Chapter 8
THE NEXT MORNING, Megan looked up when the door to the shop opened.
Harry, the owner of the one hotel in town, wandered in. He’d never been in their store before. Actually most of the town residents had never visited, which was fine with the sisters. They did most of their business online anyway.
He glanced around, eyes skimming past crystals of varying power, dreamcatchers, tapestries with embedded protection wards and other objects of the light, before landing on Megan and lighting up.
Great.
He made a beeline for where she stood behind the counter. “Hey, Megan.” He beamed at her.
“Hi, Harry.” They’d met when the sisters had first rolled into town. Their great-aunt’s shop and upstairs apartment had needed a lot of work before they could move in, so the three sisters had stayed at the hotel for a very long three weeks. Harry was super nice, but not the greatest hotelier, considering his was rundown in the worst of ways. Megan was kind of shocked it hadn’t been condemned yet. “What can I help you with?”
“Well, see.” He shuffled his feet. “I was kind of hoping maybe you might like to go out sometime. You know, for dinner or something.”
Megan could feel her smile freezing on her face. Damn her sisters. “Um, Harry, I’m so flattered, thank you, but I’m already seeing someone.”
“Oh.” His face fell. “Okay, then, well, thanks anyway.” He turned to go.
“Oh, wait.”
He turned back eagerly.
“I have something for you. Hold on a second.” She hurried around the counter to the shelves of crystals by the door. She was pretty sure it was on these shelves. She scanned them, searching for the small crystal she’d seen. It didn’t have much power, so wouldn’t work on paranormals of any kind, but maybe for someone like Harry, whose wishes would be simple and whose heart was pure–there! Grabbing the tiny blue crystal, she carried it back to Harry. “It’s not a guarantee or anything, but this crystal might help. There’s someone out there perfect for you, Harry, and this crystal may just be the boost you need to attract her into your life.”
He stared at it, brow wrinkled. “What do I do with it?”
“Just carry it in your pocket with your loose change. It might work right away. It might never work. But it’s worth a chance, right?”
“How much?”
Megan shook her head and reaching out, took his hand and placed it in the center of his palm. “On the house.” She curled his fingers around the crystal. “In thanks for your hospitality when we first arrived.”
He stared at his hand then looked at Megan, a stunned expression on his face. He cleared his throat. “Um. Thanks.”
She smiled. “You’re welcome, Harry. And thank you.”
He nodded briskly and walked out the door, the crystal clutched in his hand the entire way.
“That was really nice,” Lara said at her side.
Megan shook her head. “He’s a nice man and your spell messed with his head.”
Lara sighed. “I know. We didn’t take into account the number of humans who would be vulnerable to suggestion. But as soon as you’re mated, the effects will wear off and everything will go back to normal.”
Megan groaned. “Seriously? That could be never, Lara!” She stormed around the counter.
“Don’t be silly,” Jessica admonished from the other side of the room. “The spell’s already working. You just have to be open to the arrival of your true mate.”
“I already tried that,” Megan snapped, “and the asshole I opened up to called me crazy and hard-up to boot!”
“He didn’t say that,” Lara said.
“Close enough!”
* * *
Cole arrived in time to catch the door from closing as Harry walked out, a stunned look on his face. “You okay, Harry?”
Harry stared at Cole a minute, almost like he didn’t even see him, then muttered, “I hope it works.”
“You hope what works?”
But Harry didn’t answer, just turned and strode away, head down, staring at something in his hand as he walked down the street, headed back toward his hotel.
Cole shrugged and went to enter the store, then froze when he realized Megan was talking about him. He winced at her interpretation of his words the day before.
Jeez, he’d screwed up bad.
He’d realized at the bar the night before that his cougar wanted his true mate, even if she was crazy and thought she was a witch. She and her sisters had drunk all the wolves under the table and only Dan and Cole had been upright by the end of the evening.
Travis had had to carry Phoenix upstairs because she’d curled up in a corner booth after barely half a mug of their Witches’ Brew.
The wolves had passed out all over the bar and Travis had just rolled his eyes and told them to sleep it off. The cougars he’d set out after the sisters, to ensure they made it home safely. Cole had barely restrained his cougar from mauling that stupid bear. As if he needed to be instructed to care for his own mate.
Of course, halfway between the bar and the town, that crazy fog had rolled in and they hadn’t been able to see the women or even hear or scent them anymore, which should have been impossible given their heightened cougar senses. Dan had wondered drunkenly if they really were witches, but Cole refused to believe it. It was just the crazy weather playing tricks on them.
When his cougar had become agitated at not being able to follow their mate and had insisted they travel to her home anyway to see if she’d arrived safely, Cole had realized he had no choice but to fix things between him and Megan. Now, hearing the hurt in her voice, he knew he’d have to do a lot more than just fix things. At the very least, he’d have to apologize and mean it.
* * *
When the door opened for the second time that morning, Megan tensed, expecting yet another human wanting a date to enter.
Instead, it was the cat.
She scowled at him and turned away.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Lara and Jessica make a beeline for him. Good. Maybe they’d get rid of him.
“Megan.”
Megan stiffened and turned around just in time to see the door to the shop closing behind her sisters. The traitors! They hadn’t sent him away, but instead had hurried out themselves, leaving her all alone with the asshole. “What do you want?”
“I wanted to apologize.”
Megan huffed. Like that was going to make a difference.
“And I was hoping maybe you’d like to go on a hike with me.”
Megan stared at him. Was he seriously asking her out on another date? Even though she thought it was sweet he’d remembered her favorite hobby was hiking, she had no intention of going down that road again. “Not a chance. I’m not going out with someone who won’t even accept me for who I am!”
“Aw, come on, Megan, give me another chance. I won’t let you down, I promise.”
She glared at him, but then remembered how Lara had insisted he was her true mate and how Jessica had said she needed to be open to the possibility. If her sisters were right, turning him down might mean turning her back on her one true mate–not that she needed a man, but if he was meant to be hers– “Fine,” she said curtly.
Cole grinned. “Awesome! I have the most amazing place to show you.”
An hour later, Megan stood at the base of a small waterfall, thrilled at its pounding glory. “It’s incredible.”
Cole grinned. “I’m glad you like it. This is my favorite place in all our territory. I wanted to share it with you. You’re welcome here any time.”
It was a true place of power. She wondered if Cole understood how much power thundered through the river and the earth and from the top of this waterfall to its base. She wondered if he understood how much power he exchanged with the earth on a daily basis.
She shook her head.
Probably not. He was a shifter. Simple in his thinking. Certain he was the only being of power on the earth.
“What are you thinking right now?”
She didn’t even hesitate. “That this is a place of power. I’ve only been here a minute and my magic stores have been filled to the brim.”
She felt more than saw him stiffen at her side. Great. He might be her mate, and a cougar, but in reality, he was a stubborn goat.
Cole cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Megan. I–I know I wasn’t very accepting before. I just didn’t expect you to claim to be a witch. I’ve never met a witch before. So I was taken off guard.”
Megan sighed. Maybe she shouldn’t be so hard on him. Shifters were an isolated lot, kept to their own kind. If he’d never met a witch before, it wasn’t hard to understand why he disbelieved.
“Um, do you think maybe–I know you didn’t want to last night, but, I mean, would you be willing to show me a spell or something? I promise to keep an open mind.”
Though she’d taken offense the night before, not wanting to perform on command, in the light of day it seemed the simplest solution. She’d show him something basic, but with enough power to truly convince him, and then they could move past this and maybe discover whether he truly was her mate, or whether it was just the influence of her sisters’ spell.