Diablo Lake: Moonstruck (4 page)

“Can I get you something?” Katie Faith asked, keeping it professional and pleasant but not an inch more. “I can still make a mean vanilla Coke.”

He hesitated and then the smile he sent was more like the old Dwayne. “I shouldn’t. If Scarlett heard about me having a soda, she’d get a switch off the back tree.”

She risked a quick look at her father. Scarlett Pembry was a crazy woman. Hard, uneven, not incredibly stable and she took to making up fanciful stories when she got bored or took it into her head someone had done her wrong. It was entirely possible she would take a switch to her husband’s behind if he broke some dietary stricture.

Dwayne slid himself onto the stool next to Avery’s wheelchair. “What the heck? I haven’t had a vanilla Coke in ages. Probably since the last time you were here.” He paused as she began to make his soda.

Her father made small talk until she finished, placing the soda before Dwayne.

He took a sip and sighed happily. “This is just the thing. Thank you, Katie Faith.” His smile faded. “Is everything gonna be all right? Between you and Darrell?”

She cocked her head and looked at him long and hard. “Seems to me, Mayor, that’s what they call a dead horse. There’s nothing between me and Darrell to be one way or the other.”

“This is my town, Katie Faith. I just want to be sure things run smooth-like. I know he did you wrong. But he’s got himself two younguns and a wife. I need to know right up front if you have any plans to interfere with that.” Oh that folksy thing made her want to punch him.

Anger burned through her and the lights hummed just a bit before she reined it in. “You come in here and ask if
I’m
going to mess in someone’s relationship?
Me?
If I recall correctly, and excuse me here because I’m getting angry, but I was the one who had someone else interfere in
my
relationship.” She shook her head and held a hand up to keep him silent. “No. You said your piece and now I’ll say mine. I came back here because my family needed me and because this is
my
home. I don’t want your son. I’m grateful every single minute of my day that he cheated on me and dumped me before I joined myself to him. He’s someone else’s problem. She’s welcome to him and his babies. If you’re lucky, they’ll turn out like her sister, leastwise they’ll be smarter than stumps.”

Dwayne sighed deeply. “I know he did you wrong, Katie Faith. I’ve said so before and I’ll say it now, I’m sorry for the things I did right after the wedding. He was wrong. But he’s trying now. I’m asking you to respect that.”

“Dwayne Pembry, I’ve never done a damned thing to your son or his wife. I don’t care about either one of them enough to spare their marriage a passing thought. I’m finding it hard to locate my sense of humor. I told you I don’t want a part of any Pembry, especially Darrell. I don’t care if you don’t trust my word. The God’s honest truth is that I’m the only one with credibility here. You need to go on now. I’m done with this conversation forever.” She took his glass and began to wash it.

“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, Katie Faith. I really am glad you came home.” He stood and she looked up at him.

“You delivered your little message, now go. Rest assured I want no part of you all. Don’t you come back here to upset my father again or there’ll be the trouble you’re so eager to prevent.” His dumbass son was one thing, messing with her daddy when he was still weak? That made her furious.

With a heavy sigh, Dwayne turned and trudged out.

“And don’t you call round election day asking for money, neither,” her father called out. “Imagine! The nerve of him to come in here and treat you that way.”

She shook her head and took his hand in hers. “
Please
don’t get upset, Daddy, it doesn’t signify. Let it go. I have. It’s been over three years now. You can’t afford the anger right now. Your revenge is to live a long time.”

The bell jingled again, but this time the doorway held far more interesting fare than before. She grinned.

“Hey, Jace.”

He removed his ball cap, what the cops in town wore, and ran his hand through his hair. He’d probably put that hat on while his hair was still wet from the shower.
Oh my.
She paused a moment, going to a very happy place.

She probably shouldn’t be thinking about him in the shower. But she wasn’t talking on a cell phone and driving, that was an improvement. Right? Her internal argument faded as she watched him move like the predator he was toward the counter. His uniform pants strained at the thighs as he walked, nearly silently. His button-down shirt fit him perfectly and she wanted to lick him. A lot.

He looked
good
. Taut and muscled and sunkissed and hot damn, delicious.

“Good afternoon, Katie Faith.” He smiled, a quick flash of white teeth. “Mr. Grady, how are you?”

“Sit down, son.” Her dad indicated the stool right next to his. “I’m working on getting better. It’s hard with two women hovering over a body all day and night.” Her father sent her a look and she rolled her eyes.

“Must help that they’re both so pretty, though.” Jace grinned and winked at Katie Faith, who snorted.

“What can I get for you?” Katie Faith leaned over the counter. “It’s on the house if you’ll answer some marketing questions.”

He laughed and settled in, resting his arms on the counter. His gaze locked on hers and she couldn’t have looked away even if she had wanted to. Not that she wanted to.

“Shoot. I’m all yours.”

Good Lord above, he made her all flustered. “What’ll it be?”

“Is it too early for a milkshake? Chocolate?” He looked hopeful.

Werewolves and chocolate. Almost as bad as witches and their obsession with peaches. She smiled. “Never too early for a chocolate milkshake.”

He made small talk with her father as she scooped the ice cream, followed by milk and chocolate syrup. It was like breathing, she’d done it so many times. She’d worked behind this counter since the age of ten or so.

Deftly, she poured the shake into a frosty glass. “I’m assuming you want the whole shebang? Whipped cream, nuts and a cherry?”

He just looked at her like she was crazy to even ask so she poked a straw through the pretty mountain of whipped cream and slid it to him with a spoon.

“Would you come in here for coffee if we served lattes and such in the mornings?” she asked him.

“Oh is this the marketing portion of the program? I need to serious up.” The smile hovering at the corner of his mouth made her a little dizzy.

“You’re awfully saucy for this early in the day.” She sent him a mock frown.

“My grandmother tells me I was born this way.” He took a draw on the milkshake and moaned. “This is heaven in a glass. And I think it could work. There’s no fancy coffee for miles and miles.”

“You think people would spend four dollars for a cup of coffee here in Diablo Lake?” her father asked.

Jace thought and shrugged. “Four bucks?” He winced. “Maybe two fifty. We’re backwater, not backwards.”

Katie Faith waved it away. “I wouldn’t charge four dollars anyway. That’s city pricing. I just thought I’d have some coffee and a few baked goods in the mornings, a sandwich at lunch, just one and then close up at five instead of three. Nothing major, just hopefully some extra business.”

“Six to five is a lot to do on your own. Still, I like that you’re digging in. Putting roots back down.” Jace’s comment seemed flip but his eyes were serious. She just had to figure out if it was as a friend or if he was serious about her on a romantic level. Not that she should be sniffing around a werewolf of any make much less a Dooley. The generations old beef between the upper class Pembry wolves and the blue collar Dooley wolves made any notion of dating either a stupid idea.

She shrugged, trying not to blush. Her father raised his eyebrows, looking back and forth between them, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

“My mom still wants her afternoon shift. Curtis will still be a part-timer so I think it’s definitely doable.”

More customers came in, half wanting to get a look at Katie Faith being back, but even those she lured in with sweet treats. Maybe she’d be better at this than she thought.

Not one failed to notice who and what was sitting at her counter, though. By nightfall she could only imagine how tongues would be wagging.

“I need to get back to the station to fill out some paperwork.” Jace grumbled something about toilet paper. “Thank you for the company and the milkshake.”

“Oh I see, come in, be seen, get the gossips all worked up that you’re here and dash out again?” she teased.

“It’s my greatest joy,” he said, deadpan. “Especially if it comes with milkshakes.”

“Any time.” Like at two in the morning and he was in his boxers and came knocking on her door. She could whip up a milkshake whenever he needed.

He shook her dad’s hand before turning back to give her a long up and down look. “I suppose I’ll be seeing you soon enough, neighbor.”

He looked
damned
good walking away in those uniform pants.

“That boy sure is sweet on you.” Her father smiled into his tea.

“He’s just being friendly.”

“Pull the other one,” he mumbled.

“Momma’s gonna be here soon to pick you up. I’ll be by later on for dinner.” She wanted him to drop the subject.

“You be careful round them Pembrys. You hear? I don’t like it what they came over here. It’s as if they’re preparing for Darrell doing something stupid.”

She sighed and wiped the counter down. “I can handle them if a problem comes up. Which it won’t because I have no interest in a single one of those lunkheads.”

“Darrell Pembry is an idiot. Makes him more dangerous, not less. This isn’t about your interest in them. You’re a powerful girl, anyone can see. Power’s a lure. Especially in Diablo Lake.”

Katie Faith frowned a moment. “He’s a fool. Even if I didn’t already think he was worthless, I sure as heck wouldn’t get involved with a married man. I’m better than that!”

“‘’Course you are. That’s not what I meant and you know it. You’re strong. Stronger than you were when you left. You need to work with Miz Rose on some stuff. I’ll help when I’m all healed.”

Before she could follow up, her mother came in and collected her father to take him home. It was easy enough to manage the fountain by herself for most of the time but right after the middle and high schools let out, things got very busy. Those hungry kids with some disposable income would give her afternoons a profitable boost if she handled it right.

She picked up the phone and dialed Aimee. She had planning to do and the movers would be arriving the following day with all her stuff so it would be her last night in Aimee’s spare room. They’d get together with their other friend Lara to celebrate when everyone got off work for the day.

Chapter Five

At a little past noon the following day, Katie Faith tipped the movers and said her good-byes to them. She’d see them all again soon enough as the moving crew had been a bunch of local Dooleys with strong backs and a big truck.

“No damned chore to watch shirtless, sweaty dudes hauling stuff around on our orders, you know?” Aimee said.

“I’m in agreement with that.” Wolves ran hot, so even through the winter, when they worked outside they frequently did it in shirtsleeves or even better, wearing no shirts at all. “I really like that beard Major is growing.”

“I’m the president of the Oh-yes-I-like-that-beard fan club. Jace grew one last winter. Looked like lumberjack porn all night and day.” Aimee hummed at the memory and Katie Faith tried not to throw the book in her hands at her friend’s head.

“Lower cost of living isn’t the only reason to be glad I’m back in Diablo Lake,” she said, because she couldn’t fault anyone for finding Jace Dooley gorgeous.

They both laughed as Katie Faith began to unpack the boxes with her kitchen supplies. “I already stocked the fridge up with beer if you want one. It’s after noon on a weekend and we’re moving so we get to day drink.”

“Your never-ending resourcefulness is a balm to my heart, Katie Faith.” Aimee cracked open two beers before joining in on the unpacking.

“If we had been scouts of some sort I’d totally have earned a lot of flair. Badges. Patches. Whatever. You know what I mean. Maybe with a sash. On a sash, yeah, that would be so cute. Right?” Katie Faith made what she figured was the internationally understood movement for sash-type thingamabob.

Aimee shook her head and snickered. “Bless your heart, Katie Faith.”

Katie Faith gave her friend another internationally well-known hand signal and went back to work.

Finally, after several hours of unpacking, hanging pictures and getting the place just right, Aimee paused to give their work a satisfied look. “You got yourself some nice furniture.”

Katie Faith turned a circle to take it all in. Her view was of mountains and trees and nothing but. Her belongings fit there.
She
fit there.

“I was an accountant for a department store. I’d never have been able to afford it all without the discount,” she told Aimee. Her boss had even told her if she ever changed her mind they’d have a job waiting for her.

She wouldn’t be going back to Chattanooga because she’d accepted what had never been more true. Diablo Lake was her home. Her roots went deep, like the magic there did.

“I texted Lara to let her know to get her butt on over here with some food. You’re goofy enough as it is. When you get hungry, you’re destructively goofy,” Aimee informed her of their friend whose family owned Salt and Pepper.

“You’re going to spoil me with all your love talk.”

“I notice you don’t deny my claims of your goofiness.”

“I’m too classy to dignify your remarks.” Katie Faith sniffed and then shoved a caramel into her pie hole because she had no pie and she
was
known to get a bit unruly when she got really hungry.

On cue, Lara appeared holding several bags. “Burgers, fries, deep fried cherry pies.”

“We have beer! Perfect.” Katie Faith snuck a french fry and sighed happily. They sat at the small table and looked out the windows, over the fog-shrouded sunset over the mountains and trees in the distance.

“When’s the coven meeting?” Aimee grinned and Katie Faith groaned.

“Don’t let Miz Rose hear you call us a coven. She’s a mite testy about that.” They were witches in the sense that they were all born imbued with magical powers of one kind or another. They drew their energy from the earth and met as a group every other Thursday night. But long ago, the Collins family, the strongest of their kind in Diablo Lake, one of the founding families who’d been in charge the longest, decided that
Consort
was a better word to use for what they were and it stuck.

“She
is
kinda scary.” Lara leaned toward the windows. “Holy cow is Damon Dooley a spoonful of yum.”

“He sure did seem to think the same of you when we were at Salt and Pepper earlier this week,” Katie Faith teased as she took the pickles off her burger.

“Can’t say I’d mind living here so close to ’em all. Dangerous. Well, not really, which is probably why they’re so hot, but they’re big and manly and they all have those work-with-your hands manly jobs. The Pembrys are sort of soft by comparison.” Aimee stole some fries and sipped her beer.

“Darrell wasn’t all bad. He just wasn’t good enough either.” He hadn’t been a total loser until the end. There were good times between them. It had taken a year or so before Katie Faith could remember that, but time did heal those wounds.

“Face it, he was with you for the power and position. Sharon came along, swished her tail at him and he strayed because she offered less power, but more sex.” Lara’s blunt delivery would have depressed Katie Faith had an epiphany not shoved everything else from her head.

She sat up from where she’d been slumping. “Power and position? What?”

“Don’t tell me it never occurred to you? You’re a beautiful woman, Katie Faith, but Darrell and his fellow Pembrys aren’t in charge for nothing. They marry for
power and position
. Or, if they knock a female up. But really, it’s all good for you because you’re free and you’re more powerful than they imagined you’d be. That must be killing them.” Aimee snorted a laugh.

“You mean to tell me, you think Darrell Pembry only wanted to marry me because I had the potential to be a powerful witch?” Katie Faith was suddenly so angry she wanted to hit someone. Because she knew it was the damned truth.

“Yes, that’s what I mean to tell you. I’m sorry it never occurred to you until now. It’s not about you, he’s the dick.” Aimee made a rude noise.

“Dwayne came into the fountain to be sure I wasn’t gonna try and wreck Darrell’s precious marriage. As if I’d do that. As if I want him. I don’t want him and I am more than however much talent I have.”

“Of course you are. Who said otherwise here in this room?” Lara waved through the glass down at Jace, who grinned up at them, waving from where he stood talking with his grandmother.

“I didn’t have much power back then.”

Aimee turned to face Katie Faith fully. In the background, she heard the clomp of footsteps up the stairs.
Jace.

Aimee stared at her, clearly weighing her words. “You’re the daughter of an incredibly gifted witch and your momma is a very powerful guardian. What did you think you’d be?”

“I don’t think about it! I’m just regular, every day Katie Faith Grady. No frills, no superpowers. Is that how everyone sees me? What I might be in the future? What if I’m a dud? Am I slated to marry some dude who lives in the root cellar? I only get a good one if I meet the magic standards test?”

Lara clucked her tongue. “Don’t be such a drama queen. This is Diablo Lake. Always has been. Yes, these things are important and I can’t believe you never thought about it before. It’s who we all are, how things work here. Already in the south it’s about who your people are, only here it’s worse because we are all alone. Do you think Darrell is really smart enough to run an entire city department? He got the job because he’s the son of the big cheese.”

Aimee reached out and squeezed Katie Faith’s hand. “My daddy runs the police department because he was born a guardian. I’m a social worker, because like many guardians, I’m drawn to the kind of work that takes care of people. Keeps order. Every single place to eat in this town is run by witches. Witches are the doctors, the teachers and the cooks. Dooleys fix and build, Pembrys manage. Everyone has a place. Is that so bad?”

Katie Faith knew all that was so, but still. “It is if everyone’s potential is hindered by what they’re born as.”

“Oh yeah, cause that never happens anywhere else, Pollyanna,” Lara said.

Katie Faith glared at her.

“And you’re
not
hindered. Look at you! You’ve made something of yourself, haven’t you? You were meant to do all you’ve done. You were born to be exactly where you are right now. Big baby.”

“I was meant to be dumped at the altar?”

Lara nodded. “Good lord yes! Katie Faith, marrying Darrell Pembry would have been the worst mistake of your life. Unlike in the books, werewolves don’t automatically mate for life or anything. They imprint. Or whatever it is they call it. Anyway, he didn’t imprint on you. He liked you well enough, but if he’d have married you, he’d have cheated and it would have killed you and then you’d have killed him since his kind look so unkindly on divorce and such.”

Aimee went further. “You can see the difference. JJ and Patty are married, yes, but they’re something else,
something more
. You can see their connection the minute they enter a room. Same with Dwayne and Scarlett. She’s mean as a snake and crazy to boot, but they’re totally into each other. You’d have been some heifer Darrell married to bolster his position. That’s dumb. Just like he is. You’re way too cute and smart to be tied to a dimwit like Darrell.”

“Do you know what was nice about being in Chattanooga? I was an accountant. Named Kit. Nice men asked me out on dates. No one cared who my people were. If I had a lot of magic, or none at all, it didn’t matter. My boobs mattered, but you know, that’s just reality. Plus they’re pretty nice.”

“You’re special, Katie Faith. You can’t get mad about it. You can’t change it and you wouldn’t even if you could, so hush up. This conversation is getting on my nerves.” Aimee stood and threw her trash away and went back to putting books on shelves.

The good thing about having friends who’ve known you forever is that they know your triggers. Sometimes they pull them for fun, but usually they just called you on your crap and didn’t hold it against you.

After they’d left, she stood at the top of the back steps, breathing in the night air, trying to let go of her anger and resentment. Her surprise and annoyance at herself for never thinking about something so obvious.

It’d been a while since she’d felt like such a fool and she didn’t like it any more just then than she had before.

That’s where Jace found her. He’d wanted to go to sleep but knowing she was just across the hall drove him nuts. Finally, he got up and followed his nose to where she stood, her body silhouetted by moonlight and starshine. Her hair was down from the messy ponytail she’d captured it in earlier and his mouth watered at the totality of her.

“Hey you,” he said softly, sidling next to her. He put two bottles of beer on the railing. “Thought you might need one of these. Get everything moved in okay?”

“Just the thing.” She grabbed the beer and took a swig before leaning into his body. His heart skipped a beat at the way she fit so perfectly against him. She smelled like cinnamon and anise. Witches usually smelled like cinnamon but the anise was all Katie Faith.

Without even planning to, he put his arm around her shoulder and she didn’t stop him. It felt as good right then as it had all those years before on that one night they were together.

“All moved in thanks to Dooley wolves who did all that heavy lifting. Thank you.” Her voice was soft, but he didn’t have to strain to hear her.

“That’s what neighbors do. So any more trouble from the mayor?” It infuriated him to know Dwayne’d had the audacity to come in to the Counter trying to intimidate her.

Pembrys were like that though. They made the mess and tried to make it everyone else’s fault.

“As my daddy would say, Dwayne is as full of wind as a corn eating horse,” she grumbled and he laughed.

“You can take the girl from Diablo Lake, but you can’t take Diablo Lake from the girl, I see.”

She chuckled, turning toward him, his arm holding her close. Suddenly, her mouth was right there. He
knew
how sweet the taste of her lips was. He remembered that night so long ago when they’d kissed for hours. It had been so powerful for him, he’d been so moved, he had to leave town for a while. Despite Katie Faith and Darrell’s on-again-off-again nature, the Pembrys had considered Katie Faith
theirs
.

His decision to go and stay away from her hadn’t been about Jace and Katie Faith, though he’d wanted it to be. It had been bigger than that. Wolf business. Recklessness on his part could have started a war.

But the want between them hadn’t ever really left. The memory of how she’d tasted was still fresh. So much so that there was no way he could stop himself from bending his knees and kissing her right then and there.

Her arms wrapped around his neck as she opened to him and the sweetness of her slipped through him on tiptoes, only to quietly turn his world upside down.

There would never be enough of Katie Faith for him.

Lips, so whisper soft, parted against his and his tongue slid inside. Their breath married as he deepened the kiss, holding her tightly, trying to ignore the pounding of blood through his veins and the rather noticeable sign of approval he pressed into her belly.

He needn’t have worried about her being shocked, not his Katie Faith. She writhed against him, setting off little zings of pleasure through his body. By the time he was able to think clearly enough to stand back a step he knew two things.

First, Katie Faith Grady was
his
. She may not know it, but there was no denying it to the wolf inside or the man on the outside.

And second, when they finally got into bed, they’d probably bring the entire town’s ceilings down. He couldn’t wait.

Swallowing hard, he watched and groaned as she pressed her fingers to her lips.

“I’ve wanted to do that again for so many years it’s sort of embarrassing,” he managed to say around a tongue that felt too big.

She smiled, cocking her head to the side. “I’ve
wanted
you to do that for, well since the last time we did. I’m ridiculously giddy. What took you so damned long, Jace!”

He couldn’t help it, he laughed and hugged her. “One thing’s for sure, Katie Faith, things between you and me ain’t gonna be boring. We have time now. You don’t belong to anyone else.” But him. “Let me dazzle you.”