Rose, Charlotte - Bayou Flood [The Shifters of Alligator Bend 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (9 page)

“No, that’s not it. But—you know…”

“Can’t say we do, darlin’.” Virgil gave her a quick kiss and then started looking around for his own clothes.

“Besides, you stayed for dinner, didn’t you?” Gabriel asked. “Nobody took you home last night. Everyone knows perfectly well where you slept, and that means they know exactly what happened here after dinner.”

“Well, maybe not exactly,” Virgil said with a laugh. “But I’m sure we gave their imaginations a workout.”

Sophie started to blush. “I’ve just—I don’t know. I’m not used to running into the guy’s extended family first thing in the morning, when I’m still a total mess.”

“Ain’t nothin’ to be ashamed about,” Virgil said, leaning over and stroking her hair. “You’re our mate. Just because we haven’t had the ceremony yet don’t make this wrong. We already told you, everyone will be happy to see you.”

“Well, okay.” She threw off the covers, and Virgil gave a wistful look at her gorgeous, naked body before she threw on her clothes and opened the door just a crack, peeking her head through.

“Good to see you, Sophie,” he heard Oscar say. “Virgil and Gabriel up yet?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’re gettin’ dressed,” Gabriel called out. “Don’t rush us.”

“What’s goin’ on?” Virgil asked, opening the door a bit wider as he and Gabriel finished getting themselves together. “Did one of the boats break? Need an emergency repair done? What’s so urgent that you just had to wake us up?”

“We need the two of you to come have a look at something. You can come, too, Sophie, if you want.”

Sophie looked from Virgil to Gabriel. Virgil gave her an encouraging nod. “Sure, I’ll definitely go.”

“Okay, come on.”

They hurried out to the main deck, and Xavier pointed out toward a nearby dock. Virgil felt his jaw drop when he realized that the wooden planks never reached dry land. The coastline was literally disappearing overnight, the water encroaching as they slept.

“Fuck,” he said, rubbing his eyes. He was dismayed to find that it wasn’t a trick of the light. No matter how he attempted to clear his vision, the land was disappearing. “What do we do?”

“Adele was up workin’ late again last night,” Oscar said. “Says she and Narcisse have had a breakthrough. Hope it’s true and that it ain’t just the sleep deprivation talkin’. C’mon, they said they’d tell us over breakfast, and I’m starvin’.”

They filed into the kitchen, and Virgil started salivating as the smell of biscuits and gravy hit his nose. He loaded up a plate for Sophie and then made one for himself. They all gathered around the table where Adele and Narcisse sat, looking both exhausted and satisfied.

“Rumor has it the two of you figured somethin’ out,” Gabriel said.

Narcisse nodded. “It’s definitely a combination of things that aggravated an ongoing environmental problem. We’re certain Pomet’s overfishing had something to do with it, based on the way it disrupted the entire ecosystem. Hell, we’re still trying to get business back to where it was after the loss of so many fish. But we found something else, too.”

“Well, Narcisse was the one that noticed it,” Adele said. “We each took a boat out yesterday to do some data collection, with the intention of comparing and contrasting in an attempt to piece the puzzle together.”

Narcisse was practically bursting with pride at the desire to share her findings. She pulled up some photos she’d taken. “I saw some people dredging up a bunch of mud and water around the city. They were doing some sort of construction project, too. Of course, I wasn’t surprised to see the Villemont Construction Industries sign on it.”

“Construction?” Sophie asked. “I thought that Villemont ran a research lab.”

Virgil laughed. “He has a business in just about every possible field, honey. If he thinks he can make money off of it, he’s gonna try to use it.”

“I radioed Adele to have a look, we shot some more pictures, and then she went to take measurements around the rest of the coastline while I came back here and did some digging. You are not going to
believe
what Villemont is planning.”

“He’s tryin’ to drown the entire city so he can turn it into his personal water park?” Virgil couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“No, nothing that insidious. It’s ridiculous, though. He’s developing an overpriced housing development made of stilt houses, you know, the kind where—”

“What?” Virgil spat out. He could feel his blood boiling. “He’s gonna build million-dollar
palafitte’s
?”

“Looks like it. He’s dredging up part of the coastline to build there.”

“Who the hell is gonna pay for those?” Gabriel asked.

“Someone with a million dollars, who ain’t got no common sense,” Xavier said, rolling his eyes. “Hush now, let ’em tell you the rest.”

“While Narcisse was doing that research, I was collecting data about the rest of the coastline. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the sediment is distributing itself anywhere else. Narcisse’s photos indicated that they were putting the sediment they dredged up on boats. Meaning it wasn’t settling and accumulating elsewhere.”

“So where they puttin’ the stuff they put on boats?” Virgil asked.

Adele shrugged. “I have no idea, but they don’t appear to be putting it back into the ecosystem. If they were, it would be building up in another location, and if we could stop the construction, we could work on bringing that stuff back and building the land back up. But I have no idea where they’re putting the sediment.”

“Shit. So what do we do?”

“Well, first I’m going to put together a report to show the damage that Villemont’s construction is causing and try to put a stop to it. And if that doesn’t work, I guess we’re going to have to use some magic.”

Virgil shook his head. “I hope the report works first. I don’t like the thought of havin’ to use magic again.”

“Yeah, it’s gonna require a big spell,” Gabriel added. “And Serafine is havin’ a harder an’ harder time recoverin’ after the big rituals. I’m afraid of what would happen if we had to use it this time.”

Adele sighed. “I wish the new voodoo queen would grace us with an appearance. Then Serafine could retire and we wouldn’t have to worry about this sort of thing.

Sophie looked confused. “Wait. Magic? Voodoo queen?”

Gabriel laughed and put his arm around her. Virgil took her hand.

“Baby, there is so much you need to learn about us.”

Sophie didn’t look pleased at their laughter.

“Okay, okay,” Virgil said. “You have to have noticed by now that we’re magical.”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “It would be pretty hard not to have realized that.”

“Well, Serafine’s our queen, and she’s the one with the most magic. She’s the one who leads all the rituals, casts all the spells. But she’s agin’, and her power drains a little more each time. I’m honestly afraid havin’ to do a big spell would kill her.”

“Serafine has visions of a new queen comin’ soon to take her place,” Gabriel added. “But she hasn’t shown up yet, and we don’t know when it’s gonna happen. Serafine seems confident that it’s all gonna work out, but most of us can’t help but worry.”

“Okay,” Adele said. “I want to get into the city to get some things done on this project. “Sophie, do you want to follow me back so you don’t get lost again?”

“Sure, that would be great.”

Virgil’s heart sank. He tried to shake the feeling off. This was the first time Sophie had visited the bayou. He couldn’t expect her to simply surrender her entire life and stay based on one wonderful time. But he wished she would have, anyway. He didn’t couldn’t help but be illogical when it came to her.

Adele hurried off to change her clothes, and Virgil and Gabriel waited with her on the docks.

“You sure you don’t wanna stay a little longer” Virgil asked, taking her hand.

“I’m sure. Look, I had a really great time last night, but I definitely need to think some things over. I think I need a few days to myself so I can collect my thoughts and try to figure out where all of this is going.”

“Of course,” Virgil said. He gave her a deep kiss, savoring her taste, not knowing when he’d have the chance again.

“We’ll miss you,” Gabriel said before he devoured her lips. When he pulled away, he kept his forehead pressed against hers. “We’ll see you sometime next week?”

“Definitely.”

Adele walked out, and Sophie broke away to join her. They each climbed into their boats, and before Virgil knew it, his mate was just a speck on the horizon.

Chapter Six

Sophie sighed as the green button on her phone flashed off and on, indicating yet another message. She knew Georgina was texting her to see if she was doing a show that night, but she still wasn’t ready to face her friend with the story that Virgil and Gabriel had given her. She felt guilty about the fact that she’d spent a week giving Georgina the cold shoulder, but she was completely overwhelmed by both the stories and emotions swirling around in her head. The only thing she knew how to do was retreat.

Checking the venue address one more time, she cringed. She wasn’t thrilled about having to drive all the way out to Metairie to do a gig. On the plus side, performing out in the suburbs meant that the venue was likely to have an actual parking lot, and she wouldn’t have to worry about how low the meter would get during her set.

Plus, she was doing a favor for an acquaintance. Toni had just started Café Bella a month before and was trying to drum up business with a Friday-night concert series. Tonight was the inaugural event, and the opening act had backed out the night before. Toni called Sophie, asking her to step in to warm the crowd up for one of the more prominent local jazz artists. Although Sophie was getting sick of being a perpetual opening act and wasn’t especially excited about playing in Metairie, the extra cash would come in handy, and she did want Toni to have a good first night. And any gig was better than no gig.

Finally, Sophie decided she couldn’t just keep Georgina in limbo. Picking up her phone, she texted back.
Wasn’t planning on it, but something came up last-minute. Nothing major, just doing a favor for a friend. Won’t need more than my guitar and my mic. Have a good night. Text me tomorrow?

After she sent the message, Sophie wrote a quick message about the gig and posted it to her website. She hoped someone would see it and she’d get at least a few fans out to support her.

“Thank you so much,” Toni said as Sophie rushed into the coffee shop and began setting up her equipment. “I owe you big time. I’ll give you double the usual cut for opening acts to make up for it.”

“No problem,” Sophie said.
Maybe this night won’t be such a letdown after all. It’s nice to be playing at a venue where the owner appreciates my presence.

When Virgil and Gabriel walked in the door and settled at a small table near the back, Sophie knew the night was definitely not going to be a disappointment. The second they turned their gazes in her direction, her cunt started to pulse with desire. She knew she was going to struggle to get through the show when she was uncontrollably horny after being in their presence for a mere thirty seconds.

Sophie glanced at the clock and wished she had time to run across the room and talk to them, but it was time to start the show. The flirtation would have to wait until after she’d done her job. She was shocked to realize that this was the first time that she’d rather be doing something other than playing music. What stunned her even more was that she wasn’t remotely nervous. This was the first show in her life where she didn’t have to take deep, calming breaths or shake out her hands to try and settle down enough to play. With Gabriel and Virgil there watching her, she felt centered, safe, and peaceful.

Checking her tuning one last time, Sophie stood in front of the mic and began to play one of her favorite songs. Although she typically began with fast numbers, this time she sang a slow one, a love song. She kept her eyes focused on them the entire time she played, and as she did, she realized that while the words were sensual and romantic, they didn’t quite encapsulate what she felt about them. She knew she’d have to write them their own song soon.

Sophie launched into her second song and soon lost herself in the music. Before she knew it, she was coming up on the end of the hour. She’d never been so deep in her own performance that she’d lost track of time. She couldn’t believe the effect that Gabriel and Virgil had on her.

“Thank you very much!” she called, waving into the audience. “You’ve been a great crowd. Now please give it up for the great Fozzy Davenport!”