A Barrel of Whiskey - (An Urban Fantasy Whiskey Witches Novel) (23 page)

“In a quarter of a mile,” Lola said through the speaker of Paige’s phone via Google Maps, “turn left.”

“I would say,” Paige said, her fingertips tingling with some anxiety of her own, “you either are or you’re not. It’s not really a matter of should.”

Dexx tipped his head and ran his tongue along his teeth. “Was it just me, or was that burger a bit greasier than normal?”

Paige cleared the loogie out of her throat. They’d stopped at a local burger joint and had eaten before meeting Chuck since neither of them had eaten breakfast. “Definitely greasy. I’m going to make a great first impression hawkin’ hairballs throughout this meeting.”

“Yeah, well, hopefully you don’t also have gas.”

“Turn left,” Lola said.

“Shut up.” Paige rolled her eyes. “Your nose is going to get you into trouble one of these days. I swear to the Mother.”

Dexx turned on his turn signal and waited to turn onto the dirt road as a blue pickup approached. “It’s a bad sign when even Lola doesn’t know the street names.”

Paige shook her head. “We’re out in the sticks. I don’t know that a dirt road has a name.”

“Yeah. It really does. Look there.”

She looked where he pointed. Sure enough. Green sign with a street name. D Lane. “Wow.”

“Yeah.” He pulled off the two-lane highway and onto the dirt road that disappeared over a rolling hill to nowhere. “Let me know when I should be worried.”

“Worried for you?” Paige studied Google Maps, but it didn’t appear to know much more than she did. “You can shift shape and run.”

“Continue straight for three miles,” Lola said.

Three miles. “Me? I’m screwed. All I’ll be able to do is call up a big wind and wail them to death.”

“You can do a lot more than that, and you know it.”

Paige agreed with a shrug. “Wonder what he wants?”

“You know what he wants.” Dexx thumped the steering wheel, dirt kicking up all around them. He rolled up his window.

Paige followed suit. It was getting hard to breathe with all the dust they were kicking up. “Yeah.” Yet she didn’t at the same time.

They’d entered a valley—if you could call it a valley. Small hills sheltered it from all sides, and a wide metropolis opened before them.

“Another Nederland?” Dexx asked.

“If you had a bunch of shifters that needed protection from the public, wouldn’t you keep them out of the city?”

“Yeah. I would.”

“Okay, then.”

They rolled into ‘town’ and found a place to park in front of a yellow store front that was reminiscent of the Wild West days. There wasn’t a name or anything on the storefront, but the big window showed off a wide array of canned foods.

There were several storefronts along the street and a lone gas station at the far end that boasted no prices.

Not a single person on the streets. No other vehicles.

Paige got out of the car and shut the door quietly.

Lola chimed in loudly, “You have arrived.”

“Thank you, Lola.” Paige hit the back button several times to escape the program and stashed her phone in her pocket. “Well, Lola seems to think we arrived at the right place.”

Dexx looked at Paige over Jackie’s top, his eyebrows raised.

“Leg-of-Dexx, what does your cat nose smell?” Paige asked.

“Oh, I so saw what you just did there, all
Lord of the Rings.
” Dexx chuckled. “Leg-of-Dexx.”

“On the fly and everything.” Paige walked to Jackie’s trunk, scanning the windows for any signs of life. “What do you smell?”

“Well,” Dexx said, joining her. “A lot of dust.”

“Helpful in a really, really
not
kind of way. Anything else, oh mighty, big cat?”

He flared his nostrils, then shook his head, squinting into the high noon sun. “Not really. There have been a lot of people here. I smell horses, cats, dogs, something aquatic, something lizard. That smell tastes bad, by the way. I’m just letting you know. But they’re all old smells.”

“How old?”

“Hours?”

Paige nodded. “Smart. Meet where no one can get hurt. I like the guy’s style, at least.” She shoved her hands in her back pockets. “Are we early?”

“A couple minutes. Yeah.”

“’Kay. Well, then, we wait.”

They waited for fifteen minutes. Five motorcycles crested the hill and rode into town. Wolf-Man got off his bike, followed by four others.

Dexx took a few steps forward to meet them. “Good to see you again.” He held his hand out. “Make the introduction formal? Dexx Colt. Recently turned. Saber tooth.”

Wolf Man raised his chin, then took Dexx’s hand. “Chuck De Luca.”

“De Luca.” Paige offered her hand. “Chuck.” Exotic last name. Down-to-Earth first name. “Interesting combination. Paige Whiskey.”

“Whiskey.” Chuck said, his lips flat as he shook her hand firmly. “Paige. Hmm. Interesting combination.”

Paige laughed. “I deserved that.” She shoved her hand in her pocket. “Just took me by surprise. You look exotic. Italian, maybe?”

“Yes. Because Italy is so very exotic.”

Paige grinned. “Apparently, it is. Okay. I’ll put my shovel away.”

Chuck smiled before the corners of his lips slid. “We did our research.”

“Good.” Dexx folded his arms over his chest. “What’d they say about us? Anything good?”

“Surprisingly.” Chuck studied Paige. “Do you understand what this meeting means for us?”

Paige smashed her lips shut. Kind of. She still felt like she was doggy-paddling in the deep end.

“We’ve been at war for years, Ms. Whiskey.”

“No need to be formal. You can call me Paige.” The judge had just called her mother
and
her Ms. Whiskey. If she never heard herself referred to in that manner again, it would be too soon. “I did my own research. I read the treaty.”

“So, it’s true. You’d really not heard of it?” He narrowed his blue eyes, his black lashes making them stand out even more.

“No.” Embarrassing, but true.

“The shifter wars are the reason the Whiskeys are in Texas.” Chuck gestured to the building on the other side of the street. “Come. We’ll grab a beer.”

“Conversations always go better with beer.” Dexx grinned and led the way across the dirt street.

“You really know why my family moved to Texas?” Paige asked, crossing the deserted street with Chuck.

“I do.” He shook his head and held the door for her. “It seems odd to me that you wouldn’t.”

Her, too. Damned Alma and her damned secrets. Paige followed him to the bar.

He gestured to the bar stools and slid behind the bar. “We have a few drafts.”

“Do you have anything in amber?”

“I have something that could do.” He grabbed a mug and poured. “You?” He gestured with his chin to Dexx.

“IPA?”

Chuck nodded and grabbed another mug.

“The rest of the pack isn’t joining us?” Paige asked.

“We have to make sure you weren’t followed.”

By Merry Eastwood? Why would she have Paige followed? Curiosity? Paige grabbed a small, paper napkin. “I really don’t want to bring any trouble to you or your people, Chuck. I don’t. So, I have no reason to set up a trap for you.”

“I appreciate that, Ms—Paige.” He smiled at her, the crows’ feet around his eyes crinkling as he handed them both their mugs. “But I have a pack to protect.”

“Understood.” She took her mug. “And, um, I think I owe you a thanks.”

“For what?” He grabbed another mug and poured himself a drink.

Dexx sat on the bar stool next to Paige and took a long draw. “Oh, this is good.”

Paige studied Chuck, ignoring Dexx. “Judge Warren.”

Chuck looked at Paige out of the corner of his eye.

“I can see animal spirits. I could even before I got Cawli.”

“Who?”

“My—my spirit.” She hadn’t even thought. Was she not supposed to give him a name?

He tipped his head, his eyes lighting up with interest. “Do you speak to him, then?”

“Yes, I do. I can’t shift, but he can sure tell me when I’m being an idiot.”

Chuck smiled and brought his beer over. “That is the sign of an alpha, actually.”

“Huh?” But she was a witch.

“Yeah.” He sipped his beer and wiped his mouth. “Alphas can speak to their animal spirits.”

Paige looked at Dexx. “Can you?”

Dexx pulled his head back. “You’re just now asking me that?”

She shrugged deep, her mouth open. “We’ve been busy. And, also, you know, I just, I don’t know, thought you would.” Sometimes, she was so stupid. “Because, you know, I can.”

Dexx’s eyes went dead as he tucked the corners of his lips in and sighed at her.

“So, no, then.”

“No.”

“Well, yay.” Paige slapped the bar. “Only one alpha. Awesome.” Fuck. “So, what does it mean to be an alpha?”

“For us, it means a lot,” Chuck explained, leaning his elbows on the bar. “My animal spirit gives me guidance, tells me what the others in my pack require.”

She nodded. Cawli had been doing that with her as well.

“And I have more power. I have power over those in my pack. I can subdue them to my will.”

“Why?” The question burst out of Paige’s mouth. She cleared her throat and lowered her tone. “Why would you want to do that?”

Chuck raised his eyebrows over a slight smile. “You haven’t touched your beer.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Did you drug it?” Not that she really thought he had, but he was using it as a conversation shift.

“No.” He gestured to his own and Dexx’s. “This conversation requires unwinding. You are very tightly sprung.”

Good point. Everything that had happened so far that day still had her a little thrown. She sipped her ale. The amber ale slid over her tongue and relaxed muscles she didn’t realize were kinked. She took a longer draw and sat back as the alcohol hit her system. “That’s good.”

“You are high strung.”

Paige shook her head. “You have no idea. I’ve had a rough month.”

“Are you always like this?”

“Yes,” Dexx said immediately.

She wanted to hit him. “What does it matter?”

“I only ask because my spirit noted it.”

“Oh.” She frowned. Cawli was surprisingly quiet.

“Cawli—that’s his name?”

She nodded.

“He is silent?”

“Yeah.”

Chuck smiled. “Excellent. He is allowing you to find a place within our pack.”

“In your pack?” She resituated her weight on the bar stool. “Don’t get me wrong. I could think that’s cool,” and what the Whiskeys needed, “but is that a good idea?”

“Why would it be a bad one? The animal spirits chose you.”

“Yeah.” And she still hadn’t figured out why. That ‘why’ seemed pretty important. “But I’m a witch.”

“Hmm.” Chuck tipped his head and took another drink. “You’re also the founding family that negotiated the original treaty. So, if you were to renegotiate the treaty, that could be a good thing.”

Their conversation was all over the board, touching on this and that and another thing. She needed concrete conversation on at least one topic, something to ground her emotion-drowned mind. “What can you tell me about what led up to it? I’ve asked Grandma. I’ve looked through the old journals. I can’t find anything about it.”

“Okay.” Chuck glanced at the ceiling. “A hundred and fifty years ago, there were three major witch families in Portland.”

Three. So,
if
the other witch families had joined forces, there were only two of them to contend with. Good to know.

“The Whiskeys, the Eastwoods, and the Blackmans.”

Blackman. As in Paige’s father.

“One witch, Merry Eastwood, was particularly upset when a Whiskey fell in love with a shifter. She thought the union tainted the witch line. So, she started imprisoning the shifters, binding them to her will. However, a few shifters killed a witch and discovered they could devour a witch’s soul.”

Paige bit the inside of her cheek.

“Hundreds died after that. Merry and her coven stopped at nothing to decimate the shifter population. Entire packs were destroyed. Nearly the entire Blackman line was eliminated, since Merry used them as her foot soldiers.”

“All that over love?”

Chuck shrugged. “The Whiskeys didn’t relent, though. They didn’t necessarily side with the shifters, but they didn’t stand with the Eastwoods and Blackmans, either. However, when the death toll became too high for them, Opal Whiskey brought both sides together and drew up a treaty. Once the treaty was signed, Merry went after Opal and her entire family.”

“Then, why’d Merry sign it in the first place?”

“Probably because she didn’t have the numbers anymore.”

“But…” Paige glanced at Dexx. “We survived. How?”

Chuck’s face screwed up in disgust. “Opal put all of Merry’s sons in thrall.”

“Huh?” asked Dexx.

“It’s a little like voodoo,” Paige explained. “Kind of. Well, it can be. That’s how Grandma taught me, anyway. Um, you create a doll of them, name it, then you control the person through the doll.”

Chuck agreed with a flick of his eyebrows. “Anyway, Opal took her remaining family here. A lot of the packs moved out here as well, and we’ve kept a distance between each other ever since.”

“Was Opal the one in love with a shifter?” Dexx asked.

“No.” Chuck winced. “Her sister. But Merry made sure she was one of the first killed.”

Good information
and
it was helping to ground her a little. “I’ve actually been thinking of moving back to Portland.” Paige sucked air between her teeth. “Taking the fight to her.”

Chuck bit down on his bottom lip for a moment. “Having you, with your family and Cawli, could be a huge help in Portland. I’m not going to lie. Texas is getting shaky for us. A lot of us are moving out.”

“Is that the reason this is a ghost town?”

“Largely. I asked the few remaining others to leave just in case this meeting did not go as planned.”

Paige nodded.

“But if you went to Portland, you could inject the Whiskeys back into the political landscape up there.”

“Politics?” That wasn’t something high on her priority list.

“Yes. Everything of power is either controlled by one of the packs, one of the paranormals, or by the Eastwoods.”

“Paranormals?” Dexx asked.