug and I’m like, he was a pretty good guy, I hope this can be cordial but I’m not feeling any tinglies at all. Not a one.”
And at one time, they’d really had them.
“And then.” She took a bracing breath because even remembering, it filled her with so much emotion. “Sweet, sweet baby Jesus. The man tells me several things. First, he’s married. Has been for fifteen years.” Nausea rose again at the feeling of betrayal that’d washed over her.
“Get out!” Katie Faith yelled it so loud Jace pounded into the room, looking alarmed. She winced at the sight and gave him a sheepish smile. “Sorry, honey. Aimee just told me something totally awful.”
Jace turned his gaze Aimee’s way, staring carefully. “Do you need us to teach someone a lesson for you?”
Aww, he’d just offered to beat a boy up for getting fresh like a real big brother would.
“As much pleasure as that would give me, I’m good. Thanks though,” Aimee told him.
He nodded once before walking from the room, telling everyone to get back to work.
“But wait, there’s more.” Aimee thanked Katie Faith for the shot she poured. “Hoo, I’m going to be so drunk. I’m going to say something unwise and probably be hungover tomorrow. I’m making bad choices. Ugh. Bob also told me he has five children. Five.” That still made her want to run him over with her car.
“I’m going to Knoxville right now to punch him right in the butthole!” Katie Faith snarled.
Thank God for friends. “That’s a really good one. I’ll tuck that aside for future use,” Aimee told her.
“Honey, I’m so sorry. What a maggot-eating shitlord. What did you say when he told you this?”
“You’re on fire tonight. I need to write that one down and you know how much I love shitlord as an insult. Bob is a total maggot-eating shitlord. So when he busted out that he had kids and a wife I said, ‘What the fuck did you just say?’ And I may have said it loud enough to get a look from a woman nearby. Then I said to her, ‘He just told me he’s married and has five kids. After dating me for nearly three years.’”
Katie Faith hooted with laughter. “Did you really? I am so bummed I missed that part.”
“She said, ‘You go ‘head on, honey, that deserves all the bad words.’ Then she told him she hoped his pecker fell off. It was a pretty righteous moment. Anyway I was like, ‘Why did you tell me this now? We broke up six months ago, I haven’t thought of you in about five and a half months. How could you involve me in something so shady?’ And then he says he’s also got a porn-addiction problem so he has to come to me as one of his steps to make amends. I tossed my still very warm drink at him and stormed out. Then I spent too much money on some boots and cut all my hair off and got blue tips because I’m a cliché.”
Katie Faith shook her head. “You’re not a cliché at all. That blue looks so cute. I’m surprised you didn’t call me for bail money. I might need it after that. What are you going to do? We can borrow Jace’s truck, load it with our friends and hunt him down. I have extra baseball bats.”
This was why she’d come to see her friend. Aimee laughed, wiping away an embarrassed tear. “I was already done with him, you know? I would never have been with him if I’d known he was married. So I don’t feel guilty. Not that way. But he used me. Made me into the other woman. I really hate that. And I hate that he told me all that to make himself feel better. It only made me feel worse! I’m probably going to take a five-hour shower now. I feel so bad for his wife and kids. How could I not have seen?”
She’d asked herself that very question over and over. But the place he’d met her was an apartment. One she thought was his and there was no way a family of seven lived there. It was a one-bedroom condo a single man lived in. Ugh.
“He had a single guy apartment. I wonder if it’s his or if he borrowed it when I came to see him?”
“Like one of those fuck pads the guys in the movies get.” Katie Faith nodded and Aimee settled in. When her friend got liquored up she said the best, weirdest stuff. “Remember that one we saw? The guy from The Lord of the Rings movies was in it. He was a Cheaty McCheaterson and he and his douche-canoe friends all shared this condo where they took their side action back.”
Aimee nodded. “That guy’s hot. But that one had murder in it. Ew. No. I hope I wasn’t using the murder-my-mistress sheets.”
“That would be a cliché for sure.” Katie Faith gave a dramatic sigh. “He’s a pig. Good riddance. Thank God you used condoms. Your hair looks totally adorable and lastly, you didn’t see because he’s a cheater who crafted a life on the side meant to fool everyone in what was most definitely not a murder fuck pad.”
With one last sigh, Aimee said, “So, that was my day. How was yours?”
Katie Faith, still frowning, hugged her tight before getting up. “We need to eat something. My dad brought soup to the Counter at closing time tonight. Since my mom has been keeping him at home to avoid all the drama in town, he’s been cooking like crazy. Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”
She puttered around the kitchen—one of the rooms they’d remodel come spring—getting the soup heated as Aimee let out some more of her guilt and anxiety.
But now the situation in town—heightened tensions between the shifters—came into focus once more.
A different sort of anxiety.
Katie Faith’s father had suffered a heart attack that’d nearly taken his life just four months before. Her family had needed her for support and to run the soda fountain and it had brought Aimee’s best friend home, had given Katie Faith real true love and had come at a time to be a match to dry grass.
The wolves’ constant back-and-forth had dragged the witches into the fray. Which had involved Katie Faith and, in turn, had only made her father’s health more precarious, and her normally really easygoing mother actually got into a public brawl just the month before.
The town was a magical place. Literally. But the more drama and anger that was dredged up, the harder the land had to work to connect with the magic of all the witches. Everyone was at odds and it was exhausting.
“Dude, this is bananas. Like every last bit of today has been absolutely ridiculous and all this town stuff is bonkers. I stopped by to see your dad yesterday on my way home. He’s looking better, but his energy is a little frantic.”
All her life, Aimee’s magic had been the nurturing type. She wanted to make things better for people and animals. And plants too.
She was a green witch. Happy to bring life wherever she went. It meant she was able to use those gifts in dealing with clients because she was empathic. Avery, Katie Faith’s dad, was anxious for his family. Resentful that he’d been weakened and guilty because he felt he didn’t do his job.
Aimee helped relieve some of his stress, talked him into a better place where he could more easily see he was doing so much more than he’d thought to protect his family.
“My mom told me you hung out with him for an hour having tea and listening to his country music. Thanks for that.” Katie Faith had her own frantic energy, as she’d been at the center of a lot of the mess in town. Though here, in this big solid house, it was calmer. More steady.
“Your dad is great and he made hummingbird cake, so naturally I had to stay for tea.” He’d started to loosen up, let go of the negative energy he’d been clinging to. “I encouraged your mom to get him away from town more often. I talked to Wade and he told me he’s going to be traveling for work and he needs a house sitter to hang with the animals, deal with the gardens, all that stuff. I suggested he call your mom so that’ll happen soon too.”
Wade was Aimee’s brother. He’d left Diablo Lake to settle in Asheville after college. He did employee training seminars on tech support so he traveled several times a year. His place was near enough, but far enough away that Katie Faith’s parents could go and not feel guilty but be out of the drama.
“What a big old Softie Softerson you are.” Katie Faith put a bowl of mushroom soup in front of her.
“Am not. I’m heartless and cruel. Oh, and I’m a strumpet.”
Katie Faith snickered. “A strumpet? I was thinking more a floozie with loose morals.”
Aimee nodded as she thought that over while she ate her soup. “I’ll have to consider that.”
“I couldn’t talk them out of the Consort meeting though,” Katie Faith said of the group of witches in Diablo Lake and their regular meeting. “I tried but my mom said she wasn’t going anywhere until she got her say. So.”
Jace wandered in, grabbed beers and left once more, pretending he hadn’t been checking on them.
“He’s so cute to pretend we don’t know he’s listening to all this,” Katie Faith told her with an eye roll.
A while back her friend had told her of how nosy and bossy and in-your-business wolves were, and the more Aimee hung around them, the better she understood what she’d meant.
But at the heart of it with Jace was his wanting to protect Katie Faith’s well-being. And as Aimee cared about that too, she gave him some leeway.
If only the same could be said of all the wolves in town. The constant tussling over power had always been part of life. But lately it had been much more personal and hateful as some old grievances had resurfaced.
The witches had been pulled into the whole mess and they’d all had it. All that negative energy would degrade the heart of power all those who lived in Diablo Lake were protected by.
That heart of power the witches had taken an oath to protect, back in the very beginning of their peculiar little town in the middle-of-nowhere Tennessee, also happened to feed their magical power. The earth fed their magic so they were being impacted on multiple levels.
The Consort, run by the elder witches in town, had called a meeting to discuss the situation the following week.
“At least it’s not before eight in the morning.” Aimee didn’t much mind getting up early. But on a Saturday when she’d had the week she had?
Katie Faith curled her lip at the very idea of getting up that early, though she’d do it if she had to. As her friend was a nightmare of a human being before she had coffee, Aimee was relieved on that front as well.
“Why don’t you stay over? You can sleep in the spare room. We can watch something scary, even.” Katie Faith’s hopeful expression made her feel so much better.
“Thank you. But I’m feeling better now. I mean, I wasn’t bummed we weren’t together and now it makes me even more glad. I just feel dirty, and not the good way. I’ll walk home.”
“No, you won’t. There are a jillion wolves here, and one of them hasn’t been doing tequila shots so they can drive you home. But you don’t have to go just yet, right? I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”
“You got married a week ago. I’ve seen you three days this week so far. I think we’re okay.” Aimee rolled her eyes, glad to have a friend like Katie Faith.
“Being married has been pretty cool.”
“So you two still bang and stuff? Now that the thrill is gone?” Aimee teased.
“It’s a chore, but we make it work. I mean, someone has to do Jace, it may as well be me.”
“Glad you make the sacrifice.”