He cracks half a smile and then his expression changes. “Just hoping it’s a son that marries a Fae female, not a daughter marrying a Fae male. Fae males are notorious for being assholes that cause havoc wherever they go.”
“Ohmigosh. I was dying to talk about that whole thing before we mated and I’m so glad I can talk about it now. I’m going to dig in and find out everything I can about the Fae. Weird that we’ve had no contact with them yet it’s clear we’re going to be entrenched in that world eventually.”
***
Ivy, Amie, and Stacy are on the back porch swing eating toasted marshmallows. I didn’t factor thaw time into the carrot cake so that’s still on the counter inside. We decided we’ll eat it here tomorrow, having coffee together in the afternoon for a“We Must Chat Book Club” chat which will hopefully also be a post-mortem of all this stuff. Because we’re hoping it’ll be over tonight.
Erica and Riley are on a blanket on the grass. I’m on Jase’s lap on a lawn chair beside the fire pot, toasting a marshmallow on a stick.
Linc, Mase, Grey, and Tyson were playing cornhole until a few minutes ago, but now that it’s getting dark, they’ve wrapped it up and are also standing by the fire.
“Take that in for Halla, will you, please?” I ask Linc as he’s about to go into the house.
He takes the stick from me. “Sure thing.”
Aphra and her daughter Halla as well as Ronnie and Dani are inside with Mitch, so they won’t be seen if they happen to fly another drone overhead.
Joel has been in the house, eyes on the cameras.
Cat’s at home but on standby if, for any reason, someone needs medical help. And Brody is back at the town hall with his people and there are additional alphas including most of the retired council alphas there keeping watch in case anything goes south with someone trying to enter the village at the four corners.
I’ve already texted Cicely to fill her in. She and Jared are out at his trailer tonight, but told us to consider themselves on standby.
Erica answers her ringing phone and her body language instantly changes. She listens for a minute, says, “Okay,” and hangs up.
“Everyone casually but quickly move inside,” she says.
Nobody asks questions.
Tyson tosses a bucket of water on the fire as the girls on the swing mosey inside.
Jase and me follow. The other guys are behind us.
Once we’re inside, Erica says, “Vivi just had a premonition of flowers suddenly blooming. Green trumpet flowers.”
***
Not even ten minutes later, Tyson alerts us because he’s by the window and has just watched a riot of trumpet blooms erupt. They’re filling the grass around the perimeter of Tyson and Ivy’s house, even drooping into the lake on one side, which would’ve meant that if Aphra and Erica hadn’t worked together to detoxify them, they would right now be leaching toxins into our lake as well as our river, likely also contaminating the village’s drinking water.
She not only wants all our alphas disabled, she gives no fucks about anyone else here, no care for the environment, either.
We triggered a code alert going out to everyone in the pack to stay indoors. In case Alta is watching, they’ll hopefully assume everyone is inside and ill.
Thankfully, nobody is sneezing, nobody feels the effects of the toxins, so they were neutralized, but I know Jase and the other guys are less than happy that Dr. Blakely is still here because Jase says we’ll have to play things “by the book.”
On our way over here, he told me that after the other nonsense we already had with Aviva Starling, if the SCC doesn’t dispense adequate justice here, our council will do it ourselves. Because if we don’t, we’ll continue to be targets for power-hungry supernaturals.
The magic in our cave is abundant and important and if charges are filed against Alta for this while she does something inside thecave behind the waterfall, we’ll have to safeguard it even more than we do now. Because the SCC lists charges filed with case details on the secure archives’ server. I know this for a fact as I’ve spent countless hours reading files on that server.
***
Five minutes ago, a small drone flew low, along the waterline out behind Tyson’s house.
We’ve been sitting in the dark inside the dining room, watching the lake. It’s exactly an hour after those flowers have bloomed when we see a little light on the water. A boat.
My heart stutters. It’s all happening.
“What about Erica?” I say aloud.