whiskey witches 02 - blood moon magick (34 page)

Tony put his desk phone down and shook his head in disgust. “This sucks.”

Paige scrolled through the rest of the headlines on her phone, but chose not to open any of them. She’d been looking for Danny’s byline, but the only thing he’d published was some low-lying piece on the local recycling company opening up.

The phone on Tony’s desk buzzed. Chief Gorman’s voice blared through. “You and your partner. In my office. Now.”

Shit. She didn’t want to be a part of this conversation, but she couldn’t escape it either.

Tony relaxed his expression and stood. “Better get this over with.”

Paige followed her partner down the long row of desks into the chief’s office.

“Shut the door.”

Crap. She followed his order, the blinds clacking against the window. She took the empty seat in front of his desk.

Chief Gorman rubbed his balding head. “Do you have any idea how much I had to cover up for you two?”

He didn’t even know what he was covering up.

“The bodies. The DNA. The evidence. The coroner?”

Paige glanced at Tony. What had Barn said?

“I had to pay him off so he would continue to not notice the bodies being taken to Nederland without proper processing. Again.”

They needed to find a better story if they were going to keep their job.

“I have half a mind to go to Nederland and figure out what is so damning.”

“You lack the jurisdiction, sir,” Tony said, his tone cool.

“The FBI doesn’t.”

Paige swallowed. She didn’t know how the FBI worked, but she doubted Jack would have a whole lot of pull if they were released on the town.

“Do you have anything to say for yourselves?”

“The case is closed,” Paige gritted out.

“Yes, well. The governor. Really not your best.”

She wasn’t sure how much her old boss had told him, but if he had any idea what was really going on, he might change his opinion. “Do you want to know?”

“What?”

“What we’re dealing with?”

He slammed his hands on his desk. “No, dammit. I do not.”

“How long are you going to remain blind, deaf, and mute?” Paige demanded.

The anger washed out of his face. He paused a moment, then smiled.

Fuck.

He placed his palms on his desk and leaned in. “I want you both out of my city.”

“What?” Paige asked.

“You’re fired. Go back to Henry. Tell him you want your old job back. I don’t care, but I want you out of my city. Both of you.”

Tony’s mouth hung open. “Chief?”

“Both of you!”

“Chief, if you’d just listen.” What could she say? She had to get her job back. She had to find a way to make this work.

“Get out!”

Tony pulled on her arm.

Paige walked out of his office in a shocked stupor.

Tony fell into his chair and stared at her.

“What are you going to do?” Paige asked after a long, silent moment.

He shrugged. “I have no idea. You?”

A frown flickered across her brow. “I have no clue.”

“You could go home.”

She really couldn’t. The danger was just too high.

She could go to Portland. Bring the issue directly to the source. Stop the worry. End the mystery, the fear.

“Well, maybe
I
could. You in your old boss’ good graces? Could you put in a good word for me?”

She tipped her head to the side with a nod. That? She could do. “Yeah. Probably.”

Her phone rang. Sherriff Karl’s name popped up on the screen. She answered, still in a numb buzz. “Whiskey.”

“Get home. Now.” Karl’s voice was filled with worry. “The Eastwoods are on the move to Texas.”

Sneak Peek at
Barrel of Whiskey

T
he car shifted hard to the left.

Paige jerked awake, her hands out. She grasped the dashboard of the 1970 Dodge Challenger. Empty blacktop road. No potholes.

The car careened toward the ditch again.

Dexx growled low. His normally sharp features flickered in and out of focus. His nails elongated as he gripped the steering wheel.

He was fucking starting to shift. Fuck!

“Don’t hurt Jackie,” Paige shouted. Jackie was the car, the one thing on this world Dexx loved more than anything.

“Trying
not
to,” he ground out. His teeth grew, two long fangs protruding from his upper lip.

“I thought you said you had this under control.” He was a newly turned shapeshifter and his inner animal was a saber-toothed tiger. Sorry. Saber-toothed
cat
.

“I did.”

Biggest damned cat in the known animal kingdom. At least, as far she knew. “Pull over!”

“I’m trying!”

Dexx stopped Jackie on the narrow gravel shoulder. He opened the door, and fell out. A long, low growl issued from him.

Dirt settled around the car, but he hadn’t gotten far enough off the highway to be safe. Long, two-lane highway like this, people stopped paying attention. Easy drive. Easy to do other things. Easy to nod off. She slid over and pulled Jackie almost into the ditch, then cut off Jackie’s rumbling engine.

At least they weren’t dead.

By the time she got out of the car, he was gone, a long tail disappearing over a hill. His clothes were everywhere.

Shit. Where were they?

The highway stretched into the far forever. Trees, brown grass, and rolling hills. Well, that and barbed wire fences.

Could still be Colorado. Could be Texas.

She stretched her kinked back.

Dexx needed more time in Nederland with the other shifters to help him with his spirit animal.

Unfortunately, they hadn’t had the time.

The Eastwood witches were on their way to Texas. Her home. Where her family lived, not knowing that war was about to knock on their front door.

Paige didn’t know if the Eastwoods were driving. Did they have to fly commercial? Did they have their own jet? How many of them were coming? How big was their coven? What would this war look like? A couple of women bitching at one another, threatening to set each other’s hair on fire?

If that was the case, they wouldn’t have required a treaty to end the original war.

Shit.

Dexx needed to get his naked human ass back to the car so they could
go.
How much time did they even have?

She sighed and picked up his clothes off the highway.

An eighteen-wheeler approached from behind. He was maybe a mile back, his grill warbling with the building heat.

She grabbed Dexx’s boot out of the middle of the road. She set it beside the ditch and perched on Jackie’s hood, trying to settle her nerves.

Tumbleweeds. When was the last time she’d seen a tumbleweed?

The last time she’d lived in Texas.

The thought of coming back made her stomach twist in knots. A lot had happened since she’d been here last.

She’d lost her daughter in a custody battle with her mother—an unfair fight since the woman had used angels to help her side.

Her own grandmother had banished her memories and gifts banished for five years.

She’d been captured by a demon and had a door to Hell installed in her soul.

The man she loved was a shifter.

She was a witch with an animal spirit inside her helping to keep the demon door closed.

And there was a treaty between the shifters and witches. A treaty that had ended a pretty brutal war a couple hundred years ago.

A treaty Dexx and Paige had broken by being together.

And, now,
she
had to tell her grandmother, the Whiskey crone and overall matriarch of the family, that the other witch families were on their way to her lawn.

A flock of birds flew in. An owl, an eagle, a hawk of some sort, a smaller bird like a sparrow or something, and a dove.

Paige stood as the eighteen-wheeler blew by, the wind of its passing swiping her hard.

He blew his horn.

She lifted her arm and waved to let the trucker know she was okay.

Her attention, however, was trained on the odd assortment of birds flying in. Was it coincidence that Dexx had lost control of his shift and then a bunch of shifters showed up?

It had to be shifters. No way a group of birds of that variety would fly together in the natural world.

A group of about five wolves of varying shades, three horses, and two mountain lions crested the hill to the south.

Paige swallowed hard. What had she
just
said about flying under the radar? This wasn’t that.

Do not do anything hasty
, Cawli, her animal spirit, said softly in her mind, his voice gentle, adding a calming balm to her unsettled nerves.

Good advice. Impending war with other witch families. Didn’t need
another
one with the local pack.

Paige crossed the ditch to greet the pack of mixed animals.

Two of the wolves, one black and one mottled, leapt over the sagging barbed wire fence. Two of the others crawled underneath of it, their grey bellies digging into the dirt. The fifth stayed on the other side with the horses.

The mountain lions, however, loped toward the hill Dexx had disappeared behind.

Paige wasn’t worried about Dexx. He was easily twice their size. While he didn’t have a great deal of experience with his animal, he had a lot of instinct. He’d be able to take care of himself.

The dove and the sparrow settled on the fence.

The black wolf rose on his hind quarters, his fur slipping into his morphing body. His legs unbuckled and grew longer, his back straightening into a more natural, human curve. His black hair hung past his shoulders in easy waves. His blue eyes were startling against his tanned skin. He looked Mediterranean.

And he was naked. Blessedly, buck-assed naked. And the ass end wasn’t facing her.

She threw him Dexx’s shirt. “Public highway.”

He caught it with ease and held it loosely in front of his manly parts that might distract drivers and cause accidents. “Normally, we don’t greet strangers this way,” he said with an accent she couldn’t place.

She certainly hoped not. “But you’re making an exception for us. How lovely. Why?”

A growling yowl rolled over the hill Dexx had disappeared behind.

Wolf-man tipped his head to the side. “You are not a shifter.”

“Nope.”

He narrowed his eyes.

He can sense me,
Cawli murmured.
You should tell him.

Why? She didn’t know anything about this man except that he seemed quite confident in his naked self. Granted, he had every reason to be confident. She hadn’t stared, had only caught a glimpse, but the man was well-endowed. And the rest of him was a sight to see as well.

He is this region’s high alpha. You would do well to introduce yourself.

She kept her eye roll internal and sighed. “I’m Detective Paige Whiskey.”

“Whiskey.” He straightened, alarm slamming across his face.

In for a penny. “A couple days ago, a shapeshifter was murdered. I was given the case. It led me to Nederland.”

His hands balled into fists.

High alpha, huh? Match for a witch? Was she a match for him? She really didn’t want to find out. “Demon. We didn’t catch him, but we did get the murders stopped.”

“And Nederland?” A coldness entered his piercing blue eyes.

“Safe.” A shiver coursed down her spine as she recalled the details. It had been close, keeping the shapeshifter town safe from the demons. “We made sure they were safe. We were just there yesterday. The town’s good. There are new protections. Demons won’t ever be a problem again.”

A frown flickered between his brows. “So, the stories are true, then.”

Was there a newsletter or something? She was pretty sure she knew how the Eastwoods had found out, but them? “What stories?”

“A witch was chosen by the animal spirits.”

She hoped he was as accepting as the shifters of Nederland had been, but
he
didn’t need her help like they had. “Yes. The stories are true.”

Wolf-man raised his chin and sniffed the air.

Paige ran her tongue along her teeth. Animals. They could tell a lot by smell. They could smell emotion. How weird was that?

She might not be able to shift, but her sense of smell was getting better. Not as good as to be able to smell his emotions at that moment, which would have been helpful. She could, however, tell that he’d recently showered. He still smelled of soap. And he was hot in the sun as it beat down on them.

He lowered his head, his narrowed eyes trained on her. “What is your business?”

“Am I in your territory?”

“You are.”

“Oh, well.” Awesome. “I’m going home. My sister had a baby. Going to see him.” Wasn’t a lie, either, thankfully.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

The mottled wolf beside him growled low in his throat.

Wolf-man shook his head.

“Look, I’m just trying to get home for a visit.”

“Back to your coven.”

Paige snorted a chuckle of surprise. Coven. Everything about being a witch was still so new to her. Even before her memories had been wiped, she hadn’t been a part of any coven.

However, apparently, Leslie and Alma were. Her sister was the medium and her grandmother was the local hedge witch. It shouldn’t surprise Paige that they’d gathered a coven, but it did. When she’d lived in the house, magick had just been an everyday thing. A little spell here. A small hex there. But nothing that would require a coven.

Also, as the demon summoner, no one wanted her magick to meddle with theirs. She tainted magick.

Wolf-man narrowed his eyes.

“No. I am not a part of any coven.”

Confusion pinched his dark, full brows together. “Is there something wrong with you?”

Be honest
. Cawli huffed in the back of Paige’s mind.

She wasn’t used to broadcasting what she was to people she’d just met. “I’m a demon summoner. I don’t get asked to participate a lot.”

He nodded slowly. “And yet the animal spirit chose you.”

She shrugged. “And yet.”