“ARE YOU SURE she didn’t run away on her own?” Ford had gone upstairs to put on clothes, while Tiz and I sat in the kitchen. I poured myself a cup of coffee, wishing I had a couple of Xanax to go with it.
Tizzy prostrated herself on the center island. “She wouldn’t have run away.”
“Not even to hide?”
“She was hiding already! I had a tree all set up for us out in the woods near the waterfall. I even packed her favorite foods. I didn’t even complain about the stinky salmon.”
“Maybe she decided to try her luck on her own.”
“I can’t feel her, Haze.” Tizzy looked tired. Worn down. “Our bond. It’s weakening. I can’t feel her and…I can’t feel you.”
“Those stupid cats,” I muttered. “This is exactly the reason you’re better off without—”
“Don’t say it,” Tizzy cried. “I’m not better off without her. Or you.”
“Did you know you were breaking the rules when you asked me to let Loopty-loo live with us?”
“No.” My familiar averted her gaze and nodded her head. “Yes.”
“Damn it, Tiz.” I smacked the counter. “We’ve got no leg to stand on if the chowder is in the right.”
“Clowder.” She gave me a sour look. “I didn’t think they’d find out, but when Romy, Lupitia’s witch, died in prison, I started gaining witch magic…” She shrugged.
I narrowed my gaze at her. “And what do you mean by witch magic?”
“You know.” She wiggled her polished claws at me, poofed out of sight, then poofed back, only she was on the other side of the center island now. “Witch magic.”
Goddess help us. “I knew you were getting stronger with your powers, but I guess I thought you might be evolving because we were back in a magical community.” I shook my head. “I just thought you were super juiced.”
“So let me get this straight,” Ford said as he entered the room. “The squirrel broke the rules, you lost your magic, and now our mate scent is gone. Does that about cover it?”
He wore jeans, an emerald-green t-shirt, and boots. In other words, clothing that actually fit. I still wanted to know why he’d arrived home in such disarray, but that could wait until we figured out my familiar problem.
“So glad Fuzzy Wuzzy is up to speed,” Tizzy said. “Now, what are we going to do about it, Haze? What’s the big plan?”
“First…I’m going to finish this cup of coffee.” I took a sip. “Ow.” And burned my lip. And, because I was human for the moment, it really hurt.
“Are you okay?” Ford asked.
“I’m fine.” Really, though, all these little pains that I wouldn’t normally be bothered with freaked me out.
“The plan?” Tizzy prodded.
“Well, first, we need to get ahold of that rule book. The one sheet they showed me had a gazillion-million clauses, sub-clauses, and whatever, so there has to be a loophole we could exploit somewhere.”
She threw up her hands. “That’s your big play? You want to go all legal eagle on the HFC?”
I winced. “I’m smart. And I was an FBI agent for a lot of years. I have training in the law.”
“In criminal law, not familiar protocols.” Tizzy stomped her back feet. It sounded like rain. “We need a better plan.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to be versed in the rules,” Ford said. “You need ammunition.”
“I’m not a gun.” Tizzy harrumphed.
“Look, as long as we keep you off the HFC’s radar, we have seventy-two hours.” I looked at the clock. “Well, more like sixty-eight hours to figure this out before the situation becomes dire.” Wow, four hours had passed. I wished I had a spell to slow down time.
“What does that mean?” Ford asked.
I eased back and let out a slow breath. With as much nonchalance as I could muster, I said, “If they don’t have Tizzy in custody in that time frame, and I don’t accept a new familiar, my human status will be permanent. No biggie.” I stood up, suddenly jittery and wishing I’d skipped the caffeine.
I braced myself for the wrath of Ford. After all, he’d been a might growly for the past several weeks, and more than once since he’d arrived home today I’d keenly felt his disapproval.
Instead, he walked over to me and pulled me into his arms. “We’ll get through this, babe.” He cupped my chin and placed a tender kiss on my lips. “We’ll figure this out. Together.”
Relief flooded me, and I gripped Ford tightly. “I love you,” I told him.
In response, he kissed me again, his hot lips melding against mine. I wanted nothing more than to freeze the moment and stay in his arms, our mouths pressed together in an eternal kiss.
“Great, glad we’re wasting time on the,” Tizzy finger quoted the next word, “important matters. I’m very inspired.”
“I’m having a bad day,” I told her. “Can you give me a break?” I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I know this isn’t all about me. This thing affects all of us.”
“Damn skippy. Like the fact that my girlfriend is missing, possibly worse. Now, how are we going to find Lupitia? That’s priority one.”
“I am still the chief of police. I can call in an all-points bulletin.” I looked at Ford. “Who’s on tonight?”
“Alice Michaels and Rhonda Petry. Rhonda’s a pretty good tracker.”
Alice, a witch, and her partner Rhonda, a werecougar, worked well together. They didn’t let Witch-Shifter politics get in the way of doing solid police work.
I nodded to Ford. “Okay. It’s settled then. I’ll call the station. Tiz, you figure out some way to get the damn rule book. And Ford…”
“I’ll call my father.”
“Your dad?”
“You know he’s a business lawyer. If anyone could translate legal speak, it’s him.”
“There.” I gave a nod to Tiz. “We have a plan.”
* * *
By three o’clock in the morning, we’d called it a night. My officers would ring me if they found the cat. We agreed not to talk to Bryant Baylor, Ford’s dad, until we had the familiar rule book in hand. Well, I whined, complained, and bemoaned until Ford agreed. While his mother Anita loved me, Bryant didn’t object, but he also didn’t approve of his son, heir to the Arcturus, marrying a witch.
I tried not to think about the fact that the only thing Bryant would hate more than his son marrying a witch was his son marrying a human.
Ford wrapped his arms around me when we’d settled into the bed. The clock read three-thirty, which meant I only had sixty hours left to solve my familiar crisis. Twelve hours had passed since I’d lost my magic, since I’d faced the possibility of losing Tiz, and in that time, I’d accomplished diddly-squat. I take that back, diddly-squat would have been a step up from the absolute nothingness I’d accomplished.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
“Inflation,” I reminded him. I snuggled my face into his chest and tried to comfort myself in his warmth and steady heartbeat.
“A nickel?” he prodded.
“I don’t have any idea how to make this right.”
He ran his fingers down my back in soothing strokes. “Sleep now. In a few hours, we’ll work on making this right. Tonight, you need to rest.”
I curled my body in tighter to him and inhaled deeply. Ford smelled of strawberry shampoo and raspberry body wash. I sighed. I already missed the scent of cinnamon and vanilla that normally permeated my senses when he was near. “What will happen if the mating scent doesn’t return?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
“But, you were supposed to marry Greta.” Greta was another bear shifter in town. She’d dated Ford in high school. Everyone always expected the quarterback and his cheerleader to mate. But I got drunk at a high school party and changed his life with one sloppy kiss. Then I’d moved away from Paradise Falls for seventeen years, never realizing that I’d ruined his life.
“Greta was a long time ago.”
“Maybe this could be your chance.” The words stuck in my throat. I’d loved Ford since my sophomore year of high school, but he never even knew who I was until fate forced him to pay attention.
The muscles in his arms bunched, squeezing me hard enough to hurt. “My chance for what?”
“Ease up, Ford. Without my magic, I’m as fragile as a human.”
He relaxed his hold. “What are you saying, Haze?”
“I’m saying, you didn’t have a choice when it came to me. If I hadn’t kissed you on a dare, you would have had a whole ‘nother life. One that involved bear cubs. One that would have made your dad happy.”
“Oh, because the mate scent is the only reason I’m with you, right?” He sounded angry.
I pressed on. “Maybe.”
Ford abruptly let me go. He got out of bed, put on his boxers, and grabbed his pillow. “We don’t even know if this is permanent, and you’re already trying to get rid of me.”
“I’m not trying to get rid of you. It’s the last thing I want. It’s just…”
“You don’t believe that I love you. You think it’s all chemical.” He shook his head, then turned his back on me.
“Where are you going?”
“To think,” he said. “Isn’t that what you wanted?” He slammed the bedroom door on his way out.
“Great,” I muttered. What I really wanted was to be back in his arms where it felt safe. I spent the next twenty minutes crying myself to sleep.