Wicked Good Witches Three Book Box Set (Demon Street Blues, Alpha Knows Best, Bye Bye Bloodsucker) (22 page)

CHAPTER TWELVE

“The sun’s going down, we still don’t know where Melinda is, and we are no closer to finding the alpha werewolf,” blasted Michael in frustration as they stood in the kitchen and hour later.

William glanced at Charlie. He was sitting at the kitchen counter, staring out the window watching what little sun remained near the base of the trees.

The Mack phone line rang loudly. Michael grabbed it. “Hey, Mack.”

“We got a problem,” she told him. “Get down to the morgue. Bring Charlie. We found another body. This one definitely died today, and I’m pretty sure by the wolf.”

Michael just groaned, shaking his head. “Okay, Mack. We’ll be right down. Hey… any Melinda sightings?”

“You still haven’t found her?”

“No. Emily searched through town but no one’s seen her.”

“She’s gonna have to be on her own for now, Michael. I hate to say it, but we got bigger problems.”

“See you in a minute.” Michael disconnected.

“What happened?” asked Charlie.

William answered. “No sign of Melinda and they found another body.”

Charlie sat with his elbows on the counter, resting his forehead on his hands.

“Just this morning, everything was going so well,” he mumbled. “We found out Dad might still be alive. Melinda was in the best mood I’ve ever seen her in. You and Emily were walking around so happy it was making everyone else around you giddy, and I was…” he let the sentence dangle. He stood up and faced Michael and William. “How is it that in less than a day, everything can go so fucking wrong? It’s like everything is just falling to pieces again. We haven’t even had time to sit down and make a plan of action as to how we’re going to track Dad!”

“I don’t know, Charlie. I don’t know,” said Michael. He was just glad he knew that Emily was safe and sound at her bookstore. She’d gone there to catch up on some work after searching unsuccessfully for Melinda. “Let’s just focus on one thing at a time, okay? Mack needs our help. There’s still time before you need to lock yourself up. C’mon.”

“Yeah, you’re right, Michael. Let’s go.”

“Coming William?” Michael asked as they headed for the door.

“I’ll leave this one to you. There are a few things I want to check into.”

They left him to do his research and walked down the cobblestone street heading to the morgue.

It was a tense walk, with no words passing between the brothers.

##

Melinda and Riley pulled up in front of the bookstore. The sun was already on its way down and she hoped that even though it was her day off, Emily would be inside. 

She got off the bike and handed Riley the helmet, turning to walk into the store. She had spent the very long ride back into town hoping that everything this woman named Nina had told her was true, and that she could save Charlie.
Of course it’s true…
look at the source!

She stopped and spun back around. “Oh, God… sorry. Brain elsewhere.” She stepped back over to Riley, still sitting on his bike. He slipped off his helmet.

“I can see that.” His eyes danced in amusement. 

“I really have to hurry, but, um,” she bit her lip. She dreaded this part. The moment of truth. A one day stand, or would she see him again? She steeled herself for whichever outcome, telling herself it didn’t matter.

Riley got off his two-wheeled metal machine and removed his helmet, hanging it on the back of the seat. “I plan on being around later, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

A look of relief spread across Melinda’s face.

“You were afraid today might have been a one-time thing, weren’t you?” he teased.

“The things you said… I loved every single word. But I thought maybe you were just saying them to...” she paused, hoping she wasn’t offending him. “I mean, it’s like you said every single thing I wanted to hear. Needed to hear. It was
too
perfect.”

“That is something I’ve never been called in my entire life.”

She blushed.

“I meant every word I said, Melinda. I don’t know if I’ve ever been more honest about anything.” He gave his head a confounded shake. “You make me say such crazy things… I really don’t normally say this kind of stuff. I think you’ve bewitched me.”

She choked back a cough. She hadn’t. But would he still find her as desirable once he discovered she really was a witch? Until then, she’d just consider herself lucky, and him, utterly perfect.

“So, you do want to see me again, right?” Riley looked unsure.

Melinda answered by kissing him. He beamed, kissing her back, each touch of his lips relaying a message that he couldn’t wait to see her again, and didn’t want her to go. Each press, each tug, each pull brought her right back to the quarry.

I should stop him.
She didn’t.

There was a serious job she needed to do. A brother that needed saving.

Instead, hormones took over and she grabbed the back of his head, urging him not to stop. His mouth assaulted hers, his tongue tasting every nook and corner.

Tourists walking by shot them dirty looks.

Melinda forced herself to pull away. Reminding herself they were standing on a sidewalk. Words wouldn’t form, her breaths uneven and needy. 

“God damn. I didn’t think that could get any better…” Riley held her tight, unwilling to let go. They ignored the stares of the passersby. “Just imagine what they would’ve said if they’d seen us a few hours ago.” He cast a devilish grin and released her, striding back to his motorcycle.

“I guess I’ll see you later,” Melinda said, a bit dazed. “Well, damn, I can’t tonight. Tonight is… bad,” she explained, disappointed she’d have to wait to see him again. 

Riley glanced up at the sunset, now turning the sky deep reds and yellows.

“Tonight’s a bad night for me too. How about tomorrow? Say a late morning coffee at that café across the street? The Wicked Muddy. And maybe after, I’ll take you for another ride... on the bike,” he winked.

Melinda’s heart couldn’t help but skip a beat at the thought of seeing Riley again.

“I’ll take your speechlessness as a yes.” He wore a confident smirk. “God, I love your smile. It’s so… kissable.” He shook his head. “There I go again. Just can’t keep my inner voice quiet today.”

Melinda skipped over and kissed him one more time. She couldn’t help it. “Tomorrow,” she whispered, pulling back.

“Tomorrow seems weeks away.” He shrugged, disbelieving what he’d just said again. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Melinda.” He almost looked pained over leaving her.

It sent a new surge of flutters raging through her. She’d never had that kind of effect on a guy before. She watched him speed away until he was out of sight, wishing she could have just gone with him.

“Ugh! Screw you and your sudden unbridled want want want!” she berated her uncontrolled hormones, loudly.

A young man walking by lifted his brow as if ready to take her challenge.

She gulped, eyes wide, her words choking in her throat.

Brother to save! Get a move on…

Was every guy on the Isle suddenly too hot for their own damn good? And suddenly interested in her? She turned and scurried into the bookstore.

“Emily!” she shouted expectantly.

Emily, upon hearing Melinda, popped out from behind a bookshelf.

Wonderful, loveable, predictable Emily…

“You’re okay,” she declared, rushing to hug Melinda.

“Um, yeah. I’m fine. Kind of great actually. Why?”

“Your brothers have been worried sick!” Emily explained. “Me too for that matter.”

“Oh. Well. I did leave in a bit of a huff this morning. I was mad a Charlie but I’m over it now. They could’ve called me on my cell.” 

“Which you dropped in the kitchen,” Emily informed her.

“Oh, dang. Sorry,” she squeaked.
And like I would have answered…

“Well, at least you’re okay.” 

“Yeah, I am…” she shook her head. “I am more than okay. But I’ll explain about that later. Charlie on the other hand, is
not
okay.” Melinda dragged Emily into a small office, shutting the door behind them. “But he will be okay if this plan goes right. Which it will.”

“What’s going on?” Emily was thrown off by Melinda’s energetic confidence.

Melinda gulped hard, clasping her hands together, smiling forcefully. All her teeth were showing and her shoulders lifted in a
you’re not gonna like what I have say,
manner.

“Melinda... what’s going on?” Emily’s tone turned suspicious.  

“Emily, my dearest Emily... how do you feel about being captured by a werewolf?”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Mack met the brothers at the door and motioned for them to come in. Her new deputy threw them an odd look, but said nothing. Mack took them into a temporary holding cell.

“Exam room’s already full,” she explained, turning to Charlie. “I need to know if you can I.D. this body. This woman was a tourist. But I think you might have known her.”

“What do you mean?” asked Charlie, confused. “I don’t really know any tourists.” Well, he knew a couple but few very well. 

Mack sucked in a breath and upon exhaling explained, “This woman was still alive when she was found. Her throat was cut open, but she mumbled out two names before she died. Charlie. Howard.”

Who could it be? He rarely got friendly enough with any tourists for them to know him by name. Never mind to have his name someone’s final words…

He gazed down at the body. A sliver of dark skin not covered by the sheet.

Charlie tried to speak but stammered incoherently. He lunged forward tearing off the sheet. Nina’s lifeless and bloodied body lay on the table.

“It can’t be…”
How could this happen?
He grasped the side of the table to keep from falling over.
How could this have happened? To her… to Nina. She’s too strong for this. Protected by her ring.
His chest squeezed, his heart corkscrewed into a knot, air impossible to get enough of.  

“Charlie,” Michael called out, realizing instantly that bringing him had been a mistake.

Charlie didn’t respond. He just stared at the dead body on the table. “Her name,” he spoke with great effort, “is Nina.”

“Does she have a last name?” Mack asked kindly. “I need to notify next of kin.”

“She doesn’t have a last name, and her kin will already know…” He gently touched Nina’s arm, stroking it fondly. “I’m so sorry.” He gazed into her empty eyes. He reached up and closed them, running his hand down her arm, lifting her cold hand, shakily caressing her fingers.

“Who did this to you?”
Who could have done this to you?
You can’t be hurt like this.
 

Michael huffed, confused. “What do you mean,
her kin
, Charlie? Who is she?”

Charlie could not answer.

Fury erupted inside him.

He grabbed Nina’s other hand. She wasn’t wearing her ring, the ring that should have protected her from such an injury. Why would she not be wearing it? Why would she have removed it?

He let go, backing away from the table. Chest heaving, a surge of emotion charging though him.

He exhaled with a pained cry, hands reaching up to grasp the sides of his head, as if something was hurting him. A menacing echo forged into his thoughts.

“Come and find me,” it growled. “I killed her, Charlie. I will kill everything you love, until you bow down to me.”

The alpha werewolf. It was in his mind.

It had done this to Nina.

It may not have killed the man left in the park the night before, but it was a killer. And it would pay for its crimes. 

Charlie responded by pounding his fists into the brick walls lining the inside of the cell, shouting violently as he did. The wall shattered upon impact, sending brick and stone flying across the room.

“Get out!” Charlie spat at the walls. “Get out and lock the door!”

Michael grabbed the sheriff and bounded outside of the cell, locking it.

“Just give in,” the alpha’s voice lamented in Charlie’s mind. “Give in and no one else will get hurt.”

Charlie fell to the floor, doubling over as the desire to let out the wolf sent him into a rage. He shouted horrifically, begging his body not to give in.

The alpha echoed in his head, again.

“Just give in this one time,” its voice enticed. “You won’t ever have to fight it again.”

Charlie could feel the moon’s pull almost tearing the wolf out of his unwilling skin.
Breathe
, he repeated.
Just breathe. Ignore the voice.

“I can still reach the body,” he heard Michael telling the sheriff. “Maybe it will tell us who we’re looking for.” Michael reached through the bars.

“No!” Charlie warned in a pained voice. “You can’t read her, Michael.” Charlie’s face was red, blood vessels protruding from his skin.

“Who the hell is she, Charlie?”

“A Guardian, Michael. Nina is a Guardian.”

Michael pulled back his hand, in stunned awe. A Guardian… They were some of the most powerful beings in existence. Chances were it would do permanent brain damage if he tried to read her death.

Charlie struggled to his feet. It took everything he had to do it. He held onto the bars and tried to explain. He struggled to find the right words, and when he spoke, it came out labored.

“Nina is the woman I’ve been seeing every summer.”

Only Michael realized what he was talking about, and it made sense, at least from what Michael knew about Guardians. They wore a ring, which protected them from normal dangers. It also enhanced their strength and made their bodies impenetrable. Without the ring though…

Michael sighed as it all fell into place. 

Charlie would have been able to be himself, completely, with a Guardian, unlike a human woman. He also realized why he had never gone into any real detail; the world of the Guardians was quite secretive. They rarely showed themselves to humans at all, and few outside the supernatural world even knew of their existence. 

“A little confused here,” Mack chimed in.

“To be honest, Mack, I don’t think this woman had anything to do with the whole werewolf thing. Just wrong place wrong time. I’ll explain later.”

“What are we going to do about Charlie?”

Charlie had slid down to the floor and was panting, heavily.

“Do whatever the fuck you have to,” Charlie spoke hoarsely. “I’m not going to make it.”
The wolf is winning…
 

Out of nowhere, William materialized into the room, coming to an abrupt stop. “Actually,” he announced emphatically, “we have to let Charlie out of the cell.”