Lunchtime at Mac and Zelda’s house

The dining area in Mac and Zelda’s large eat-in kitchen was comfortable, and the food Mac’s adopted son Jeeves had brought by was delicious. An animated Ammy was debating classic rock music with Zelda.

“No, Zelda. Without Don Henley, the Eagles would never have done as well as they did.”

“I hate to disagree with you, Ammy,” Zelda said. “Glenn Frey was the rock god that made that group successful. Plus, you’re a Brit—what would you know about American rock bands?”

Sensing the gals’ discussion was going downhill fast, Kerr cleared his throat. “Mac … Zelda … the food was great as was the company. But Ammy and I need to get back to investigating. Bucky delivered the evidence bags.” He waved a hand toward the center of the table. “Let’s see what the pack rats found.”

Mac scanned the labeled evidence bags and picked up one which looked to be filled with assorted ladies’ panties. “Why is there a bag of underwear included with the other evidence bags?”

Kerr chuckled. “Loki had them hidden in his stash. Bucky found them when he checked his team’s usual hiding places for the artifact theft evidence. So, that’s one investigation I can close. Do you want to give Loki the lecture about resisting his natural urges other than when he’s doing his job?”

Mac blew out a disgusted breath as Zelda giggled. “Yeah, I’ll do it. But the pack rats are just so darn cute and get all ‘aw shucks, Mac, it’s just part of our DNA.’ And I can’t fault them, because it is.”

“I know.” Kerr had a hard time remaining stern with them also. “We’ll just have to instruct Bucky to do a weekly check of their haunts so we can return anything they take,” he suggested. “We should’ve been doing that anyway.”

“Um, this might be a stupid question, but outsider here…” Ammy looked between Mac, Zelda, and Kerr.

Not an outsider for much longer. Ammy had been a great help during the morning round of interviews with potential witnesses and suspects. She’d fit in with his flow of questioning as if they’d been partners for years. His witch was sharp and had the instincts of an investigator, not surprising since she pieced together magical puzzles as a curator. The locals they’d questioned had accepted her right to be at his side.

“…why’s Bucky having to hunt for the evidence collected?” Ammy asked. “Shouldn’t his team bring the evidence bags to him or better yet log them in at the police station?”

“I’ve found it’s better not to assume Shifters always do things the way witches and humans do,” Zelda advised, waving her fork around. “You’ll drive yourself stark-raving-bonkers. Just sayin’.”

“Ammy, the pack rats are very good at their work,” Kerr said. “Plus, Bucky is used to them hiding everything they collect. He has an agreement with the pack rats that they’ll always take the evidence bags to already known hiding places.”

Ammy shrugged. “Well, if it works…”

“It does,” Kerr assured her.

“…then it works. So, what do we have here, other than ladies’ knickers?” She eyed the bags.

Kerr picked up a bag labeled #1, found by Maggie. He opened the bag and pulled out a single shiny black feather. “Maggie has identified this feather as belonging to a raven. She found it on the great room hearth.”

“Raisa’s the only raven Shifter in the Assjacket area,” Mac said.

“I remember her,” Ammy said. “She was very interested in the reliquary, but had no interest in the artifact itself.”

“She practically salivated over the purple dick,” Zelda said.

“Interesting image, beautiful girl.” Mac leaned over and whispered something in his mate’s ear. Zelda gave him a naughty wink, then licked her lips. Mac’s eyes heated.

Ammy muttered, “Blimey,” under her breath and took a long drink of her iced lemonade, virgin lemonade. “Raisa wasn’t present this morning, nor did I see her actually go into the house last evening.”

“She wasn’t—she didn’t,” Kerr agreed. “She would’ve had to go by us.”

“So,” Ammy concluded, “she has some explaining to do about how her feather ended up on the great room hearth.”

Kerr nodded. “She does, indeed. Raisa will be our first interview after lunch. This won’t be the first time I’ve had to question her about missing gemstones. The woman loves her bling.”

Mac pulled the second evidence bag to him and read out loud, “Collected by Hisi in the great room, snagged on the brick fireplace surround. The fibers are identified as rabbit fur.” He hummed under his breath and exchanged an odd look with Zelda. “Hisi noted the fur matches fur previously collected from Roger.”

Zelda sighed, “That damn rabbit.”

“Why would you have Roger’s fur already in evidence?” Ammy asked. “He seemed harmless enough. What was his crime?”

Mac snorted.

Zelda muttered, “It’s not funny, Mac.”

Ammy looked from one to the other. “What? Is he a serial burglar or something?”

“He’s a porn addict. Some of the material he collected allegedly violated Federal postal regulations. The charges were later dropped after a magical intervention from my dad.” Zelda grinned. “Roger has quite the collection of Shifter porn and some rare sex toys … not that I’ve ever seen any of it.”

Mac choked on his sip of sweet tea.

Zelda turned to him and pounded him on the back. “I haven’t—and whoever told you otherwise is a liar.”

“We’ll talk about your knowledge of Roger’s collections later … during our HoHo break.” Mac grinned.

Ammy turned toward Kerr. HoHo break?

“HoHo break” is their code word for sex.

Her mouth formed a perfect O, and her cheeks turned bright pink.

Ammy might be embarrassed, but he smelled her arousal. She liked the thought of some afternoon delight. He’d love to schedule a “HoHo break” with Ammy. Maybe he could work some extensive foreplay into their schedule later today—between interviews.

“We’ll talk to Roger also. He wasn’t present this morning, which is odd since he was extremely interested in the artifact.” Kerr made a note and then picked up the third envelope. “This has Loki’s mark. The label says hairs from a wolf.”

“Ardie was the only wolf besides myself present last night,” Mac said. “The rest of my pack was out patrolling.”

“Why wasn’t Ardie patrolling?” Ammy asked.

“He’s a lone wolf, an outsider who came here about ten years ago,” Mac replied. “I allowed him to stay in the area since he promised not to cause any trouble and not challenge me. He lives at the edge of my territory.”

Kerr added, “Ardie doesn’t participate much in Shifter activities. So, I was surprised to see him at the barbeque last evening. His absence this morning wasn’t unusual.”

Mac shook his head and let out a frustrated breath. “I sure hope he didn’t take the artifact. I’d have to kill him for violating his oath.”

“Ardie also goes on our list to question.” Kerr turned to Ammy and held out his hand. “Ready to ask more questions, darlin’?”

“Yes. I’m convinced that all those we spoke to this morning knew nothing. None of them carried any lingering magic from the artifact.” She placed her hand in his.

Kerr shuddered as his dick went hard at the mere touch of her hand. He was more than ready to advance his wooing to the next level. Kisses were all well and good, and kisses with Ammy were better than most. But he needed to get her used to his touch, to teach her to want him as much as he wanted her.

And sooner would be better than later.

It couldn’t be good for his cock to keep inflating and deflating the way it had since he met her.