Chapter 46
MY ADORABLE PEAHEN
MORGAN
This time when I walked into the busy Willow Lake Pub, I was wearing my cape and some new rainbow-colored clothes I’d paid to have rush delivered.
I needed to go back to the home I’d shared with Violet soon and pack up my belongings, but I didn’t want to leave Willow Lake yet.
I felt safe here, safer than I had in years.
In the meantime, I’d been buying new clothes like virtual shopping carts had been designed especially for me.
So far, I hadn’t been disappointed. I wasn’t sure what I loved more: the way my new cloak swayed with each step, making the dark smoky rainbow pattern undulate behind me, or how my spectacular, silky rainbow shirt slid against my skin.
They were both amazingly, beautifully brilliant.
I also loved having Nelson at my side, even if he was dressed in blah and boring black again. I’d even kept my black cloak, just because of him. Some days, I just wanted to be wrapped in black, because it made me feel safe. It was like Nelson was hugging me, even when we were apart.
But today, it was like we were a mated pair of birds: me as the showy peacock and he, the drab peahen. I snorted, imagining the look on his face if I told him that. Hmm… That might be one of those things I should keep to myself.
“What?” Nelson shouted over the loud music. We were just inside the door, which happened to be beneath one of the speakers.
I shook my head as I shimmied enough to make my cloak dance around me. “We should boogie.”
My delightful shadow-loving mate blanched. He leaned over to put his mouth close to my ear. “You haven’t been out of the hospital long. You shouldn’t be dancing. What if you jostle… things?” Things being the bullets still lodged inside my chest.
“I’m fine. The doctor said I was good as new.” Well, as good as new as I could be with two bullets still inside me, but he knew what I meant.
I’d been sent for test after test, and it appeared all evidence of my injuries had disappeared.
Well, except for those bullets. I could have them removed, but that’d mean surgery and more time in the hospital and…
nope. I just couldn’t do it. Two days had been long enough.
I refused to stay in the hospital any longer.
It felt too much like that cage I’d been trapped in when I’d first met Ogden.
Xander and Teague said that my magic would stop the bullets from doing any harm inside me, so they were my new little companions. I’d named them Pip and Pop, because they reminded me of grapefruit pips when I saw the x-ray, and they’d almost popped me off. Nelson hadn’t been amused.
I was also happy to let Pip and Pop hang out for a while because Xander had questioned what the vampire blood might do to me in the long-term.
And, it turned out, no one really knew. Teague had suggested it should be fine, but…
yeah. None of us were keen to experiment by having me lose a bunch more blood during surgery.
But how badass would a vampire-unicorn be, am I right?
“Morgan! Nelson! Over here!” Ogden shouted across the noisy pub.
He waved us over to the same table on the far side of the room that we’d occupied the last time we were here. Violet was sitting with them too, looking terribly uncomfortable. She hadn’t been punished for Gary’s actions, but I knew she felt guilty anyway.
Nelson groaned quietly at Ogden’s invitation.
“Do you not want to join them?” I asked, trying to keep my voice low enough that any shifter standing close wouldn’t hear.
He considered my question and rubbed the back of his head. “No… that’s not it… I think it’s just been a habit to wish I was alone in the shadows.”
I slipped my hand in his and squeezed. “You can still go all shadow man. Or we can leave. That’s okay too.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Let’s go over there.”
“If you’re sure… But just say the word, and we’ll leave.”
“Any word in particular?” His mouth curled in a seductive grin.
“Peahen.” It just popped out of my mouth.
Nelson’s grin dropped away as understanding blossomed over his face. “Peahen, really?”
“What? It works, don’t you think? Unless you’d like to be the peacock. I can lend my cloak to you.”
He ignored my offer as he guided me through the throng of people milling about the pub.
As we neared the table, chairs were scooted over, and new chairs were added to make room for us. Nelson sat in the chair closest to Van, while I took the one beside Violet. She nodded at us but leaned away from me.
“Violet?”
She flashed a weak smile at me. Tears shimmered in her eyes.
I grabbed her hand. “What’s wrong?”
Her gaze darted to mine. Her free hand tightened on her pint glass. “I’m just not sure I should be here. I don’t even know why I am… I should have gone home already.”
At least the music wasn’t as loud in this corner, so I could hear her quiet words.
“What are you talking about? Why would you leave? Is someone being mean?” I shot a scowl at the crowd.
“No, and that’s the problem.” Her hand trembled in mine. Her shoulders rounded even more, and she sank deeper into her chair. “Everyone has been so nice, but if it wasn’t for me, you would never have been hurt. No one would have been hunting for you. The hunters wouldn’t have come here.”
“V… No, that isn’t—”
“You should hate me. Everyone should.”
“Why would we—?"
“Gary… He…” She gulped and pulled her hand from mine.
“He was the one. He found out you’re a unicorn—he had cameras set up at the house that I didn’t know about.
Fuck, Mo-Mo, those cameras were everywhere…
” She shuddered. “They found something on his phone, I don’t know... But the videos go back years. Years…”
She took a shaky breath.
“Oh, V…” I said as I reached for her. She leaned away from me and shook her head.
“You don’t understand, Mo-Mo… He sold everything he learned. To the hunters. To other asshole supes. To anyone who’d pay him. I… I think he’s the one who got Dad killed…” She wiped away the tears running down her cheeks.
“This is not your fault,” I said. And this time she didn’t try to escape my hug. I tugged her into my arms, but she only let me hold her for a moment before she pulled away.
I glanced at Nelson who was listening to our conversation. “Why didn’t you tell me Gary did all that? You talked to him yesterday, didn’t you?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t know, but I had my suspicions.”
We turned to look at Van. Nelson had told me that Van often told the local supes about what was going on with police investigations.
It was a supe thing, apparently. I’d never been around so many supes before, so I hadn’t realized it was so different from how the human world worked.
Or, at least how the human world worked on TV, which was my only frame of reference.
This was the first time I got to see the process in action.
Van nodded. “Gary cracked today. We got into his phone yesterday, but it wasn’t until today that we found a bunch of files he’d tried to delete and hide.
They showed the videos Violet mentioned, plus all the people he’d contacted and received money from.
It goes back several years. When we confronted him, he caved and told us what we needed to know. ”
I shivered, thankful for my cloak. Nelson had thought it would be too hot to wear to the pub, but I welcomed it now. A little barrier between me and the rest of the world.
Nelson pushed his chair back. Before I knew what he was doing, he’d pulled me into his lap and wrapped his arms around me.
“I’m here. We’re in this together,” he whispered to me as he rubbed his hand along my back. Then he turned to Van. “Is that how Venus found out about what was going on?”
“No, that was me,” Violet said. She heaved out a sigh.
“I met her at Supernatural Summer Camp when we were kids. We clicked. The Double-Vs.” She almost smiled at the memory, but she didn’t.
And I hated that she was so upset. She shrugged.
“We kept in touch, so I asked if she could help. I was worried about Morgan being in a place like that.”
“Did she know Morgan was Rudy?” Nelson asked. “I asked her again when I passed on some information to her about the black market, but she was still playing everything pretty close to her chest.”
“She doesn’t know.” Violet shook her head.
“I was too scared about saying too much, even to Venus. My dad was always so adamant about keeping Morgan’s shifted form a secret.
” She blanched. “I swear I never told Gary about Morgan either… You don’t forget lessons like that.
And with Venus, I just asked her to make sure he was okay. ”
We all sat with that for a moment.
“The SC came to collect Gary this afternoon,” Van said eventually. “And they suggested we let the local supes know what happened so they could watch out for more hunters and other assholes. I made the announcement just before you arrived.”
“So, more people might come here because of me?” I tried to stand up, but Nelson’s arms held me tight. “I need to go, Nelson. Leave.”
“Fuck that.” Nelson growled. “You aren’t going anywhere.” Then he looked at Violet. “And neither are you.” Then he turned back to Van. “Did you not catch that woman who got away in Gary’s car?”
“We did, but we don’t know how many others knew what the hunters had planned here.
” Van tapped the side of his beer bottle.
“Gary swears the only people he told about Willow Lake were the hunters because they paid him the most, but the hunters had been working with that mage and wolf, so it’s hard to know how many other people might be following the trail to Willow Lake. ”
“Does that mean Keenan managed to lie to you both?” Nelson asked Van and me. “That mage and wolf were members of his coven.”
Van shook his head. “They went behind his back, looking to make some money on the side. They found out it doesn’t pay to betray their coven leader.”
I grimaced at the memory of what’d happened to those two supes. Nope. Their greed hadn’t done them any good at all.
Violet’s chair scraped over the floor as she abruptly pushed away from the table. “I should—”
“Wait.” The single word made Violet pause.
It came from a petite older woman dressed all in black.
I swore she’d materialized from the shadows as seamlessly as Nelson did.
“You’re Violet, right? I’m Edie. I was coming to invite you to join Davie and me for a drink.
” She motioned to a table where the younger woman sat.
“V, you don’t have to go anywhere…” I grabbed for Violet’s hand again, but she yanked it out of the way too quickly.
“Why?” Violet asked Edie.
“Does there need to be a reason? Come on, we don’t bite. Or at least we don’t bite others.” Edie winked suggestively.
Violet blinked at her, but some of the tension eased from her posture. “Are you sure?”
“Of course.” Then the woman guided Violet to the other table.
“Don’t go anywhere, okay?” I called after her. “Not without talking to me first.”
Violet didn’t argue, so I took that to mean she agreed.
“It’ll be okay. Edie and Davie are good people,” Nelson said. “No one blames your cousin for what Gary did, but it might help for her to hear that from someone she doesn’t think is biased. She’s not going to believe you right now. She’s not in the right space to hear it.”
I didn’t like what he was saying, but I could see the sense in it. Violet would never believe me. I knew she wouldn’t. She was obstinate that way. And if he trusted Edie and Davie, I could too.
“Besides,” Nelson whispered into my ear, “she doesn’t have a vehicle because she came with Gary.
She can’t leave tonight without someone driving her, and no one is leaving Willow Lake tonight, not when there’s a celebration at the pub.
But if she still wants to leave in the morning, we’ll figure it out. ”
“Thank you.” I pressed a kiss onto Nelson’s cheek. “Wait… What’re people celebrating? The winter solstice isn’t for a few weeks yet.”
“Could be anything,” Nelson said. “But the minute Jeremy puts ‘Get the Party Started’ on the jukebox you know something is being celebrated.”
As if summoned by Nelson’s saying his name, Jeremy slid into the seat I’d been using until relocating to my mate’s lap.
“Of course we’re celebrating,” Jeremy said.
He lifted his hands and started counting things off.
“Morgan is out of the hospital. You found him. The Eternal Magic is going to be super nice to us now that her son is moving to town. Morgan is a fucking mythical beast and he’s here.
And…” He tapped his finger on his chin. “There was something else…”
When he said it like that, there was a lot to celebrate.
“I found my mate,” I said.
“Yes. That’s it.” Jeremy pointed at me. “Now, come on. You’re sitting over here with Mr. McBroody Pants, but I can see you’re itching to dance. Let’s go.”
Nelson’s arms tightened around me, as if by reflex. I twisted around to kiss his cheek.
“Go on,” Nelson said, loosening his hold. “As long as you’re sure you feel up for it.”
I bit my bottom lip. I really did want to dance, but…
“You want to dance,” Nelson said, as if reading my thoughts. “I know you do.”
“You could come with me.”
Nelson shook his head. “I’m not much of a dancer. Besides, I want you to have friends here. Connections beyond just me. People you can turn to. People who’ll always be there for you. And that all starts somewhere. Maybe it starts by dancing to a song.”
“Friends that feel like family,” I said, because I wasn’t blind to their group dynamic. Friend wasn’t a big enough word to describe how these people were together.
“Yeah,” Nelson agreed. “Friends that feel like family.”
I kissed him again, this time on his lips, then I made my way to the small spot where tables had been pushed aside to open an area for dancing. Jeremy had dragged up his friend Ash and a few other people too. They hugged me when I joined them.
As one song bled into the next, more people crowded into the tight space.
Even Violet. Her smiles weren’t as big as normal, but whatever Edie and Davie had said to her had eased her worries.
She slipped her hand in mine when I offered it to her, then I spun her around in circles like we used to do in my uncle’s living room when we were kids.
My cloak swirled around us perfectly. More than one person eyed it, and I knew they were wishing they had one of their own, which was excellent. It was about time cloaks came back into style.
In the meantime, I danced. And I spun. And I shimmied.
And if my eyes strayed to my mate over and over again, well, who could blame me? He would say he was the moon, all darkness and shadows, but to me, he was the sun. My whole world revolved around him, and I knew he felt the same about me.
We were going to be okay. We were going to be perfect. No matter what.