Chapter 1
Twelve Years Later
Ophelia sat at a conference table in the mayor’s office, a pencil to her lips. Across from her, Chase Montgomery rested his forearms on the table. His massive shoulders rounded and his biceps bulged, reminding her far too much of an entirely different man.
Ghandi, she’d fucked that up.
“I’ve got no idea where Patrick could’ve disappeared to,” Chase said, shaking his head, then reaching up to muss his messy caramel waves from his eyes. “We weren’t close.”
“Mmm,” Ophelia hummed, totally engrossed in her memories, yet well aware of his very pregnant wife, Jena, glaring daggers at her from Chase’s side. Back to reality. “What about his friends?”
“Patrick didn’t have any friends, and if you keep eye-fucking my husband, I’m staking your trashy vamp ass,” Jena growled, the karma at her fingertips sparking purple.
Ophelia smiled at her. “Trashy? Really? Was it the top that put it over the edge?” she asked, running a hand over the low neckline of the bandeau beneath her cropped hoodie.
And here, she’d thought it would’ve been the Daisy Dukes that raised brows.
Not that she gave a shit after a decade plus of being swathed in heavy wool robes.
She’d be here in pasties and a thong if she thought she could get away with it.
“Oh, no, it’s the whole package,” Jena growled, a hand on her belly. Chase took the other, kissing her knuckles. He was disgustingly devoted.
“Aww,” Ophelia moued. “You always say the sweetest things.”
Felix, Havers’s current mayor, snorted from the head of the table. “Yes, Jena has a real way with words, but can we stay on topic?” he asked, glancing at his phone. “Liam just pulled in to drop off the urchins. We’ve got a plane to catch, and we’re already cutting it close.”
Ophelia rolled her eyes, glad spawn weren’t on her bucket list. Aside from the occasional freak mutation, vampires were sterile and thank Ghandi for that. She winced at a door banging on the other side of the building and the pitter-patter of obnoxious little feet speeding closer.
“Last chance to bail,” Felix said to Jena and Chase. “In five, four, three—”
The door flew open and a redheaded blur streaked into the room, making a beeline for the closet. “I get to feed him! Uncle Felix said so!” Swan? Swish? Ophelia couldn’t remember. It was something stupid.
“You got to feed him last time,” an older boy grumbled, slouching in after her with his hands in his pockets. The two eldest girls stopped in the hall behind him, heads together and giggling at their phones.
No, the kid was called Sway, and if memory served, all but one of their names were equally as dumb. Apparently, Felix wasn’t to blame for that, but if anyone ever needed evidence that their mother was an unfit parent, hello exhibits A through D.
“So? He doesn’t like you,” Sway shot back, sticking out her tongue and hauling a bag of kibble over to the ferret cage in the far corner of the office. The previous mayor chittered inside, throwing up a clump of wood shavings as he searched for someplace to hide.
The boy snorted. “Yeah, well, he doesn’t like you either.”
“Chambers doesn’t like anyone,” Felix said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “And if you’re going to fight about it, I’ll feed him.”
The two narrowed their eyes at each other and continued to the cage, momentarily at détente.
“Right, so was there anything else before Liam and I take off?” Felix asked, running a pale, freckled hand through his ridiculously red curls and standing as his husband came into the room holding their youngest. Liam was tall, dark, and swoony, if you were into angsty gay men.
Ophelia wasn’t. Her eyes drifted back to Chase, not particularly into him either, though big blond alphas used to be her favorite flavor. Well, one big blond in particular, and damn Chase for making her think about Deo every time he entered the fucking room.
Jena glowered at her, and Ophelia batted her lashes, more than happy to take out her frustrations by baiting the curvy little witch.
“Yes, there is something else,” Ophelia said, sitting back in her chair and running a hand over her very flat stomach just to fuck with her.
The way Jena’s eyes narrowed, she got what Ophelia was throwing down.
“Have you heard from that bounty hunter? The subpoena for Patrick was issued weeks ago, but it’s not gonna do us any good if your guy can’t serve it. ”
“Ryland will get it done,” Liam said. The chubby toddler in his arms popped its thumb from its mouth and started to fuss. He set the squirming kid down, and it shambled over to the other brats by the ferret cage with all the speed and grace of a drunk spotting a taco truck at two a.m.
Liam huffed out a breath. “We really appreciate you guys doing this. My parents would’ve taken them, but with all the shit going on with Kelsey and that emergency Shifter Council meeting—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jena said, cutting him off. “You guys deserve an early Valentine’s getaway, and the urchins can’t possibly be as awful as Aggie’s been lately.”
“Still?” Felix asked, his brows furrowing.
Jena nodded. “Yeah, and it’s really starting to worry me. She never used to be like this. I’m sure she’s had another vision, but…” She chewed her lip, then shook her head. “Anyway, it’ll be a nice break for all of us.”
Chase kissed her knuckles again. “And it’ll be good practice,” he said, his face alight as he watched Felix’s brood.
Ophelia rolled her eyes. Oh, absolutely.
It was super important to test out any given torture device before bringing it home.
Ghandi, with that level of anticipation, Chase was obviously suffering from some kind of psychosis.
Being shackled to all that baggage had to be beyond miserable.
It was no wonder Felix and Liam were dumping the lot of them for the week, but to willingly offer yourself up for the interim? Suckers.
Right, enough with the stupid kids. “So, does Ryland have any leads?” Ophelia asked.
“I dunno.” Liam shrugged, his hands in his pockets. “But him going dark isn’t unusual. Wherever Patrick is, Ryland’ll dig him out and haul him in. It’s just a matter of time before he pops up.”
“Time we don’t have,” Ophelia muttered, her eyes flicking to the kids at the ferret cage. They were dropping the kibble through the bars piece by piece, and the weasel wasn’t impressed.
She shook her head, right there with him.
For whatever reason, the witch responsible for transmogrifying the sack of shit was being a pain in the ass about reversing the curse.
That was an issue, especially if they couldn’t track down Patrick.
They needed someone to pin criminal charges on to clear Havers of this lawsuit, and right now, Chambers was it.
“How long until we can switch him back?”
“No clue.” Jena frowned. “Matilda says the planetary alignment’s not right.”
“Not that she’ll give us the heads up when it is,” Felix muttered, pulling on a massive white parka over a paisley jacket that looked more like a carpet sample than couture.
“Well, she better make something work, because if Ryland falls through and I can’t get a deposition out of Chambers, this case is lost before I step into that courtroom,” Ophelia snapped.
And if that happened and Fayet took over the town, her oath to Havers’s node would be null and void.
Without a covenant with the stupid thing, she’d be back at the Citadel before she could blink.
She shivered, rubbing her arms. Ghandi, she’d stake herself before that happened.
“Cold?” Jena asked sweetly. “Maybe you should try wearing actual clothes. You know, something seasonally appropriate for February?”
Ophelia smiled back at her. “Oh, honey. Your concern is warmth enough—”
A hellacious screech came from by the cage and everyone spun at the sound.
The toddler’s chubby little arm was through the cage’s bars—and the weasel was gone.
“Fuck!” Chase was on his feet, lunging for the office door. He hit it just as the weasel cleared the jamb. The girls on the other side screamed. He ripped it back open and disappeared into the hall.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Ophelia yelled, wide-eyed and on her feet. The little shit screamed louder. No. Nope. Not happening. The cage’s door was still closed. How could it be empty? “Tell me we didn’t just lose our only witness.”
Jena’s face was white. “Chase will get him,” she said like she was trying to convince herself.
Liam picked up the screamer, shushing her, his face equally void of color, and the boy clamped around his leg. The redheaded terror glommed onto Felix, sobbing.
“It was Poe!” she wailed. “She did that thing again, Uncle Felix, I swear it wasn’t us!”
“What thing?” Ophelia gritted out through clenched teeth. Fucked. They were fucked.
Felix ran a hand over his face. “It has to do with her powers. We’ve been calling it ‘reaching.’”
“‘Reaching?’” Ophelia glowered at him. “Like, through solid fucking matter?”
“Yeah, and that son of a bitch bit her,” Liam growled, consoling the whimpering little shit.
Served the kid right. Ophelia scowled, hoping Chambers had taken off a finger, then looked over at voices in the hallway. Chase came back in.
The big were shook his head. “Lorraine was coming back from lunch, and the side door was wide open. I lost him down a sewer grate.”
“Well, you better un-lose him,” Ophelia spat, pushing away from the table.
Her stomach lurched. She wouldn’t go back to the Citadel, she wouldn’t!
“I’ve got to be in judge’s chambers in two hours to meet with the prosecution and go over the case.
Which just happens to be entirely built around this being a criminal matter, not civil.
There’s not a chance in hell I can argue based solely on arcane precedent. ”