Ignoring was a step up from denying. “Did he manage to visit last night’s potential victim?”
“Yes. And he made the man a protection charm and warned him not to take it off unless he wanted to die.”
“Was Mal sober enough to take him seriously?”
“Maybe. He did make some damn comment about it being better to die than to live without his heart for the rest of his life.”
“Meaning she broke up with him?”
“Apparently he was a bit of a bludger.”
“If she was the one who did the leaving, why would our hone-onna be going after him?”
“Who knows?” Belle walked into the kitchen with two coffee mugs and carefully slid mine across the kitchen’s counter. “Maybe cheating men are actually rare in this reservation.”
“I’d like to think that’s true, but let’s face it, it won’t be.”
She raised an eyebrow. “That’s a rather cutting statement.”
“But nevertheless true, if the recent article they did in the Castle Rock Truth is anything to go by.”
Belle snorted. “And the Truth is so well known for its factual reporting of said truth.”
I grinned. “Well, yes, but in a reservation this large, there’d have to be more than three men who have strayed and subsequently suffered the breakup of their relationship.”
“On that, we can agree.” She leaned a hip against the counter. “How did last night go? Aside from being woken at an ungodly hour by our skeletal spirit, that is.”
I grimaced. “As well as you might expect.”
“So he didn’t talk about Mia at all?”
“As little as possible, and then we got sidetracked by sex.”
“Deliberately?”
“Yes.” I drank some coffee. “He will talk to her. Eventually. He has to.”
“Well, he actually doesn’t.”
I half smiled. “If he wants to move on with his life, he does.”
“That man does not want to move on. He’s rather content in the place he is right now.”
“So he’s said, several times, but we all know that won’t last.”
Belle sighed. “Sadly, no.”
I ignored the wash of sadness and picked up my knife again. At least if the tears started to roll, I could blame the damn onions. “I take it you’ve warned Monty not to go after the hone-onna alone if he does happen to find her location?”
“Indeed I did.”
“You think he’ll actually listen?”
“Given I threatened a weeklong sexual drought if he didn’t, I believe he will.”
I laughed, and the conversation moved on to the more mundane business of café running. Last night’s storm had continued unabated, so we didn’t get many customers in during the morning, and the lunch hour “rush” consisted of ten people. The place was absolutely empty when the bell over the door chimed and Ashworth walked in.
He glanced around in surprise and then said, his Scottish brogue particularly heavy, “Has that alpha werewolf bitch chased all your customers away? Because I’m more than happy to throw a curse or two her way in retaliation if you’d like.”
I laughed, walked over, and gave him a hug. I might not be able to confide in or even trust my own father, but Ashworth—and his partner, Eli—had quickly stepped into that breach. I really couldn’t imagine my life without them now.
“It’s the rain rather than the bitch, but I appreciate the offer. Would you like afternoon tea? We’ve a fresh batch of scones going to waste, and we’ve recently found a supplier who does clotted cream. Your opinion on whether it’s worth the expense would be appreciated.”
“Always willing to give an opinion, but you’d better make it tea for two. Eli is just parking the car.”
I turned, tucked my arm through his, and escorted him over to their usual table. “Is this just a social visit? Or business?”
“A bit of both, actually.”
“I’m not sure whether to be intrigued or concerned. Do you want coffee or tea today?”
“It’s a coffee sort of day, I’m thinking.”
“Then let me go grab everything, and I’ll be right back.”
Belle was already making their coffees, so I headed into the kitchen to plate up the freshly made scones, a couple of pots of jam, and the clotted cream.
When everything was on a couple of trays, we both headed over. Eli walked in just as we were placing everything on the table. He was almost the total opposite to Ashworth in looks; the latter was short and bald, with muddy silver eyes and very craggy features, whereas Eli was a tall, well-built, and very handsome man in his late sixties. His thick salt-and-pepper hair was neatly cut, and his eyes were bright blue.
He dropped a kiss on my cheek, gave Belle a quick hug, and then dragged out a chair and sat down beside Ashworth. “You’re spoiling us today—is there any particular reason?”
Belle sat down opposite him. “A desire for them not to end up in the bin.”
“Well, in that case,” Ashworth said, “you can wrap any unwanted ones up and we’ll pop them in the freezer for a rainy day. I dare say there’ll be plenty more of them over the next week or two.”
“If we only get a week or two of this shittiness, I’ll be ecstatic.” I picked up a scone, cut it in half, and slathered it with jam and cream. “So, let’s start with the business reason you’re here.”
“Heard on the grapevine we have a hone-onna in the reservation.” Ashworth sliced open a scone and loaded it up. “Is she magic capable?”
I nodded. “She’s attacked me a couple of times now.”
Eli grimaced. “They do tend to go after the strongest witch in any zone they hunt in and, if the wild magic is taken into consideration, you’re certainly that these days.”
After years of being considered an underpowered, somewhat useless witch by my parents, it was still a little difficult to accept the opposite was now true. That I was, in fact, more powerful than Monty, Eli, and Ashworth, even if I didn’t have the knowledge and skill to back it up. “Any idea why it would be hunting here?”
“No, and it’s extremely rare for them to be in a place so sparsely populated.” He shrugged. “Perhaps it was simply moving through and caught the scent of betrayal.”
“Or it could have been brought here by either a curse or a summoning,” Ashworth added. “The latter is extremely rare, because they’re hard spirits to summon, but it does happen.”
I frowned. “Why on earth would anyone willingly call such a creature into being?”
“Anger and grief often override sane thinking,” Eli said.
“A comment that would surely only apply to the very fragile of mind,” Belle said.
“You’d be surprised, lass.” Ashworth bit into his scone, and his expression dissolved into one of sheer bliss. “These are utterly divine. As is the cream.”
“Have either of you come across one of them before?” Belle asked.
Eli nodded. “When I was younger, and up in Canberra.”
There was something in the way he said “Canberra” that had my radar pinging. “Is Canberra the other reason you’re both here today?”