Chapter 23 Shut Up, Both of You!
TWENTY-THREE
Shut Up, Both of You!
A howl began and was cut short. I didn’t think. I was over the rail and racing across the street. I saw cars in my peripheral, but I was focused on the sound of Declan in pain. It reverberated in my head. Past the berm, I jumped over a narrow gully and plunged into the bushes.
“Declan!” Heart thumping out of my chest, I scanned the trees but didn’t see either one of them.
“Over here,” Carter called.
I followed his voice and found him crouched beside Declan, who was covered in angry red welts. I dropped to my knees beside him. “What happened?”
“I think I walked through a spell,” Declan growled. “I caught a scent and was following it. Right into a nest of invisible wasps.” He shook his head and winced.
“I know this spell,” Bracken said, moving into the small clearing beside me. “It’s in the Corey family grimoire.” He twirled his hand, then made a yanking motion.
The stings covering Declan’s face, neck, and hands disappeared. He slumped in relief. “Much better.” Standing, he pulled me with him. “Thank you, Bracken.”
“Of course.” He studied the trees and bushes around us. “Could you point me in the direction of the spell they set? I need to get rid of it before some poor, unsuspecting person walks into it.”
Carter pointed back toward the road. “Between that first tall tree and that flowering bush. Dec ended up here, trying to outrun the stings.”
Bracken walked back that way and said, “Ah. I see the edges of it. Give me a moment.”
While he worked, I crushed Declan’s hand in mine. “You scared the hell out of me when you howled.”
He rubbed his face with his free hand. “I shouldn’t have made any noise. I was shocked and reacted.”
Carter laughed. “You cut yourself off mid-howl. If it had been me, not sure I could have. I’ve been stung by bees before. That shit hurts, and that hadn’t been a magical swarm of wasps.”
“Were you trying to steal their honey?” I asked him with a grin.
He gave me a dirty look and shrugged.
A moment later, Bracken called, “It’s safe now. We can return.”
When we got to the edge of the road, we had to wait a minute for a break in the traffic. We jogged back, finding the others waiting for us on the porch.
“Thank goodness,” Robert said. “When Arwyn vaulted over the railing and ran across the street, I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”
Declan glared down at me, his face lined with anger. “She did what?”
I patted his stomach, trying to placate him. We were all fine. “I’m glad you stayed,” I told Uncle Robert. “We have no idea what their plan was. I wouldn’t have wanted you to leave Hester, Elizabeth, and the kids on their own over here.”
“That was my thought,” he said, “but it was good Bracken was here. He slowed the traffic so you both could get across safely.”
Declan growled, “You ran into traffic? With the vision you had, you ran into traffic?”
Carter smacked Declan on the shoulder. It looked friendly, but Declan lurched forward before he caught himself. Eyes bright gold, he turned on Carter, but Carter stared him down.
“Take your mate inside where it’s safe.” He shook his head. “Would you rather she ignored your howls of pain?” On an eye roll, he ushered the rest of our group into the gallery.
Declan closed his eyes, my hand caught in both of his. “I can’t believe you did that,” he breathed. When he opened them again, they were still wolf gold. “I’m very hard to kill. I’m begging you. Don’t risk yourself like that.”
The rest had all gone in. “I didn’t stop to weigh my options. You were in pain and I was running.” I drilled my finger into his abdomen. “You can’t be angry that my instinct is to help you.”
“Sure I can,” he growled, pulling my hand up to his lips.
We went in and found the others collecting their things to leave. After saying goodbye to the whole Bishop family, Bracken and I went out with Hester so we could ward her car. Carter took off, but Declan stood by to watch over us while we worked.
It didn’t take us long, but Hester thanked us profusely.
“I’ll see you all next weekend,” she said with a little wave.
“Aunt Hester?”
She turned back to me, her keys in her hand. “I wanted to make sure you knew you were invited to dinner tomorrow night. We need to come up with a plan about our Swan problem.”
She looked between the three of us, her expression cautious. “But I don’t have much power to speak of. I don’t think I’d be any help.”
I walked over to her. “A person’s magical ability doesn’t equate to their worth.
It’ll be a brainstorming session, and you have an excellent brain.
Plus, Declan and I would love to show you our new home.
It’s mostly the beautiful bones Declan designed and built, but we’re slowly filling it with furniture. ”
Declan and Bracken had moved closer as I spoke.
“You can weigh in,” Declan said, “on how we should decorate the nursery.”
That got a smile out of her. “Are you sure I won’t be intruding? Maybe you should ask Sybil if it’s all right.”
Laughing, I patted Hester’s shoulder. “I don’t check with my mom on my dinner guests. If you’d prefer not to, that’s a different story. You do what feels right to you. I wanted to make sure you knew you were always welcome with us.”
Caution gone, she smiled broadly. “Can I bring anything?”
I shook my head. “Just yourself.”
As Hester drove away, Bracken, Declan, and I walked back to the gallery.
“I’m glad you did that,” Bracken said. “I get the feeling she’s been shunned by a lot of the family, especially after she and Roger divorced.”
I nudged his shoulder with my own. “You and I have been on the outs most of our lives as well. It doesn’t surprise me, unfortunately.
You know what Coreys are like, always measuring our magical strengths against each other.
” We paused at the steps to his RV. “Do you need any cookies, rolls, muffins?”
His lips turned up. “I enjoy you framing that as a need.” He shook his head. “Hester was kind enough to give me a few cookies earlier to have with my tea tonight. I’m good. You two should run along and have some dinner.”
“We’ll need to eat fast,” Declan said. “We still have to go to the morgue.”
Bracken shook his head as he opened his door. “They ask too much of you.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling her,” Declan growled.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, looking around. “It makes me nervous to leave you here, though. The Swans are dangerously unpredictable.”
“That they are,” he murmured. “I extended the wards to the property line and added a muffling charm so they can’t cross onto this land or hear what we say.”
“Nice!” Clapping, I added, “That makes me feel a little better about you staying here on your own.”
He chuckled. “Child, I’ve been on my own most of my life.”
“I know.” I took his hand in my gloved one. “But not anymore.”
He gave a quick shake of his head and cleared his throat. “No. Not anymore. Go on. You two need to eat before you do another favor for the authorities.”
Declan held out his hand and shook Bracken’s. “Thank you again for what you did earlier.”
Nodding, he gave us a little wave and went inside.
“I need to lock up, then we can go,” I told Declan.
We stopped at a diner for burgers and were pulling up in front of the morgue a couple of minutes after nine. Kaknu stood out in front with Osso and Hernández.
I threw open the passenger door. “Hey, gang’s all here.” Grabbing my backpack, I slid out and slammed the door.
Declan was beside me, taking my hand. “That head coroner isn’t here, is she?”
Declan was referring to Dr. Landscombe, who didn’t believe in psychics and had made life difficult for me by giving me the wrong body to read.
She thought she was going to catch me in a lie, and I ended up having to live through a woman being strangled.
It was miserable and I’d wanted to smack her really hard.
“It’s good we’re here late,” Hernández whispered. “The mayor was here with the captain earlier. He was super tense and pissed off. He wants this solved and forgotten before the next election.”
Answering Declan, Kaknu shook his head. “Landscombe was on the day shift. Dr. Ortiz is on tonight and he’s looking forward to this. It sounds as though he was quite disappointed he missed you the last time you were here.”
“That’s good,” I said. “At least no one’s going to slip me the wrong corpse.”
We went to the door and Osso hit a buzzer. A couple of minutes later, a dark-haired man with a short beard, glasses, and a white lab coat ducked out of a door and stared down the hall at us. He checked his phone, then made his way to the door.
Opening it, he waved us in. “Special Agent, Detective, Detective.” He looked past them until his eyes fell on me.
“Oh, my.” He held up his phone. “I could only see some curly hair on the monitor. Ms. Corey, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.
I’m Dr. Ortiz. David.” He waved us down the hall with him.
“Agent Mutsun told me the remains he wanted you to read. I have the body in an empty room. Those are hard to come by right now, but I was told there was an incident last time, so I didn’t want a repeat. ”
“Good,” Declan said.
Dr. Ortiz blinked like he hadn’t noticed Declan before. As Declan was six and a half feet of muscular beauty, he didn’t usually go unnoticed. “Oh. Sorry.” He held out his hand to shake. “I’m David Ortiz.”
“Declan Quinn.”
The doctor looked around Declan’s shoulder to find me again. “Ms. Corey, right in here.”
“Thank you.” I followed him to an exam room, past Osso, whose eyebrows were near his hairline, and Hernández, who looked to be fighting back laughter. Declan glared at the doctor, but he didn’t notice, which made it even funnier to Hernández.
There was a covered gurney in the middle of the room. I turned to the doctor and found him already standing attentively beside me.
“This is good,” I assured him. “Thank you. I need a chair, though. I have a tendency to hit the ground when I do this.”
“Of course.” He went to the desk in the corner and rolled the one chair in the room to the side of the gurney.
“Great.” I gestured to the sheet. “Could you uncover a small portion of the remains for me? I need to touch something.”
He went to the gurney and pushed back a corner of the sheet, revealing a bone.
I blew out a breath and pulled my pearl from beneath my shirt.
I glanced around at everyone again. Hernández and Osso had apparently told Kaknu to move to the farthest wall.
They all watched from over there. Dr. Ortiz stood on the opposite side of the gurney, clearly excited to have a front row seat.
“I’m sorry,” I began. “I know this is your workspace, but it’s better for me if people aren’t too close while I do this. Sometimes, I pick up random thoughts or memories from anyone standing too near.”
The doctor looked behind him, realized the others were leaning against a wall, and chose to back up until he was leaning against a much closer wall, which was probably far enough away.
“Okay?” Declan asked and I nodded. He sat in the chair and pulled me onto his lap, dropping the backpack at our feet. Declan knew to hold me without touching my skin and messing with my magic. He’d make sure I didn’t end up on the floor.
I reached out a finger and touched the bone.