Diablo Lake: Moonstruck (9 page)

It wasn’t quite nine, and when she looked at her machine, she noticed some messages. One of which was from Miz Rose.

Knowing better than to avoid, Katie Faith called right back.

“Hello, sweetheart. I heard you had some trouble earlier tonight,” Rose answered.

“How’d you know it was me?”

Rose laughed. “I should tell you I divined it, but I have caller ID like everyone else on the planet.”

Duh.

She told Miz Rose about what happened with Darrell and at the police station.

“Scarlett has everyone worked up. Yapping all over the place that you’re on Dooley land. They’re spoiling for a fight,” Miz Rose said.

“So everyone keeps telling me. Where else am I supposed to live, for goodness sake! The way this town is, no matter where I moved I’d be somewhere some group got angry about.”

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Katie Faith didn’t move back to Diablo Lake so her movements could be scrutinized as some sort of power play by people she didn’t even like! If she wanted to make a power play, she’d do it on her own. Well, once she knew how to and all.

“Tongues are wagging about you and Jace Dooley too.”

Katie Faith was silent a bit, knowing she couldn’t avoid the question. Not from Rose.

“I like him. He likes me. We’re liking each other in what is an increasingly serious way.”

“Pembrys are going to want you liking them instead.”

Tough. “I don’t much care what they want. I surely don’t like many of them and none the way I like Jace.”

“It’s like that, is it? Well, all right then. We’ll be behind you on this. Back you up when you make your own choices. I’ll see you tomorrow morning. After we work, I’ll even make you breakfast.” With that, she hung up.

“Okay then.” Katie Faith put the phone down, shuffling into her kitchen to make herself a sandwich. If she couldn’t have sex—yet—she might as well have some roast beef and cheddar on sourdough.

Chapter Ten

Jace rolled up on the scene with a growl of supreme annoyance. It was not his night to work. He had a hot, willing witch back at home and this wasn’t the first time he’d been interrupted before he got to anything really good.

“I’m sorry we had to call you out,” Carl said as Jace moved his way. “I needed the bodies.”

Jace waved away the apology. Part of the job was being called out when you’d rather be doing anything else. “What’s going on?”

They stood in the parking lot of the high school. A group of werewolves, a mix of packs, stood nearby, the agitated and embarrassed energy coming off them in waves.

“Pembry peacocking. Darrell got into it with one of your cousins. Started verbally, moved to punches. Both transformed but then some Pembrys jumped in, making it three on one. Which got Dooleys mad and some of them joined the fray. When I rolled up, a lot of them ran off, but there are still several out there near the field.” Carl indicated with the sweep of his hand.

Smart man not to wade in to that mess. He could have gone in and used his magic to break things up, but if it had escalated further he could have been overwhelmed. Werewolves in the middle of a fight didn’t take kindly to interference by anyone.

However, Jace wasn’t just anyone. He’d been born to wade into fights and yank wolves out by the scruff of the neck.

“Where the fuck is the mayor then? This is his problem. He needs to deal with it.” Wolves didn’t jump other wolves. It wasn’t their way. In fact, it was considered the worst sort of cowardice to horn in on a fight between two other wolves unless it was to break it up and save a life. You came on face to face when dealing with an equal, especially when it came to the routine scuffling that let off steam.

Bloodshed and maiming were part of their world. Attacking while one’s back was turned, wasn’t. Honor was as important as sheer strength. Wolves without honor were eventually killed or exiled by their packs. Dwayne needed to get his wolves in line. As did Jace and his grandparents.

“Dwayne’s on the way I’m told,” Carl told him.

“Whatever. Let’s get this cleaned up because the longer we leave it, the more agitated things will get.”

A few steps from Carl and Jace let the force of his wolf come just shy of full transformation. Wolf showed in his eyes, paced just below the human skin. The scent of Prime hit the night air, rich and sharp, pine and rosemary.

He didn’t walk. Not as Prime. He prowled over the last few feet to the knot of wolves.

They were creatures bred and raised on hierarchy. Strength and power were their currency, the rules that made up the world that kept them all safe. So he let his wolf out to play, knowing the slap of energy would get the attention—and submission—he needed to break things up.

Because it was what he’d been raised to do.

“You!” He growled as he grasped the neck of a Dooley wolf, a kid named Royce, and tossed him away, toward the sidewalk leading back to town. “Get yourself home before I beat you bloody. Damned fool.” Royce was barely seventeen. His mother was going to kick his ass.

Jace thought of the way his grandfather had been paler than usual except when he’d been plotting. JJ would be showing up soon enough so he wanted to get this mess squared away first to save him the stress.

Darrell came striding back down the field where he’d once been a star. He’d been a far less petulant quarterback than he was an adult. “What are
you
doing here?” He tried to hold Jace’s gaze but in the end, he dropped his eyes and pretended he didn’t.

“Dealing with cowards who jump into a fair fight because your daddy can’t be bothered to police his wolves.”

Behind him, Carl sighed heavily. Jace knew this was skirting a line. He was a cop. He should not have allowed this to get personal. But it was personal and once he took over as Prime it would be even more so. He would put his wolves first, which wasn’t his job as a cop.

Something to think over and maybe talk to Katie Faith about. She had a way of seeing things that he may not have thought about.

“It’s not your business, Dooley.” Darrell’s haughty expression went a little embarrassed. Good.

“Huh. Yeah, well, Darrell, when your wolves jump my wolves it is my business. When wolves are fighting in the middle of a high school parking lot where other kids could get hurt it’s my business. Lastly, don’t think, it’s not your strong point. One of us is Prime and it ain’t you. Now take your mongrels out of here before things get heated.”

“Before?” Carl choked out.

Jace ignored Darrell and focused on Carl. “A fight’s a fight. I don’t care about that. You take your punches and you move the hell on.” Wolves dusted up all the damned time. It was a generally accepted and time honored way to work off steam as well as solve disputes. “What gets me so riled up is breaking the rules we all agree to. Wolves don’t act like cowards. We don’t fight like ’em either. Not if we want to keep our place in the pack.” Jace had zero intention of letting any of this slide. It was something to be dealt with by the Pembry Prime because it was his wolves who’d pulled the bullshit to start with but the Dooleys who’d been involved would hear about that within the hour.

As Prime, he was next in line to run the pack—the presumed Patron. Over the last years he’d slowly been taking over tasks from his grandfather, especially when it came to disciplinary problems.

“The law here’s one thing, Wolf Law is another,” he told Carl.

A slam of a car door alerted them to the fact the mayor had arrived.

Dwayne hurried over, grabbing his son by the scruff of his human neck in much the same way Jace had with the Dooley wolf earlier.

“What the sam hell is going on here?” Dwayne demanded.

“Dooleys reaching above themselves as usual,” Darrell replied.

“Darrell and Ethan got into it. Went physical. Pembrys then transformed and jumped in. Dooleys jumped in to stop that.” Carl did the talking then, but Dwayne looked to Jace for confirmation.

Jace nodded. “You got yourself a problem, Dwayne. I suggest you deal with it because this will be all over town by morning.”

Which meant trouble if anyone felt Pembry wolves hadn’t been properly disciplined.

“You know what this is about,” Dwayne told Jace. “Katie Faith being back in town has everyone all stirred up.”

Jace gave the other man a long, measuring look. He shouldn’t have kept his eye, but Jace didn’t care. “You’d be best to keep her name out of your mouth, Dwayne.”

Dwayne’s eyes lit with understanding. He glared at his son.

“This is about poor discipline, Dwayne. Plain and simple. Witches have lived in this town as long as wolves have. Shame on you for making this about that girl and not a lack of control on Darrell’s part.” Carl looked angry enough to punch someone. Jace remembered Katie Faith and Carl’s daughter were close as sisters and Dwayne should have done the same.

“She started this!” Darrell yelped as his father whipped a hand out to knock his son from his feet.

“You hush now. This is
your
problem, Darrell. You can’t step into my shoes if this is how you act.” Dwayne snarled, as angry as Jace had seen him in quite a while. He turned back to Jace. “What’s Katie Faith’s situation to you? She claimed she didn’t live on anyone’s land just a few hours ago.”

Carl interrupted their byplay. “No. You both listen to me right here and now. Katie Faith is not some prize to be fought over. I will not allow it. Not a witch in this town will. That girl is like my own. You made your bed, Darrell. You too, Dwayne. Back off or you’ll have her momma and Miz Rose on your ass and I won’t do a damned thing to stop it.”

Jace shuddered at the thought. “You’re right, Carl.” His next words were all for Dwayne and by extension, Pembry wolves. “She’s her own person. Where she lives has nothing to do with that part. The rest I think we both know.” Jace tipped his chin to underline that.

“She hasn’t made any public claim to the same,” Dwayne told him with a shrug as if Carl hadn’t spoken.

Jace just stared at him. Like that mattered. And she had made a public claim when she’d allowed him to take her to her parents’ house that night. And then when she’d taken him into her bedroom. Any wolf standing as close as Dwayne was would know he still smelled of her magic. She was his.

Not to be owned. Not to be possessed. She was, as he’d told Dwayne, her own person. But he’d claim her all the same. And if he was lucky, she’d claim him right back.

“We done here? I have a woman to get back to,” Jace said.

Darrell groaned and Dwayne narrowed his gaze at Jace. “You keep your wolves on a leash, Jace, and I’ll do the same.”

“Hope you do a better job than you’re doing right now,” Jace called over his shoulder as he walked away.

Naturally, as he pulled back into his spot at home, his grandfather came out to greet him.

“Stop right there.” JJ stepped in between Jace and the stairs he needed to use to get back to Katie Faith. Not that he’d actually planned to go back to her just at that moment. He needed to clean up this pack business first. Still, he did his best to wrestle his agitation back. His grandfather would brook no insolence. To disobey one’s Patron could—and did—get your ass kicked. JJ might be old, but he was strong enough to hold his position and that wasn’t just about respect. His wolves feared him too. For good reason.

“Come on up to the house. Your grandma’s got banana cream pie waiting, along with some coffee. You’ll need to tell me what the hell happened tonight.”

Jace nodded, following his grandfather’s already retreating form the short path to the house he and his brothers were raised in.

Damon already sat at the big, scarred kitchen table with what Jace bet was at least his third piece of pie. He frowned, quickening his pace to get a piece before his brother devoured the whole thing himself.

“Sit down. I made more than one pie. I know how Damon gets when I make banana cream.” Their grandma smiled, pleased that they loved her cooking so much.

Jace managed to get a few bites in before he told his grandfather what happened at the football field. Damon would head over to a few houses once they finished up there to deliver the Patron’s verdict and punishment.

“You smell like her,” Damon said with a shrug.

Jace snorted. He did, and yet, Darrell, supposedly Prime material, hadn’t even noticed.

Darrell had never been meant to have a woman as fine as Katie Faith. She’d always been made for Jace. He’d know her scent for the rest of his days. If he caught it on another male, he’d damned sure have noticed.

He knew he smirked and he didn’t care one bit. With a happy sigh, he leaned back. “He thinks he can come at me. Darrell, not his daddy,” Jace clarified.

“I reckon Dwayne knows damn well you’d take Darrell down.”

“If Darrell—or any other Pembry for that matter—gets between me and Katie Faith I will kick their sorry asses.” He ducked his grandmother’s narrowed gaze at the curse.

JJ Dooley chuckled, pleased and smug. Jace knew he should be annoyed, but his grandpa was at his best when he was tickled at getting one over on someone so he let it be.

“You best get to work. You’re not the only wolf in town sweet on that girl,” his grandmother said.

“Maybe not, but I’m the only one who has a chance.”

She snorted at him, chuckling as she swatted his arm with a tea towel. “Never did have trouble with your self-esteem.”

“It’s time. You’re going to be taking over as Patron soon enough. Once you’ve claimed her, then we’ll need to get moving on that too,” JJ said.

“We’re done on this topic for now.” Though Jace said this, he knew it was futile. His grandfather saw Katie Faith as a way to strengthen the Pack. He appreciated her as a person, sure, but he was the Patron and he put Pack ahead of people when he thought it was necessary.

His grandmother would see it as Jace finally settling down and getting ready to take over. She’d see Katie Faith as a ticket to grandbabies and would be just as big a steamroller as JJ, but in her own way.

Damon just smirked, Jace knew, happy that the focus was on Jace instead of the other Dooley brothers.

“The pie was great, Grandma. I’m going to head back upstairs now.” Jace stood, rinsing off his plate and fork.

“Take a slice up to Katie Faith. I know she likes banana cream.” His grandmother shoved far more than a slice into his hands.

“You’re pretty sneaky. She does love sweets.” He grinned at his grandma.

“It’s not just men who love pie, sweetie,” she told him, accepting his peck on the cheek.

Jace rushed out before they started to give him sex tips or something equally disturbing.

“Hi,” she said, opening her door wearing nothing more than a tank top and tiny panties.

He gulped, sucking in her scent as he kicked the door closed, locking it. “Well now.”

“Everything okay in town?” Her mouth resisted a grin, but only barely. She knew what her state of undress was doing to him.

He thrust the pie in her direction. “I have pie.”

Surprised pleasure skittered over her features. “Penis and pie? How lucky am I?”

She was so ridiculous he had to give in and laugh. No way was Katie Faith not exactly where she wanted to be. She’d made the choice to accept him and underlined it by coming to the door with all that pretty skin exposed.

“I had a sandwich though. So I can wait for one until after I get some of the other.”

His laugh died on a gasp when she whipped her tank up and off with one hand, while depositing the pie on the table with the other.

Naked but for a tiny scrap of fabric over her butt—barely—she sauntered into her bedroom, knowing he was going to follow.

He double checked the lock, tossed his phone down and moved in her wake. Taking his time, drawing her into his lungs as her magic seemed to tickle his skin.

Katie Faith turned as he came into her room. He stole her breath with the way he looked at her. Dark eyes so serious as they took a long slow perusal from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.

He did meander a lot around the boob area, which was flattering, if she did say so herself.