Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
AIDAN
Aweek passes in which I’ve managed to keep completely to myself.
I slip into town late at night to work on anything that needs doing at Bones, but during the day, I remain at home.
I don’t get lattes from Double Double. I don’t hang out with the guys.
I just sit in the back of the movie theater, staring blankly at whatever is playing on the screen while other people eat popcorn and laugh around me.
I’m so certain about Joanna being my mate, I just don’t know how I’ll ever be able to convince her to accept it.
Now that I’ve fully accepted the bond, my ache for her is more intense than ever.
Being away from Jo feels like a slow, deliberate torture, and all she would need to do to release me from my misery is open her eyes and let go of her fears.
By the end of March, Jamie and Raegan can no longer stand the sight of my lifelessness and beg for me to join them at the Spring Art Festival.
I’ve gone days at a time without feeling the sunlight on my skin, so the warmth is almost too much, but it’s refreshing all the same.
My eyes, however, are too sensitive from growing accustomed to the dim lamp lighting in my house, so I purchase a pair of green plastic sunglasses from one of the first booths we pass.
They also help to hide the growing bags under my eyes.
Overall, I feel like shit.
My energy is low, seeing as I haven’t replenished my blood supply since I was with Jo.
If I’d known that was going to be the last time I tasted her, I would have taken more.
I’ve been tempted by the deer and raccoons that have shown up outside the house, but all I could think about was Jo.
After turning Brenda away, I’ve had no other options, leaving me to slowly feel the effects of blood loss.
Similar to an organ transplant, my body desperately needs the borrowed blood, but over time, it also recognizes it as a foreign entity. Having a donor has helped my body adapt to receiving the same blood type, but by taking Joanna’s blood, my system is going haywire.
It wasn’t just my broken heart keeping me inside my house. Every cell in me is screaming for replenishment. That along with the deep, desperate craving I now have for my mate is making it more and more difficult to function.
It’s only the beginning of spring, but the clear sky and sun rays beating down on my back have me sweating and feeling feverish.
My body temperature has never exceeded eighty degrees, but it wouldn’t be the only thing that’s changed since Joanna.
The gray in my hair is far more noticeable, but neither Jamie nor Raegan have mentioned it.
Raegan’s smile wars between pity and interest. I know it’s because she’s dying to ask a million questions, but she must also feel sorry for me.
For the two weeks I’ve hardly left the house, Jamie made sure to check in by texting daily.
I’m sure he knew something was wrong, but I’m grateful for his decision to respect my privacy.
Today, however, there’s no more hiding. Raegan and Jamie drag me from booth to booth as they chat with all the townspeople with wares. Kiki and Kendra have an entire collection of knitted ready-to-wear items. They present them to each person walking by as if they're straight off the runway.
Our new sheriff, Jamie’s uncle, Rhett, and the leader of the wolf pack, walks alongside Mayor Musthaven as he hovers over the cobblestones.
They both spot us as Raegan is purchasing a bomber hat that Jamie teasingly placed on her head, covering her eyes.
I can tell they’re trying to hold back from their normal amount of physical affection for my sake, but it only makes me feel worse.
“Miss Baker!” The mayor greets Raegan boisterously. “I never got to tell you how happy I was with the way you pulled off our first speed dating event!”
“Thank you, Mr. Mayor.” She beams and nods appreciatively just as Jamie mouths a silent “First?”
“I would’ve come to support you,” Rhett says, “But my Paloma would have my balls if I showed up to a singles night.” He winks at his nephew, and Jamie shakes his head with a smirk.
Then the sheriff’s gaze lands on me, one side of his mouth pulled tight. “You were there, right? Heard all about the lovely impression you made on Raegan’s friend, Joanna Shepherd.”
I’m caught in a spotlight of attention, frozen by four sets of eyes all trained on me, waiting for a reaction.
I have nothing to say—nothing that will ease the tension or make anything I’ve experienced with Jo better.
I know Rhett doesn’t mean anything by it, how could he?
It’s just town gossip, poking fun. But that little prod feels like a knife sliding between my ribs.
It’s Raegan who finally speaks up, saving me from any further torture.
“You know,” she starts, aiming her next statement at the Mayor, “given how well that event turned out, I thought it might be a good idea to put a committee together, to plan similar events in the future.” As if just realizing she’s still wearing the funny hat, she yanks it from her head. “And I could lead it.”
Musthaven’s ghostly eyes brighten, and suddenly his feet turn solid, landing squarely on the ground. He reaches out his hand to take hers, and Raegan accepts.
“That would be wonderful,” he says, shaking Raegan’s tiny hand with gusto.
“Reach out to my secretary, and she’ll set up a meeting.
I’ve got loads of ideas for the summer. Picnics, fireworks.
” He lets go and pats Rhett on the back.
“How does a pie-eating contest sound to you? I bet Paloma’s got another award-winning recipe in her arsenal. ”
Raegan confirms she’ll follow up, and as Rhett and Musthaven walk away, Jamie’s loud scoff sounds from behind us. “Has he always been able to do that?”
“Who? The Mayor?” I ask.
“Yes! That ghost is always walking through me on the sidewalks. Since when can he make himself corporeal?”
“Ghosts have the power to do lots of things,” I say. “They just have to figure out how.”
Jamie shakes his head. “Fucking hell.”
Raegan giggles and whispers to me. “Sounds like he does it on purpose.”
We continue through the throngs of people, all while I try not to look too closely at every light–haired brunette who walks past. Eventually we stumble upon the coven’s booth. Unable to avoid speaking with her family this time, Raegan plasters on a fake smile for the witches.
“Raegan! You made it!” A tall dark-headed witch leans over the table in front of her to pull Raegan into a forced hug.
“Hey, Calliope,” Raegan greets her placidly.
The woman smirks in Jamie’s direction. “Hey there, wolf boy.”
Jamie growls.
Before there’s any sort of heated exchange, an older woman who looks to be in her sixties comes out from behind a curtain. “Raegan, dear. Thank you for coming to support us.”
I doubt Raegan knew these women would be here, given her initial reaction to seeing them, but she smiles and nods anyway.
Calliope takes both of Raegan’s hands in hers as if they’re preparing to say a prayer. “The woman who works with you—Simone—we absolutely love her. Next time you see her, tell her to swing by the house. I want her to meet the other girls.”
Calliope winks and squeezes her cousin’s hands, but Raegan looks like she just took a sip of vinegar expecting it to be sweet tea.
“You met Simone?” Raegan asks.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jamie’s eyes close. Either Simone reached out to the coven, or they found out about her on their own. Either way, Raegan clearly had no idea about any of it, and it’s written all over her face.
Jamie places a hand on the small of her back, but she doesn’t relax against his touch. If anything it makes her more tense.
Calliope is wearing the most pompous shit-eating grin I’ve ever seen.
“Oh yes! I think we really clicked. She’s going to make a great addition to the coven.
” She looks to the other witches in the booth with her, and they all exchange eager looks.
“I would have thought she’d tell you.” Calliope cocks her head. “Or are you not that close?”
Raegan tries not to show her reaction, but I can tell by her body language she’s been caught off guard.
Then the older woman speaks up. “You know it’s the best place for her. We wouldn’t want a new, untrained witch out on her own. It’s not safe—for her or for anyone else.”
Raegan takes a breath and clears her face of any lingering resentment. “You’re right,” she says. “I’m glad she’ll have you all to help her.”
The older woman gives her a tight-lipped smile. Jamie gestures that they should be on their way, and then wraps an arm around Raegan’s shoulders, steering her away from the booth. I follow like a lingering shadow a few seconds behind.
When I catch up to them, Jamie has guided Raegan to a bench near the roundabout, far enough that the coven’s booth is no longer in sight. He sits down next to her. “I’m sorry you found out like that.”
Her hand is covering her mouth like she’s still trying to figure out what just happened.
She looks stuck, so I try to break the trance by asking a question. “Was that your mother?”
She chuckles half-heartedly. “Yep. Isn’t she lovely?”
Just that small interaction was enough to tell me how self-centered a person Raegan’s mother is. No wonder she dislikes the woman.
She takes Jamie’s hand that’s been twitching anxiously at his side. “I’m not mad at you. I just hate it when they know something I don’t.”
“I know. That’s why I should have told you.
” He crouches in front of her. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure what the deal was.
After I told you about what happened with Simone in the shop that day, she showed up with Calliope a few days later.
They chatted for a long time, but I didn’t listen to the conversation. ”