15. Emotional Support Piña Coladas
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT PI?A COLADAS
DEKE
P lacing my hand on her lower back, I guided Aurora and Victoria into the house.
Lennon sat on the far end of the couch with Lilith on his lap. Juno and her mate were in a similar position but on an office chair in front of an expansive computer setup.
As badly as I wanted to pull Aurora onto my lap, I’d have been lucky if she settled for pinching one of my legs and not what hung between them. I took the spot in the middle of the couch and tugged her to sit at the other end with ample space between us so she didn’t feel smothered.
She set the bag down before carefully placing Victoria next to it to sniff around the new room and people. I braced as Demon Dog made a lap, then rounded a spot near the fireplace a few times. When she finally sat, it was with her eyes on Aurora.
Not biting everyone’s ankles or yelling at them…
She’s a better emotional support than I gave her credit for.
Extra wet food for a week.
Juno’s lip quirked. “Since you won’t look toward the bay window, I’m guessing that’s where they were doing it.”
Lilith covered her mouth like she was traumatized. It would’ve been more believable had she done it before she’d started grinning. “Oh no, you walked in on them?”
“Poofed in,” Denny corrected as she came into the room carrying frosty beverages.
“Wait.” Juno waved her hand, and little paper umbrellas appeared in each drink.
It wasn’t that my sister hadn’t been powerful. I knew she had been because she’d reminded us every single chance she got.
But she never would’ve expended her magicks on something so frivolous.
She’s gotten stronger.
The mate benefits must actually work the way they’d claimed.
“It’s on them for not announcing themselves,” Nate added, following with more drinks that Juno umbrellaed.
“This is why we should all have entry music.” Juno paused and gave a slow, judgmental shake of her head. “But on the bay window in the middle of the afternoon?”
Denny arched a brow. “Oh? Because you’re strictly a missionary-in-the-dark kinda gal? Your stores never randomly lock throughout the day?”
Juno grinned.
“This is more detail than we need to know about our siblings,” Lennon muttered with a grimace.
As Juno and Lennon bickered like old times, Denny offered me a drink that I declined. She handed Aurora the biggest, fullest of her mismatched glasses. “I wish I had Levi’s refilling trick cup, but I figured this’ll do.”
My jaw could’ve hit the floor. “Levi is here?”
Juno stopped mid-insult to tell me, “Not actually here right now. You’d know because that lucky devil does get entry music. Plus, he always smells like cinnamon thanks to his little obsession with amusement park churros.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I said nothing.
“But he visits occasionally,” she continued. “I’ve already let him know you’re here. He’ll be in touch when he can. He’s been dealing with some… issues.”
Since Levi was the literal devil, I didn’t want to know what issues he’d been dealing with.
Aurora nudged me and lifted the glass.
“I’m good, baby.” When she did it again, I reached to take it from her. “You don’t want it?”
She pulled it back toward herself, nearly spilling the blended sludge.
Not understanding, I shifted and pulled the small pad and pen out of my pocket.
“What is that, a notebook for ants?” Juno scoffed. “You could’ve brought one we could actually see since you’re lucky enough to have functioning pockets. Unlike us women who can only hold one tiny piece of paper folded up until it nearly disappears.”
I pointed at a large stack of notepads in varying colors and sizes on the desk. “Toss me one of those instead.”
“I have a better idea.” Holding one hand flat with her palm up, Juno swept her other fingers slowly across it. Red smoke drifted along her skin.
Aurora took a shuddery breath and tensed next to me.
She’s not supposed to be able to see that.
“She’s not,” Juno confirmed, “but they all can.”
“Did you just read my mind?” I scowled. “Have you been doing it this whole time?”
Makes thinking about my mate naked even more awkward now.
At my question, Aurora didn’t just tense. She bolted up, ready to race down the street after all.
“Whoa, hey, nope. No. You’re good,” Juno reassured her, concern softening her face and voice. “That was the first thing I picked up on because your shock broadcasted it loudly across the room. Otherwise, you’re both like vacuums of silence. It’s wonderful to have the break.” Her head tilted as she scanned Aurora. “Even if it is surprising.”
I reached for her, and Aurora startled before hesitantly sitting.
Juno spun whatever she’d created between her fingers before tossing it over. “Test it out.”
She picked it up from where it’d landed on her lap, and the lingering red haze faded to leave a pen.
A normal, cheap-looking pen.
“Just pretend you’re writing on paper,” Juno instructed. “I have the speed kicked up, so don’t be freaked.”
Mismatched eyes met mine, and I shrugged.
Aurora mimed writing, but her hand moved quicker than normal. Gold shimmery letters in her pretty, looping handwriting appeared in the middle of the room for everyone to see.
Test. Test.
Gotta admit, that’s a helluva lot better than the dinky notebook.
I still left the regular one within her reach in case she wanted to tell me something without announcing it to the room.
“It was supposed to be black ink, but…” Juno gave a pleased nod.
“Told you,” Lilith said. “Golden.”
“Want me to take the drink?” I prompted when Aurora got understandably distracted by the magicks pen.
She hoarded it close again as she wrote.
What is it?
“A pi?a colada,” Denny answered. “It’s from a bottled mix, so it’s not the best, but it’ll do the job.” At Aurora’s blank face, she expanded. “Coconut, pineapple, and rum. And whipped cream, of course. You’ve never had one?”
I’ve never had any alcohol. I wasn’t allowed.
Something uneasy went through her and the room at her phrasing, but she rushed to explain.
I used to take sleep meds that warned about a bad interaction.
Everyone relaxed except Lennon. “How long have you been off them?”
More than a week.
She hadn’t mentioned missing medicine in her stolen luggage. We would have to figure something out.
He sank back. “Then it’s fine. But take it slow.”
“Before we dive in,” Juno said, “my mate helpfully pointed out that I got sidetracked by wanting to break your kneecaps and never introduced him.” She reached over her shoulder to touch her fingers to the stubble that covered his jaw. “This is Stellan. Detective Reddick if you’re nasty.”
He lifted his chin in greeting. “That wasn’t the intro I had in mind, pixie.”
“I know. It was better.”
Nate and Denny took their tainted spot on the bay window. Once he had her situated on his lap, he grabbed a notebook.
Possessive bunch, aren’t they?
Lucky bastards.
When I’d stashed them all over the house and Black Horse for Aurora, there’d been something familiar about them on every surface. Seeing my brother holding one brought it all back. His copious notes, etchings, charcoal-colored rubbings, and impressions. All in shorthand only he could follow.
My gaze went above his head to look out the window. From the porch, I hadn’t been able to see in—which made sense given what they’d been doing—but the longer I looked… “Where are we?”
“Salem,” Denny answered.
Aurora’s entire body went tight next to me.
Teleporting might’ve felt thrilling, but it still had to be disorienting to know she’d traveled all that way in less than a second.
After a moment, she slowly relaxed. Or as relaxed as she could be, all things considered.
“This is where my house stood,” Nate filled in when I kept staring.
That was part of it, but there was more. “I had a restaurant nearby.” I tilted my head and amended, “And still own the building.”
That I didn’t rent it out because something said not to…
“Wait, what?” Juno sat forward. “Lilith said you felt far away when she poofed to you. Have you been this close the whole time?”
So close, but so far at one time.
I shook my head. “I’m in Maine now. About forty minutes outside of Portland.”
“But you’re from Georgia,” Denny said to Aurora. “Where were you when you met? What happened?”
Aurora looked at me, but I didn’t answer for her. I wanted to know her version as badly as everyone else did.
She slowly raised the pen and then hesitated before writing.
Maine. I went by some woods and… I’d… There’d… And…
“Shit, is the pen glitching out?” Juno asked.
She shook her head.
And something just told me to go into them. Then a moose directed me down a path.
She stopped writing again and chugged some of the drink as her cheeks flushed and her gaze darted around. But no one blinked at her confession.
“I’ve heard moose are giant.” Juno’s lips curved down as she tilted her head. “Mooses? Meese? Meeses? I’ve been around forever. I should know this.”
They are. But I kept going, and eventually, Deke found me.
Minus the moose—continuing the animal trend we would need to look into later—her story was what I’d assumed.
Happiness at our shared bond went through me, but it was a shiver that went through her. I tried to take the icy drink, but she pulled it back and drank more before setting it on the table.
“Why were you in Maine?” Denny asked.
Aurora’s hesitation lasted longer that time. A helluva lot longer. Her free hand moved, and for a second, I thought she’d pinch me.
After all she’d heard and seen, that question seemed to rattle her most.
But she just dropped her hand and wrote with the other one.
Something said I should go there.
“The powers-that-be aren’t usually so heavy-handed,” Juno noted.
“That’s what I was just thinking,” Nate agreed before looking at me. “Did you know she was there?”
“I’d just gotten home from work when I felt her,” I shared. “Took off into the woods till I found her.”
Tackled her.
Fighting a hard-on, I shifted uncomfortably at the reminder of Aurora’s body under mine.
“Hmm.” Nate tapped his pen against the paper. Actually, everyone shifted restlessly, wanting to talk but unsure where to begin.
It was like the adrenaline and chaos of our reunion were beginning to fade, leaving the daunting task of how much there was to say to sit heavily in the room.
“There is a lot to discuss, but we should start at the most pressing.” Nate’s expression was tense, his face gaunter even though he wasn’t starved—not physically or emotionally. “Absolve is here. In this time. In this town. Stronger than even before.”
“The soulless assholes you mentioned who broke in?” I asked to confirm my suspicions.
Suspicions that’d been hovering in the back of my mind for a few years.
“Bingo,” Denny said.
Nate took in my lack of shock. “You’ve had interaction with them.”
I lifted my chin. “Believe so, at least.”
What’s an absolve?
“A group of evil hypocrites,” I answered my mate. “They speak out and fight against anything they claim is ungodly. Anything different. Music. Changing fashion. People. But especially magicks.”
Juno regarded me. “You really do remember everything. Why weren’t you cursed in the church?”
Golden hair flung out as she whipped her head to look at me with wide eyes. I knew her heart was racing as she wrote because I could feel it in my own chest.
Curse? Church?
“Remember, just pinch,” I said softly before inhaling.