Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Meeting agenda: Misfits and Mates
Gideon
I sent out a message to the group and then went next door to let Elwood know what was going on. I didn’t think anyone was in danger. Mellgren was a very old vampire, and he knew how to control himself, but it wasn’t like him to reach out for help, so we needed to take it seriously.
Besides, this whole murder situation had everyone on edge, and we hadn’t had a real meeting since before it all blew up.
I expected to see Declan when I walked in, but to my surprise, it was just Elwood and Tulip standing at the counter packing boxes.
“Where’s Declan?” I asked.
Elwood chuckled. “It’s pretty sad if you’re at the point where you can’t even make it an hour without looking for him.”
I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t come over here looking for Declan, old man. Didn’t you get your text?”
“No, I did not get a text,” he grumbled, reaching for his phone. He glared at the screen and then shook his head. “Okay, so I got the text, I just didn’t read the text.” His eyebrows scrunched up as he read the message I’d sent.
“Is Mellgren all right?”
“I think so. He’s just stressed.”
“We all are,” Tulip said. “Between the murderers and all the humans, how would you not be?”
“I agree. That’s why I thought it would be a good idea for us to have a misfits’ meeting. Not just because Mellgren is struggling, but because I think we probably all are.”
“We’ve all been busy, but that’s no excuse. We missed one meeting because of the festival committee, and I should’ve rescheduled that one. That’s on me,” Elwood said.
“Not just you, it’s on me, as well.” The Misfit Monsters’ Support Group had been Elwood’s idea, but that didn’t mean he was solely responsible. I might not have been their alpha, but I still felt a responsibility to the community, and I should have done better.
“Well, I suppose I should go and get the room all ready.” Elwood headed to the back room where we held our meetings, and Tulip and I followed. However, it didn’t look like there was anything for us to do. The murder board had been turned to face the wall, and the table had been cleared.
“Looks like Eugene beat me to it.”
Eugene shivered out what I assumed was a don’t worry about it before slipping beneath his fridge.
A few minutes later, members of the group began to arrive. I was actually surprised so many came on such short notice. By the time we were ready to start, Az, Sandy, and Hazel had joined us, but Mellgren still wasn’t there.
I was about to text him when a bat flew into the room, making me twice as glad I had scheduled a meeting. Mellgren rarely went anywhere in his bat form, so if he was traveling with wings, he was really stressed. He shifted into his human form and took a seat.
We were about to begin when I heard the front door open and heavy footsteps trample across the floor toward the meeting room. We all turned to look as Perry walked in.
“Perry, good to see you.” I shifted my chair around to make room for the big guy.
“Well, you all kept telling me that I should come, and I figure after the last couple of days, it might not be a bad idea.”
“Well, we’re glad to have you.” Elwood stood at the end of the table. “Now let’s all take a moment to introduce ourselves.”
Az groaned, Sandy rolled his eyes, and Tulip started to speak, but Elwood lifted his hand. “I’m very well aware of the fact that we all know each other. I don’t need you to tell me that again. But there’s an order to things, and there’s a reason we do this. Gideon, why don’t you start?”
I nodded and said, “My name is Gideon. I’m a shifter, but I’m unable to shift.”
Az went next. “My name is Azar. I’m a demon, and I don’t think humans are worth the time it takes to curse them.”
“I would curse them if I could,” Tulip muttered under her breath, and Elwood shot her a look and then nodded at Sandy to go.
“My name is Lysander, but I prefer Sandy. I’m a sprite, but I don’t like to play pranks on people. I think it’s mean, and I prefer to be kind.”
We continued around the table. Hazel, with her refusal to kill her husband, Tulip not being able to find one, Mellgren being a vegan, Eugene, who refused to spy on people, and finally Perry not wanting to hide in the woods.
Elwood folded his hands on the table. “All right, introductions done. Let’s get to why we’re here. Mellgren, you said you were having a rough week, so why don’t you start us off?”
Mellgren sighed and adjusted his glasses like a weary professor instead of a centuries-old vampire.
“I thought I was past being shaken by blood, but when Jim…” He trailed off for a second, clearing his throat.
“Seeing it again, the way it was, unsettled me. Not because I was tempted—don’t mistake me for some fledgling—but because it reminded me of everything I’ve spent decades trying to leave behind.
And on top of that, someone slipped garlic into my beet smoothie.
Garlic! I had hives for hours. Between that, the tourists, and these new cars with their ridiculous backup cameras… ”
“I love my backup camera,” Sandy said, obviously confused.
Mellgren scoffed and spread his hands. “I nearly got run over twice this week. Do you know what it feels like to be invisible on a camera? Infuriating.”
“Sorry, Mellgren. I didn’t think of that,” Sandy said.
“That sounds very stressful.” Hazel held up her current crochet project to demonstrate her weaving. “Would you like me to wrap you up in a nice soothing cocoon? I’m almost finished with this.”
Mellgren gave a sad little shrug. “No, but thank you, Hazel, that’s very nice of you to offer.”
Tulip snorted. “At least you didn’t have three kids chuck fast-food wrappers into your pond. I wanted to drag them to the bottom and hold them there until they apologized, but apparently”—she rolled her eyes—“that’s frowned upon.”
“Yes, it is,” Elwood pointed out.
Perry rumbled, his deep voice filling the room.
“I get the urge, though. Tourists are the worst. They’re tromping off trail, tossing beer cans and chip bags, stressing out every deer in a five-mile radius.
I had to chase two of them out with a very polite growl.
They screamed like I’d bitten off a limb. ” He smirked. “Didn’t even touch them.”
Az leaned back in his chair. “Why are there so many humans at a magic festival, anyway? I wandered out to see what the fuss was about, and they were everywhere. One of them even dared me to eat a ghost pepper.” His lips curled in a smirk.
“And I finally understood why they’re called that—because they weren’t even there. Just gone. Vanished. No spice at all.”
That broke the tension, and even Mellgren cracked a smile.
Hazel tapped her nails against the table.
“At least you had food. When I took a break from my booth, there wasn’t a single fly to be found.
Not one. You’d think at a crowded festival, someone could manage to leave behind a decent swarm.
Flies are an excellent source of protein, you know.
But no, nothing for me. I had to settle for stale granola bars from the vendor’s tent. ” She wrinkled her nose.
The table erupted into laughter—gentle, good-natured, the sound of misfits sharing the weight of the week. This was what we’d been missing. This was the purpose of the group.
“How about you, Gideon?” Elwood asked.
I almost said nothing. I was used to being the one with the answers, not the one with the problem, and yet, here I was.
“I, umm, I have something going on. I’m not sure if I should say something here or not.
” I rubbed the back of my neck and looked at Elwood.
Did he really want to hear about my relationship problems with his grandson?
“Go ahead. I know all about you and my Declan.”
I glanced around and saw nothing but encouraging faces. These people weren’t wolves, but they were my friends, and I thought they would be able to understand.
“So, the thing is, Declan and I are together.”
“Then why do you look so stressed? Did he put a love spell in a cookie and then give it to you? That’s not a very nice thing to do.” Sandy sat up straight like he was ready to throw down for me.
“No, Sandy, he didn’t put a love spell on me.”
He relaxed back down. “Good, because I would hate to have to stop eating his cakes. They’re so tasty.”
“Go ahead, dear. We’re here for you.” Hazel gave me a reassuring smile, and I nodded at her.
“I think he might be my mate.”
“Think?” Perry asked. “Don’t you wolves just know?”
“Usually, but I can’t shift, so I can’t know for sure. My wolf would have to smell him for me to be positive.”
“I was afraid it was something like that,” Elwood said. “You two had such an immediate connection.”
We did, and it was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. Declan was funny and brave and smart. Not to mention sexy. We seemed to mesh perfectly, exactly the way mates did. If only I could know for sure.
I nodded. “We did. But I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to miss out on an opportunity to spend my life with my mate, but I can’t know for sure.”
“So you do it like the rest of us. You date him, you fall in love with him, you choose him. That’s what those of us without fate’s nudging do.” Elwood gave me a smile. “I think it’s going to work out fine.”
I let out a relieved breath. It didn’t fix everything, and it didn’t tell me if Declan was my mate, but it mattered to me to have Elwood’s blessing. “Thank you.”
I looked up and met gazes with Az. Not only was he my closest friend, but he was never one to keep quiet.
He didn’t say a word. Instead, he just gave me a nod.
I was pretty sure he saw something, but whatever it was, he didn’t tell me.
I would have to catch him later and see if he would tell me what he knew.
The demon wasn’t an oracle, but somehow, he still seemed to know things he shouldn’t have been able to know.
I cleared my throat. “Thank you all for listening. Now, does anyone have anything else?”