“Being alpha doesn’t mean beating the dignity out of your pack.”
Kara’s feet widened to a fight stance. “Let me tell you something, Danyon Stone—I don’t know how you lead the marshmallows you call wolven over on the East Bank, but I keep a strong hand on mine. If you don’t, they’ll run all over you, doing and saying whatever they want, whenever they want. I’m alpha of the West Bank, and I make damn sure my pack never forgets it. You’ve got to keep your weres tough, sharp, ready for anything.” She pointed to Teddy. “If you don’t, crap like this happens.” She turned away, but not before Danyon saw her eyes well up with tears.
He gave her a moment to compose herself, then said, “I know where you’re coming from because I lost two yesterday.”
Kara whirled about, mouth agape. “Two?”
“Yes. Same way, too. Cables, claws and fangs torn off—”
“Human? Had they turned?”
“No. Both still in were-state, just like Teddy.”
Kara brushed a hand briskly over the top of her head. “What the hell’s going on here? Have you ever seen anything like that before? A dead wolven still were, I mean?”
“Not until yesterday.”
She shook her head slowly. “I’ll tell you this much, if some asshole thinks he’s gonna just come out here to
the West Bank and pick off my weres, he’s got another thing coming. The sonofabitch better think twice.”
“Whoever or whatever does not seem to be targeting any specific pack. Remember, it happened on the East Bank, too.”
“Anywhere else?”
“Not that I know of,” Danyon said. “I’ve already seen the other alphas, and, thankfully, nothing’s happened within their packs.”
“August sent you to warn us about this, didn’t he?”
“Yes. That and he wants all of us to pick out a handful of our strongest weres and post them around the perimeter of our territories. They’re to stay there until the murderer is found.”
Kara threw her hands up. “I’m busting my ass, trying to keep this quiet, and now I’ve got to stick some of my weres on watch? Just what the hell am I supposed to tell them to watch out for while they’re out there picking their noses?”
“Have them keep an eye out for unusual activity. Anyone new or suspicious in the area.”
She exhaled a loud breath of frustration. “Can I get any more vague? They’ll look at me like I’ve lost it.”
“Tell them whatever you have to,” Danyon said. “With as tight a reign as you have over your pack, I’m sure all you’ll have to do is tell the weres you choose to stay put, and they’d stay put. They don’t have to have a reason.”
Kara sucked on the back of her front teeth and nodded. “True. Good point. Very good point.” Still nodding, she glanced over at Teddy. “You see that? If you had only
listened to me. If you hadn’t been so damn weak. How many times did I tell you that you had to toughen up?”
Danyon felt awkward, as if he was eavesdropping on a private conversation. “Want some help moving him?” he asked.
“Nah, I got it.” Shoving her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, she stared up at Danyon and offered nothing more.
After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Danyon finally said, “So I can tell August you’ll be setting weres at post?”
“Yeah. I’ll set ’em up.”
“Good. I’m sure August will summon everyone together in a couple of days, so we can compare notes. Unless something comes up before then, of course. If you notice anything unusual, no matter how slight, give me a call, would you?”
Kara arched her brow.
“All right, so don’t call me. At least call August. He’ll send reinforcements.”
“I don’t need backup,” Kara said. “If anything, or anyone, is brave enough to come out my way, my best weres will definitely mark it—or him. Trust me, if I have to call August, it’ll be for him to send over a grunt to pick up a body.” With that, she turned away and walked over to Teddy.
Taking that as his exit cue, Danyon left Kara alone with her dead were and headed back to his car, following the trail he had created on his way to the clearing.
Mission accomplished. All of the alphas in south
Louisiana had been alerted, and in short order. He should have felt some sense of satisfaction about that. Instead, he felt uneasy. Kara’s obvious anger issues, combined with her my-way-or-the-highway attitude, was a recipe for disaster.
She was an explosion waiting to happen.
And that was the last thing any of them needed.
F
iona’s idea for the three of them to take some time off yesterday in preparation for the Nuit du Dommage tourist rush had been spot on. So had been her suggestion to pick up additional inventory from Keeno’s. Without those extra supplies, most of the shelves in the shop would have been empty hours ago.
It was mid-afternoon, and Shauna had managed to steal only one bathroom break since they’d opened that morning. So many customers were wandering in and out of the shop, that Caitlin eventually shoved a plastic wedge beneath the front door to keep it open and stop the trio of small bells that hung over the threshold from ringing every other second. Her feet and head throbbed; even her face ached from forcing a smile every time someone came to the register. She needed food, another
trip to the bathroom, and sleep. If she had gotten an hour of sleep at Danyon’s, it had been a lot.
She was still standing behind the register, ringing up a large number of items for an elderly man, when a black-haired woman wearing too much perfume and a skintight blouse with a neckline that plunged down to her navel, shoved a bag in Shauna’s face.
“What’s these for?” the woman asked.
Shauna held up a finger, signaling the woman to wait, then finished keying in the last series of numbers from a product code.
With that done, Shauna looked over at the woman, forced smile in place. “I’ll be glad to help you as soon as I’m finished with this gentleman.”
“Aw, c’mon. All I want to know is what they’re for. Look, he don’t mind if you help me. You don’t mind, do you, mister? You don’t care if I get a couple questions answered, huh?” She smiled at him, rested an elbow on the counter and leaned forward, giving him a close up of her cleavage. To Shauna’s surprise, and the woman’s shock, the man completely ignored her.
Good for you,
Shauna thought.
Refusing to be deterred, the woman leaned over the counter and shook the bag under Shauna’s nose.
“Puhlease? I just want to know what this is.”
“I’ll help you—in a minute,” Shauna said, keeping her eyes on the elderly man’s purchases. She despised bullies and people who whined and threw tantrums until they got what they wanted.
“I thought y’all were supposed to help people,” the
woman said. “I’m staying with a friend at the Bienville House, and he told me to come over here because he’s feeling poorly and said y’all had natural stuff that would make him feel better. He told me to get some kind of shriveled up berry thing…seesaw or sawmill or something stupid like that. I can’t remember what the name of it is, but if I heard it, I’d probably remember.”
“Saw palmetto berries,” Shauna said.
“Oh.” The woman pulled the bag back with a snap, a huge smile on her face.
Shauna was about to total the man’s order, when the woman shoved the bag under her nose again.
“So what are they good for?”
Shauna glanced up at the man apologetically, then said to the black-haired nuisance, “They’re used for colds, hay-fever, bronchitis, mainly upper respiratory problems.”
“Oh.” The woman snapped the bag back again.
Not two seconds later, the bag was in Shauna’s face.
“So what you got to do with ’em? Eat ’em?”
“Ma’am, please. Just give me a minute to finish helping this man, and I’ll answer all of your questions,” Shauna said.
“All I wanna know is what I’ve gotta do—”
A large hand appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the woman’s arm and yanked it down so the bag was no longer in Shauna’s face. Lurnelle Franklin had arrived to save the day, and she had come in style. She wore a plum-colored, V-neck pullover that reached her mid-thigh, tight black pants, and gold, strappy sandals.
“You got a problem with you ears, Miss Thing?” Lurnell snapped. “The lady here said to hol’ up, and she even asked you nice.”
Shauna smiled a thank-you to Lurnell and finished bagging the gentleman’s merchandise. The black-haired woman with the bag of palmetto berries took a couple of steps back to put some distance between herself and Lurnell. “Well, I never—”
“That’s right you never, and you never gonna neither with them titties hangin’ out like that,” Lurnell said. “Go cover that up, girl. Ain’t nobody tryin’ to see them old nasty things anyhow.”
The man Shauna had been waiting on, the one who had refused to be swayed by the display of cleavage earlier, burst out laughing.
Obviously shamed, the black-haired woman threw the bag on the counter, spun around on her heels and stormed out of the store.
Shauna handed the man his bag of goods. “I’m so sorry about all of that.”
“Oh, don’t be,” he said between chuckles. “It’s the best laugh I’ve had all year. I like this place. I do believe I’ll come back.”
“You a smart man,” Lurnell said. She gave him a big grin.
No sooner did he leave the store than Fiona came out of the reading room, where she had been reading tea leaves for an Asian woman, and walked over to the counter.
“I thought I recognized that voice.” Fiona smiled at Lurnell. “How are you doing, honey?”
“Oh, I’m all good,” Lurnell said.
“Glad to hear it.” Fiona turned to Shauna. “And what about you? It sounded like things were getting a little carried away out here.”
“No, it’s all cool,” Lurnell reassured her. “Some old, nasty hussy was shovin’ stuff in my girl’s face here, so I put a little play on her. I be figurin’ that the hussy’s gots to go, you know what I’m sayin’? You feelin’ me?” She shook her head. “I swear, I don’t know what’s wrong wit’ all the people in the world today. They crazy.”
“I hear you,” Shauna said. “I appreciate you stepping in the way you did. That woman would probably still be waving that bag in my face if it hadn’t been for you.”
Lurnell tsked and flapped a hand at her. “Aw, ain’t nothin’ but a thing, girl.”
“Well, I think every good heroine deserves a reward,” Fiona said. “I’ve got fresh baked chocolate cookies back in the office. Think you can handle a few?”
“A few? Sheee, I can handle a lotta few.” Lurnell slapped a hand to her belly.
“You bring ’em, and Lurnell’s gonna eat ’em. I love chocolate!”
Fiona laughed. “You’ve got it. I have to help Caitlin with something first, but as soon as I’m done, I’ll get those cookies for you. It shouldn’t take long.”
“Oh, I ain’t goin’ nowhere,” Lurnell said, bright-eyed.
As Fiona headed for Caitlin, four girls who appeared
to be in their early teens, came rushing up to the cash register, giggling.
“Can I help you?” Shauna asked.
More giggling. Whispering. Then each girl stretched out a hand. One held a piece of citrine, another hematite, the third, a piece of amethyst, and the fourth, a beautifully cut quartz.
“Are these, like, magical?” the girl holding the citrine asked.
“Yeah,” said the one with the amethyst. “’Cause, like, we have a friend, you know, who told us they were real magic. And, like, we were supposed to come over here and get some, and you’d be able to tell us, like, which ones might bring us boyfriends and stuff.”
All four girls started giggling again.
Shauna grinned. She didn’t want to burst their bubble by getting technical, but the truth of the matter was that the magical elements in crystals and gems didn’t have anything to do with magic at all. The vibration of each stone, united with the energy of focused thought, often times did manifest a person’s goal or desire. But that had nothing to do with magic. It was simply the natural law of attraction. She was trying to figure out how to explain that without getting too technical, when Lurnell stepped up to the girls.
“Okay, if y’all wanna know if them rocks is magic, put ’em right here in my hand,” Lurnell said. “I’m gonn’ feel if they magic, and if they is, I’m gonna tell you they is. If they not, I’m gonna tell you they not.”
Looking a little fearful, each girl dropped her stone into Lurnell’s palm.
“Now, let’s see what we got in here.” Lurnell sandwiched the stones between her hands, closed her eyes, then cocked her head like she was listening to something far away. “Uh-huh, I be hearin’ somethin’… Oh, yeah, I be feelin’ you now.” She frowned, squeezed her eyes shut tighter. “Huh? Whatchu said? Oh…okay.” With that, she opened her eyes, held out the stones and declared, “They big magic for sure.”
“Really?” one of the girls said.
Lurnell plopped a hand on her hip. “What? If I told you they magic, they magic. Now, that’s all I’m sayin’.”
“Wow,” another girl said breathlessly.
“That’s so cool,” a third girl chimed in.
The girl with the amethyst raised a hand as if she were in a classroom.
“Uh-uh, don’t be wavin’ no hand at me,” Lurnell said. “I ain’t got nothin’ more to say.”
“But how do we make the magic stones work?” Amethyst asked.
Lurnell harrumphed. “All I got to say is they big—
big
magic. The res’ is all you.”
The girls nodded in unison and couldn’t pay for their stones fast enough. Shauna fought with her conscience as she rang them up. She didn’t want the girls to leave the shop thinking they had real magical stones, but she didn’t want to risk saying anything and embarrassing Lurnell. Besides, the girls did look extremely happy.
As the girls left, whispering and giggling en masse,
Shauna turned to Lurnell. “Why did you tell them that?” she asked, unable to hide a grin. “Now those kids are going to go home thinking they have real magic stones.”
“And there be somethin’ wrong wit’ that?” Lurnell shook her head. “Girl, don’t you start climbin’ on no high horse, you hear me? You gots to learn how to work you stuff in the shop if you wanna make that green. Them kids is gonna go home all excited, and they’s gonna tell they friends, and them friends gonna tell some more friends, and
all
them friends gonna come up in here to get some rocks. You call that—takin’ care of bidness.”
Shauna laughed. “You’re a trip, you know that? Hey, talking about business, why aren’t you at Sistah’s?”
Lurnell’s face lit up. “’Cause I had to come show my girl somethin’. Look here.” She held out her right hand, pinky side up. “Go ’head, check it.”
Shauna rolled her eyes. “Don’t you think it’s a little soon to be trying this again?”
“Don’t be talkin’ like that. Just look when I tell you look.”
To appease her, Shauna took Lurnell’s hand and examined it. “What the…?” There, just above the thin, pink scar that had come from Lurnell’s handy work, was the real deal—a marriage line. It was faint, but unquestionably there. Shauna peered up at her. “It’s real,” she said, amazed.
“I knowed it!” Lurnell pulled her hand back and clapped. “I seen it when I was brushin’ my teeth and hair this mornin’, and I says to myself, ‘Lurnell Shantelle
Marquetha Franklin, you gonna get married, girl!’ Then I says, ‘You got to go show her—that be you—’cause she ain’t gonna believe it’s for real. I swear to gawd, girl, I be so excited, I had to back myself up to the commode before I peed myself.”
“I’ll bet! I’ve never known one to appear that fast. Not in one day.”
“Yeah, but I know why it come fas’,” Lurnell said. Her eyes danced with a secret she couldn’t wait to share.
“Why?”
“’Cause I met me a man las’ night. His name be Tyree Johnson, and, oh, that man look good. He all the time be sweet talkin’ and even got hisself a real job. And he ain’t got no baby mamas nowheres, so he ain’t gotta pay that child support.”
“Where did you meet him?”
“Down to Zydeco Joe’s, and let me tell you what, child, that man can for sure bus’ a step!”
Lurnell was demonstrating a few zydeco moves, when Fiona appeared with a plate of chocolate cookies.
“Here you go, just like I promised,” Fiona said, and handed the plate to Lurnell. “Enjoy.” She gave Lurnell a little four-finger wave, then headed for a group of customers standing near the amulet and totem display.
“Oh, yeah!” Lurnell held the plate close as though someone might steal it at any moment. “I’m gonna have a few of these here, then I got to get back to the store.
Bidness be good and all, but they got all kinda people walk-in’ up in my stuff wit’ they dirty shoes. I gots to go
pass the vacuum, so the place look good. Tyree comin’ later. He gonna be—”
A blast of rap music suddenly erupted, and it sounded like it was coming from Lurnell’s rear end.
“Hol’ up,” she said, and dipped a hand behind her back. It returned clutching a cell phone. She checked the caller I.D. and broke into a wide grin. “That be Tyree.” She handed Shauna the plate of cookies. “Now don’t be goin’ nowheres wit’ that. I’ll be right back.”
Lurnell flipped the phone open and put it to her ear. “Hey, Tyree, baby, where y’at?” As she listened to his response, she winked at Shauna, then stepped away from the counter, evidently wanting some privacy.
Watching Lurnell coo into the phone, reminded Shauna of Nicole and Ian. How each time they had come into the shop for tea and scones, Nicole had had that same over-the-top happy look on her face. Just like Lurnell did now. Thinking about Nicole made Shauna wonder about the keening sound she had heard in the shop the day before. Had it been Nicole crying out before she died or Ian in mourning? Not that it really mattered. Dead was dead, and heart-pain was heart-pain. Both carried pitiful sounds.
Thoughts of the two weres brought Danyon to mind, and Shauna suddenly realized she had yet to hear from him today. She figured he had been too busy, alerting the other alphas, as August had requested, and busy she certainly understood. Still, it would have been nice if he had taken the time to call her at the shop, for no other reason but to hear her voice.
She would give anything to hear his right now. To feel his touch. Last night had been one of the most amazing nights of her life. Shauna still couldn’t get over how quickly she had reacted to his touch. She had never felt anything so—right before. To call it electricity or a connection, didn’t even come close to describing what had flowed between them. It had felt as though each had reached into the other and took hold of their soul, absorbing not only all they were now, but all they were ever meant to be.
“Excuse me. Can you help me with this?” a woman asked, and thrust a matrix box at Shauna. “How does it open?”