3. Avengers Assemble
THREE
Avengers Assemble
I fell asleep considering what we knew and what we’d seen in the video. Was I part of an investigative we ? No, I was not. Still, it gave me something different to ponder than my most recent book, which was unusual and rather thrilling.
This reality business was far different from the mysteries I read. In books, breadcrumbs of clues were dropped, so I always knew what was happening and often who done it, sometimes as soon as he appeared on the page. I could study the descriptions, the lines of dialogue, and know how the author wanted me to feel about a particular character. In real life, we only had a voice on a video. He could be anyone. I was feeling decidedly off balance, but I kind of liked it.
When I woke, I was still considering the previous evening and the ridiculously handsome cop as I made myself a meal. It might seem odd to refer to a midafternoon meal as breakfast, but that was what it was. Omelets were easy, so that was my go-to, usually throwing in whatever meat I had in the fridge.
I sat on my shady porch, listening to the leaves rustle in the breeze, eating, and reading, though my mind kept wandering back to that video we’d watched of the man in the truck. Frustrated, I shook my head and scanned the page, looking for the last line I remembered reading. I’d never had trouble concentrating on a book before. That had always been my number one skill in life. This new preoccupation was exciting, though it did get in the way of my reading. Eventually, the story drew me in and I stopped thinking about something that, honestly, had nothing to do with me.
Around six, I went for a long walk in the forest. With one ear bud in so I could listen to a true crime podcast, I searched for anything out of the ordinary. Neither the officer nor I had found anything in my woods, but it seemed worth a second try.
In the investigation I was listening to, the detectives had accessed Ring camera footage and saw the make and model of a car passing on a road at the time and near the location of a child abduction. I wondered if Garra could do the same. Maybe some of the houses across the street from my woods had caught an image of the truck.
When I realized the evening was getting away from me, I ran home, got cleaned up and dressed, and was unlocking the front door one minute after eight.
On the porch waited one of my regulars. He got off work late and sometimes liked to stop in for a new book on his way home. When he heard the lock snap open, he turned from the railing and gave a quick nod.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said as though we were in the middle of a conversation. “I’m going to read that Camus book you mentioned a few months ago.” He walked past me and headed deep into the fiction section.
“ The Plague ?” I guessed, trying to place the conversation. I was so bad at remembering the things I said. I often didn’t listen when I spoke, my mind usually engaged elsewhere.
“That’s the one,” he murmured.
I thought a moment. “It’s on the third shelf down, left side. Black book. White writing on the spine.”
“Got it,” he called.
He met me at the black walnut table I used as my checkout spot. I had a tablet with a point-of-sale system and a card reader. That was it. No cash. Most customers didn’t need bags, but I had a few with a little owl logo I’d drawn by hand. Sometimes I needed to think about the book I’d just finished before starting a new one. During my thinking times, I’d get out some pens and start sketching a little cartoon owl on a short stack of bags.
When the Plague man left, I went to my favorite step on the stairs to read.
A flash of light pulled me out of the story. Looking out the window, I watched headlights coming up my hill. I glanced over at the wall clock above the front door. Midnight. I didn’t recognize the truck, but I used my finger as a bookmark and went down the stairs.
Was this last night’s truck man?
The guy who came in the door was tall, probably a half a foot taller than my six feet. He had dark wavy hair that curled at the collar, a dark beard, and kind brown eyes.
“Hi,” he said, looking around. “Am I in the right place?”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that. “Depends. Were you looking for a book?”
He grinned. “Night Owl Books, right? I’m Declan.”
When he didn’t say anything else, I shrugged and said, “Okay.” I waved my hand around the store and added, “You can look around if you want.” I went behind my desk and sat on a stool, opening my book back up to where I’d left off.
He stood watching me a moment and then went into the stacks, pulling out his phone and texting. He wasn’t the truck guy from last night, though he was a wolf. This man’s voice was much deeper and growlier than the threatening man’s.
Damn it. I was doing it again. My eyes were skating over words, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was thinking about werewolves stalking human women.
More headlights bobbed up the hill. Another pickup truck and an SUV this time. It was Grand Central Station around here.
The truck parked first. The man who got out put up his hand in greeting to the man parking the SUV. The truck man jogged up the steps and came in. He was a little taller than me, copper-colored skin taut over wide cheekbones. He had long black hair and dark eyes. He was clearly Native American, but that wasn’t what was bothering me. It was the feather and forest scent that put my back up. He wasn’t an owl, but he was some kind of raptor shifter.
The werewolf stepped out from the bookcases. He and the raptor nodded and then turned away from each other.
Another SUV came up the hill. What the hell was going on? A man and a woman got out of the first SUV but waited for the second one to park. This one I knew. It was the officer from last night. All three climbed the stairs and came in together.
“What are you doing here?” the wolf asked the woman.
“This one brought me,” she said, tipping her head at the tall and very broad-shouldered Black man standing behind her. She was crazy beautiful, even in paint-spattered overalls. She had long curly hair in an amazing mix of brown, red, black, and gold. Her bright green eyes surveyed the bookstore before landing on me. “Hi.”
My gaze moved back and forth between all of them. “Hello.” Wary of five supernaturals all appearing at the same time in my home, I took a step toward the back door. The Native guy sneered at my retreat, which made me want to swipe him with my talons.
The woman moved between the Native guy and me. She held up a gloved hand to him and said, “Stop it.” She turned to me. “Sorry. Clearly no one told you we were coming. Please excuse us for invading your space.”
The officer from last night held out his hand to the woman. “I’m Nick Garra. You work with my cousin.” He gestured to the other Black man.
I saw the resemblance now.
The woman glanced down at his hand. “I mean no disrespect, but I’d prefer not. Even with the gloves, things can slip through.”
The officer looked between the woman and his cousin and said, “Of course. I forgot. Sorry about that.”
The officer turned to me. “Orla, I tried to call earlier, but you didn’t pick up.”
I checked my phone and shook my head. “Service is spotty here.”
“Oh, okay,” he said. “Let’s start with introductions and then I’ll explain.” He pointed to the Native man. “That’s Kaknu. He’s Ohlone and a falcon shifter.” He turned to the werewolf who had arrived first. “Declan?”
The wolf nodded. “I’m Declan, Alpha of the Big Sur pack.”
Officer Garra held out his hand. “You’re the one who defeated Logan.”
Declan nodded again and they shook.
“Good,” Garra said. “That guy was a dick.”
His cousin cleared his throat and the cop shrugged. “He was. He rarely showed up. When he did, he complained he was missing a hot date. And it was impossible to keep the guy off his phone.”
“You won’t have that trouble with the new Alpha,” the woman said. “I’m his hot date and I have to be here too.” She waved at me. “I’m Arwyn. I’m a wicche and the representative of the Corey Council. My mom had the gig, but once I joined the council, she pawned it off on me.” She glanced at the men. “No offense.”
The man still standing by the door stepped forward. “And I’m Arthur Osso, Nick’s cousin. I’m a detective with the Monterey Police Department and a black bear shifter.”
Nick turned back to me. “I’m black bear on my mom’s side—Arthur’s aunt—and grizzly on my dad’s.” He glanced around and said, “And this is Orla. She’s an Eurasian eagle-owl shifter and owner of Night Owl Books.”
He turned back to me and I made the mistake of looking straight at him. Shit. I looked down at the table and moved my book closer to my tablet.
“We can’t send human police officers after supernaturals,” he explained. “So, when we find—like last night—that we have a supernatural preying either on humans or our own kind, we’re the ones who track him and put him down.”
“Or her,” Arwyn said.
“Right,” Nick agreed. “You seemed to enjoy investigating last night, so we wanted to see if you’d like to work with us.”
“And you have a great meeting place here,” Arwyn said. “Let’s not pretend that didn’t play a role in this invitation.”
Arthur moved forward and stood beside his cousin. They shared a certain family resemblance, but where Arthur looked stern and forbidding, Nick was, well, charming and open.
“Nick and I discussed the incident last night,” Arthur said. “He said he was impressed with your insights. We always need help, and having a large meeting place like this that’s open all night is ideal. Neighbors aren’t too close and everyone is used to vehicles showing up at all hours of the night.”
They were offering me a place on the investigative team. I’d be a part of the we . I’d worked hard to build this quiet little life. I was content. I didn’t need new complications. In the back of my head, though, I heard my mom telling me to get out and live a little. “What would I need to do?”
“The kind of thing we did last night,” Nick replied. “We investigate crimes—or the threat of crimes. Predators with gifts like ours are too deadly to go unchecked.”
His cousin Arthur added, “Humans are at an unfair disadvantage. We need to stop the rabid among us, if for no other reason than to keep our existence a secret.”
“And to save innocent lives,” the woman—Arwyn—said on an eyeroll.
The big man shrugged. “Sure. That too.”
What was this weird excitement I was feeling? This was the opposite of the calm life I’d always wanted. Glancing down again, I realized I was clutching my book. I placed it out of reach on the table and met the gaze of each person fanned out around me.
“Okay.”