CHAPTER SEVEN
~
“Lucky it was my hand and not my head,” Hope grumbled. “Why did you throw the door at me?”
“Lex,” Faith said, arms out and shrugging helplessly. “He was right behind me all the way across the bar, and I thought he still was.”
“Understandable.” Hope snorted a chuckle. “But, girl, you’ve got it bad.”
“Bad?”
“Letting him get under your skin and living rent-free in your head – bad,” Hope replied.
Faith groaned. “I’m just on edge.”
“Do tell?” Dani asked from behind the counter. “I get a lot of foot traffic in here, but I’m basically cut off from all the really interesting stuff.”
Hope frowned. “You want to do a turn outside in the bar?”
Dani looked horrified. “Heavens no – people!” She screwed up her face and forced a shiver. “But I would like in on the gossip a little more.”
Faith sighed. Her shoulders slumped, and she walked to the nearest stool and sat down. “I thought I was done with the whole treasure hunt ghost ship thing, and I made peace with that – sort of, but what if it’s not done with me? Now there’s Jennifer, Lex and the crone, and – stuff.”
“We’re helping with Jennifer,” Dani said, sympathetic to Faith’s predicament.
Hope shrugged. “We could kill Lex for you?”
Faith frowned. “We’ll put a pin in that.”
Dani grinned at Hope. “Someone is coming around to the idea of Lex…”
“No, I’m not!” Faith said, in full denial mode, but inside, she wasn’t sure that was the case.
“He’s wearing you down,” Hope agreed.
Faith grumbled to herself. “I am tired…”
“Of fighting the whole mating pull thing?” Dani asked.
“I don’t think that applies to vampires, Dani,” Faith said.
“Well, it can’t be his winning personality,” Hope said. “Something has to be at work there, considering its fate.”
“Sure,” Faith grumbled.
“Maybe the only way to get rid of the Lex problem is to poop or get off the potty,” Hope said, shrugging.
Faith scowled. “I don’t think…”
“Kill or cure,” Dani said, nodding in agreement with Hope.
“You too?” Faith demanded, her voice pitching higher.
Dani shrugged. “He is your one true love…”
“Of a lifetime,” Hope agreed. “Yours – not his.”
Faith pushed to her feet. “What? He gets more than one love?”
Hope looked lost. It took her a moment to catch up. “He’s had multiple lifetimes, but you’re his one true love.”
“Oh,” Faith said, folding her arms.
Dani chuckled. “I think I saw the green-eyed monster raising its head there for a moment,” she teased.
“Did not,” Faith said, getting defensive again. What did she need to do to prove to everyone that she wasn’t Lex’s fan girl? “I’ just all-in, girl power, fight for equality.” She lamely raised her fist. “Solidarity, sisters.”
“Yeah,” Hope said, not buying it. “How about the crone?” she asked with a knowing grin.
Faith huffed. “Not the same thing – they could be working together…”
“But that’s not what ails you,” Dani said.
“Nothing ails me,” Faith replied.
“Except for the whole treasure challenge, ghost ship, Jennifer in danger, Lex wants to get in your panties thing,” Hope reminded her.
“Ugh!” Faith grumbled, dropping her backside to the stool again. “Whose bright idea was it to come here in the first place?” she complained.
“Mine,” Hope said. “Yours.”
“And unfortunately, fate’s,” Dani reminded her. “And we all know fate will have her way…”
“Don’t remind me,” Faith said, knowing the pull to Lex was getting stronger by the day. In her case, absence really had made the heart grow fonder. “Are we sure that fate is a she? I mean, we seem to be getting the raw end of the deal here. Would a woman do that to another woman?”
Hope and Dani shared a look. “Yes!” Hope said.
“Most definitely,” Dani agreed. “You’ve had a female boss, right?” Hope made a meal out of clearing her throat, and Dani almost choked. “Not you,” she rushed out, grimacing. “You’re sunshine and a meadow full of fragrant flowers.” She tried to smile, but it looked pained.
“Of course she is,” Faith said, giggling.
“I should shut up now,” Dani said, wincing.
“Why?” Faith demanded.
“Cat got your tongue?” Hope asked.
Dani double blinked. “More like a mangle. I always say the wrong thing or the right thing in the wrong way.”
Hope shrugged. “But you have a voice and something to say, even if it comes out wrong on occasion…”
“We shall shamelessly mock you for it,” Faith said.
“Because that’s what best friends do,” Hope added.
“It’s done with love,” Faith said, snatching up a tomato slice from the covered bowl and biting into it.
“Perfect love and perfect trust,” Hope said, smiling. “And you have ours – always…”
“And forever,” Faith said.
“Ahh,” Dani said, pressing her lips together and blinking fast.
“And if you start to cry now, I’m going to tease you for a week about it,” Faith said.
“Plus, you’ll get the food all soggy, and nobody wants soggy food,” Hope said. Dani swallowed and nodded. “So, I’m a bad boss?”
Dani looked like a deer caught in the headlights for a long moment until Faith burst out laughing and set Hope off.
~
“Well, look at you hanging around outside like the stray who got told no,” Amy said, letting the bar’s front door close behind her as she strolled toward Zeke.
“That’s what happens when a dictator gets involved in your business…”
Amy didn’t waste any more time with words. Her magic was at her fingertips, and she used it, zapping him in the gut hard enough to make her point. “You’ve been a bad mutt,” she informed him, waiting for him to fight the pain and stand straight.
Zeke’s beast rushed to just beneath the surface, and he had to battle to keep the wolf at bay. “Not a good idea,” he warned her.
“To mess with me? You’re right,” Amy replied.
“I’m outside the damn bar,” Zeke growled, motioning around him. “I’m playing your little psycho game; what more do you want?”
Amy placed her hands on her hips, narrowed her eyes, and considered him for a moment. “You’re playing a game, rushing off to town for your liaison with Darcy…”
“Liaison? Did we jump into a wormhole and venture back in time?”
“Deflection…”
“What the hell are…?”
Amy’s hand snapped up, and Zeke bit down on the pain that was about to hit him. Her witching finger snap-pointed at him, and his insides jolted as he clenched, expecting incoming – but nothing happened, except her eyes fired up with annoyance. “You cheated!”
Zeke pulled his head back on his neck and eyed her with suspicion. He wondered if he was being lulled into a false sense of security before she took her magical strike at him. “You said I had to prove myself; you didn’t say I couldn’t woo my mate while doing it.”
Amy winced. She didn’t know if that was true; she’d need to think about their conversation, and she couldn’t do that on the hoof. “So, there was wooing,” she said, keeping to firmer ground.
Zeke narrowed his eyes and stared at her as if he couldn’t make her out. “Of course, there was wooing!”
“Unacceptable!” Amy snapped.
Zeke lowered his chin and eyed her from beneath lowered eyebrows. “She’s my mate…”
“She’s my friend, and I want to make sure you earn her respect and her presence in your life!”
“You’re being unreasonable, deluded, and irrational…”
“Says the wolf!”
Zeke’s beast clawed within him to be set free, but he held it at bay. “Says the mate!” Amy’s lips pursed, but he could see that she was thinking. “The spinning wheel of death – you need a reboot?”
Amy snapped to attention. “What?”
“It’s like your programming stalled there for a moment…”
“Cute, geek,” Amy said, shifting her weight as she took a moment to get herself back on track. “Darcy’s been my friend a lot longer than she’s been your mate, and…”
“And she’ll still be your friend once I’ve wooed her and made her mine…”
“That’s not the…”
“You can ban me from the bar, you can zap me, and you can try to be a witchy brick wall between us.” Amy opened her mouth, but it was Zeke’s turn to snap out his index finger. It didn’t contain magic, but it had the eureka feeling about it. “I will still find a way to woo my mate – and prove to you that I’m worthy of her.” His beast grumbled a growl that he couldn’t contain, which rumbled in the night air between them.
Amy cocked an eyebrow at him. “Am I supposed to be impressed?”
“No.”
“Good,” Amy said. She hadn’t expected him to answer the way he had; now, she was running to keep up. “I’m going to lift the bar ban.”
Zeke scowled. “You are?”
“I am.” There was a sparkle of mischief in her eyes and a slight smile of victory on her lips.
“There’s a catch, right?”
“No catch,” Amy said with a slight shake of her head. “If you’re in there, I can see what you are up to.”
Zeke took in a slow, deep breath that expanded his chest. It had the added benefit of calming his wolf. “I’ll take it.”
“Go ahead,” Amy said, motioning to the front door.
Zeke didn’t need to be told twice. He’d been outside the windows all night watching his mate serving his friends, and he’d seen his pack laughing at his misery; he was only too happy to be on the inside.
Amy turned to watch Zeke strutting into the bar like the conquering warrior king, and the look on Darcy’s face when she spotted him was like someone had turned on the sun. “Why the heck am I doing this?” she muttered, folding her arms and eyeing the mates.
When Zeke swooped Darcy up with strong arms around her waist and spun her around, the witch threw her head back and laughed hard. “The conquering hero comes back from war and gets the girl,” she said, shaking her head.
“It’ll do him good,” Heath said from behind her. Amy spun around to see the alpha standing looking in. His arms were folded over his broad chest, and as he brought his gaze from his brother to Amy, he shrugged his shoulder. “Man and boy, things have always come easy for Zeke – this might make him grow up.”
“And yet, your little cocktail interference earlier?” She questioned him with a pair of arched eyebrows.
“Yeah, well,” Heath said with a sour look. “He’s still my brother, even if he is a raging pain in my backside.”
“No more interfering?”
Heath shrugged again. “I’ll leave that to you.”
Amy frowned. “I feel like the biggest – witch in the world,” she scowled. “Which doesn’t normally bother me.”
A grin shot to Heath’s lips. “I could tell you some stunts he’s pulled in life that will make you feel better about yourself.”
Amy perked up. “Deal, let’s get a cocktail.”
“Cocktail?” Heath said, pulling a disgusted look at the thought.
Amy pointed to her chest. “I’m a bitch,” she said with an overly sweet smile. “And you did try to mess with me earlier.”
“Have pity,” Heath begged.
Amy rolled her eyes. “Fine, beer,” she said and watched the grin spread his lips. “But you owe me one.”
“And I’m sure you’ll be only too happy to collect,” Heath said, yanking open the front door to the bar. “Ladies first,” he said, motioning for her to enter.
Amy stomped towards him with a scowl. “Lady? That’s insulting,” she said walking by him into the bar. “And nobody has ever accused me of being a lady before.”
“I apologise,” Heath said, chuckling.