Diablo Lake: Moonstruck (2 page)

“Thanks for enabling me. I love you.” Katie Faith gave her a hug.

“Love you too. Now let’s get out the door and kick today’s butt.”

Chapter Two

Katie Faith locked the front doors of the Counter. Three weeks had passed since she’d arrived back in Diablo Lake to take over. The weight of it was frightening, even as it comforted and anchored her. She’d expected to feel trapped. Instead she carried a tote bag full of ledgers to study in the evenings after she closed up and spent a good part of her days thinking on things she could do to improve business.

All that planning and work had kept her busy enough to not obsess over her father every moment of the day though it was impossible to get the memory of him normally so hearty, pale and fragile, tubes running all over his body out of her head.

She’d grown up thinking her father was invincible. Now she knew otherwise and it terrified her.

Still, it was impossible not to smile as she turned and caught sight of Miz Rose patting her hair and straightening her sweater. “Good day today, Miz Rose. Thank you so much for all your help. I don’t know what we’d have done without you these last weeks.”

Miz Rose sent Katie Faith a raised brow. “Where else would I be? You think I got lots of social engagements I’m running out on?”

The woman was about four foot nothing and Katie Faith knew the hair tightly confined in her braided bun fell in deep auburn waves to her knees. She’d been a notoriously beautiful young woman in her day. Males from Diablo Lake, no matter their background, courted her and in the end, she’d chosen the quietly dignified Jefferson Collins. They’d made a passel of gifted kids who also had kids of their own. Miz Rose was an incredibly powerful woman and though Katie Faith loved her very much, she never forgot that.

“Miz Rose, if anyone in this town had social engagements it’d be you.”

Miz Rose chuckled low and sort of naughty. She was family. Had been the first person, after her father, who held Katie Faith when she’d been born. She’d been a wonderful role model, a woman Katie Faith admired deeply. The feeling had been returned by Miz Rose. When Katie Faith had walked back into the church after being told Darrell had run off with Sharon Woolery, Miz Rose had clucked her tongue.

Shaking her head she’d said, pouring on her disdain for extra effect, “
Well
,
Katie Faith
,
you saved yourself some heartache
,
girl.
He’s about as useless as a back pocket on a shirt.
Your children would have been as dumb as stumps.
Let Sharon have him.
”

It still made her laugh every time she thought of it.

Katie Faith bent to kiss Miz Rose’s cheek, the soft scent of White Shoulders wafting from her, filling her with a childhood’s worth of memories.

“You
will
call me if you need me in here tomorrow afternoon.” An order given by someone accustomed to obedience with just a smidge of magic to underline her words.

“Thank you. I will.” She waved to Miz Rose’s grandson who waited for her at his passenger side door.

“Hey there, Katie Faith. Good to have you back in town. I guess I’ll be seeing you next week at the meeting?”

Oh yeah, all that stuff. She nodded. If she was back she had responsibilities far beyond running the Counter. Her family made up one of the Consort—what they called the group of witches who’d banded together and then been part of Diablo Lake governance from the very start.

“Hey, Brandon. I’ll be there.” She walked alongside Miz Rose, not helping but being there in case she needed it. Pride was important. Dignity was important. Katie Faith had been raised right, so she saw Miz Rose safely into the car and stood back to watch them drive away.

She turned back to check the doors once last time before heading across the street to her next meeting. At the last all town gathering where they held a census, four thousand people called the city limits home. Of course
city limits
meant a pretty large area sprawling through the already isolated Smokies. Not a lot of people really, but enough to keep a few restaurants, a dive bar and a brew pub open on Diablo Lake Avenue, the main thoroughfare bisecting the town and the only way back to the series of roads leading to US Highway 441.

The Counter, which was purely a daytime joint with limited food and drink options shared the left side of the street along with the Red Door Inn, the aforementioned pub. At the farthest end of the street lay Pete’s, a creepy, windowless building where the old guys in town hung out to drink all day while bitching about the government and avoiding their spouses. It wasn’t dangerous in there or anything, but your shoes stuck to the floor and she’d rather pee outside than even go into a bathroom stall there.

Luckily, Katie Faith was headed to Salt and Pepper to catch up with Damon Dooley, who sidelined as a realtor in addition to running the general store with his twin Major.

Diablo Lake was isolated. On purpose and by design. They were far, far off the already remote US Highway 441. It kept humans away during most of the year and gave the citizens of Diablo Lake the anonymity—and safety—they desired.

But such isolation meant in order to pay bills, the denizens of Diablo Lake had to be creative and perform a variety of jobs. During the summer and fall, many locals hired out as guides through the surrounding Great Smoky Mountains National Park to save up money to get them through the generally hard winters that closed roads and isolated them even further.

But they were witches, who had a solid and very important connection to the earth. Being so far out in the wilderness was good for them. And shifters. Werewolves like the Dooleys and Pembrys and big cats like the Cuthbert and Ruiz families all loved the freedom to shift and run wherever they liked. Guide work was a natural thing for them, they were good at it and made a hearty living. Some of them even did backcountry and snow tours during the winters.

Pale green eyes met hers as she walked through the doors of Salt and Pepper. Damon sat at a nearby table, drinking a Coke, working his way through one of the diner’s signature mega burgers and a huge pile of french fries.

The man was easily six and a half feet tall. Broad like the rest of his kind. The kind of gaze that never missed a thing, even as he’d been flirting with his server. His deep-black hair was short just then, but Katie Faith knew when it got longer it grew into curls any girl would want to run her fingers through. Not that she ever had. Damon Dooley was so far out of her league she had to tiptoe just to see the edge of it. Didn’t mean she couldn’t look now and again.

Summers in Diablo Lake were her favorite time. The boys went shirtless and the shifter boys let their hair grow. All work-hard muscles, long hair and perfect teeth. Katie Faith smiled at the memory and suddenly moving back didn’t seem so very bad at all.

Katie Faith slid into the booth across from Damon.

“Hey.”

“Hey, Katie Faith. How’s your daddy?” Damon’s eyes softened from flirting to concerned.

“He’s doing good. He starts his physical therapy on Monday. Thank goodness for Aimee. She found a physical therapist who agreed to come out here three days a week to work with Daddy at the clinic.”

He nodded. “Major told me to let you know he’d come out this weekend to see about adding some railings to the front and back steps. Should make it easier for your dad to get in and out of the house without help.”

She
had
been gone too long because as she heard that, tears welled up. The outpouring of love and support for her dad had touched her deeply.

Damon gave her a moment to get herself back together before he spoke again, filling her in on the rentals and places for sale available in her price range and desired area, including an apartment above the mercantile, which the Dooley wolves owned and operated.

Given the very possessive nature of werewolves, she needed to avoid any part of town controlled or dominated by Pembry wolves. Otherwise, they’d lay claim to her, like a chair or the last piece of pizza.

“I don’t want
anything
in the Pembry part of town.” She said it quietly even though no one around was Pembry. It was still a small town after all; smart to keep your business quiet unless you wanted everyone to know it.

“I’m going to suggest you want to be in town or at least very close, in the middle of winter.”

True. At least if she lived in town she could walk to the Counter if the roads got bad or the power went out. The market and mercantile would be close enough to get her through if they got snowed in for a few days. The main part of town was also the first to get plowed and sanded in icy or snowy conditions.

Yes, in town was the best option and, she thought, where most of the people she liked best were anyway.

“Can I take a look tonight? I do want to buy, but maybe I can rent while I keep saving. I’d like some other options. I’ve been here nearly a month so once I make a choice I’d like to get things moving quickly. I’m staying with Aimee, but I need to move my furniture from Chattanooga and get that all sewn up.”

He nodded. “Don’t know why not. I have the keys for both places. You want to look at the apartment above the mercantile? Major and I are good landlords.”

She shrugged. Of course he and his brother would manage the place. “Sure. Why not look at all my options?”

“Always a plus, in my book.” Damon grinned and her hormones did the cha cha. He was nearly as hot as his big brother. Nearly.

* * *

Jace Dooley looked up from the engine of a Chevy truck whose carb needed changing out to catch sight of Katie Faith Grady stretching those damnable legs out the passenger side of Damon’s car.

She turned, pushing her sunglasses up to the top of her head and he felt it to his toes. Damn she was pretty. Always had been, even when she was small. But now she’d grown into herself. Her once unruly hair now tousled around her face, still curly but she’d tamed it somehow. Made the curls behave. The color was rich, not the shade she was born with, but what did he care? He liked the way it looked in the late day sun, like dark red wine and chocolate all bound together. It worked with her skin and eyes. Big hazel eyes. Eyes she’d gotten from her daddy’s people. Eyes that branded her. And that scared him as much as it excited him.

She moved with purpose, as always. But grace had replaced the clumsiness she’d had as her legs kept growing all through high school until he wanted her so badly he’d nearly punched that idiot Darrell in the face for having her. But for a few hours on one night he’d never forgotten.

Of course, sadly, people run to type and Darrell had pissed it all away to sneak off with Sharon. Well, they deserved each other and he hoped Katie Faith knew what she’d so narrowly escaped.

Jace continued to watch like some pervert as she followed Damon up the stairs to the apartment above the mercantile.

That’s when he realized what was happening.
Oh hell no.
Standing up straight, he banged his head against the hood and didn’t stop the curse from escaping. Guiltily, he looked around, relieved his grandma had gone back inside and hadn’t heard that one.

Crap. He wiped his hands off on a nearby rag and headed toward where they’d disappeared. If Katie Faith lived across the hall from him, he was pretty sure he’d die of want. Or he’d go to hell for all the self love.

At the top of the stairs, he caught her scent lingering in the air. Like catnip, electric and spicy. Her magic danced through it, calling to him.

Like it had years before.

Like it had and he’d pretended it away.

The door to the vacant apartment was open and he followed the sound of voices, hers a soft, sweet song, brushing against the low rumble his brother possessed.

They turned as he entered. Damon didn’t bother to hide his smug smile as he sent a look of challenge to Jace. Jace picked it right up. “You were right, Damon.” He grinned and looked to Katie Faith. “It
was
you who waved at me through Aimee’s window a few weeks ago, right? Damon said you’d been staying in town. Glad to hear your daddy is back home.”

She blinked up at him a few times and he noted the increase in her heartbeat. Not in fear.
Not at all.
When she licked her lips before speaking he nearly growled. Her skin warmed as she blushed, bringing her scent to him where it grew claws and dug in.

“Yeah, that was me. Good to see you, Jace. Or should I say Officer Dooley? Thank you. He’s doing much better.” Her voice had gone breathless in a few parts, which only got his attention more.

“Jace is just fine. Unless I’m arresting you. You plan to disturb the peace?” He stepped closer, unable to stop himself.

She continued to look up at him, those big eyes of hers blinking slowly. Every time she licked her lips he had to root himself to the spot to keep from bending to take a taste of that mouth.

Damon rocked back on his heels, clearly pleased with himself. “I’m showing her the apartment. Mind if I show her yours? Just so she can see what it looks like with stuff in it?”

He did
not
need her scent in his house. He did not need her to live next door. It was too much. He’d never be able to avoid her.

Like he hadn’t just thought all those very rational things, he found himself smiling down at her as he spoke to Damon. “Sure. Lemme go make sure it’s picked up.” He backed from the room and went to his door, cursing himself the whole time.

His place was relatively clean. He suspected his grandmother came in a few times a week when he was out to tidy up. Good reason to keep the
special
magazines and movies tucked away.

It wasn’t too many minutes later when Damon walked right in with Katie Faith. She reached out to knock on the door as they passed through the entry, ever a girl with manners. He stifled a smile.

He made the mistake of taking a deep breath and he was done.

Chapter Three

Katie Faith took the place in while pretending she was totally cool. Meanwhile, in her head, she giggled while doing a dance at sharing a small space with two of the most intensely male specimens she’d ever seen.

Being around Jace transported her back to high school. The first time she’d seen him, she’d been out on the track, pretending to run laps when Jace, then a senior to her freshman, shirtless and sweaty, lapped her and her friends.

Katie Faith wasn’t totally sure but she might have seen the Promised Land. All sorts of things happened to her body that she wouldn’t really understand for another few years.

But she did now. Boy howdy, did she! The adult Katie Faith knew the pleasure—and the danger—of the major tinglies when a man like Jace doled them out.

Moving in across the hall would be flirting with trouble. She knew she had an affinity with the Dooley wolves, just as she had with the Pembrys. That was one of the ways Diablo Lake and its protective magic continued to be strong and vibrant.

Wolves and witches clicked. Their magic was complementary. Some wolves and some witches
really
clicked in the romantic and biological sense. Sure she could date and fall in love with anyone. It happened from time to time. But that
affinity
between witches and shifters meant she had a connection to them in ways she’d never have with other males.

After that little exchange back at Salt and Pepper, when she and Damon nearly broke light bulbs just by touching, being in this apartment would be like waving a red flag at a bull. Or worse, she’d be the juicy steak and all the Dooleys who came around would salivate.

Coming back to Diablo Lake meant facing the political and social realities of town. A witch living in the territory a wolf considered his would be a shiny lure. They’d want to collect her. Claim her for their family.

She’d been considered part of the Pembry pack when she was with Darrell so it hadn’t really been an issue before. If she moved into this apartment she’d have to carefully guard her boundaries or she’d have Dooley wolves in her living room all the day long.

The studio for rent was way smaller, but technically not in anyone’s territory. If she chose that one, she’d be avoiding the potential for future annoyance and dick measuring.

Katie Faith stomped her foot. In her head, because that’s where a lady kept her tantrums. Which was a dumb saying her granny used and she scared people day in and out with her lively ways.

Lively
was what her pops called his wife. Everyone else just said crotchety. Granny would move into this apartment and flip the bird to anyone who tried to stop her. Which, when she thought about it, was the way to do it. No one owned her or where she chose to be.

Katie Faith had done her time in Chattanooga, feeling totally unattractive and invisible. She’d healed from being dumped so unceremoniously. She was a woman in the prime of her life, could it be so wrong to want to look at gorgeous men every day? Would it be such a crime to be admired and to feel beautiful? Also, if something broke they all knew how to fix things. And they could reach high shelves.

She knew she had nothing to fear from the Dooleys, but also, if she moved into that apartment, that they’d consider her one of them above and beyond the whole connection between their magic. You lived on the same property, in the same space with wolves and they’d kill you, drive you out, or place you under their protection. Since Damon had brought her over there and they wanted to rent the place to her, she guessed they chose the latter. And protection sounded sort of nice. Especially when you compared the options of being killed or run off.

She also couldn’t deny dread that eventually the Pembrys would seek her out. If she was surrounded by Dooleys, it would underline that Katie Faith was done with Pembry wolves.

The rent was doable, and it was central enough to the Counter and to her parents’ house. It would be silly
not
to rent it.

She drew her attention back to Damon and Jace. There was something going on between the brothers, a whole conversation of looks and exhalations.
Boys.
Like she wouldn’t know it was about her? She cocked her head and watched the interplay until Jace turned his gaze back to her and she got a major case of the tingly bits.

He waved vaguely around the room. “Go ahead on and look around. This is a mirror of the place across the hall.” Jace’s voice was so low the bass of it vibrated through her belly and other places south.

She looked at them on her way toward the bedrooms. Damon was so handsome he was nearly pretty with it. But Jace was something else entirely. The kind of man who took up every bit of space when he walked into a room, even if he never said a thing. A good cop quality, she was sure. He was quietly intense. Intelligent, she knew. His nose was just a bit more crooked than would merit movie star handsome, and yet, with the wary eyes and the full lips, the combination made it impossible not to look and admire whatever it was he possessed.

She’d crushed on him in high school, where he’d been nearly four years older. Who hadn’t? Jace had been mysterious. His energy had been all bad boy. Intense. His physicality had been different than Darrell’s. They’d both played football in high school, but Jace had run the defensive line. Big and scary, but not really. Not in his eyes.

Darrell had been much nearer to her age. They’d been in the same classes and he’d been handsome and at times he had a great sense of humor. He’d liked her. Pursued her. Where Jace had been broody and intense, Darrell had been open and vivacious. The kind of guy who had an opinion about everything. And, because of that, she really should have known he’d have turned out to be a dick.

The ugly truth was he’d charmed her in his way. And he’d sort of led their relationship and she’d let him. She hadn’t known better until after. But it was high school in a small town and so after two years of dating everyone assumed it would be forever.

Except for one night after the homecoming parade. She’d gotten into an argument with Darrell. He broke up with her then and she’d stormed off while he’d stayed. Most likely to track Sharon down, she knew now. Katie Faith had gone to the batting cages, hitting one after another to work out the mad. No one knew she did it. The batting cages were her secret. Her place to run when she’d had enough because they all thought she was still a clumsy teen.

And then Jace had been there. Leaning against the cab of his truck. Long legs covered in pale denim, booted feet crossed at the ankle.

He’d
seen
her and it had been a pretty big shock. Jace had changed everything because he’d asked her what was wrong and he’d meant it.

And in the telling she’d been so close to him and had been crying in frustration. He’d hugged her. But it was that he’d understood her tears were more from anger than sadness—again he’d seen her—that had made her hug him the first time.

And then when she pulled back he’d bent to kiss her.

For nearly four hours, they’d kissed and talked. Held hands and touched. She could still remember the waves of sensation that had rolled through her as he slid his fingers through hers, palm to palm. He’d branded himself into her in a way she still carried even then. It couldn’t have been more intimate if they’d actually had sex. But they hadn’t and it was still the most explosively sexual experience she’d ever had.

Then he left town for a month and she gave up, chalking it up to one lovely secret that would never be spoken about again.

And here she stood in the doorway to his bedroom, looking at his bed and wondering what he’d feel like against her skin. She sighed heavily. This was dumb. Beyond dumb and back again. She should just see if her parents would let her borrow money from them to make her down payment larger. The two bedroom house for sale had been everything she wanted in a house but out of her budget. Her monthly payments would be too close to the line for her comfort. She needed to rent while she saved up money and settled back into Diablo Lake.

They’d give her the money, but right then things were extra tight with her father’s hospitalization. More stress on them would be a terrible thing. No. Waiting and saving was the financially sane thing to do. Even if she would be living across the hall from a man who rang her bell like it was dinnertime.

They’d both totally been checking out her butt and looked away quickly when she caught them.

“I’ll take it. When can I move in?”

Damon moved to take her arm and draw her outside the apartment. In hindsight, a normal thing. But Jace’s wolf had other ideas and he found himself grabbing for his brother’s retreating body, a snarl on his lips.

Damon froze. “Just a sec, Katie Faith. Excuse us.” Damon closed the door, leaving her in the hallway before he turned to face Jace.

Damon spoke slowly and carefully. Jace was higher ranked and he knew, in a state of agitation after Katie Faith had just been in his space, her scent still in the air. “What the hell are you doing? Your eyes are changing like a fucking pup. Get yourself under control, Jace.”

Jace unclenched his fists and took a slow, hard exhale and then back in. “I’m sorry. It just happened.”

Damon shook his head. “Who do you think you’re talking to? You and I both know what this is about and she’s right outside. We can work around that. Once people know it’s that way, they’ll back off.”

What his brother meant was that a witch with her background living in the midst of a knot of Dooleys would bring the males around like bees to a flower. But if Jace showed he was the one Katie Faith belonged to, they’d leave it be.

Jace shook his head, denying what his brother had said. Lying and they both knew it. But he spoke anyway. “It’s
not
about her. I’m just not used to her, that’s all. It’ll be fine. Go on or she’ll think we’re talking about her.”

They’d been carrying on a hushed conversation, which was a big enough clue even if she couldn’t hear the exact words.

“You
are
talking about me,” Katie Faith called from the other side of the door.

That’s what he started to realize the Katie Faith in the hallway was not the same shy, sweet girl she’d been before she left Diablo Lake.

Stupidly, he sort of dug it.

He gave Damon a severe look. His brother had the balls to roll his eyes.

“Oh you think just because we’ve got company I won’t punch your face?” Jace asked in a very quiet voice.

“Go on ahead then,” Damon taunted, wearing what their grandfather called a
shit eating grin
.

Snorting, Jace reached out, whacked his brother’s pretty head into the doorjamb and was checking his watch before Damon even figured out what was happening. “Thanks. I feel better now.”

“Asshole.” Damon punched his shoulder hard enough to make Jace grunt a little.

“Do you guys need more time to have whispered discussions about me and scuffle around?” Katie Faith called out from the hall. “If so, I’ll just head back to Aimee’s.”

Before he could punch his brother once more, Jace opened the door to find her leaning against the wall across the hall. At ease. Her heart rate was slightly elevated, but she made the effort to stay calm.

“You know how to live around us already,” he told her. If she’d been too close or had appeared anxious, he’d have responded. His own anxiety would have ramped up and it could have been weird.

Instead, she showed her control and she stood her ground in a way that was not aggressive.

“Werewolves are just men turned up to fourteen. You’re not that complicated. So can I move in here or what?”

Damon eased out, staying in Jace’s line of sight the whole time. His brother was right, he was acting like a fucking pup instead of the next in line to run this family. Jace locked his control into place and stood taller.

“Give us forty-eight hours to get the place cleaned and ready for a tenant,” Damon told her with a smile.