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“Sorry I’m late!” Wynona hollered as she hurried into the kitchen of the shop. They were set to open in ten minutes and she hadn’t done any of her normal preparations for the day. While some patrons walked in, others had appointments, and Wynona always worked hard to have everything set up on time for those time slots.
Lusgu grumbled under his breath as he fired up the stove with a wave of his fingers.
Wynona paused when she realized he had all the tea pots loaded and now heating. “Lusgu,” she said breathlessly, tucking a loose chunk of hair out of her face. “Thank you.” She could have sworn that the tips of his long, pointed ears grew slightly red, but by the sounds coming from his mouth, no one would think he was anything but annoyed.
“Can’t see what’s right in front of their noses,” Lusgu complained before pointing to the broom. It followed him into the dining room, sweeping behind him and gathering invisible dust that only Lusgu seemed to be able to see.
“I’ll bet Alavara’s dwarf wasn’t half so good,” Wynona said with a smile, then paused. She pushed out a harsh breath and hung her head. That unkind thought wasn’t normal for her and she mentally apologized to Alavara, praying the woman’s ghost wasn’t around to haunt her.
Her family were the ones to speak rudely of others, including Wynona herself whenever it pleased them. Their power and authority made it difficult for there to be any consequences. When she escaped, Wynona promised herself she would be different.
She would help when her family would have refused. She would work for herself, where her family reveled in wealth. And she would be kind when her family would be rude.
The clock struck the hour and Wynona gasped. Hurrying out to the dining room, she unlocked the front door, then ran back to start putting out teacups, arranging the flowers and generally trying to look like she actually knew what she was doing. Maybe she would get lucky enough—
The bell above the door chimed and Wynona forced herself to slow down. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. She could do this. She had had hectic mornings before, including one where she found a dead body in her own office.
Putting a placid smile on her face, she headed to the front entry. “Hello,” she said calmly. “Welcome to Saffron’s Tea House.” Wynona paused when she realized no one was there.
“Ms. Le Doux,” came a disembodied voice before flashes of light that could only be from a camera began to wreak havoc with her eyes. “How do you feel about your partner being murdered?”
“What?” Wynona put a hand over her eyes. She grit her teeth. Ghost reporters. They were the bane of every paranormal’s existence. With their ability to become invisible, they could sneak up on practically anyone. “I don’t have a partner,” Wynona managed to get out as more questions were tossed at her.
“When did you last visit her?” another voice asked.
“How long have the two of you been working together?”
Wynona closed her eyes once more and tried to find inner peace. This was ridiculous. How did the media get it all so wrong? Clamping her hands at her sides, she tilted up her chin. “Miss Theramin and I were not partners,” Wynona said carefully, but boldly. “Her tea shop was her own, just as mine is my own. We were not connected in any way, shape or form.”
“Do you have any idea who would have wanted to hurt your partner?”
“When did you come up with the idea to open a second shop?”
“What will happen to the tea shop now that Miss Theramin is dead?”
A purple haze began to work its way over Wynona’s eyes. She knew her frustration was growing and her emotions often led her magic since she was still learning to control it. She tried taking some deep breaths, but the haze wouldn’t go away.
A scampering on the floor barely caught her attention, and then there was a tug on her leg that worked its way up her body. Breathe, Wynona, Violet ordered. We don’t need to hurt anyone today or announce to all of Hex Haven that you’re out of control.
Wynona forced a shuddering breath into her lungs, but her vision stayed purple. “How do I get them to leave?” she whispered.
Have you tried asking?
The joke did exactly as intended and even more of the tension inside Wynona released. Her vision, however, remained stubborn. “I don’t think—” She gasped. Through the purple overlay, Wynona could make out shapes. Well, blobs really. “It’s them,” she said quietly. “The reporters.”
Violet chittered in delight. Show these bozos the door.
Doing her best to hold onto the magic vision, Wynona walked through them and opened the front door. “Please leave,” she stated in a firm voice. “You’re trespassing on private property and I don’t wish to answer any more questions.”
Loud shouting broke out as they all tried to deny her rights.
Wynona kept her eye on the floating bodies, making sure none tried to venture further into the building as she pulled out her phone. “Hello? Deputy Chief Strongclaw?”
“Wy? What’s going on?” There was panic in Rascal’s voice, more than likely because she had used his formal name. “I can’t feel you. Where are you?”
Wynona blinked a few times, caught off guard with his words, before forcing herself to concentrate. “I have a situation at the tea shop where the ghost reporters are refusing to—”
The shouts dimmed to grumblings and the flashes and voices began to work their way through the door. Wynona stayed strong as she watched them leave, but paused when she realized there was one more blob in the corner. “I’d like to press charges,” Wynona said into the phone, her eyes directly on the reporter still lurking.
With a loud huff, the reporter became visible and glared at Wynona while they made their way to the door. He was a small, slim man, his hair mostly gone. He looked human, making it impossible to know what kind of paranormal he had been before he died. The reporter paused in the threshold and cocked his head. “How did you know I was there?”
Wynona did her best not to react. “Which station do you work for?” she asked in return. Maybe if she could keep him on the defensive, he would forget the strange situation.
“I’m going, I’m going,” the creature said, giving her one last glare.
The sound of screeching traffic caught Wynona’s attention and she looked at the street just in time to see a massive brown wolf leap through the cars, nearly causing an accident. As he came to her stoop, his body shifted, changing back into Rascal, who stomped up the steps.
We’re in for it now...
“Hush,” Wynona scolded her familiar.
“What is going on?” he demanded, his glowing eyes going back and forth between Violet and Wynona.
Wynona glanced around to make sure her reporters were gone, then backed up. “Please come in, Deputy Chief.” She didn’t want anyone watching to understand that this was anything other than a business call. The reporters needed to understand she’d been serious in her order to be left alone.
When the door closed behind Rascal, however, Wynona allowed herself to collapse into his chest.
A rumbling growl was vibrating deep inside of him, the sound comforting in how it filled her to the tips of her toes. Large arms wrapped around her and pulled her in close. “What in the paranormal world was that about?” he asked, his face buried in her hair. Abruptly, he pulled back, cradling her face between his hands. “And why are your eyes purple?”
“Shoot.” Wynona blinked rapidly. “Violet? A little help?” She hadn’t even realized her vision was still purple. It had been very handy a few minutes ago, but especially if others could see it, Wynona needed it gone.
Violet sighed. Hunky dude is here. Do I really have to?
“Violet,” Wynona said more firmly. Sometimes her magic was too stubborn to be pulled back and she needed Violet’s extra help in controlling it.
Violet huffed. Fine. She jumped from Rascal’s pocket, where she’d gone as soon as he’d been close enough, and landed on Wynona’s shoulder. Putting her paws on Wynona’s neck, Violet began to vibrate.
Wynona closed her eyes and concentrated, allowing the extra strain of magic she now felt to help guide her to her own. Together, they wrangled the power into submission and when Wynona opened her eyes again, her vision was back to normal.
“Thank you,” she breathed, reaching up to pet the mouse.
Violet chittered, then leapt back to Rascal. He grinned and helped her get situated in his pocket.
Wynona couldn’t exactly blame her familiar. Being against Rascal’s broad chest was one of her favorite places as well.
“Wy,” Rascal said again. “What happened?”
Wynona took his hand and led him farther inside. “Two words. Ghost reporters.”
The growl started up again, just as the door chimed. Rascal stiffened and Wynona held up a hand. She wasn’t eager for the media to be back either, but it could just as easily be a customer.
“Sorry I’m late, dear,” Mrs. Winrok, an older sprite, said as she fluttered inside. She paused and squeaked when she spotted Rascal. “I didn’t know you had company.”
The tiny woman cowered a little at the sight of the angry wolf shifter and Wynona shifted more surely between the two. “Good morning, Mrs. Winrok. Your usual table?”
The creature nodded, keeping a wary eye on Rascal even as she followed Wynona to a seat next to the front window.
After she was seated, Wynona hurried back to Rascal. “If you have the time, wait in my office. Once I’m done here, I’ll be in to tell you what happened.”
His nostrils were still flaring, but Rascal nodded and spun to do as she’d asked. Putting a hand on her heart, Wynona took a couple of deep breaths. Normally she loved the independence and freedom that running her own business gave her, but right now she wished she had a couple more employees.
Her heart was still pounding from the horrible encounter with the ghost reporters and then seeing Rascal in wolf form coming to her rescue. Plus, she was fatigued from using her magic and could desperately use a cup of matcha as a pick me up.
Wynona waved to her current patron and hurried to the kitchen to build a tray. Lusgu had kept the pot hot, much to Wynona’s delight, and it took her no time at all to have everything ready.
But by the time Wynona got Mrs. Winrok set up, three more people had arrived and it took her nearly an hour to get back to Rascal.
“I’m so sorry,” she panted, coming into her office. “There was a string of patrons and I needed to get them taken care of.”
Rascal sat at her desk, leaning over a book he’d been reading. Now that she was inside the office, he leaned back, folding his impressive arms over his chest. “Let’s get down to business then, shall we?”
Wynona held back a wince. She didn’t like working with official Deputy Chief Strongclaw. She knew, technically speaking, that her magic outranked him, but she didn’t feel like a powerful person and when Rascal got upset, he became much more like the predator he was.
She wasn’t worried about him hurting her. Rascal in wolf form or human form would never do such a thing. But when he was on the hunt, sometimes he lost his soft side and it scared Wynona slightly.
Rascal groaned and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to frighten you.” He stood and offered her the chair. “Sit down,” he said in a softer tone.
Wynona gave him a small, awkward smile and obeyed. When his hands landed on her neck and shoulders, massaging slightly, she let out her own groan and dropped her chin down to her chest to give him better access.
“What did the ghost reporters want?” Rascal asked, his voice much more pleasant than before.
Wynona deflated a little more. “They wanted to know about my partner,” she said, using quotation marks with her fingers. “Somehow, no one seems to believe me when I say I’m not connected with that tea house.”
A low rumble came out of his throat. “And? I know you wouldn’t call the station just for that.”
“And when they kept overriding me and refusing to leave, I thought maybe frightening them with the law was the best way to go.”
“Is that all?”
Wynona stiffened and she knew Rascal felt it because he stopped massaging.
“Wy?” he pressed.
Just tell him already, Violet whined from her cozy spot in his pocket.
“And I almost lost it with my magic,” Wynona said in a small voice. She looked up and over her shoulder. “Plus, I discovered a new ability.”
He dropped to his knees beside her. “I’m guessing that’s why your eyes were purple?”
Wynona nodded and rubbed her forehead. This headache was going to knock her out if she wasn’t careful. How much stress could one person handle in a day before they simply broke? “Apparently, I can see ghosts when they’re invisible.”
His eyebrows shot up. “What?”
Wynona made a face. “It’s kind of hard to explain. But my vision went purple, and then I could see the outlines or the blobs, is maybe a better word, of the ghost reporters, even when they were in their invisible form.”
“Huh.” Rascal studied her. “Daemon said you were stronger than anyone he’d ever met. I’m thinking he might be right.”
Wynona flushed and dropped his intense gaze. She drew a random pattern on the desktop. “I didn’t ask for all this power,” she said softly. “I just want to go about my life.”
“I know,” Rascal said in a soothing tone. He rubbed her back. “But maybe this is a good thing,” he pressed. “Think of all the cases you can help me solve.”
She glared sideways at him and he grinned.
“Between my sense of smell and hearing and your powers, we’d make the perfect power couple.”
Wynona rolled her eyes. “I’m not getting involved in this one, Rascal,” she said, though her tone was flirtier than it should have been. She couldn’t seem to help it. Being around Rascal was like getting a jolt of caffeine and a warm soothing blanket all at the same time.
He chuckled, the sound reverberating through her chest. “Alright. I won’t press.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “For now.” After standing, Rascal put his hands on his hips. “Sounds like you might need a watchguard for the next few days.”
Wynona’s eyes widened. “What?”
He scratched his chin. “They were bending the law this morning and every reporter knew it. If they think they can get away with it again, they’ll keep hounding you until they get what they want.”
“I don’t have what they want,” Wynona said, jumping to her feet. “I had nothing to do with the murder, and I had nothing to do with Alavara. I’d only met her a couple of times.”
“I know,” he assured her. “But others don’t.” His jaw ticked. “I’ll send over an officer to make sure things stay quiet the next couple of days. If everyone leaves you alone, then we’ll stop rotations.”
Wynona plopped back down. “Is that really necessary?”
Rascal nodded. “Yes. Besides just the reporters, there’s another reason it’s a good idea.”
She looked up. “Why’s that?”
Rascal’s eyes fell to the floor. “Have you considered that the murder might have been directed at you?”
All the blood drained from Wynona’s head. “What?” she asked, swaying.
“The elf who was killed was dressed as you, Wy,” Rascal said carefully. He knelt down again. “They were in a tea shop named and built to be just like yours.” His eyes flashed a brilliant gold. “We have no idea if the murderer meant to kill the copycat...” He swallowed hard. “Or the original.”