Diablo Lake: Moonstruck (17 page)

Chapter Seventeen

It turned out Jace didn’t need to find Darrell because the dumbass came to find him first as he and his brothers finished up their construction job, loading debris into the dumpster when Darrell came screeching up in his car.

“Well now.” Jace jumped down from the bed of the truck, tossing his gloves on the bench seat. “Look what the cat drug in.”

“I been looking for you,” Darrell said as he tried to look tough. Not tough enough to have come without four of his wolves for back up.

Jace rolled his head on his neck, undoing all the kinks as he widened his stance a little. Taking up more space. Showing his dominance and power. Then he tipped his chin, lip curled to show his teeth for a moment. “And here I am. Brave of you showing up at the Counter. Gold star at being a stupid prick with his head up his ass.”

Jace didn’t take his attention from Darrell. Every single bit of his focus was on the other wolf.

Darrell growled at him, snarling a little. But Jace held his ground, not giving even the slightest flinch. The wolves Darrell had brought with him began to inch back and show physical signs of submission.

No matter how hard they fought it, if Jace was truly a dominant wolf, their physical reaction, their body’s need to submit to his will would show and only the strongest like another Prime could hold out if he truly pushed it.

But Darrell wasn’t Prime material. No matter how much his momma wanted him to be, he wasn’t the son capable of holding the pack together. Jace let that show in his eyes, the utter disdain for Darrell and his weakness.

“I came here to tell you to keep your complaints about my mother to yourself. Loser.” Darrell looked like a big baby right then.

“Your Patron was out of line. Handle it and there’ll be no reason for her to get called out.” Jace kept his gaze on Darrell but knew his brothers had fanned out to be sure they didn’t get flanked.

Tension hung heavy in the air as Jace showed his teeth. But not in a smile. “You done crying at me now? Because I’ve got a few things to let you know.”

Darrell’s eyes widened. “You got a mouth on you.”

By that point, several more wolves from both packs had shown up, gathering around. Though dark was just beginning to settle, none of them needed the outdoor lights that would flicker to life soon.

Being a shifter meant fantastic hearing and vision. Enough that everyone standing around heard and saw the whole thing. Jace could have been diplomatic, but that wasn’t what this situation called for. Darrell had been pushing and pushing and now that they had an audience, a public lesson had to be doled out which would handle a lot of other business at the same time.

He’d be Patron soon. He’d be married as soon as he could convince his witch to do it. There was no way he’d live the next stage of his life dealing with petty bullshit like this, much less anyone harassing Katie Faith or making her unhappy.

Jace tipped his chin to look down his nose at Darrell. “What’s so important that you’ve made your pack look bad?
Again.
”

“Don’t worry about what Pembrys do. Know your betters. Y’all can barely manage being Dooleys.” Darrell sneered.

Damon snickered because the big dumb asshole was more funny than ferocious. And because part of what made his brother so scary was that he could be joking one moment and breaking bones the next if he got pushed too far.

It was mocking and provocative and the perfect response.

Darrell’s face darkened as his normally handsome features turned vicious. He rounded on Damon. “What are
you
laughing at? Your momma got around and your daddy shamed your entire family. Your brother’s new lay is my
leftovers
.”

All of which had been a miscalculation on Dwayne’s part. One he might have realized right as Jace leaped at him, fist connecting with his nose to a chorus of
ooohhhhhh
from the bystanders on both sides.

The man let the wolf fuel his strength, but kept back.

That
was control.

Newly disgusted, Jace let himself use the force of the punch to let his body connect with Darrell after his fist had. They hit the ground in a tangle of limbs as Jace kneed him in the side, getting astride his opponent’s chest, Jace’s knees impeding the fists flying in his direction as he punched Darrell’s face again, and twice more.

Bone crunched. Blood spilled hot and slick, the sticky-sweet scent of it rising on the air. Inciting.

“Piece of garbage!” Darrell finally got himself together to launch a counterattack, landing a fist to Jace’s gut.

Jace didn’t bother with words as Darrell threw him off and he landed in a crouch before standing slowly. Astonished dismay stamped itself all over Darrell’s face as Jace so easily got his balance again, ready for more.

“Son of a whore.”

The angry shouts of reaction from the bystanders turned, sharpened back in Darrell’s direction as Jace plowed into him at high speed, his shoulder to Darrell’s gut as he straightened his legs and heaved the other man up and over his back to the pavement.

Moments later the heavy thud followed by all the breath exhaling from Darrell’s body as he hit the ground.

Jace watched Darrell try to stand on shaky legs. “You didn’t know a Prime could move like that, did you? Because you aren’t one and you never will be. Just you know it was a Dooley who bested you just now. And who always will.”

It was then Jace noticed that his grandfather stood, his arms braced across his chest as he’d been watching the fight. He’d shown up with Uncle Tab at his side. The crowd had grown to about two dozen. If Jace wasn’t careful—no matter how much he wanted to grind Darrell into dust—a full blown riot might break out.

“You’re trash. The whole lot of you barely fit to do more than clean up after the rest of us. Pump the gas and do the yard work. Lazy and shiftless. Your daddy done got hisself killed because—”

“Shut the hell up!” Dwayne came into the circle of shifters, aiming his command at his son. “Get your ass in that truck right now, boy.” He pointed to the running Ford not too far away with a Pembry cousin at the wheel.

Jace turned to Dwayne, pointing. “This isn’t over. You can’t just run in here and intervene. He bought himself every single blow. You can’t pay his bill.”

“He’s upset.”

“After decades of making excuses for Darrell that’s all you have left?” JJ demanded. “You heard what he said. He’s out of line. Now he’s going around starting fights, inciting witches—who’re pissed at us anyway case you haven’t noticed—and you’re going to step in because of this
mysterious upset
?”

“You made your point, Jace,” Dwayne said, avoiding JJ’s questions. “No call in putting him in the clinic.”

Werewolves healed most injuries quickly enough. But they weren’t immune to pain, and the more damage they took, the longer the recovery would be. Darrell would most likely need to shift when he got home and spend the rest of the night as wolf. He’d wake up in the morning just fine, maybe a little sore.

“And what was my point, then? If I made it, that is.” Jace left his hands at his side. The stance still ready to spring at any moment. He let that show to Dwayne too.

“What is it you want out of this?” Dwayne asked, clearly wary.

Jace didn’t bother hiding his sneer. “We already talked about that not even six hours ago. You have discipline problems in your pack that are involving the rest of this town. What are you going to do about it? Because we both know, just like everyone here, that your fuckup of a son isn’t going to listen to you and you’re not going to discipline him hard enough to be sure he won’t go shooting his mouth off. I
want
Pembry to stop stirring shit up in Diablo Lake and I
want
you, as Patron, to guarantee that.”

Carl rushed up, bulling his way through the crowd. He took a look at Darrell sitting, still bloody and dazed in the truck and then straight over to Jace with his battered fists. But Jace didn’t care. He
couldn’t
care about that because right then he was the Prime of the Dooley wolves and this wolf had broken rules and threatened Katie Faith more than once.

“I can promise to do what I can to keep everyone calm but only if Dooley does too.” Dwayne spread his hands out, palms open in some trumped up gesture of goodwill.

“Not what I need from you. We’re past
do what I can
. They’re your wolves. Be a leader. If not, others are going to handle the things you won’t. You’re going to tell your wife to keep her mouth shut about closed disciplinary hearings. And she’s going to keep her distance from the Gradys. As will your son. You hear me, Dwayne? He gets Katie Faith this upset again and his daddy won’t be able to save him.”

“This is all Katie Faith’s fault,” Dwayne said with a snarl. “We were all doing just fine before she came back.”

If Damon and Major hadn’t been there to grab him as he went for Dwayne’s throat, Jace wasn’t sure what would have stopped him from beating the other man unconscious.

“You keep her name out of your mouth too, Dwayne.”

“Think with your head. She’s the problem.”

“After years of total peace and harmony, a young woman returns to her hometown to plot the demise of your pack? Really now?
You’re
the problem. You and your lazy, coward of a son. You leave her alone. She don’t want none of y’all.”

“This isn’t over,” Darrell shouted from the car.

Jace looked to Dwayne. “You remember what I said here today. Just so there’s no misunderstanding later when he gets caught out for all the shit spewing from his pie hole.”

“You can’t talk like this,” Dwayne said. “I’m Patron of the Pembry wolves. You have no authority with me and mine. Who do you think you are?”

There it was. That holier-than-thou, shit-don’t-stink attitude. He stood there even after everything that’d been happening and still thought he was better than any Dooley.

Jace moved fast enough that Dwayne couldn’t prevent his step backward and gasp of surprise. He leaned in, owning the other wolf’s space. “I’m Joshua Carron Dooley. Prime. I’m telling you because it’s your job to lead or to get out of the way of someone else who could. So go on and make me prove you wrong, old man,” Jace whispered.

He let his wolf get so close to the surface it showed in his eyes. His wolf didn’t respect Dwayne Pembry at all.

He blew out his breath to be done with Dwayne’s stink.

And then turned his back, walking across the pavement of the parking lot to the truck where he’d been dealing with concrete debris. He put his gloves on and returned to work.

“Unless any of you plan to pay my light bill, get the hell home and let us do our job,” he said as he hopped up into the bed of his truck.

The crowd in the lot began to disperse, get in cars and drive away. Once the scene had calmed down some JJ hobbled over as Major finished tying down the load.

Jace told him about the conversation he’d had with Dwayne at his house earlier and JJ sighed at the end, even as he smiled faintly.

“You handed his ass to him. As for what he said... Your mother was a good woman who had the misfortune of falling in love with my son.” His grandfather’s voice was quiet, but the three brothers heard him just fine. “You’ve done her memory proud. All three of you. As for your dad getting himself killed?” JJ’s pain washed over his face. “You know that’s true. I wish it wasn’t. But if it hadn’t been then, it would have been some other time for the same type of reason. The more you show them how they can push your buttons with talk about him, the more they’re going to use it against you. Don’t.”

Their grandpa mopped his face while Jace and his brothers shared a concerned look. He was pale. Too pale. Too out of breath. Suddenly Jace saw him, not as the hearty and hale man he’d been all of Jace’s life, but as a man who was getting older. A man fighting poor health during a crisis in the pack and in the town.

“We’ve got this handled. There’s nothing to be concerned over.”

“Hey, Grandpa, why don’t I drive you home? You’re on the way,” Damon said.

“I’ll follow along in a few minutes,” Jace told them, knowing he had to face Carl.

“You’re a cop here, you can’t just have battles in the street.” Carl’s stance was less than confident. Jace knew he probably agreed with what’d been done, but he couldn’t have his cops disobeying.

“He came at me. I defended myself, my woman and my pack. I did it in my off time. I’m not wearing a uniform or on duty. I work for you, yes, but I don’t put aside who and what I am. Not totally. I did what had to be done. To prevent even more nonsense. And I’d do it again. I know this puts you in a hard place, but I have to do this.”

“If he complains I’m going to have to put you on paid administrative leave.” Meaning Dwayne. “You’re a public employee.”

“Go ahead on.” Jace shrugged. “Seems to me if Dwayne can be mayor, I can be a cop. But whatever, I have responsibilities and I won’t shirk them. Now. My grandfather’s health is shaky and I want to check on him before I get back to my other job.”

Carl sighed heavily. “Call me before you come in tomorrow. Let’s just keep updated on what’s happening. And off the record? Darrell is a punk for getting Avery so upset. He deserved a punch in the face.” He spun on his heel and headed out.

Chapter Eighteen

A few days later, Katie Faith and Jace worked together to finish up a planter box that ran around the front of the mercantile. She liked working with him, making things pretty. He was big and strong and it was surely a pleasure to watch him at it.

He just did it to keep his grandmother happy—which made Katie Faith go all gooey—but no matter the cause, he was shirtless and sweaty and all was right with the world.

He hadn’t said much about the fight he’d gotten into with Darrell and she hadn’t pushed for details. Heaven knew she’d heard all about it before he’d even come to her door that night.

It had been, in part, about her. But she also knew it was bigger than that. So she figured he’d come to her with it when he was ready.

Until then, she’d watch his grumpy ass—shirtless, sweaty, gorgeous—haul stuff around and dig in the dirt.

“How’s Avery?” Damon asked as he dropped off several plants for Katie Faith to place.

“I think I’ve managed to talk them into going to Nashville for a week. He’s got a bunch of doctor’s appointments coming up at Vanderbilt and things are so stressful here for him.” She shrugged, guilt swamping her. “His blood pressure has been high and so he’ll agree, most likely, because he knows Mom’s right about him ending up in the hospital again if he’s not careful.”

Damon knelt as he gently tapped the bottom of one of the containers to free the plant. “This isn’t your fault, you know.”

“It is. But I appreciate your saying that.”

“Goddammit, Katie Faith, stop that right now.” Jace picked her up from her crouch, kissed her hard and set her back to her feet. While she still reeled, he got in her face again. “As much as I think you’re a miracle, you’re not the reason for all this. If it wasn’t you, it’d be someone else. Something else. This is about power and balance. And leadership. I won’t have you beating yourself up over it.”

He was so stern and sweetly concerned at the same time she couldn’t bring herself to argue with him.

His hands on her shoulders anchored her, gave her a safe place.

“Don’t try to change my mind with that face either.”

That made her laugh and throw her arms around him even as he told her how sweaty and dirty he was.

“Believe me, buster, I know just how dirty you are,” she said in his ear before letting go.

“Don’t try using
that
to change my mind either,” he murmured before kissing her.

“Aw jeez, every time I see you two you’re all over each other,” Aimee said as she approached.

“Disgusting, right?” Damon asked her.

“I guess it’s okay if you like to see two gorgeous people making out all the time. Usually it keeps her stunned enough that she barely notices when you steal food off her plate.”

Damon nodded. “That’s an excellent tip. Thankya kindly.”

“If you’re done mocking, Aimee, can you please bring that watering can over here and soak this bed?” Katie Faith pointed at the work she’d just done before she moved to the boxes lining the front railing. Even in the coldest part of winter, many of the trees in town would still give fruit. The geraniums she tucked into the freshly turned potting mix would be brilliant red and pink into the spring now that Katie Faith lived upstairs. Her presence there had begun to fill all the spaces around her with magic.

The earth in Diablo Lake gave back to her people. Generations of witches had tended it, nurtured it and protected it. Generations of shifters poured magic back into the air each time they took the change.

Synchronicity.

“Guess who I just saw on my way over?” Aimee asked, trying to sound casual and failing miserably.

“Elvis?”

“Wouldn’t that have been cool? Macrae Pembry just narrowly escaped tapping my bumper when he pulled down his parents’ drive back out onto the road. He looked mad.”

“But still really good though, huh?” Katie Faith asked. Mac was the second oldest Pembry brother. She’d barely had contact with him when she dated Darrell because Mac had been in the army.

She’d had enough to remember how totally gorgeous he was.

“I heard that,” Jace muttered, but went back to his work, though he did hammer a little harder than he had before.

“What’s he doing back, I wonder?” Damon asked.

“Where’s he been gone to? Still in the army?”

“He got out of the military and then went to school in London.” Aimee went to refill the watering can.

“He’s got to be back for damage control,” Jace said after he killed the poor wood he’d been hammering. “Of those boys, Darrell is the biggest jughead, but not the only one. Mac was smart. He got out. But he’s trained and he’s stronger than Darrell. I’m going to wager he’s been called home by Daddy.”

That’s what Jace would have done in Dwayne’s place. His oldest son Billy ran the Pembry freight company most of the folks in town used to special order large items. He worked hard but he’d never be Patron. He lacked ambition as well as intelligence. Samuel, the youngest son, was a dumbass who’d gotten himself arrested and tossed in jail for eighteen months for assault on a visit to Atlanta.

Since he’d been back, Dwayne and Scarlett had kept him on a very tight leash.

“Maybe this will be for the best,” he added with a shrug.

“Sure and calories you consume on your birthday don’t count.” Aimee rolled her eyes and Katie Faith laughed along with her. The two had a back and forth that kept Jace cracking up.

“I don’t remember much about him. He was already in the army when I started coming around the Pembry house. But he wasn’t a jerk to me. Then again, Dwayne always was nice to me too. And we know how that turned out.” Katie Faith dusted her hands off as she stepped back to survey her work.

The front of the mercantile, the place everyone in town bought their nails, hammers, tents, fencing and other dry goods, looked much better with the addition of the new plants and flowers.

“My grandma is going to like you even more now.” And she would. Katie Faith had just made the place nicer. Had added her magic and her touch to the area and it worked.

A pretty, sunny smile was his reward.

“I was thinking that old cart out behind the shed would be really pretty if we sanded it down, stained it and then used it out here to put plants in,” she told him. “Then I could help with a display of whatever’s on sale.”

“That sounds like a lot of work for us—meaning me—to do.” He frowned and she rolled her eyes. He’d do it because she suggested it. Because it would please her and he liked making her happy.

“It’ll be good for business. You like that part. Now’s time for lots of gardening projects. Look at you here with these starts and bulbs on sale, just waiting to be bought. Gonna need a new rake I bet. I could work that into the display.”

Her energy was infectious, which made him smile before frowning again.

“Halloween’s coming up. We can sell pumpkins out here on the grass. Have some hay bales, leaves, you know, all festive and pretty. Merrilee’s been doing the baking for the Counter and she mentioned she sells kettle corn at the middle and high school games. I bet we can sell some here, you know with the pumpkins. Tie it in with Founder’s Day celebrations as well.”

The bump to business would be a good thing. His future as a cop was uncertain, especially once he took over as Patron. He needed to start thinking about where he’d get the work to earn the money to pay his bills.

She walked through the big grassy yard that sprawled from the wide front porch to the street, talking about what she’d do and all the different ways she could make it look nicer and catch a customer’s eye.

All the things she’d plant there would say loud and clear that a witch lived there. It also said she was his and part of his family and her magic was theirs and the pack’s.

As he watched her, his anxiety bled away, replaced by certainty. Everything was going to be just fine. Better than fine, it would be fantastic.

He knew how to fix things. His life would go on after he left the police department. His witch loved to make money and plans and she knew how to do both successfully. Jace had little choice but to love her utterly and totally.

As she approached him, she cocked her head and he knew she’d figured out exactly what he’d been thinking. He’d also been thinking about sex with her, but that was a constant.

He didn’t argue. Instead he said, “Your wish is my command.” He bowed low, taking the opportunity to check her out as he did. She looked really cute and sexy with all that hair in a messy ponytail, dirt smeared on her chin.

“I’m super lucky,” she said with a grin.

When she hugged him, he managed to say, “You’ll get even luckier later tonight,” into her ear.

“More than once?” she asked as she went back to her feet.

His heart lightened. As she’d intended. He allowed a smile just for her as he kissed her as long as he could in what was essentially their front yard in front of a whole bunch of people. And then he swiped his thumb over the smudge on her chin.

“The sacrifices a man makes to keep you around,” he teased.

“We still on tonight?”

They had a real date. A movie and then beer and wings at the pub.

She deserved to be taken to dinner. Deserved a normal night out from time to time and he’d be damned if he let anything get in the way of that or the sex he’d just promised her.

“I’ll meet you back here at six. The movie starts at six thirty.”

“Okay. Now get back to work.” She swatted his butt before starting to clean up the mess they’d made with tools and lumber.

Some women would have pushed him to share all the details of the fight between him and Darrell. Katie Faith had simply pulled him into her arms when he’d stumbled into her bed that night after spending several hours installing a hot water heater.

The next morning she’d simply told him she’d be there when he wanted to talk about it. He’d tell her after he figured it out himself. Because it wasn’t the punching that had left him reeling.

His father had been a specter all Jace’s life. Each time he thought Josiah had been put away, something he did or said would always come back to hurt those he’d left behind.

That Darrell and his mother thought to use those things to slap at Jace and Katie Faith galled him far more than they’d humiliated him.

The whole story was going to spill out at some point. Such things rarely stayed a secret forever. Jace had a good idea of the outline of what had happened, but he wouldn’t tolerate the idea that his grandparents couldn’t talk about their son but Scarlett felt like she could.

He’d spent years knowing he’d take over at some point and that
some point
seemed to be approaching at a high rate of speed. His grandfather’s health had been declining for years, even after he’d gone into remission. Usually a werewolf in his mideighties would see at least another twenty years of fantastic health. But JJ had been weakened first by an accident he’d had fifteen years prior, and then the succession of tumors he’d developed in his GI tract had hit one after the next. He’d been in remission, but as a result, he was a lot more frail than he would have been.

All the stress of this nonsense with Pembry, as well as the resurrection of the drama about the death of Josiah had sent JJ teetering after a reasonably long decent spate of health.

Another thing that made him furious with the Patrons of the Pembry wolves. His grandpa didn’t need this bullshit.

“Imagine if your face froze like that, Jace.” His grandmother frowned at him as he walked into the kitchen at their house.

He smiled, more automatic than genuine, but the hug he delivered was genuine.

“Just thinking about work. How’s Grandpa?”

She blew out a long breath. “He’s out at the lake today with Russ. They won’t catch a thing, but he’ll be out on a boat, away from the drama for a little while. He’ll stay out at Russ’s place and they’ll run. That’ll be good for him.”

Jace nodded. It would be. Russ was JJ’s brother. He’d be sure JJ got some relaxation in and would keep him away from town for a few days to get him feeling better.

“Good. You’re all right?”

She snapped her towel at him. “I can still take you in a fight, mister.”

She probably could. Her path had been here on the home front, raising kids and keeping the house and the pack running while JJ was the muscle.

But that didn’t mean she was weak. He’d seen her in action more than once and knew she was lightning quick and strong. Vicious when she needed it.

“You know it!” He held his hands up in surrender, his smile real this time.

“Where’s Katie Faith?”

“She headed out with Aimee. There was talk of hair color and nail polish. She did a nice job out front.”

His grandparents’ house sat just to the north of the mercantile so he knew his grandma had checked out their progress through the big front windows from time to time.

“Looks bright and sunny out there. Even on a cloudy day. ’’Course, that’s sort of what she carries around with her. It’s good she’s taking an interest in the mercantile.”

“She’s got all sorts of plans for pumpkins and kettle corn and hay bales out there.” He shrugged as he filled his grandmother in on all the stuff Katie Faith talked about. It was their business and he knew Katie Faith would want him to emphasize they were seeking permission, not making a decision without asking.

“Clever as well as pretty, that one.” She waved a hand at him. “You and your brothers need to take a more active hand around here. I’m pleased to see it. She already looked at the books for us. It must have taken her forever and a day but she organized our accounting from your grandpa’s scribbles.”

“She did?” he asked, surprised.

“Her way of checking on your grandpa, I think. She charms him. I figure if she can handle JJ, she can handle you.”

“I think it’s the other way around, Grandma.” He snorted. “That witch of mine is trouble with a capital T. But she’s so cute doing it I can’t hold it against her.”

She laughed, hugging him quickly. “I like to hear that.” After a long pause, she spoke once more. “You and your brothers are going to have to handle this business with Pembry. JJ can. He can do it and he’ll win, he always does. But I’m afraid of the price he’ll pay if he does. I’d rather be happy and proud that our grandsons are leading the pack with your grandpa at my side. Alive.”