Chapter 26
“No,” Gunnar repeated. “I am not doing this anymore. No more wishes. None. I mean it.” He’d had enough.
Blueberry did a midair spin, shedding motes of green dust all over Mattie’s kitchen. “Rules are rules, Ranger Rick.”
“And stop calling me that.”
Mattie stood up and stepped between him and the imp. “Enough, Blueberry. I realize you’re full of chocolate, but you’re getting dust on everything.”
“I don’t want any more wishes,” Gunnar said, as much to her as to the imp.
“I get that, but there’s nothing you can do about it. Trust me, I know.” Next, she pointed at the imp. “Blueberry, please go into the living room and sit down.” Surprisingly, he said nothing. Just flew off as she’d told him to.
“This is infuriating,” Gunnar muttered, but even as he said the words, he knew she was right. There was nothing he could do anyway. Magic didn’t care what anyone wanted. Magic worked by its own set of rules and regulations.
With a frustrated growl, he sat at the table. He felt defeated, honestly. It was a feeling he hated. He was angry too. Angry that his life was being held hostage by this irritating imp and these incredibly stupid wishes.
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. There had to be a way to get through this. But first, he had to rectify what he’d done.
He rolled his shoulders, hoping he could find the strength of will not to flatten the imp.
“It’s going to be okay,” Mattie said. “You can reverse the last wish now and the town will be fine.”
“Right.” The word snapped out of him, gruff and quick.
She frowned.
He forced himself to take a breath. “Sorry. No, it’s good. I’m just …”
Her hand covered his. “Frustrated. I get it. I went through a huge learning curve when Blue first came to live with me. Part of that was learning not to close him into anything.” She rolled her eyes. “The number of wishes I’ve had to make.”
“How do you do it and not have it backfire?”
“It’s not easy. You think you’ve got a good one and then somehow, it isn’t.” She let go of his hand to pick up her phone. “I’m going to send a text to the coven group and let them know we’ve found Blue.”
“Shouldn’t you wait to do that until the last wish has officially been reversed?”
She hesitated. “Yeah, maybe.”
“Can I just say those words? That I want the last wish reversed?”
Her eyes rounded. “No. That might cause the tourists not to see anything. If every visitor in town suddenly goes blind, that’s a bigger problem.”
He shook his head. “Then how about I say I want the last wish I made to be ungranted.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Ungranted. That’s not bad. I’d maybe add to that and for things to go back to the way they were before the wish.”
“Okay, that’s good.” If it worked. He glanced toward the living room. “Let me get this over with, then we can let everyone know. And eat our pizza.”
“And watch that episode of Time Traveling Accountant?”
He nodded, finally smiling. “That too.” He got up and went into the living room to talk to the imp.
Blueberry was sitting on the middle of the couch, back pressed into the cushion, feet straight out in front of him, arms crossed, looking very much like he was being punished.
Gunnar sat at the end of the couch, trying not to crowd the little creature. “Sorry you got stuck in the refrigerator.”
Blueberry jerked one shoulder in an angry shrug. “Been stuck in worse. At least there was food.”
Gunnar immediately wondered if he should have brought a chocolate as a peace offering. “I’m ready to make my next wish.”
Blueberry uncrossed his arms and finally looked at Gunnar. “Yeah?”
“Yes. Are you ready?”
Blueberry flew up to hover in front of Gunnar. “I’m always ready to grant wishes. What’ll it be? A billion dollars? A lifetime supply of ice cream?” Blueberry tipped his head. “A solid gold back scratcher?”
“What? No.” Did people actually wish for those things? Probably. “What I want is to revers—no, wait. I want to undo my last wish. I wish for my last wish to be ungranted.”
Still floating in the air, Blueberry put his hands on his hips. “That is so boring.”
“It’s what I want.”
“Ugh, fine.” A shimmer of magic rippled over everything, a silent enchanted shockwave. “It’s done.” Blueberry dropped straight down to the couch. “Can I get some ice cream or something?”
“I’ll ask Mattie what she has. Thank you.”
“Yeah, whatever. You still have three wishes left. Try to make the rest of them more interesting, will you?”
“Don’t hold your breath.” Gunnar went back to the kitchen and Mattie. “The wish was made. We should be good now. I’ll text the sheriff.”
“Okay,” Mattie said. “I’ll text the coven and Delaney, who’s probably wondering where we are. And Alice, too. She deserves to know right away. If she doesn’t already.”
They both got to work. While Mattie texted, Gunnar went to the other side of the kitchen to use voice to text. It was easier. With the size of his hands, typing on a tiny keyboard ended up in more typos than anything else.
When the message had been sent, he returned to the table. She was still typing. He picked up a slice of pizza, which was now lukewarm, and ate.
A moment later, she joined him. “Man, this has been a long day.”
Still chewing, he nodded.
“Do you need to shift again? Get that full moon fever out of your blood?”
He slanted his eyes at her as he swallowed. “No one calls it that.”
She snorted. “I’m not a shifter. What do I know?”
“I’m fine.” Although he’d probably go out tomorrow night and spend a few hours in his bear form. The short time he’d done it this evening hadn’t been enough.
“Good, because I don’t think having a bear around all this honey would be the best idea.”
He loved honey, so naturally his curiosity got the best of him. “All what honey?”
“Well, what’s in the hives, obviously, but then there’s the pantry.” She tipped her head toward a narrow wooden door. “You can look.”
He couldn’t help himself. Brushing his hands off, he got up and sidled through the door.
“Light’s on the side,” she called out.
He flipped the switch. His jaw dropped. Of the three shelved walls, one was entirely filled with jars of honey. Different sizes and different shades, from the lightest gold to a dark amber-brown that could have been molasses if he hadn’t known better.
The aroma was intense, sweet and rich but not cloying. He inhaled, stirring the beast within him.
She appeared next to him. “Honey lasts forever, you know. They’ve found honey in some of the Egyptian tombs, still edible.”
He couldn’t stop staring at the jars. They seemed to glow from within. “Why do you have so much of it?”
“I sell it, of course, but I like to keep a good stockpile. Honey is … life. It can sustain you and heal you. It’s a natural preservative, anti-inflammatory, and full of antioxidants. It’s honestly the superfood no one ever talks about.”
“You don’t have to convince me. Why the different colors?”
“Depends on the plants and flowers the bees collected from. The darker the honey, the stronger the flavor. Some people like the mild, pale stuff. A lot of that is clover honey. Others want a more pronounced flavor.” She tapped her finger on a jar that let no light through.
“This color is known as dark amber. But some dark honey is too strong. Any of that I get, I use for medicinal products.”
“Like the salve you put on my cut.”
“Exactly like that.” She leaned forward, looking up at him. “Which I think is pretty much healed.”
Despite his frustration with the imp and the new wishes, something came over him. With the golden glow of the honey reflected on her, she looked as if she was made of magic. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. “You’re pretty amazing.”
She smiled shyly. “I don’t know about that.”
“I do.” He turned to face her, his arms nearly touching the shelves on either side.
He traced the curve of her cheek. Her skin was soft and warm.
He really wanted to kiss her again. “I like you,” he confessed.
“But I’m no good at relationships. I’ve never had one that worked out. I’m better on my own.”
Her chin lifted slightly, a touch of defiance in her gaze. “No, you’re not.”
He laughed. “No?”
She grabbed his hand. “Come on. We have pizza to finish and a show to watch.”
He smiled and followed her out. “And you said I was bossy?”