Chapter 6

THE MOMENT THEY walked into Shenanigans, Megan knew she’d called it correctly. The air inside the bar felt furry, which of course was ridiculous, but she didn’t know how else to describe it. 

Her magic bristled.

“Do you feel that?” Jessica asked.

“How could I not?” Megan muttered.

“It’s like a shifter paradise in here.” Lara stared around the room as if she didn’t know where to look first. 

The bar was mostly filled with men, though there were a few women as well. Despite all of them being in human form, there was no mistaking the predatory, animalistic vibe inside the bar. And everyone was staring at Megan and her sisters. Had none of them been around witches before?

“Hey there. Welcome to Shenanigans.” A waitress approached with a friendly smile. She had brown hair and brown eyes and at first Megan thought she was completely human, but as the woman got closer, Megan could feel little bits of fur like static electricity pinging off her magic. Definitely a shifter, though not of a kind Megan had ever met before. She glanced at her sisters and saw they had equally puzzled looks on their faces.

“I’m Phoenix,” the waitress said.

“I’m Megan. These are my sisters, Lara and Jessica.”

“I’m super excited you’re here. I’ve heard all about you three from my mate, Travis.” Phoenix must have read the look on Megan’s face because she laughed. “Oh, you’ll get used to it. These shifters are terrible at keeping secrets.” She leaned forward and whispered, “They’re such gossips and the wolves are the worst of the lot.” She grinned. “See, Cole mentioned he’d met his mate so of course, all the wolves wanted to know everything and then they gossiped to Travis and he told me.”

“Wait. What?” Megan stared at Phoenix.

“Okay,” Lara exclaimed. “Can we sit anywhere?”

“Of course. Anywhere you’d like. Can I bring you some drinks to start off?” 

“Do you have any Witches’ Brew?” Jessica asked. 

“I don’t know. Let me ask Travis.” Phoenix turned and headed for the bar. 

“Come on,” Jessica grabbed Megan’s arm and pulled her to a table. 

Megan wasn’t exactly happy where they ended up. “Do we have to sit in the literal center of the room?”

“Yes, Megan. Yes, we do.” Lara plopped down in one of the chairs and looked up at Megan expectantly.

Megan huffed and yanked out a chair. As soon as they were all seated, she pinned her sisters with a glare. “What was that waitress talking about?”

“What do you mean?” Lara asked innocently.

Megan growled. “You know exactly what I mean.” She leaned forward and hissed, “She said Cole met his mate! Are you telling me that mangy cougar took me out when he already has a mate?”

Jessica and Lara just stared at her.

Megan shook her head in horror. “You are kidding me! Your damn spell made that cougar think I’m his mate? Have you two gone mad? Why would you screw with people’s lives like this? You need to fix this now!”

Jessica turned to Lara and asked, “Has she always been this stupid?”

Lara sighed. “I don’t think so. I think meeting her mate turned her brain to mush.”

“That cougar is not my true mate!”

“But, Megan, we cast the spell for specifically that. For your true mate to come calling. And he did. Plus he’s telling others you’re his mate so I’m thinking our spell worked.”

“In a massive way,” Jessica agreed.

“You two suck.”

“Guess what?” Phoenix slid into the fourth chair at their table and beaming at them, handed out three mugs with steam rolling off the top. “Travis said he’s been hanging onto this bottle of Witches’ Brew for seven years, hoping one day he’d be able to serve it.” She held up a black bottle that might be close to empty, but probably wasn’t. That was the thing with Witches’ Brew. You never knew exactly how much of the precious liquid you’d be getting. “I didn’t even know such a thing existed or that witches were real. This has been a total adventure for me. So. Question. Will Witches’ Brew harm a shifter?”

“What? No, of course not,” Jessica said. “It just might be more potent for non-witches to drink.”

“More potent?” An incredibly good-looking man grabbed a chair and shoved his way into the group, sitting between Lara and Jessica at the table. “This I have to try.” He turned and held out his hand to Lara. “Hey, I’m Dan.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Lara.” 

They shook hands and then he turned and repeated the process with Jessica. He faced Megan last and said with a perfectly straight face, “So you’re Cole’s witchy mate.”

Megan just gave him a look, then grabbed her brew and took a big gulp. It burned all the way down, in the best of ways.

“What are we having to drink?” Cole shoved his way into the empty space between Megan and Phoenix. 

Before anyone could answer, four more hulking shifters showed up, dragging another table in their wake. 

Without a word, Lara stood and shifted her chair to the side, so that they could join the two tables. Introductions flew. 

Megan caught names on the fly, but wasn’t sure she’d remember them all later.

“So what’s up?” one of the newcomers asked. Max, Megan thought his name was.  

“We’re about to taste test some Witches’ Brew,” Phoenix said. “But we need more mugs if you guys are going to join us.” She glanced at the bottle in her hand. “Or maybe shot glasses since I think this is Travis’ only bottle.”

Megan snickered. “Don’t worry about it. I think one bottle will be plenty.”

“Oh, honey, if you think one bottle’s going to do it, you’re just plain mad,” Dan said with a grin.

The bartender approached with a tray of mugs in his hands. 

Phoenix stood and accepted the tray. “Thanks, honey.”

He leaned down and kissed her, then with a grin, said, “Don’t get too drunk on that brew, darlin’. It’s potent, especially for shifters.”

Cole snorted. “Give me a break. It’s called Witches’ Brew. How bad can it be?” 

Megan rolled her eyes and took another drink. If he was going to sit here and pretend he hadn’t insulted her the last time they’d seen each other, more power to him, but she wasn’t going to engage. He was a jerk and she was ignoring him.

Phoenix handed out mugs to all the men and then stared at the bottle in her hand, obviously unsure about what to do or how to divide the bottle that appeared to hold a finite amount of liquid between what now counted as seven shifters, including herself.

Megan stood. “Here.” She held out a hand. “I’ll serve this round.”

Phoenix gave her a grateful smile. “Thanks!” 

Megan grinned and turning back to the table picked up her own mug, refilled it, then topped off Lara’s and Jessica’s, before slowly making her way around the table, filling every mug. She began with Phoenix and ended with Cole, hoping that the infamous Witches’ Brew would have finally reached the end of its generosity by then, but it wasn’t to be. Really, it was too much to hope that a single bottle of Witch’s Brew would serve anything less than thirty full mugs, considering its hefty price tag. 

She filled Cole’s mug too, then settled back in her seat.

The entire table was silent. 

She glanced up and the first thing she saw were the grins on her sisters’ faces. She took a breath for control, then glanced around the table. 

Everyone was staring at the bottle she’d set in front of her with wide eyes. 

“How’d you do that?” one of the shifters asked. “And can you do that with any bottle? Like if I order a bottle of The Beast Within, can you make it last like that?” 

Megan bit her lip to keep from laughing in his face.

* * *

“Are you serious, Pete?” Cole demanded. “Are you really thinking that was some kind of spell she cast? It was just an illusion or something. This mug is probably still empty.” He lifted his mug and glared at it, certain Megan was laughing at the lot of them.

Jessica grinned from across the table at him. “Well, if you think it’s an empty mug, then you won’t have any trouble at all chugging it.”

Cole growled. “I have no desire to drink air.”

Pete, not being anywhere near as discerning as Cole, lifted his own mug. “Well I want to know if the illusion tastes good or not, so I’m trying it.” And with a quick glance around the table, he took a huge gulp. Seconds later, his eyes bulged and watered and he began gasping for air. “Damn,” he coughed out the word, pounding his fist on the table. “What the hell’s in this stuff?” He took another huge gulp, eyes wide as he swallowed it down, then gasped and choked some more. “It’s damn good,” he rasped.

Cole rolled his eyes. That idiot wolf had no damn sense at all, though his reaction to the Witches’ Brew did make Cole a little leery to try it now. And considering what Travis has said to Phoenix, maybe Dan was wrong and one bottle would be enough. 

Cole glanced at Megan out of the corner of his eye and noticed she’d almost completely finished her own mug of the stuff. She also didn’t seem at all affected the way Pete was. 

Damn lightweight wolf. Making shifters look bad in front of the humans.

At that moment, Pete leapt to his feet. “Jenny!” He raced around the table and met his mate as she walked toward them. He swept her into his arms and kissed her. After a few moments of that – long enough for Cole to wonder if Pete would actually come back or if he’d just hustle his mate out the door and back to their den – he led her to their table, saying to her as he arrived, “I’m so glad you made it.”

“Hey, Jenny,” Cole said and the others echoed his greeting. 

Pete grabbed a chair for her and everyone shuffled a little to make more room. 

Travis brought another mug so Pete grabbed the bottle of Witches’ Brew and everyone watched with wide eyes as he filled the mug for Jenny. Pete then introduced her to Megan, Lara and Jessica.

“I’ve never met a witch before,” Jenny said to them. “I was so excited when Pete told me. I made him promise to text me if you guys showed up here.”

Megan smiled. “It’s really nice to meet you, Jenny.”

“Thanks. So what’s it like being a witch?”

Cole rolled his eyes. Seriously. He glared at Pete. Like he needed someone encouraging Megan’s ridiculous beliefs.

Pete just shrugged, clearly unconcerned that Jenny was making the situation worse. If that was what it was like to have a mate – to lose all common sense – Cole wasn’t sure he was on board after all. What if Phoenix was right and he ended up believing in witches and magic and other absurdities? He shook his head. That wasn’t even possible. He was entirely too sensible for that. 

“So how do you guys know you’re witches?” Dan’s voice brought Cole’s attention back to the table. He realized he’d missed whatever answer the women had given Jenny, but that was okay because Dan’s question was about a thousand times more reasonable. 

“What do you mean?” Lara asked.

Jessica rolled her eyes. “He doesn’t really believe we’re witches, Lara.” She glared to Dan. “We were born that way, idiot. Just like you were born with a furry half.”

“Yeah, but how do you know? I mean I can shift, that’s how I know, but how do you know you’re a witch?”

“We cast spells,” Lara said. Though she wasn’t as outspoken as her sister, her voice still implied she thought Dan was a moron.

“Yeah, but when you cast spells, how do you know if they work? I mean, what if they don’t work? How do you know if you’re any good or not?”

“Oh, they’re not any good,” Megan assured him. “I’m great at spell-casting, but they’re both terrible.”

“Cut it out, Megan,” Jessica said. “We’re all fabulous at our craft.”

“Yeah,” Lara agreed. “It’s just some of us are a little more uptight than others.” She gave Megan a pointed look. 

“So can you prove it?” Cole asked abruptly.

Megan slowly turned to face him. “Prove what?”

“That you’re witches. That you can - you know – do magic. Like, can you cast a spell or something else to prove your powers?”

“We’re not trained pets you know,” Megan snapped. “We don’t perform on command.”

“Oh, come on.” Pete leaned forward. “We’d love to see you cast a spell, even a small one.”

“Oh, yes, please,” Jenny said with a happy smile. 

Any minute now, she’d start clapping, Cole thought sourly. 

“Are you kidding?” Dan asked what Cole was thinking. “I mean, you don’t actually believe they’re going to cast a spell, do you? There’s no such thing as magic, Pete. I’m sorry, Jenny, but there just isn’t. And even if witches did exist, I guarantee these three humans don’t have the tiniest bit of magic in them.”

Dan was sitting right beside Jessica which meant everyone’s eyes were on the two of them when it happened.

She flicked her fingers and Dan yelped and disappeared from sight as his chair collapsed beneath him.

The table was frozen for just a second then Dan popped to his feet and stared wide-eyed at Jessica.

She smirked at him.

Cole growled. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he snapped at Dan. “She had nothing to do with that.” 

Dan huffed and grabbed  a new chair. He pushed the remnants of his old one to the side and gingerly sat down, all the while eyeing Jessica suspiciously.

Megan sighed. “Jeez. We can’t take you anywhere, Jessica.”