Chapter 6 A Brewing Problem
A brEWING PROBLEM
Samuel’s office door was closed when we arrived, which was never a good sign.
Didi rapped her knuckles against the wood with the self-assurance of a witch who had turned more powerful beings than an alpha werewolf into amphibians.
“Samuel. We need to talk.”
There was a pause which radiated instant wariness.
“Come in.”
Didi, Gavin, Bo, and I filed inside in that order.
Gavin had been dragged along against his will by Didi, who’d insisted he be part of the investigative team since there was going to be a delay in him looking into the potential brownie poisoning situation.
The dragon newt had done his best to protest but had rapidly wilted in the face of the witch’s hard stare.
Samuel was behind his desk, surrounded by paperwork and looking like he’d already had a long day despite it being barely ten in the morning. His coffee cup was half empty, which meant he was on at least his second serving of cream-and-four-sugars.
His gaze as it swept over our group said he recognized an ambush when he saw one.
“This looks serious,” my alpha said carefully.
“It is.” Didi dropped her stack of folders onto his desk with a thump that made Gavin flinch. “We have a problem.”
Samuel’s eyes met mine across the room. The mate bond hummed between us, carrying his concern and a thread of what felt like resignation.
What did you get yourself into now? his expression seemed to ask.
You’re about to find out, mine replied.
Didi launched into her explanation. She laid out everything she’d told me—the transfer documents, the stale magical signatures, the shutdown clinics, and the impossibility of three powerful witches just stopping using their magic on the exact same day.
Samuel listened without interrupting, his expression growing darker with each new detail.
“So you’re telling me,” he said when Didi finished, “that you believe the Lincoln sisters didn’t go on vacation voluntarily? That somebody might have orchestrated their disappearance and created a paper trail to cover it up?”
“Yes.” Didi crossed her arms. “And I want to investigate.”
“With my luna.”
The possessive way he said the word did things to my pulse that was probably illegal in ten states and had my wolf sitting up and panting.
“She’s the only one who can.” Didi’s jaw tightened.
“Daria isn’t here. And I’m bound by coven hierarchy.
If I start poking around and the wrong people notice, I’ll be lucky to keep my position.
As for you, you’re bound by your duties.
But Abby?” She gestured at me. “She’s outside witch politics entirely.
The covens can’t touch her without risking a war with the Hawthorne pack.
Not that she’d need the pack in her corner, what with her freaky powers. ”
“Thanks,” I muttered.
My wolf made a smug sound. I told her to can it.
Samuel’s gaze shifted to me. “And you’ve already agreed to this.”
It wasn’t a question.
“I’m not exactly thrilled about it either,” I said in a resigned voice.
“But I heard from Mrs. Chen that the supernatural community has been suffering since the Lincoln sisters disappeared.” I met his eyes squarely.
“If something bad has happened to them, the situation could turn uglier. Besides, I promised the Alliance I would help keep Amberford safe.”
Samuel lowered his brows in a way that said exactly what he thought about my promise to the Alliance. Yet, neither of us could deny one thing.
It was the only way the Alliance had agreed to tolerate the powers Ellie and I had recently demonstrated and not treat us like time bombs that could blow up in their faces at any moment.
My alpha finally sighed and ran a hand through his hair, a gesture I’d come to recognize as his tell for I don’t like this but I’m probably going to let you do it anyway.
“Witch politics are notoriously vicious,” he said.
“The Hawthornes, the other wolf packs, and pretty much every supernatural clan in Amberford have maintained careful neutrality with the covens for generations, not least because of the witches’ wards protecting our territories.
If we start investigating one of their own—”
“We’re not investigating a witch,” Didi cut in. “We’re investigating a disappearance. There’s a difference.”
“A difference the covens may not appreciate,” Samuel pointed out sharply.
I shifted uneasily. Maybe I was biting off more than I could chew. The way Samuel and Didi were talking about the covens was beginning to make the witches in Amberford sound like the mob, AKA the kind of people who made problems disappear and never spoke about it afterward.
It didn’t help that smoke was curling alarmingly from Gavin’s nostrils, his eyes were getting bigger by the minute, and he looked about ready to set everything on fire in sheer panic.
Bo moved carefully away from the dragon newt.
“The covens can take it up with me,” Didi was saying. Her expression could have frozen Hell. “I’m the one who found the discrepancy. If anyone’s going to face consequences, it will be me.”
Samuel pinched the bridge of his nose. For a moment, I thought he was going to refuse. Then his shoulders drooped slightly and I felt his reluctant acceptance pulse through the mate bond.
“Fine,” he said. “But I want to be kept informed.” He fixed Didi and me with an uncompromising stare. “Every step, every discovery, every lead you find, I want to know about it.”
“Done,” Didi said immediately.
I nodded.
“And if this starts looking bigger than a simple disappearance, you ask for backup. No heroics.” His eyes found mine. “I mean it, Abby.”
The worry in his gaze made my chest tighten.
“No heroics,” I agreed. “Scout’s honor.”
“You’re not a scout,” Bo pointed out bluntly, tail swinging.
Samuel’s lips twitched despite himself. His expression told me to hang back as the others began filing out. He waited until everyone had left before standing and coming around the desk. The mate bond sang when he stopped in front of me, warm and electric.
“Be careful.” He brushed a curl away from my cheek. “Witch covens have long memories. No one can bear a grudge quite like them. If Didi is right about this and there is someone out there powerful enough to make the Lincoln sisters disappear—”
“I know.” I reached up and squeezed his hand briefly. “I’ll be careful.”
My alpha didn’t look convinced.
“Promise you’ll come back to me in one piece.”
My heart did something complicated in my chest at his words. I nodded.
Samuel dipped his head and stole a kiss.
Heat curled low in my belly. My hands found his shirt and I practically glued myself to him.
He ended the kiss and grinned. “Go get them, tiger.”
I glanced at his desk and reluctantly decided it was too early in the day to jump him, a decision my wolf vehemently vetoed.
Samuel chuckled as he read our minds.
Didi, Gavin, and Bo were at my workstation when I got there.
“I call dibs on being the tracker,” Bo was saying, tail thumping the floor.
“You’re a Husky, not a bloodhound,” Didi said coldly.
“I have hidden depths,” my dog stated confidently.
Movement in the corridor caught our eyes.
Nigel was hovering near the IT closet. He was clutching something in his hands and two tentacles and flickering with nervous energy.
Hugh joined us as we stood and stared at the boogeyman. “Is that a bouquet?”
It was indeed a small bouquet of flowers.
“Freshly picked from the smell of it,” Barney contributed. The vampire had stopped typing and was watching the proceedings with vague interest.
“Uh-oh,” Gavin said with a sickly expression. “It’s happening.”
We shushed the dragon newt.
Janet came out of her office, caught sight of the boogeyman and the bouquet, and hastily retreated so she could lurk behind her door and spy on the unfolding office drama.
We all froze when Mindy drifted past, her translucent form occupied with a stack of color-coded files. She hadn’t seen the boogeyman yet.
Nigel’s mouth opened. He waved a tentacle hesitantly.
“Er, Min—Mindy?” he managed.
She stopped and turned toward him. “Yes?”
Nigel walked toward the ghost and thrust the flowers with the desperate energy of a boogeyman leaping off a cliff.
“These are for you. I thought—I mean, I know ghosts can’t smell things, but I thought they were pretty. And I read that flowers are a traditional—”
“He’s losing it,” Barney muttered as Nigel began sprouting tentacles.
“He’s doing fine,” I protested.
“Abby’s done much worse,” Bo said.
Hugh snickered.
I eyeballed the Husky hard. “No bacon for you for a week.”
“How about everyone shut up so we can follow the disastrous spectacle unfolding over there?!” Didi hissed while Bo protested.
“—I mean, that is to say,” Nigel was mumbling, a tiny tentacle wiping the sweat from his brow, “I—I was wondering if you might want to, hmm, go out for dinner some time?” His final words came out a squeak.
We all held our collective breaths in the expectant silence.
“Oh.” Mindy blinked.
“That poor guy’s going to get dumped,” Bo said in a voice dripping with pity.
I muzzled the Husky with my hand before Didi could turn him into a frog.
Mindy stared from the bouquet to Nigel and back. “Wait. Are you asking me out?”
Nigel made a strangled sound that might have been a yes.
Mindy considered this for a moment before solemnly accepting the flowers.
“I’d like that.”
We all sucked in air, Gavin coughing as he inhaled his own smoke. Bo’s toy squeaked weakly.
Nigel lit up.
We squinted as his body blazed with a glow that intensified until he was practically incandescent.
The overhead lights in the corridor flickered. A computer made a worrying buzzing sound. Gavin’s fire extinguisher fortress rattled ominously.
Samuel stepped out of his office.
“What the hell is going on now?!” my alpha barked, glowering.
“Nigel asked Mindy out!” Janet hissed in a conspiratorial tone.
“Oh.” Samuel’s glower was replaced by wariness as he observed the would-be couple in question. “And?”
“She said yes,” I supplied.
“That explains the lights,” Samuel muttered, his voice carrying a note of long-suffering patience. “Nigel, if you blow the fuses again, I’m taking it out of your salary.”
Nigel startled. “Sorry.” He dimmed himself and glanced at Mindy.
“I’ll just—I’ll go now.” He started for his closet, stopped abruptly, and turned around, his expression determined.
“How about tomorrow? Or whenever you’re free?
” Sweat broke out on his brow again. “I’m very flexible with scheduling!
” he squeaked before vanishing into his closet, still glowing faintly.
Mindy watched him go. A faint smile curved her lips. She drifted toward the nearest wall, flowers somehow clutched in her spectral grip. She was about to go through it when she registered our stares.
She froze and narrowed her eyes at us.
“What? You never seen a boogeyman ask a ghost out before?”
Everyone unfroze and pretended to be doing something else.
“Not in this lifetime,” my dog sassed once I let go of his muzzle.
Mindy sniffed. “Well, now you have.” She faded through the wall, the smile returning to her face.
“That,” Didi stated in the silence, “was disgustingly adorable.”
We all murmured in agreement.
Hugh brightened. “Ten bucks says Nigel screws up their first date.”
“You’re too late,” Janet said. “Fred started that betting pool four days ago.”
I was beginning to suspect the demon had a betting pool for everything that happened in this building.