Page 6 of Lycans & Lattes

She snorted. “A fairly normal occurrence in these parts.”

“Yeah, well. I think my mystic shadow is a little more aggressive than my usual tolerance.” I shoved the paper deeper into my pocket for good measure.

Avery’s brow wrinkled. “Maybe ask the witches for a new warding spell on the café, just to be safe.”

I glanced over to the apothecary, where my baby sister was giggling with Jordyn and Iris. It wouldn’t be hard to mention it to any of them. But after everything the town had dealt with over the last year, it felt like a small note would be low on the list of threats.

“What’s this about warding spells?” Agnes asked her daughter as she walked by, carrying a wicker basket of rather warty gourds.

“Willow’s got a ghost situation.”

I waved my hands. “I’ve got it under control.”

The last thing I needed was for Agnes to make my molehill of an issue into a mountain. The residents of Maple Hollow were closer than people in your average town. A few suspicious deaths and paranormal mysteries brought a community together like that.

Agnes gave me a sharp look, a different kind of severe than her goth daughter. No, she had the countenance of a Victorian dowager, high-necked black lace top and all. “Don’t be too proud to ask for help,” she admonished. “That’s how people get possessed around here.”

I gulped. “Possessed?”

I was currently trialing a new cinnamon spice mocha recipe; I didn’t have time to be possessed by a vengeful spirit. No, that would need to wait until the busy season ended. Nothing like a good exorcism during Christmas to reset for the new year.

Across the square, Jordyn and Harlow had dropped the pretense of decorating. Harlow toyed with the hem of Jordyn’s cable-knit sweater, the two of them looking more like a pair of teenagers outside of Maple Hollow High and less like two grown-ass adults.

I rolled my eyes.

“Yep,” Avery quipped, following my line of sight. “Nothing grosser than two people in puppy love, especially when you’re chronically single. Me, not you,” she added hastily.

“Both of us,” I lamented.

“I thought you and Wyatt were . . .”

I shook my head. “Nope.”

“I stand corrected.”

“You can trust me to never be all disgustingly sugar sweet and loved up like that, even if I do get into a relationship one day.”

“Same.” She stretched out her hand for me to shake. “It’s a deal.” I eyed her, and she guffawed. “I’m a vampire, not a demon. It’s not that kind of deal.”

“Right,” I replied with an awkward chuckle, shaking her hand. “It’s a deal.”

4

Wyatt

Rituals in my world were important.

Wolf packs were more than family, they were survival, and my pack took great pride in everything that kept us together. After all, a lone wolf didn’t survive long.

So, we maintained our traditions, no matter what.

I sat in the barber chair at Luna’s for one such grooming tradition that never quite made sense. The head hairdresser, Luna, aka Lulu, was my cousin, and she did just as good a trim as Auntie Edie. But since Lulu was younger and wasn’t a full werewolf, she wasn’t trusted to tame the mop on the future alpha’s head. So Aunt Edie was doing the job. My hair had unfortunately become a talking point around the pack, and I knew there would be speculation that I’d finally cut it short. How depressing that my hair length was considered news. We really needed another mysterious disappearance or something to keep people entertained.

Because the subject of a simple haircut was so controversial, I tended to book my appointments after hours. A perk that I didn’t mind taking advantage of if it meant my mother wouldn’t be breathing down my cloak-wrapped neck.

Aunt Edie was my mother’s younger sister, and like Eloise, she’d been spared the enormous responsibilities that had befallen her older sibling. Not that I was bitter. I’d been in Eloise’s corner when she’d broken the news to our mother that she was going away for college. There was nothing I wanted more than to see my little sister live her life without being forced into a box she didn’t fit in.

While I didn’t share the dream of leaving Maple Hollow, I supported my sister’s wishes. And I respected her even more when she returned with a change of heart and her head held high, so unafraid to try and learn and try again.