Chapter Twenty
Katie Faith stepped back to look over Aimee’s shoulder into the mirror so she could check out the outfit she’d just helped zip up.
“Huh. Do I look mayoral?” she asked Katie Faith. Aimee had chosen a navy blue dress with some white piping along the edges of the seams. Classic but with a little flair.
Her hair she’d just had trimmed a few days prior so it gleamed, laying perfectly around her face. Aimee felt like she maybe exuded some solid steadfast energy.
“You look pretty and competent, which is always nice. Nothing too tight or loose. Your knockers aren’t out. Cute shoes but if anyone messes with you, whip one off and start toward them like my momma does,” Katie Faith advised.
Aimee snickered at the thought of doing that to Dwayne. “I’m going to have dreams about that. What fun I’d have.”
“Have you heard from Mac?”
“Nothing since that text this afternoon. He went off on some errand with Huston and Everett I think. They were all here when I left for work this morning.”
“Something pack related, most likely.”
For the first time ever, Aimee wasn’t sure what to share with Katie Faith. She wanted to talk about some of this pack stuff, but in a way, Katie Faith wasn’t so much the enemy, but her pack was at odds with Mac’s and Aimee didn’t want to betray either one of them.
She settled on “Probably.”
“I can’t believe they’ve been avoiding him this whole time. How’s he supposed to run Pembry if the Patron couple aren’t even around and won’t say where they are? I mean, tacky. So tacky,” Katie Faith said.
“He’s got to come back tonight so Mac will be able to connect then.” And the Pembry wolves had already begun to shift their fidelity to Mac. Every time they were in town together, she felt it, that tug at the power Mac carried as Prime. Each wolf that showed up at their back door needing a hug or a pep talk, everyone who looked to Mac instead of Dwayne or Scarlett, had added power to Mac’s.
Even just in the few days the Patrons had been gone, the weight had clearly shifted to Mac and she wondered how Dwayne would take it. Worse, how Darrell would take it because he was still living in a dream world even though his father knew what was coming and was about to toss him out an airlock without warning.
If Darrell hadn’t been such a turd, she’d feel sorry for him. But since he’d been on the run, hiding from whatever punishment Mac was going to administer, she wasn’t going to let herself feel bad.
“I’ll drive you over. Your mom and mine will meet us there with the dads and most of the rest of the Consort. You’re going to do amazing. You look very leadery and cute and you’re so smart Dwayne doesn’t have a chance. He’s just ego and hairspray.”
“I’m going to keep that in mind every time I look at him tonight.” That’d be the trick to keeping him out of her head in a negative way.
“Let’s get moving then. Grab your coat. Just because a hot-blooded shifter keeps your bed warm doesn’t mean it’s not cold outside.”
Aimee rolled her eyes at Katie Faith. “Okay, Mom. I think I got it.”
“Don’t get an attitude with me, young lady,” Katie Faith teased back as they headed out. “Are you okay that he’s not here? In your place I might be panicking. Then again, in your place I’d have me, so then I’d stop because duh.”
“I wouldn’t have chosen this even six months ago. I’d have been nervous then too. But at this point I feel like I got this. He said he’d be back for the town hall and so he will but I admit it might make me more nervous if he was with me at every moment. Tonight he’s still Pembry.”
Katie Faith ended up having to park way down the street. She offered to let Aimee out in front of city hall, but she preferred to go in with her friend at her side so they walked together, raising a hand in greeting here and there as they went.
“Sure he’s Pembry. Like I’m Dooley. But he’s about you. You’re the best person for the job, even if it is against his dad. He’s a wolf, but he’s not blindly supporting Dwayne. Jace says he’s got a good head on his shoulders.”
“He was horrified by those rumors, you know.” Gutted that his damned parents had put him in that position and then ran off.
They didn’t deserve to be Patrons of the pack. Worthless as a tit on a boar, as her grandpa used to say.
“We’ve all got those people in our family. Granted, there are a lot more on the Pembry front porch just now. But none of us can say a whole lot on that.” Katie Faith snickered.
As they entered the city council chambers, Aimee couldn’t help but smile when she noted how packed it already was.
Though she was leading in the polls—which was to say the forty or so people asked in a call-in poll they’d conducted two days before—she really wanted the people in Diablo Lake to realize the town and the health of the magic protecting them all was something everyone was responsible for and a part of.
Wanted neighbors talking about what was best for everyone, not just their family or their group, be they witches or shifters. And that’s what had happened, despite the trouble she knew Scarlett kept trying to cause.
No matter, because this was about Diablo Lake and it felt like a majority of her citizens were paying attention for the right reasons.
The steady hum of conversation was laced with some raised voices here and there, a little tension, but so far it seemed to just be neighbors chatting and discussing things without getting too heated.
One of the council staff saw her and waved her back to be fitted with her microphone so Katie Faith hugged her tight and said she’d be right there in the front row to cheer her on.
“Where’s Mayor Dumbass?” Sherry, Dwayne’s assistant, asked quietly. “He’s been completely out of contact for days.”
Surprised and totally delighted enough to relax a little, Aimee laughed. “I figured you’d know. I’d tell you to ask Mac, but he’s not here either. I say if he doesn’t show up I automatically win by default and I’ll take office tomorrow.”
Sherry gave her a keen look and then laughed. “I like you, girl. We’re going to work well together once you take over. Because whether he shows up or not, he’s not going to win. His time is over in a lot of ways.”
But on that very mysterious note, Mayor Dumbass—and she needed to stop thinking that because she’d end up using it to his face and it’d be bad—came in through to the antechamber where they’d been putting on Aimee’s microphone and testing the sound system.
At her side, Sherry made a sound that hit Aimee right as she got a snootful of Dwayne’s expression and his energy.
“That pissant is up to something. Watch your back,” Sherry whispered before she headed over to her boss.
Her heart raced as worry began to ease back into her belly. The energy he bled off was mean and dark. Darrell strolled in, making things even worse.
Her mom came through the doors and upon catching sight of her, rushed over with a smile.
“You look so pretty. I do love that dress so much.” She enfolded Aimee into a fierce hug. “What’s wrong?”
Aimee shook it off. Whatever he had up his sleeve, she’d deal with it. Wasn’t much like she could stop it. The man looked bound and determined to cause a ruckus of some sort.
“Did he say something to you? Because I have had more than enough bullshit from that man. I will take him out.” As she said it, she turned to Dwayne who’d just finished up.
“Lordamighty, Momma. What are you thinking?” Aimee stepped between them, breaking the eye contact.
And when she did, the land at her feet, the magic that lived in and fed Diablo Lake responded like a shield, snapping around her and deflecting Dwayne’s energy.
Cool!
Her mom’s eyes went wide. “Did you just do that?”
Aimee mouthed, “I think so!”
“You won’t be so high and mighty after tonight,” Darrell said under his breath as he escorted Dwayne out.
“Aren’t you still on the run from your punishment? I’ll let Mac know you’ve popped out from under that rock you’ve been hiding, shall I?” she called out, not feeling very professional.
Still, since she’d actually wanted to say, “Bitch, I’m motherfucking high and mighty because you’re a fucking tool,” she felt she’d done the better of the two options.
No matter how appealing the idea of knocking Dwayne Pembry and his son on their asses was.
“He needs to take it down a notch or I will be coming for him. This has gone on entirely too long and I am over it, as you kids say,” her mother told her. “That man was part of rumors about Katie Faith years back and he’s at it again, using his wife to do his dirty work.” She shook her head, disgusted. “So if he makes it his goal in life to mess with you that way, I will make it my goal in life to make him sorry for it. That’s my job as your mother and I won’t hear anything else about it.”
Her mom was about a million times scarier than her dad but a lot of people didn’t know that until they crossed her and it was too late.
“I get it. And I appreciate the support. Let’s just get this done, okay? Without fuss if possible. The election is next week. We can make it if we don’t let those jerks get under our skin.”
Her mother’s harrumph of annoyance told Aimee she’d gotten all she was going to by that point.
She walked out, her mom at her side and realized the room had filled up even more.
Darrell had disappeared but Scarlett sat in the front row with Samuel, who smiled at Aimee and waved.
She knew a lot of people in town didn’t trust Sam Pembry, but despite his mistakes—and he’d made a lot—Aimee really believed he was trying to change. And if you can’t get support when you’re trying to do the right thing, doing the right thing might get so difficult people quit and go back to the easy path of making bad choices.
He wasn’t the sum of the dumb crap he’d been up to since he was a teenager. Not at twenty-five. He had plenty of life in him, plenty of time to do better and that’s what she’d told him. And then wanted to cry because she could tell not a lot of people believed in him and his promises of reform. She understood that too. And gently reminded him that his best revenge was to make good choices and that eventually the right people would trust him again.
She really hoped that was true.
Mac wasn’t anywhere to be found, which made her frown a little. But her parents were there, with Katie Faith, Jace, a bunch of her wolves and Nadine and Avery. Witches and their magic had taken up chairs and lean space against the walls, their magic coursing through the room.
She drew strength from that. Her people there to support her at an anxious and important time.
Right as they finished up the introductions and launched into the first question, Darrell came in with a woman she knew wasn’t from Diablo Lake. Then Mac barreled in after them and a tense interchange took place at the back of the room.
But she kept answering, hoping it was nothing, but knowing it was something terrible. The energy of it seemed to creep ever closer to the stage and when Aimee finished and turned to Dwayne, he was still smirking at her with a mean light in his eyes.
“Before I answer your question,” Dwayne started, “I have something the folks in this town should know about my opponent.” He snapped his fingers, interrupting Darrell and Mac’s argument. “Boy, bring her up here and introduce her to the folks of Diablo Lake.”
The city council members and the moderator all started arguing, yelling that this was irregular and not in the rules but Dwayne ignored them as the woman finally approached the dais and turned a look at Aimee so full of hatred she realized right then who the stranger was.
“Aimee Benton had an affair with this woman’s husband for three years,” Darrell said into the mic he’d grabbed.
“You whore!” someone sounding an awful lot like one of Darrell’s friends, yelled out.
The slap of it stunned her for long moments as everything swirled around her. Naked humiliation washed over her. Her parents were there! Miz Rose. Nadine and Avery. And Mac. Oh dear God, what would he think?
Despite the horror of the situation, Aimee, as she looked back toward Bob’s wife, nearly drowned in the maelstrom of anxiety and upset rushing from her. The woman was on the very edge of losing her sanity and looking for something, anything to blame for it.
Aimee made a convenient target and no one who’d brought her there had even given a thought to what it would be like for Bob’s wife. Only how it would hurt Aimee.
The carelessness of it sent rage through her like nothing else in the campaign had done thus far and had her rushing down the steps toward the other woman, her magic seeking to soothe and calm. After this business was concluded though, she’d do everything she could to be sure Dwayne Pembry never held office again.
She let her magic trickle out slowly, siphoning out the anxiety, letting in the calm soothing energy in its place. Holding a hand, palm out, she said softly, gently, “I know you must be upset and feeling betrayed and confused. Would you like to sit down? You’re looking a little pale.”
“I don’t want anything from you people!”
In a regular town this sort of public display would be disturbing, but to an outsider the sight of shoving and posturing that the shifters got into and the magic that’d heated and grown sharp and barbed around the witches had been a nearly physical thing.
Her confusion seeped from her pores and broke Aimee’s heart.
Behind her there was a scuffle until Dwayne stood at her side, crowing about her scandals and how it made her unfit to be mayor.
That was the final straw.
Aimee spun to face him. “This woman has been horribly used already by her husband. And you and your son go and victimize her all over again. Just more men using her up to suit your motives. And for what? A job you sucked at and barely seemed to want until I showed interest.”
He pointed at her. “You’re a damned whore just like your friend and you think you can come in with your holier-than-thou attitude while you open your legs to married men? You think you can take my job and my son when you’re not worthy of either. You need to be knocked down a few pegs.”
Before she could do anything, it was Mac’s fist that shot out, popping his father smack in the jaw, sending him stumbling back several feet as people began to push and shove. There was yelling and punching and all that shifter nonsense. Blood already hung in the air, the greedy darkness of her power rose to echo it.
“Knock it off this instant!” Miz Rose waded in and got knocked aside in the scuffle.
Everything went silent for a moment until the gasps started at the sight of a little old woman getting sent reeling by a bunch of giant shifters who’d become a knot of fists and snarling.
Witches, determined to protect Miz Rose, waded into the fray to grab for her before she really got hurt.
Her dad had gone into cop mode and was shouting orders and using the force of his personal magic to push groups of shifters back, away from the stage.
God only knew where her mother was, but Dwayne better be hoping someone had gotten her out of there and out of striking distance until she cooled down.
At the double doors leading to the front walk, Jace hauled his wolves outside, though Aimee didn’t fail to notice the elbow he shot to Darrell’s head as he got close enough.
The utter chaos and violence of it was enough to snap her out of it. She turned and calmly but firmly took Bob’s wife’s elbow before steering her out of the main room. The other woman was stunned enough to let it happen, but the tumult of emotions still churned around her like a storm.
Aimee paused once they’d gotten to the back-hallway waiting room leading to the city administrative offices. She kept her voice as calm as possible. “I’m sorry. I know what you think. But you’re wrong. I had no idea he was married until long after I’d stopped seeing him. If I’d have known I never would have gone near him.”
“Why did you apologize then?”
“Because you’re a person and I’m a person too. I’m so sorry he betrayed you and I’m even sorrier you got dragged into something like this. You did nothing wrong.”
Bob’s wife sighed out on a sob. “They, the father and son, came to my house and told me, in front of my kids. There are pictures of him with other women. He told me you were one of them and they’d bring me to you to confront you.”
Oh, those assholes were going down. She’d find a spell to make Dwayne’s left nut swell up to the size of a softball and turn orange. Yeah. That would do it. He could suffer while he thought about how he had nothing left because he was such a spectacular dick he’d brought it all on himself.
“I can’t speak for Darrell and Dwayne. They’re also totally in the wrong here. But I didn’t know and maybe none of those other women did either.”
Katie Faith popped in, watching Bob’s wife warily. “I’m sorry you were used this way, ma’am, but Aimee did not know he was married. He’s a pig. I’m sorry about that too. The guy who brought you here? He cheated on me and stood me up at the altar, so I know from jerks, I tell you. But I also know the blame for this falls on your husband’s head, not hers. He has an apartment in the city. Did you know that?”
“Katie Faith!” Aimee exclaimed. “Not the time for that.”
“I knew it! He told me that apartment was something he and some of the people at his work paid for so if they needed a temporary shelter space for a client, they used it.” Her sobs turned into wails.
Seriously, how on earth did she miss what a spectacular garbage can Bob was?
Miz Rose entered, heading over, her gaze assessing Aimee’s emotional state first and then she turned her attention to Bob’s wife.
She pointed and said something under her breath and fortunately, the chair was close enough for them to drop Bob’s wife into, propping her so she wouldn’t fall off. Given the strength of Miz Rose’s knock-’em-out spell, Bob’s wife would be out awhile.
“I honestly don’t know why you won’t tell me that spell,” Aimee said. She’d been after it for years, but Miz Rose had told her she wasn’t ready for it.
“I think it might be time to share it with you. Not this moment though. Right now you need to tell me just what in the hell is going on here,” Miz Rose asked calmly.
Aimee told her, red faced and humiliated.
But by the end, Miz Rose shook her head, clucking her tongue. “How could they do this to you? They’ve just turned the town upside down, torn apart families. Quite possibly their own. Scarlett looks hopping mad at Dwayne so I don’t think she knew about this stunt.”
“That’s the least of the problems with this,” Katie Faith said. “Dwayne and Darrell violated the town rules. They sure as heck didn’t get permission to bring an outsider to town. She doesn’t know what we are, but she knows we’re not normal humans. Tomorrow she’ll have started to piece it all together and then what?”
Miz Rose nodded. “I’ll be making the charge on behalf of the Consort shortly. He’s unfit to hold office one more day and he’s most certainly unfit to hold governance over a pack of werewolves when he has no discipline at all. The magic in this town doesn’t much want to succor and nurture Dwayne Pembry. That could easily bleed down to the rest of the wolves in the pack and then what?”
“I feel kind of bad for the rest of the Pembrys though,” Aimee said. “Aside from a few, they’re all pretty nice.” And she most definitely felt bad for Mac, who’d either have to fall under his father’s rule after this terrible breach of the law, or challenge him immediately.
Neither thing would be easy for him.
“What if Mac doesn’t love me anymore?” she asked quietly.
“Mac punched his father in the face when he called you a whore. He still loves you. And he’ll know you well enough to talk to you before making any judgments.” Katie Faith frowned before hugging her tight. “Things are going to get harder before they get easier on that, though. Jace says all sorts of pack law stuff is about to happen as well. And in the end, if Mac is somehow so stupid and selfish he doesn’t love you, well, we’ll have to hate him forever then like his dumb brother Darrell.”
Nadine and TeeFaye barreled in and held up at the sight of the unconscious woman in the chair and the rest either crying or comforting the crier.
Her mother pulled her into a very tight hug. “We know the truth. I already told your dad about this so he knew as well. Even if the truth had been that you slept with a married man for years I’d still love you even as I kicked your butt for making bad choices. Luckily for us both you did the right thing.”
Aimee took a deep breath, letting these women make her feel better, and once she got herself centered again, she looked around them at the chair.
“What are we going to do about her?” she asked, tipping her chin toward the still unconscious Bob’s wife. “And we need a name because I can’t keep calling her Bob’s wife in my head.”
* * *
“She didn’t know.” Jace caught up to Mac as they stood on the grassy patch in front of city hall. “Did you? Were you part of this?”
Mac turned to Jace, wanting so much to punch someone else he could taste how good it would be to watch Dooley’s head snap back as blood spurted from his nose.
“You think I’d do that to her? Or to that sad woman they dragged into town? I found out this morning that he’d hired a private detective and that they’d dug something up on Aimee. I’ve been out all day trying to track them down and stop whatever it was they’d planned.”
Her face... He’d watched her composure slide and then crumble. Knew she’d felt the blow his father and brother had so calculatedly tossed at her. Knew too, that no matter the truth of it, he’d love Aimee Benton until the day he died.
Because her instinct was to help the woman who’d been tossed into the situation without any warning. That was the heart of his woman. Kindness. Compassion. Not malice.
Jace cleared his throat. “Okay. That’s what I figured, but I wanted to be sure. She’s got a tender heart, but I expect you know that and will go out of your way to reassure her that you still love her.”
Mac sighed. “I got this. Thanks though.”
Jace nodded and melted away, off to deal with his own pack problems.
His uncle approached with Huston at his side. “We’ll be meeting at my parents’ place. Your Nan wants it that way,” he added before Mac could ask.
Better out there than in town. Better away from his father’s house. Because he planned to strip all the power from Dwayne Pembry and take it, along with the rest of the pack, for himself, and he wanted it done on ground that celebrated all Pembrys, not just a few.
“Okay. He knows that?” Mac asked, meaning his father.
“Your grandmother told him herself. Mac—” his uncle lowered his voice “—you know the witches are going to file an official complaint. Ray Ruiz said to expect one from the cats too.”
Mac was going to have to take over the pack and discipline his father and brother and it would be painful and something he’d never be able to take back, and he needed to do it pretty soon.
“I need to find Aimee first. Then I’ll meet you out there.”
“No more being on your own, Mac,” Huston said. “You’re going to be Patron, you need security. That’s the way things go. We’ll wait for you right here and drive over together. Tell Aimee I said hey and to not sweat the small stuff. We know her heart and I hope she finds it in her to forgive the Pembry wolves for this mess.”
Of course his cousin wouldn’t turn on Aimee. But hearing it for sure made Mac straighten his spine and head out in search of his woman.