He smirked. “How?”
“Wolves are real!’
“So are dragons.”
“No, they’re not! They’re make-believe!”
“So are shape-shifters.”
She looked like she was going to reply, then stopped. Her mouth flapped open and closed a couple of times before she let out a frustrated grunt, pulled her hands free from his, and stormed out of the kitchen.
He tried not to laugh, but he couldn’t help it. He knew she’d wrap her mind around it eventually, but it was funny watching her try to do it.
Goddess knows, I need the laugh.
Elain wanted to slap the amused smirk off Ain’s face. Knowing that wouldn’t go over so well, she stormed out of the kitchen to the lanai, where she plopped down into a lounger. She was staring out at the woods, letting her mind wander and trying to calm herself so she didn’t get into trouble when something caught her eye.
She sat up. Just inside where the trees started, it looked like movement. Like a woman.
Mom and Lina are inside the house. I know it’s not them. Elain stood and walked toward the woods.
The movement, Elain was certain of it now, headed deeper into the shade of the cypress and pine trees growing thick in the wooded area. Sounds faded from Elain’s conscious around her as she focused on following the pale, wispy shape. As she tried to pick up speed, so did the form.
Elain left the trail and wound her way through the ever-denser woods until she reached the edge of a small pond. She knew the form had come this way, but there were no tracks besides her own and those of small animals like raccoons and opossums in the soft dirt leading up to the water’s edge.
“Hello?” she called out.
Only a distant bird’s call replied.
Should I be afraid? Despite all the recent developments, she wasn’t. The form, or whatever it was, didn’t scare her.
A flash of movement to her right set her off after the apparition again, only more quickly this time. As she thought she gained on it, her focus drew in tightly, almost to a pinpoint of awareness. Her legs swiftly and silently carried her through the underbrush, instinct taking over, and she thought she was about to catch up with it when she emerged into one of the pastures.
Ten feet away, a brown cow picked up its head from where it’d been grazing and stared at her.
Elain looked around as her perception of the world once again widened. Nothing around but cows.
The one closest to her mooed.
Despite the warm air, a shiver passed over her. Her pulse raced. “Hello?” she yelled.
The cow walked over to her and nuzzled her chest with wet nose.
“Blech.” Elain stepped away. “No thanks.”
With one last look around, she headed back to the house, this time skirting around the outer perimeter of the wooded area.
Should I tell the guys?
She snorted. Fuck no. They’re already freaked out enough as it is
Lina locked herself into a bathroom. It was the first time she’d had two minutes to herself to think all day long. Sure enough, Maureen Alexander’s ghost stared back at her from the mirror.
“You really should be showing yourself to Liam or Elain, you know,” Lina said.
“I need your help.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m not sure what else I can do besides what I’m doing.”
The ghost didn’t reply.
Lina sighed. “Look, I’m sorry. It’s just I don’t have any answers for you.”
The spirit faded from the mirror.
Lina felt a little guilty about not being able to comfort her, but she had no clue what to do.
Closing her eyes, she wished herself to Baba Yaga’s house. Again, the woman wasn’t there.
“Goddammit,” she grumbled as she walked over to the front door. She threw it open. “Hello?”
No one.
“Where the fuck is she?” Lina wondered aloud. When I don’t need her, it’s like she’s all up in my business giving me fortune cookie advice. When I need her, I can’t find her.
She opened her eyes and pulled out her cell phone and called Callie.
Her friend, and one of Baba Yaga’s two younger sisters, answered on the second ring. “Lina! How’s those little ones doing?”
“Hey, girlfriend. They have me as big as a house. I have a question for you.”
“Sure, shoot.”
“Have you talked to your sister lately?”
“Which one?”
“Baba Yaga.”
There was a moment of silence from Callie’s end. When she spoke again, her tone sounded more than curious. “Why? What’s going on?”
“Nothing serious at this moment, but I have some questions for her and I haven’t been able to find her. I’ve gone to her house twice now and she wasn’t there.”
“Oh. Hmm. Let me see if I can track her down for you. I’ll call you right back.”
“Thanks.”
Lina anxiously waited for Callie’s call. She jumped when her phone rang a couple of minutes later.
“Sorry, Lina. No luck. I don’t know where she’s gotten off to. I hunted down Brighde, and she hasn’t seen her lately either.”
“Doesn’t that worry you?” Lina asked.
“Not really. She’s done this before. It doesn’t mean anything’s wrong. She might just need some alone time or whatever.”
“She lives alone.”
“She’s an… odd woman.”
Lina let out a snort. “Not the word I’d use, but okay.”
“Is it anything I can help you with?”
Lina looked into the mirror. She stood alone in the bathroom although she suspected Maureen’s spirit watched her. “What do you know about ghosts?”
“Ghosts?”
“Yeah.”
Another moment of silence from Callie’s end. “What, exactly, are we talking about? Are we talking evil movie ghosts, TV ghost-hunting ghosts, or what?”
Lina sighed. “One particular ghost.”
“Do you know who it is?”
“I know who. I just don’t know how, although I suspect the why.”
“Is there a reason you’re not telling me more?”
“Yeah, no offense, but it’s not my story to let out of the bag. And it’s something the Lyall men have to deal with. If I tell you and Blackie makes you tell—”
“Ah. Understood.” Callie’s tone had returned to its usual light friendliness. Callie had searched eons to find a man who could be her Master. She’d found that in wolf-shifter and distant Lyall cousin, Daniel Blackestone, whom everyone called Blackie. The downside being she made no bones about the fact that she was not a secret keeper when it came to him. She might be a powerful immortal, but her mate and Master turned her into a puddle of creamy goo.
And that’s the way she wanted it.
When Lina got off the phone she stared at the empty mirror. No visions had come to her to explain Maureen Pardie’s apparition.
No unexpected visits from Baba Yaga.
With a sigh, she left the bathroom. This mystery could wait for another day. She had too much on her plate now as it was.
Chapter Eight
At dinner that night, Ain took a deep breath. He sincerely hoped Elain, who sat next to him on his right, wouldn’t argue with him about this. “I went and talked with Mark Telford today,” he told everyone. “I laid it all out for him. He’s in agreement that we need to go to Maine and talk to Lacey before the wedding. She needs to meet Elain and settle the question about her being a shape-shifter once and for all.”
“We’ll take her,” Lina immediately piped up before her men could react. “I haven’t seen Lacey in a while. I’d love to visit her.”
Elain stared at Ain. “Who is Lacey again?” She thought she’d heard them mention that name before, but with all the recent events, she’d be damned if she could remember who it was.