Hex in High Heels Read online

  “Blowing off steam is one thing. Disrespect to the people who live here is another,” Jake said.

  “You weren’t due here until next week. Why are you here now?” Blair asked.

  “We were told there was no problem if we showed up early. That no one would care if we hung out.” He idly scratched his chest. He leaned over and confided, “Although that old broad over there isn’t too happy about it.”

  “Mrs. Pierce is still a lot younger than you and as such she will be treated with deference.” Jake easily guessed the elf’s age to be a couple of centuries. “Not to mention that she’s basically your boss up here. And if you can’t behave, this witch and myself will make your lives very miserable.” His eyes flared gold with power.

  Blair took this as her cue to speak up and lay down the law. “So there’s going to be rules, such as no pissing against trees or bushes, keeping all your trash picked up, no getting drunk, no walking around naked. And you will all be polite to everyone.”

  “Anything else?”

  Blair glared at his cigar. “I’m sure Agnes has a plan for how you’re to dress and behave for the carnival. And considering you’re in the woods, it’s a given there’s no smoking up here. ”

  Alberic sighed. “Mickey said this was an easy gig. He was going to give it to another group, but then he changed his mind.”

  Blair had a pretty good idea why Mickey had chosen these guys instead, and she spelled it R…o…a…n. “Yeah, well, he told Agnes he was sending up cute elves and look what we got,” she countered. “Maybe I should also explain that Grady is really good with that shotgun and he’s been known to shoot first and ask questions afterwards.” She stalked off to tell Grady he could stand down.

  “Sassy kid,” Alberic said, casting an admiring glance at Blair’s backside. He turned back to Jake. “You banging her?” The look on Jake’s face forced him back a few steps. “Hey, I can ask, can’t I?”

  “No, you can’t,” Jake advised with a show of teeth. “You can start following those rules by persuading your buddies to get dressed and clean up all the trash around the RV.”

  “The contract states our food is taken care of,” Alberic said.

  “You are kidding, right?”

  “It’s in the contract.”

  “Fine, we’ll get that straightened out. Just do your part and behave, okay?”

  Jake left Alberic and walked over to Blair, Stasi, Agnes, and Marva. “They’ll still need to be fed.”

  “I guess I could fix up a few pans of lasagna,” Agnes said slowly.

  “Lasagna?” One of the elves perked up at the word and practically climbed up her leg like a dog ready to hump her calf. She uneasily shifted her legs to one side. “With real ricotta cheese and fresh mozzarella?”

  “And garlic bread?” another asked. “I like lots of oregano on mine.”

  “None of that eggplant shit, but lasagna with real meat in it?”

  “Uh, yes.” Agnes started to warm to one of her favorite topics: cooking. “I also make my own sauce from scratch, with lots of garlic.” She frowned. “I guess garlic wouldn’t bother you, since you’re not vampires.”

  “Agnes makes wonderful lasagna,” Marva chimed in.

  Pretty soon the elves had surrounded Agnes with hopeful expressions at the idea of real home cooking. Stasi mouthed that she was heading back to the apartment and left.

  Jake gently pulled on Blair’s arm. “Let’s get out of here while we can.” He drew her back to his truck. He looked at his vehicle. “It’ll start up now, won’t it?”

  “Oh.” She muttered under her breath and waved her hands over the hood. The engine started up immediately. “I just wanted some backup if they got rowdy… wait a minute!” She shrieked when he picked her up, planted her on the passenger seat, and quickly buckled her in.

  “Things are settled and Agnes is planning their dinner menu,” he told her, running around the hood and climbing in.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Back to my place. Any objection?”

  “Is your mother there?”

  “She was still having tea in Snow Farms’ Crystal Room when I left. And if she shows up at my place again, you have my permission to zap her back to… wherever you want her to go.”

  “Hm, very tempting. Her being up there isn’t far enough away for you, is it?” She stretched her arms over her head.

  “The other side of the world wouldn’t be far enough away,” Jake said grimly.

  Blair glanced down at her watch. “Tell you what, let’s go over to my place. Stasi put a roast in the crock pot early this morning and it should be ready soon.”

  Jake considered a moment, hunger winning out over lust. He wasn’t much of a cook. “My mouth’s watering already.”

  She smiled at him. “As long as you stay your nonfurry self. It’s nicer to sit across from you at the table than to have to put a bowl down on the floor.”

  He put the SUV in gear. “Sounds good to me. It’s been a long day.”

  Blair shuddered. “You’re telling me.” She half turned in the seat and leaned against the window. “I’m never opening the door in the morning again. So how did your meeting with your mother go?”

  “Let’s just say it was a meeting I don’t care to repeat.”

  “I don’t care what you say. You had to have been adopted.”

  Chapter 9

  Blair was relieved that the elf situation had calmed down without any bloodshed or violence—namely, violence on her part, because she had been ready to turn everyone into toads, and that was exactly the kind of thing that kept getting her banishment extended. Jake had shown up just in time. She had never needed the big he-man figure to ride in on a white horse—or silver truck, as the case may be—but she was glad that he had arrived to back her up. And now that one situation had been taken care of, she was ready to move on to another. The one that had to do with Jake and the family that seemed to want him back. The hard part was getting Jake to talk about it. Once they reached Blair and Stasi’s apartment, she and Stasi urged him to sit while they made the final preparations for the meal.

  “So, Roan is your brother, and your mother is also up here now?” Stasi asked, peeling potatoes while Blair dug out the vegetable steamer. Bogie floated around their ankles in a never-ending figure eight.

  “That’s it.” Jake accepted the cup of coffee Blair set in front of him. “I’m sure Blair told you that she met her.”

  “I said very little.” Blair knew she was caught in a lie, but when all was said and done, Vera was Jake’s mother and she was trying very hard not to refer to the female Were in some pretty unladylike terms. “So what happened up there, other than the two of you sharing a pot of tea?”

  He looked at her steadily and she returned his look, not the least deterred by his glare. “I had coffee.”

  “I never did think you were the tea type. So what happened?”

  “You’re not going to let go of this, are you?”

  “Nope,” she said with a smile.

  “It’s one of her more annoying qualities,” Stasi informed him. “If you’d like, I could make up a list for you, for future reference. Anyway, you certainly won’t win this time, because I’d love to know all about it, too.”

  Jake groaned. “I used to have this nice quiet life.”

  “Yeah, well, consider it over,” Blair said cheerfully. “So tell all. Why did your mother come up here? I personally couldn’t see her out on the slopes or even sitting in front of the fireplace with a hot toddy. And don’t say it’s so she can visit her baby boy, because after this morning’s conversation, I know better.”

  “Fine, I’ll tell you everything after dinner,” Jake said. “You’ll just have to hold on to your curiosity until after you’ve fed me.”

  The two witches exchanged a silent conversation.

  “Okay,” Blair agreed, although she looked as if she couldn’t wait that long.

  “Deal,” Stasi said, setting a pan filled with p
otatoes on the stove, then pulling cans of beef gravy out of the cabinet. She glanced at the large crock-pot and its contents. “We could end up with a lot of leftover roast.”

  “Oh, no!” Blair immediately knew what she was thinking and was determined to nip that thought in the bud. “They’re Agnes’s problem, not ours. She should have listened to us and not blindly gone ahead and dealt with Mickey. If she had, we wouldn’t have all those elves running around.”

  “I’ve never heard of Mickey Boggs. Who is he, besides someone who sent the elves from Hades to our formerly quiet town?” Jake said, smiling his thanks as Blair refilled his coffee cup.

  “He’s a troll that runs a temporary employment service for elves, dwarves, sprites, pixies, and whatever else needs a job. He figures if you qualify as a supernatural creature, you qualify to work for his agency,” Blair explained. “There’s a lot of seasonal work for elves between Christmas, spring festivals, summer carnivals, and even the fall season, and he manages to keep them busy, even though the ones he sends out are pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel. He’ll hire the ones that nobody else would touch.”

  “How can he stay in business if he’s sending out creatures like the ones he sent up here?”

  “He’s very skilled with the terms of his contract,” Stasi said. “All Agnes asked for was elves. Since cute-type elves will go to a more reputable agency, he sends what he has. And since technically he sent elves up here, he’s not in breach of his contract. Plus, there are always new suckers looking for a deal; he doesn’t have to rely on repeat customers.”

  “Is there any chance he had no idea they were so disgusting?” Jake sipped the hot brew.

  “No chance at all. Mickey knows exactly what he’s doing.” Blair kept an eye on the cooking potatoes while mixing up corn bread and sticking a pan in the oven. She knew with Jake’s Were metabolism, he’d be one hungry puppy and there really wouldn’t be as much roast leftover as Stasi thought there would be. Her lips twisted in a brief smile.

  “What’s so funny?” Jake narrowed his gaze at her.

  “You wouldn’t find it as amusing as I do.”

  “Meaning it has to do with me.” His nostrils flared when Stasi lifted the crock-pot lid and checked the contents. The rich scent of cooking meat filled the air.

  “Everyone needs a hobby.”

  Jake settled back and watched the easy way Stasi and Blair worked in the kitchen, managing never to get in each other’s way as they quickly worked to finish dinner preparations and get the food on the table. Conversation was relaxed and filled with laughter. The teasing soon went three ways, with the two witches making him a part of it. He’d known Blair and Stasi for as long as he had lived in Moonstone Lake, and worked for both of them off and on. He’d sensed their power right away, but was polite enough to wait until they let him in on their secret. But now he saw them as the fascinating women they were. He saw that Blair’s sense of humor had some interesting quirks, and that Stasi wasn’t the sweet pushover so many thought she was. He also knew just how tough these witches were and what they could do when their backs were against a wall. He had to admit he was happy to have them on his side.

  Blair had kicked off her boots and Fluff and Puff’s happy chatter joined the group as she padded barefoot around the kitchen.

  “They still haven’t left your ankle?” Jake asked.

  “I think they’re enjoying their spot too much, even if they complain when I wear boots.” Blair glanced down at Fluff and Puff, who threw her air kisses.

  “But they’re slippers,” Jake pointed out, and was immediately assaulted by Fluff’s and Puff’s loud and energetic protests. “Sorry guys.” He was quick to apologize, especially since they looked as if they were considering bolting from Blair’s ankle and attaching themselves to his. He growled at them, but they didn’t seem the least bit intimidated.

  “Maybe we could send them up to visit Vera.” Blair’s smile widened at the idea. Ear-piercing chatter from the floor level let her know it wasn’t a good idea. “No offense, but they don’t like your mother either.”

  “We promised to leave that subject alone until after dinner,” Stasi reminded her, as she carefully pulled the roast out of the crock-pot and set it on a serving platter while Blair used a bit of magick to mash the potatoes while she rescued the corn bread from the oven and quickly whipped up honey butter.

  “Here, make yourself useful.” Blair handed flatware and plates to Jake. He was quick to set the table, since the more he smelled the food the hungrier he grew. Horace waddled in, having conveniently waited until dinner was ready, and they sat down.

  Two bites into his meal, Jake was sighing with bliss. He only cooked for himself enough to keep from starving and avoid eating at Grady’s or Ginny’s Sit ’N Eat every day. He realized he could get used to this sense of togetherness real fast. Especially if that included seeing Blair sitting across from him at every meal.

  He was surprised to see a hint of pink come into her cheeks as he looked across the table at her. And if he wasn’t mistaken, there was a hint of something else more elemental in her eyes that had him momentarily forgetting his food.

  “Behave, you two.” Stasi smiled as she cut her meat.

  “As if you do when Trev is here.” Blair turned back to her own food. “I swear it’s amazing the kitchen doesn’t go up in flames.”

  “But nothing good ever happens out here,” Horace groused from his side of the table, where he was ensconced in a special gargoyle highchair. He dug into his food with such gusto that the others tended to ignore his less than perfect table manners or the food dropping to the floor that Bogie quickly snapped up. “I always know when something’s going on because they wrap me up in a deaf and mute spell.”

  “Poor baby,” Blair said with a lack of sympathy. “It sucks to be you.”

  “So where did you live before you came to Moonstone Lake?” Blair asked, dipping into the honey butter for her corn bread.

  “I lived in Oregon for awhile. Then I moved to a small town in the upper part of Washington and later on I found a nice place north of San Francisco. I moved around so people wouldn’t notice I don’t age that fast. I’d get new ID, sometimes a new name.”

  “How old are you?” Blair asked curiously, casting out her senses but unable to discover what she wanted to know.

  He grinned at her question. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

  “Never ask a witch her true age,” she said primly, then looked down when Fluff and Puff started to speak up. “If you say one more word, I’ll start wearing socks 24/7, and I’m talking nasty, itchy wool socks.”

  The bunny slippers knew when to be quiet.

  “Weres don’t age as quickly as humans. I was around for the World Wars. Both of them.”

  Stasi considered him for a minute. “Under 100?”

  He nodded. “Just barely.” He cast Blair a heated look. “I never did it with an older woman before. I’ve got to admit it was pretty hot.” He grinned, enjoying her obvious discomfiture.

  Blair’s cheeks flushed dark pink again and Stasi looked away to hide her grin.

  “I’m always a cradle snatcher.” Blair wasn’t happy with herself for allowing him to get under her skin. Well, at least that way. The further they got into their meal, the higher her impatience level rose. She was itching to know what had happened at the resort and she knew she wouldn’t get a word out of Jake until after dinner. And watching him nibble on his food, she’d swear he was deliberately dawdling.

  “Great roast, Stasi,” he said, taking a third helping of the meat and mashed potatoes.

  Blair narrowed her gaze. Yep, he was definitely taking his time. Damn him!

  “Any dessert?” he asked with a hopeful look.

  “Later.” Blair picked up the plates while Stasi gathered up the serving dishes. “You’re safe from KP duty tonight, so be the big he-doggy and relax in the family room while we take care of this. Then we can sit down and chat.” She issu
ed him a look that warned him that his time for putting it off was growing shorter by the second.

  Jake was no fool. He took his coffee and escaped to the family room with Bogie and Horace right behind him. He settled into one of the oversized chairs and stretched his legs out in front of him. A sense of contentment washed over him and he felt ready to doze off with the soft chatter between Blair and Stasi as background. His extra sharp hearing allowed for eavesdropping, but the idea of a short nap was more tempting.

  “So what’s Blair like in the sack?” Horace asked, jerking Jake out of his light doze. “Hey!” He slapped his smoking horns with his claws and spun around to glare at Blair, who stood in the doorway.

  “Warning one, Horace,” she told the gargoyle, pointing her forefinger upward and blowing on it as if it were a smoking gun. “Do you really want to try for two?”

  “No.” He catapulted himself onto the loveseat and plopped down on a pillow with his arms crossed in front of him. If it was possible for gargoyles to sulk, Horace was turning it into a fine art. “There are days she’s really evil,” he grumbled as Blair turned back to the kitchen.

  The clatter of dishes was short-lived and Jake could hear the dishwasher humming away as Blair and Stasi walked in. Blair carried a bottle of Baileys liqueur while Stasi had two coffee mugs hanging on her fingers and a coffee carafe in her other hand.

  “Thank you, ladies, for a great meal,” Jake smiled.

  “You’re very welcome. And now dinner’s over. Time to talk.” Blair poured Baileys into his mug while Stasi freshened his coffee.

  He took a sip, allowing the mixture of caffeine and alcohol to warm his veins. First he told Stasi what he’d told Blair the night before, then continued into his meeting with his mother.

  “Vera’s now the Alpha female. Since she’s into power, I’m sure it didn’t take her long to seduce Baxter and then fight his Alpha female for the position. Suzanne was only Alpha for as long as she was because Baxter thought highly of her and she truly cared about the Pack. Vera said Suzanne stepped down in 1943,” he ignored their looks of surprise when he mentioned the year, “but I know it really means that Vera deliberately called her out even though she knew Suzanne wasn’t a true fighter. Vera wouldn’t want to intimidate Suzanne into just handing over the pendant. She’d want to show dominance, demonstrate that she was the better Were for Alpha female. From what I remember of Suzanne, she would give up her position rather than fight over it. She always kept the Pack’s well-being foremost in her mind. She might have thought they’d be better off with a more dominant female Alpha.” His face twisted in a grimace. “Baxter’s Pack is one of the largest in the country and he’s always ruled it with an iron paw. Everyone knew that Suzanne was his soft spot. She was more a mother figure than a ruling Alpha, and Vera always hated her for having the position that she felt she deserved.” He looked down at his hands twisting in aimless patterns as they hung between his spread thighs.