Diablo Lake: Moonstruck (20 page)

“God, Momma you have no idea how much I wanted to.” Katie Faith giggled. “That wine is kicking in. Here I am, day drinking with my mom. Good times. Hey, do they even make that peanut butter with the jelly swirled into it anymore?”

“Don’t let her lead you off topic. She gets worse when she’s tipsy,” Aimee warned them.

“See if I let you have the last piece of pizza next time,” Katie Faith muttered. “So, you called Scarlett. Did you give her Severely Disappointed Mom or Momdeusa?”

Nadine laughed. “Momdeusa?”

“Yeah. Like you get so mad snakes pop out of your head and you turn everything you see to stone. Usually accompanied by all three names a child is born with.”

“That’s a good one. I can recall you making me go momdeusa a time or two. I went more quietly threatening. I’m not disappointed in her. She better run if she sees me coming. But I will have my say to her face before this is over.”

“So, in the pro column I have this special old magic connection thing with Jace. It makes me stronger, which also goes in the pro column.” She glanced up at Aimee. “In this town the more power you have, the more independence you have. The more choices you have. I’m a big fan of that. Jace is strong. I make him stronger. I’m also a fan of that.”

“I saw JJ last week,” Aimee said. “He’s better. Spending more time with his brother out at the lake. Fishing. Staying out of things.”

“Jace has been Prime long enough to prove several times over he’s capable of being Patron. I don’t think anyone will challenge him. But right now, he, Major and Damon are running the pack in a time of heightened tension and doing a fantastic job. And I think JJ is a crafty old wolf who knows exactly what he’s doing to stay away and let Jace lead right now.”

Nadine gave Katie Faith a raised brow. “You’re going to be good at this Patron thing. That’s what you’re taking on along with marrying that man.”

“I know that’s what I’m taking on. And I think it’ll be sooner rather than later. I’m not so sure they’ll be as excited to have my power because it comes with my brain and my mouth.” She laughed. “Well that’s not entirely fair. I think there are a lot of shifters in this generation who really do want to make some changes and do what’s best for the future of all the wolves in the pack. Just like most Pembrys are more like Mac than Darrell.”

She thought about it a bit.

“Really, I’m window dressing. I don’t know how I’m supposed to do this any other way. I’m not a werewolf. I can’t know all their issues the way one of their own could.”

Contrary to popular werewolf folklore a bite from a werewolf didn’t “turn” anyone. It could easily do damage, maybe even death without a whole lot of meaning to. Which was why they kept to themselves out there in the middle of nowhere Tennessee.

She’d never be a werewolf like Jace. She was already shaky on the idea of being a wife, she really couldn’t make sense of telling Dooley wolves what to do. So she’d lend her strength to Jace and keep on learning all she could about their world—both from inside and outside it—and hopefully she’d be able to be his sounding board as well.

“Does he want to know about us?” TeeFay asked.

“He’s curious about magic and the witches here in Diablo Lake. I’m still working on understanding. But he’s respectful. And though I have no doubt he’ll offer up his opinion on all sorts of things—Lord, that man—I do think he’ll continue to be respectful as he learns.”

Two hours later, she headed out, grateful she’d decided to walk. The crisp air would do her some good, as would all the decorations on lawns, in front windows and at businesses.

But what did her the best was the feeling that she was home and that Diablo Lake had taken her back with open arms.

Chapter Twenty-One

Jace tapped on her door, waiting for the sound of her footfalls. She’d come, open up, chide him for not letting himself in with his key. Then she’d remind him he was the one who wanted her to lock her door in the first place.

He just liked to see her face as she opened up for him. Liked being invited into her space. Not that he didn’t mark it all with his presence once he was there. But he liked that little ritual. It felt like being met at the door. And he loved when she did that too.

But he didn’t hear her after a minute and another knock. She was usually home by seven and they often shared a late dinner once he got off his shift.

“Hey!” she called out as she came up the stairs at his back. “I meant to be here by now but I was a dumbass and forgot what the grocery store was like this close to Halloween and Samhain. It was a full blown crazypants mess in there.”

He took the bags as she passed. “You should have texted me. I could have met you and helped carry these up.”

She smiled, holding the door open. “Well there are a few more down there now, please and thank you.”

“Okay. Well. Good.” He put the bags down and then headed to her car to get the rest, finding her in the kitchen, unloading items into her fridge.

“Let me drop in the biscuits to cover the chicken I put into the slow cooker earlier.”

He pulled her close. “Evening, darlin’.”

She snuggled in, hugging him tight. “Did you have fun fighting evil today?” she asked as he put her away from himself and kissed the top of her head.

“The usual Collins/Hill Days stuff. Vandalism of the toilet paper and egg variety. Maisie Ephram made me hot chocolate that she served with a huge slice of apple pie when I found her ratty ass dog once again. So that happened, which puts me in the win column for the day anyway. And now I’m here with you, which means I’m definitely winning.”

She paused in her food prep, laying her things down. Making her way back to him, she tiptoed up to kiss his lips. “You’re being very sweet. Thank you.”

“Sweet? Ha. I sit here and watch you whip up scratch biscuits you’ll make to go on a dinner you’ve been planning all day. For me. I’d be a monster not to be sweet for that.”

“Still. I think Maisie is gunning for a win in the apple pie category at the contest on Founder’s Day. How’s she doing? I just had a slice of my mom’s—with a lattice top and crystallized sugar.”

“Too much nutmeg for me. But it’s a slice of pie and hot chocolate on a day I got yelled at by a bunch of grumpy old guys upset over the usual shit I can’t do anything about like leaves blowing off trees when it’s windy.”

She pulled a beer out, cracking it open and handing it over. “You’re home now. Eat something warm. Hang out with your super hot girlfriend. Forget about grumpy old men for the night.”

As she dropped dollops of the dough on top of the chicken she looked up a moment with a teasing light in her eyes. “I only want to think about one young grumpy guy.”

“I’m not grumpy. I’m efficient.”

“You sure are.” She gave him a cheerful smile.

“It’s two months today since I kissed you the first time. Well the first time since you’d moved back home. It’s been sort of crazy, but you, you’re everything good.”

Katie Faith tossed herself at him. Laughing, full of love, he caught her, holding her against him as she dropped kisses all over his face.

“I love you. Grump and all. I see through all that curmudgeonly attitude anyway. You have a soft chewy center.”

“You say the weirdest shit, Katie Faith.”

“I’m unique. You’re efficient. We’re perfect for each other.”

Sweet Jesus, they were.

“Something like that. I’ve never done a Samhain celebration before. I mean of course we did them in school and I’ve seen the basics. But I want to do this right. What do I do?”

“You want to? Oh. Wow. Well, yes I’d like that. You there with me. We do different rituals and events over the four days before Samhain but you don’t have to do them all. Friday night after work I was going to make an ancestor’s altar. Just a way to celebrate those who came before. If you want, you can add your mom.”

Jace liked the idea of that. He looked over to where he thought her altar already was. “That’s an altar there, right?”

He didn’t know as much as he should have about her magic. He wanted more of her.

“Yes, that’s an altar. It keeps me centered. Helps me remember to be mindful of what I am. To use my magic wisely and with respect to those who came before. When I was like six or seven, I had trouble focusing enough to use my magic. It felt like a sneeze that didn’t quite happen. But all the time. My magic was right there, I just didn’t have the ability to shape and own my intent enough to use it.”

He bet she hated not being good at something. Witches were very competitive and six or seven was late not to have control.

“My Grandma Opal came over after church one Sunday and she took me outside to find the materials for what turned out to be my first altar.” She picked up a river rock, smooth and dark with flecks of gray. “This rock.” She put it back on a pretty scarf she’d draped over a table in her living room. With a flick of her wrist, she indicated a smooth disk of wood some small candles, a silver figurine and some acorns lay. “And that piece of wood is what’s left. I’ve built it, changed it, added or removed things over time as I need to. But what she taught me then, and what I do today, is that focus and intent take mindfulness. Control and respect for the power Diablo Lake gives to her witches. I didn’t get it at first. But after about two months I figured it out.”

So fascinating. He took her hand and kissed her wrist, pleased at the way her pulse jumped against his lips. “I bet you did it that first time ’cause you got mad the others were better than you at it.”

Her grin told him he’d been right.

“It wasn’t that I needed to be the best. There are witches here in Diablo Lake who are far, far stronger than I am. But I just couldn’t tolerate Missy Shacklee being able to do something I hadn’t managed.”

Wisely, he kept his smile mild instead of the laugh threatening his belly.

“Anyway, I write in my journal here. Do my working and spellcasting here as well. The ancestor’s altar I planned to put over in that corner. It’ll be part of my Samhain altar. I’ll put pictures of people who’ve passed. My Grandma Opal, for instance.” A sad smile touched her lips a moment. “My cousin Lorie. You remember her? She got killed in a rollover accident three years ago now.”

“I do remember her.” He pressed a kiss to Katie Faith’s forehead. “So the key is to find something that I could put here that would be a way to think about my mom?”

“Yes. Or some forebear who paved the way. You can have more than one. There’s power in ritual. I’m as Protestant as you are, right? But when we sing together in church, or when we pray we engage in ritual. Ritual is a form of memorization. Intense focus.” She blushed.

“Are you embarrassed?”

“I guess I’ve never really described it to anyone else before. It sounds weird to an outsider, probably.”

“To the guy who transforms into a giant wolf at will? Really?”

She smiled again.

“I think what you just described sounds beautiful. It makes sense. I never thought of it that way, but yeah, it makes sense. Thank you for sharing your world with me.”

“Samhain is a very contemplative time. A lot of people I know do their own rituals and remembrances as well as the ones all the witches in town do together. We do stuff with everyone else in town on Halloween. But the night before that, we do a walk to the graveyard. On the way back we gather up a bunch of leaves, berries and the like to make the decorations for the big feast on Samhain night.”

“You do a bonfire too, right?”

“I should have known you’d notice fire. Boys.”

He set the table, ignoring her tease. Mainly because she was right. He loved to watch a Samhain bonfire but he’d done so from afar, never really having the reason to be part of the celebration itself.

“Yes there’s a bonfire. Then after that, a huge community dinner Miz Rose hosts at her house every year.”

“I’d heard...well, you use game when you can. Right?”

She nodded as she spooned up dinner on plates he then carted to the table.

“Not everyone does I wager, but yes. Being out here it’s easy enough to have the stew be venison. Or to have wild turkey instead of store-bought. Samhain feast food is comfort, stick to your ribs stuff.”

“I’d like to contribute. To hunt and bring you the deer and turkey.”

“You...you would?” Tears sprang to her eyes and he struggled to figure out if it was good or bad.

“I’m a werewolf. I never use
store-bought
turkey.” He snorted at the very idea. “Did Darrell bring you store-bought turkey?”

She curled her lip as she peppered her dinner. “Darrell never came to any of our Samhain rituals. Said it made him uncomfortable. I wasn’t going to force him. That’s entirely not the point.”

“He never did? Even when you were going to get married?” Darrell was so relentlessly a shitass.

“Scarlett thinks it’s of the devil. Pastor Tomkins disagrees with her on that point, but whatever. Scarlett’s perspective on God is none of my business. I wish she’d keep it that way instead of screaming it in everyone’s face.”

Jace withheld a growl. “Well,
I’ll
be with you and I’ll be bringing you the meat already dressed and cleaned for the feast. And maybe a picture of my mom for the altar.”

“I’d like that. Thank you. It means a lot that you want to know this part of me. To share it. It’s a time of reflection for us. Contemplation is a major factor for me. And the more I think about my life, the more grateful for you I am.”

“Now who’s being sweet? Damn.” He pointed his fork at the chicken and biscuits on his plate. “This is so good. I needed something like this after the last few weeks.”

“I like taking care of you, goofball.”

“I like being taken care of.” He breathed out carefully. “I’m having coffee with Mac tomorrow.”

“It’s about time.”

“It’s been best to let it lie a bit. Now that things have calmed back from boiling over, we can see what’s what.”

“Weren’t you guys friends? Back in the day I mean,” she said.

“He was two years ahead of me in school but we ran in the same circle at times. I played football, but I wasn’t a star like he was. Or like Darrell had been. Still, he was a good guy. I hope he still is. I’ve never had any trouble with him and I’d like to keep it that way. I imagine he’s got enough of his own problems to keep him busy enough from borrowing mine.”

“From your lips to God’s ears. By the way, your grandmother said something about a Halloween dinner? I’m to bring macaroni and cheese. Which I took as a compliment because of its relative importance on every southern table.”

“She mentioned the pumpkin bread you made. You impressed her. Not that I’m surprised because you’re very impressive.” He didn’t tell her the dinner was for all the wolves in town, as well as the cats and they had it at the grange. There’d be at least five different macaroni and cheeses there, but if his grandma told her to do it, she had a reason. She always did.

“The kids go out to trick or treat and when they get back, we have the dinner, which takes a few hours and will be many courses. After that you can head out. There’s a big run so you’re not going to want to stick around for that part.”

“Okay. I’ll make plans to meet up with my friends after dinner while you’re four legged, eating bugs and stuff.”

“I don’t eat bugs. I eat rabbit and small game mostly, though this time of year I might take down a deer. Since I need something for Samhain, I might hunt for you that night.”

“I’m all for skipping the part where you bring down a full-size deer with your teeth if it’s all the same. Of course I’m sure it’s quite impressive, but ew.”

He laughed. “All right then.”