Diablo Lake: Moonstruck (21 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

The next week went by in a blur of activity. Samhain preparations and celebrations as well as the same for Halloween and Collins/Hill Days had overtaken the town.

Katie Faith was glad of it. The more time she spent planning, decorating, working and being with her family and Jace, the less time she had to be nervous about Halloween dinner with the Dooleys.

She’d made four different types of macaroni and cheese that week, scoring each. She made the winner late that afternoon once she’d closed up over at the Counter so she hoped it was as good as it looked.

Out front of the mercantile, Damon and Major had turned the lawn into a spooky maze to the candy bowl where Patty and JJ handed out caramel and candy apples, along with popcorn balls to all the kids in town.

Trick or treating was usually over by seven or so, which was when people began to pour over to the grange. Cats and wolves carrying platters, bowls and all types of food and drink headed inside.

She watched from his window as she waited for Jace to hurry his butt up.

“Calm down, darlin’. We won’t be considered late for another hour. We have plenty of time,” he said as he came in from the bedroom.

“This is my first big thing with your family. And I seem to notice a lot of shifters going in that building. If I didn’t already know from Patty that this was an all shifter event I might be annoyed with you for not telling me.”

“I didn’t want you to be nervous.” He took the box with the food inside, picking it up easily as they headed out. “You’re going to be fine. Everyone already knows you.”

“Some of them even like me.”

She linked her arm with his as they got to the street.

“Most of them I bet. And the ones who don’t, we don’t care about.”

He really was the best thing ever.

Inside was a swirl of feral magic. Cats and wolves, sleek and fierce as they broke bread, their kids running all over the place as adults kept an eye on them, keeping them out of harm’s way.

“It’s impressive to see how many shifters there truly are in this town when they’re all in one place,” she told him as they made their way over to the cluster of tables the Dooleys had taken over.

Plenty of folks called out their hellos as she and Jace passed. It made her feel welcome, which took the edge off. She’d known these people all her life. She had no call to feel like a stranger, but she had when she’d walked in and everyone had stared for several long uncomfortable moments.

But she’d survived their little test and it was time for some serious eating. “Man, it smells so good in here.”

“The elders from each pack or family show up at dawn to start preparing the meat for cooking. They have special recipes they guard with threats of violence,” Damon told her as they sat down. “You’ll know why when you try that boar Joey Cuthbert has been cooking all day.”

Shifters didn’t mess around with burgers and steaks for their feasts. No. They had to have boar like showoffs. Still, it smelled pretty freaking fantastic when the first platters of it made their way through the crowd and to the tables followed by trout, turkey and what seemed like an endless parade of sausage.

Each dish had its own flair. Salty sweet, tangy, spicy hot and each came with a wave of sides. Not everything was a winner or to her taste though.

Her mac and cheese got served up with some jacked up mess of squirrel someone had made. But then, because people were avoiding squirrel with prunes and pineapple, the contrast with her macaroni and cheese meant everyone loved it and couldn’t get enough. Mainly because they were hungry, but whatever, Katie Faith would take the impression she left.

She’d definitely need to thank Patty, who had maneuvered this moment for Katie Faith to shine. It was simple. Nothing about it ruffled feathers but it definitely was a positive thing.

It had been sort of easy to assume Patty was good at running a household but it was JJ who handled all the politics of running a pack. But the longer Katie Faith knew Jace’s grandmother, the more she realized Patty was a clever tactician in her own right.

Boy, that was embarrassing. But she knew better now than to underestimate someone at first glance.

Though the hall was full to bursting with shifters, there were a fair number of witches in attendance too, including several of the children running around. One of her second cousins was married to a Pembry and had two kids, one witch and one wolf. It was a nice symmetry. One she’d not given a lot of thought to, really. She did want kids and she’d happily take what she got because she and Jace were going to make some cute children no matter if they turned furry at will or could wield magic.

But seeing all that love, all that life across many generations made her feel, well, so very satisfied with her life. She’d made some dumb choices, had taken a few lumps and now she was part of this wonderful community.

Damon tossed a roll past her face to Jace, who caught it in a quick movement. She and Patty gave them a look they both ignored.

The Pembry section was across the large room, but right in their line of sight. Aside from a few dark looks, it was all smiles and laughter.

At one point though, she realized that whatever Josiah had done, he’d done it to this community. What must it be like for the wolves who loved whoever he’d hurt? To not be able to speak of their own tragedy would be its own kind of punishment, wouldn’t it?

Feeling the need, she leaned her head on Jace’s shoulder. He put an arm around the back of her chair, holding her close as he continued to listen to some story Damon told.

Major smiled at her from his place across the table. It was so very nice to belong here. She’d protect them, she realized. At Jace’s side, she would protect what they had here. The community and connection.

The men cleaned up because it had been the women who’d served and done most of the cooking. Jace walked her over to Aimee’s house, just the two of them under what was a very full moon.

“I had a really good time tonight. Thank you for including me,” she told him as they paused at Aimee’s front gate.

“Thank you for including yourself. For jumping in the way you have. They’re your family too, now.” He kissed her long and slow as the moon’s magic lit against his skin.

“I’ll head over when we’re finished with our run. All right?” he asked, his lips against hers.

“You can text first if you like. Save yourself a trip over if I’ve already gone home.”

“I don’t take my phone with me when I’m wolf. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

He was going to do whatever he wanted to so she just let it go. “Have fun. I hope you find a nice fat deer for me to cook with tomorrow. Oh and I love you. Don’t look at any of the pretty wolves out there with you.”

He growled, swooping her up in his arms to kiss her again. “Tell me again.”

“Not to look at butts?” she teased, knowing what he wanted to hear.

He nipped her bottom lip hard enough to sting.

“I love you.”

He put her down carefully, kissed her once more and stepped back. “I’ll see you later tonight. I love you too.”

He watched until Aimee opened the door and let her inside, jogging away into the night.

“Looks as good going as he does coming,” she murmured to herself.

“No lie detected there,” Aimee said. “Now shut the door and get on in here. We’re drinking disgusting marshmallow vodka and eating caramel apples.”

“Good lord above,” she said, laughing as she went to join her friends.

* * *

Three days later, Jace approached his grandpa and great uncle as they sat on the dock, their fishing poles in the lake, hats on, beers at the ready.

“You here as Prime or as my grandson?” JJ asked holding a beer out.

Jace took it. “Both, I guess.” He glanced to his great uncle and waved him to keep sitting.

“Grab yourself a chair then. Let’s hear it.”

He did, settling in, glad he had a beer and the sun because the breeze coming off the water was chilly, even for him.

“I’m going to ask Katie Faith to marry me,” he said after a few minutes.

“I expect so.” JJ cackled. “She’s a catch. Your grandma sure does think you did good. I ‘spose I do as well.”

“I was going to wait until Valentine’s Day or something like that. But I don’t want to.”

JJ cackled again. “Even when you was barely out of diapers you hated to be told no. Katie Faith isn’t a pushover. I wasn’t too sure at first. Girl’s flighty as hell. But she’s steadfast. After I saw her at Halloween dinner I knew she’d be good for this pack. Hell, I find it hard not to run when I see Scarlett Pembry out and about and your little scrap of a girl held her own. Marry the girl so you can take over as Patron. It’s time.”

Jace heard the exhaustion in JJ’s tone. He should have stepped down a decade before, but he’d stayed, even while he was sick, to give Jace the time to grow and be ready.

“She’s got a few hot buttons around marriage. Stupid Darrell. It may take a while. I’m going to let her take the lead on the date. I have to ask her first.”

“Did you talk to her daddy yet?”

“That was my next stop. I had dinner with them all last night for Samhain so I talked a bit about it with both her parents then.” They’d been good to him. Even after the way Darrell had treated her, they welcomed him to their feast and to their community.

“It went okay?”

“Nadine Grady has no tolerance for shenanigans with her daughter when it comes to wolves.”

“She’s a scary one. Avery, he’s got some power, but she’s the one with the real ferocity of the two. I like that the girl came back here for family. And I like that she comes from good people. You two are a good match. She’s already brought more to the pack.”

Having powerful witches in a pack meant the shifters were able to change much faster and with far less pain. After the Halloween dinner it had been the Dooleys who’d made the change the quickest and plenty of people noticed and commented on it.

“Be aware that once you announce your engagement, them Pembrys is gonna throw a shit fit,” JJ said.

Jace didn’t much care at that moment. This was about him and the woman he was born to love. Werewolf stuff would always be part of his life, but how Scarlett might feel about him marrying Katie Faith meant absolutely nothing.

“Mac and I had a reasonable talk about reasonable things.” Mac Pembry was up against a mountain of shit because of his moron of a brother and seriously out of control mother.

He didn’t seem particularly interested in making a power play, but Jace expected it all the same. It was how things were with wolves. A hierarchy had to be set and right then it was in flux.

Eventually, he and Mac would have to come head on at one another. But for the next several months as they hunkered down through winter, Jace wanted to strengthen his own position so when he became Patron there’d be little change for their people to have to deal with.

First he needed marriage as part of that new hierarchy for his pack. They needed to know they could trust Katie Faith. Count on her like he already did.

It was a careful line for her to walk and he understood divided loyalties. The more he learned about witches and their real, integral connection to Diablo Lake being such a safe haven for shifters, the more he’d developed a deep sense of loyalty to them.

But he was still going to lead his pack. And that part of him knew that the proposal would bolster his standing against anyone contemplating taking a run at him for Patron.

“Hot button or not, the girl can’t drag her feet too long or it’ll make you look bad.”

Jace knew that too. But he wouldn’t push her. That wasn’t to say he couldn’t woo the hell out of her, though, to speed things up.

“I have some moves, Grandpa. I got this.”

“Go talk to your grandma. She’s got something you might want before you propose.”

And with that, the Patron gave his blessing to the marriage and to Jace taking over the pack.

He stayed a while longer to listen to a story he’d heard a dozen times before but it got better each telling. Jace figured by the time his grandpa hit a hundred or so, there’d be dragons in it.

He’d walked out to the lake from town, so by the time he got back he’d more than burned off his beer. His grandma strolled up, a basket full of books in her arms.

“Hey, darlin’.” She thrust the basket his way. “I’ve just been picking up some things to take out on visits. Tommy Moore has a chest cold. Donnagene is playing nursemaid to him, her mother and two of her kids all down with the same thing as Tommy. Books never go amiss when you’re stuck inside.”

Being isolated meant they were responsible for taking care of their own. Patty had been making visits to all the members of the pack for decades now. It occurred to him he needed to talk with Katie Faith about this side of running a pack.

“If you wait about an hour, I can drive you. I just have an errand to run first. I’m going to talk to Nadine and Avery to tell them I’m going to propose to Katie Faith. I just got back from talking to Grandpa and he said to come see you. I would have done that anyway.”

She directed him on where to load up what in various baskets and plastic tubs and containers with the things she’d take to the people she dropped in on. Food to those who might be struggling in some way. A friendly face with some pretty flowers when someone has been ill. Clothes, diapers, whatever people might need.

And then she led him into the house and bade him to sit while she ran to get something from her room.

Not a difficult task when he noted the heaping plate of cookies there. “Okay,” she told him as she returned to sit next to him. She passed a black velvet ring box his way. “My mother left me these rings and though several of my sons have gotten married, I’ve never felt like these would be right for any of their wives. Katie Faith, though. Well, you take a look and tell me what you think.”

He opened the box to find two rings. A gold band with diamonds set in it and an engagement ring with a solitaire diamond stone. Old fashioned and very feminine but made for a woman who worked with her hands. The rings seemed to hum with energy.