I paced around the kitchen, my heartbeat matching my strides as I glanced at my phone every minute or so, just in case I’d missed a text from Marcus.
He’d texted me at 7:30 this morning.
Marcus: I’m here at the office. I’m speaking to Adira at eight. Give you the details later.
And I’d texted back.
Okay, great. Talk to you later.
Sleep had been a struggle with the pillow last night as my thoughts shifted from Marcus to Ruth and then back to Marcus.
The experience with the wereape clan had been extraordinary. Even the fight between the two alphas had been amazing, in a brutal, violent way. But those damn gray eyes and the way he’d looked at me kept me awake—like I was a piece of cheesecake he wanted to sink his teeth into.
Not going to lie, being desired by a finger-licking-hot guy like that did wonders to my ego.
And I’d been so wrong about him.
I’d been quick to judge and I’d let my mind run wild with scenarios and ideas of who he was and how he felt about me. Yes, I’d been wrong. But three months without hearing back was a long time. I was pretty sure anyone in my situation would have felt the same—that he wasn’t interested.
“Will you sit down,” barked Dolores, sitting at the kitchen table wearing a frown and a light gray turtleneck sweater. “You’re going to give me an aneurism.”
“Leave the poor girl alone,” snapped Beverly as she poured herself a cup of coffee. She turned around, her back to the counter. She took a sip of her coffee and said, “It’s not her fault. Her body has needs.”
My mouth fell open. “I’m sorry, what?” Cauldron help me.
“God, I love living here.” Iris laughed as she licked the raspberry jam on her toast. “It’s like living a real-life sitcom. Or is that reality TV? Meh, same difference.” She was dressed all in black sporting a perfect cat eye with liquid liner. She looked like a cute goth girl.
Beverly adjusted the neck of her lowcut pink cashmere sweater. “It’s all that sexual energy you’ve got pent up inside, darling,” she said to me, and I cringed. “I recognize it. That’s how I get when I haven’t had sex in three days.” Her green eyes widened. “It’s the hot, sexual flashes.”
“It’s not that,” I said, mortified. Or was it? “I’m just anxious to hear back from Marcus. That’s all.”
“Precisely,” pressed Beverly, her brilliant white teeth showing through her red lips. “Sexual frustration is an ugly beast. It growls and roars… it just wants out of its cage. And when it does… I come out fightin’ like a wildcat. Grab the first available bachelor and make mad passionate love on the floor.”
Dolores spat the coffee from her mouth. “I think I just got an STD while listening to that.”
I moved to the table and pulled out the chair next to Ruth. “Can we talk about something else?” I let myself fall into the chair with a sigh. It was way too early to have this conversation with my aunts.
“Please don’t. This is so much fun.” Iris giggled and took a bite of her toast.
My gaze found Ruth. She was staring at her toast, not having taken a bite, nor did she take a sip of her coffee. She looked weak and lost, and I had the sudden overwhelming urge to protect her. Part of me wanted to wrap my arms around her, but I wasn’t sure if that was something she wanted. The last thing I needed was to make things worse for her.
Ruth had been so excited when I came home yesterday. She’d come out of her room when I told her Marcus was on his way and that he would fix things. I’d seen a light shine in her eyes that I hadn’t seen for weeks.
“Marcus is a good man,” she’d said to me and had kept a tiny smile on her face all night.
But this morning it was as though I’d never seen that light. She was sullen, her face drawn with her eyes empty and haunted.
That’s why I was pacing and why my heart was racing like I’d just jogged ten miles. It wasn’t about sex, though the idea of sex with Marcus would probably release a lot of tension. This was about Ruth, and Marcus was going to help her. I knew he would.
“If you want my advice,” said Beverly, and my gaze flicked to her, a carnal smile on her face. “You need to sleep with him.”
She just wouldn’t give up. “Okay. What happened to talking about something else?”
“That’s what I said,” encouraged Iris, a glint of devilry in her expression. She licked jam from her fingers. “She has jump him before she explodes.”
“I’m not going to explode.”
Iris nodded. “Yeah. You are. You’re like a ticking sex-bomb.”
A laugh spurted out of Dolores and I glared at her. “What?” she shrugged. “That was kind of funny.”
“You know,” continued Beverly, “at your age, I was having lots and lots of sex.” She lifted her chin. “I guess that’s the curse of being so devastatingly beautiful.”
“Or you were working as a hooker,” interjected Dolores. “Didn’t you have a t-shirt in the eighties that said OPEN FOR BUSINESS?”
Beverly beamed. “I did.” She giggled proudly. “I really did.”
My eyebrows jumped to my hairline. “Way too much sharing.”
Beverly dismissed me with a wave of her hand. “There’s no such thing as too much sharing, darling. And someone your age should be having sex. Lots of sex.”
I shivered. “I feel so dirty right now, and I haven’t done a thing.”
“Listen to me,” said Beverly. “You need to ride that train and see if the rails and the wheels are all working satisfactorily,” she said, her eyebrows moving suggestively. “Trust me, you don’t want anything to be broken on that train. A broken train can’t go nowhere.”
I shook my head, letting out a long sigh. “Why is this happening to me?”
“Darling,” said Beverly, clearly not giving up, like I was some charity sexless case. “It’s all well that you are fantasizing about his abilities in the sack. Fantasizing is healthy. But you might be severely disappointed if you continue to fantasize without having the real thing. You need to hop on that train.”
“You think the chief’s train won’t be a smooth ride?” I said, shocked at the words spilling out of my mouth.
“Might be a bumpy ride,” said Beverly.
I doubted that. Something about the way Marcus moved told me he would be a very good lover. Call it my witchy intuition. Still, I wasn’t going to have this conversation with my aunts, especially not until I jumped into bed with him.
A knock sounded from the front door and saved me from further sexless humiliation.
“Come in!” we all shouted at the same time.
“House. Open the door for Marcus,” instructed Dolores. How she knew it was him was a mystery to me.
I jumped to my feet as the squeaking sound of the front door opening was followed by the unmistakable sound of heavy boots hitting the hardwood floors. My heart throbbed at the idea of seeing Marcus again. My pulse quickened with the memory of the hot chief’s kiss high in my thoughts.
Not to mention that he’d driven all day and night just to get here this morning and save Ruth. I just wished I’d been there when he told Adira off and to pack her things. Oh, well. Can’t have it all.
I moved to stand next to Ruth. “Marcus is here,” I told her and gently squeezed her shoulder, though she did not look up. “Everything will be fine now.”
Boots scraped the floor and I pulled my eyes up to find Marcus walking into the kitchen.
Though I’d seen him only a few hours earlier, he looked just as handsome as ever. I’d never get tired of looking at that face, and he didn’t look a bit tired. Must have been a wereape thing.
He had on the same black winter coat, open to reveal a white T-shirt and jeans. His gray eyes met mine, the glint in his eyes going right to my core. A tiny smile curled the corners of his lips before his gaze went to my aunts and Iris.
“Ladies,” he said and stopped short of the kitchen table, looking all chief-like and sexy as hell.
Dolores pushed her cup of coffee to the side and interlaced her fingers on the table. Her face had a severe cast, like a school teacher about to give someone detention for disrupting the class. “You’ve been gone so long… I’d forgotten what you looked like.” Dolores’s tone was light, but the meaning behind her words was sharp.
I resisted the urge to laugh because that would have been awkward. But then a soft laugh escaped from Iris, thus saving me the trip.
“I would have come back earlier if I could,” said the chief, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I never planned on being away for so long. Things got… complicated. If I’d known…” His eyes darted over to Ruth, and I didn’t understand what I saw on his face.
“Don’t the people in this town matter to you anymore?” accused Dolores, her gaze cold and hard, looking like she wanted nothing better than to curse him.
Marcus looked taken aback. “Of course, they do. This is my town. Every single person in my town means something to me.”
Dolores made a disapproving sound in her throat. She narrowed her eyes. “You need a haircut,” she said, making Iris laugh out loud and smack the table with an open hand.
“I rather like it,” purred Beverly, her eyes twinkling. “Makes me want to run my fingers through it.”
Okay. Enough of that. “So, how did it go with Adira?”
“Is the vamp bitch gone?” inquired Beverly as she poured herself another cup of coffee. She turned around and said, “I don’t like having her around here.”
“What’s the matter, Beverly?” said Dolores, a mock smile on her face. “Don’t like the competition?”
Beverly glared at her sister as a flicker of annoyance flashed across her pretty face, but she said nothing.
Marcus looked at her. “No. Adira is still here.”
“But not for long. Right?” I asked, and his eyes jerked to mine. “You sent her on her way. She’s packing right now and leaving and never coming back. Am I right?”
“Not exactly.” Marcus took a breath. “Adira is staying… until Ruth’s court date.”
“Wait. What?” I cried, adrenaline making my head hurt. “You didn’t send her packing? After what she did to Ruth!” My lack of sleep was catching up to me, and so were the deep emotions I felt for Ruth.
Marcus said nothing, his posture shifting into an uneasy acceptance as we all stared at him. His face was strained with emotion, and I saw then just how exhausted he was. I didn’t think it was just from the drive.
My pulse hammered. “Look at her,” I said, pointing to my Aunt Ruth who had never strayed her eyes from her uneaten toast. “Look at her wrists. Adira cuffed her. The bitch cuffed her, Marcus. You have to do something.” I clenched my jaw. “Please, take them off.”
Pain glazed Marcus’s eyes, his face unfurling with emotions under his dark hair. “I can’t.”
“Take them off,” I said again incredulously, hearing my voice shake.
A sigh came from Marcus. “I can’t take them off. Not until after the court date.”
The ground shifted at his words. “The court date? Are you serious? I thought you were going to take care of all that. I thought you were going to dismiss the charges. What the hell, Marcus?”
The chief opened his mouth as if to answer but then closed it again.
“Marcus?” Beverly’s face paled. “This is Ruth we’re talking about. She’s known you since you were a child. Treated you like her own son.”
Marcus’s gray eyes shifted to Ruth. “I know that. Don’t you know I know that?” He was silent, but I could see a dark storm brewing behind his eyes.
“Marcus.” Dolores’s voice was edged with barely controlled fury. “Are you saying these false charges against Ruth are staying? Is that what you’re telling us? You won’t remove them?”
Marcus went ashen. He looked at Dolores and said, “I know this is not what you were expecting.”
“Ya think?” interrupted Dolores, giving him a poisonous look. “I was expecting more from you.”
Marcus’s eyes widened at the slight. “Certain regulations are set in place when there’s a murder,” said the chief, his face tight. “In order to dismiss a case or to try and reverse the conviction on the grounds of a bad arrest isn’t that simple. Charges were filed, and we need to follow through with them. I can’t just erase them.”
My chest tightened in anger as my world all started to fall apart. He wasn’t going to help. He was going to let Ruth take the fall…
“Take them off of her,” I repeated, feeling the loss of control and the tingling of my magic as it responded to my emotions. I couldn’t believe he would do this. To Ruth. To me.
Marcus shook his head. “I can’t.”
“You can’t? Or you won’t?” I trembled, seeing a tight ball of energy in my gut, screaming for me to release it on Marcus’s ass.
“Tessa, this is not helping,” warned Dolores, but I barely heard her.
I got into Marcus’s face. “My aunt didn’t do this, and you know it!” I shouted. “Take the cuffs off,” I ground out, my throat tight and my anger high. “Or I will.” I had no idea if that was possible, but in my life, the impossible was usually very possible.
“I’ll help you,” volunteered Iris, giving Marcus the stink eye and looking like she was about to spew a couple of curses. I thought I’d join her.
Marcus ran his fingers over his jaw, his shoulders tight with tension. “You can’t take them off.” He let out a breath through his nose. “If you try, it’ll kill her.”
“What?” Iris, Dolores, Beverly, and I all cried together.
My lips parted as a lump of fear settled heavily in my belly. My eyes fell to Ruth who looked dazed, like her mind was somewhere else, as though she hadn’t heard a single word of the conversation.
“Cauldron help us.” Dolores smacked the table with her fist. “What is the meaning of this? Are you telling me that if we tamper with these… these things… it could kill Ruth?”
“Yes, according to Adira,” replied Marcus, his voice tight. It carried the softness of an apology.
“Holy shit,” Iris breathed, her mouth hanging open. “Adira’s psychotic.”
I gasped and my stomach dropped. His words rang in my ears, chilling me. Son of a bitch…
My anger flamed back. “That vampire bitch. She put those on Ruth and never told us what they could do if we tried to remove them? What kind of chief does that?” Yup. I was going to find her, and then I was going to kill her.
The tips of Marcus’s ears turned red. He moved next to Ruth. “Ruth? May I take a look at your wrists?”
For the first time this morning, Ruth slowly turned her head and looked up at Marcus.
“Oh! Hi, Marcus,” she said, brightly, as though she’d only just realized he was here. “When did you get back? I would have prepared you some of those lobster rolls you love so much… but I’ve been feeling under the weather lately. Must be a stomach bug going around.”
Beverly burst into tears, and I blinked fast to keep my own waterworks at bay.
This was so wrong—so, so wrong.
Marcus’s jaw clenched. “Thank you, Ruth. But I’m not hungry. Can I take a look at your wrists?” he asked again, his voice gentle, soft, like I’d never heard it before.
“Oh, sure.” Ruth smiled and gave him her wrist. “I won’t be able to make your medicine anymore. I can’t do potions anymore. That’s what Adira said. The new chief. Have you met her?”
My heart squeezed at the emotion in her voice. I wanted to kill Adira. I wanted to cut off her head and stick it on a spike.
“I have,” answered Marcus. “It’s okay, Ruth. I have enough left of my medicine. You don’t worry about that.”
I knew they were talking about that blue potion she’d been supplying him with for months, but I really didn’t care what it was right now.
Marcus took Ruth’s wrist gently in his hand, turning it slowly, before setting it back down. “Thank you, Ruth.” She smiled at him and then turned back to her toast, that same distant expression crossing her face once again.
“I’ve never used these before,” said the chief, looking at Dolores and Beverly. “I’m not familiar with them. I would never have put these on Ruth. On any of you.”
“It’s twisted. It’s barbaric is what it is,” I said coldly. “She has no proof that Ruth killed Bernard, but she treats her like a criminal.” I took a calming breath. “You need to fix this. If you care anything for her, for this family, you’ll get these charges dismissed.”
“You think I wanted this to happen?” he said in a harsh tone, a shattered look of disbelief in his eyes.
“Doesn’t look like you want to do anything to stop it,” I countered pinning him with my glare.
“Ruth confessed.” Marcus met my eyes. “She confessed. There’s nothing I can do.”
“Dude, you suck,” said Iris as she took a bite of her cold toast. “Total douchebag.”
“She can unconfess,” I yelled, no idea if that was a thing, but it was worth trying.
Marcus began to pace the kitchen. “It doesn’t work like that.”
“Then explain it to me.” Frustrated, I groaned. “I don’t understand. You’re the chief! Damn it. Aren’t you still the chief? Or am I missing something here?”
He stopped and stared at me. “I am.”
“And Adira is also chief?”
“Yes.”
I threw my hands in the air. “Great. We’ve got two chiefs.”
Marcus’s expression grew remote and guarded. “Adira was the arresting chief,” he said. “She has to stay until the court—”
“Shut up! Just shut up!” I snapped, my magic and fury pounding through me.
Marcus took one look at Ruth and dread flashed in his eyes. He rubbed his hands on his face.
I stared at him hard, wishing I’d never gone to fetch him. “So, that’s it. You won’t help.”
“There’s nothing I can do. I’m sorry,” he said in a voice void of emotion.
“Get out!” I cried, the words ripping at my soul, shredding it. My gut said everything about this was wrong, but my gut could no longer be trusted.
Marcus reached for me. “Tessa—”
“Just get the hell out!”
The chief’s expression hardened and he watched me for a long moment.
And then that gorgeous man I was falling for but now despised turned around, disappeared down the hall, and went out the front door.