Page 26 of Of Magic and Murder

deputy gus rides again!

— gus

Cursebreaking is a skill I was born with. I really only blossomed into my powers as I came of age, but it’s not something I learned to do. It’s an ability I’ve always had, and it’s bothered me for two months that Riordan Lobo was the first curse that I wasn’t able to unravel within a week of first encountering it.

That’s not to say every curse I come across is easy. Some take hours to understand. Others take days before I can find the first weak spot, and the more powerful the witch who cast it, the harder it can be to unravel their work.

But there’s always a weak spot. There has to be. In my experience, every curse can be broken. It’s just up to a cursebreaker to figure out how. After all, a curse is dark magic forced onto someone else. No matter how tightly it’s bound, there should be a place where the victim ends and the curse begins.

Maybe it’s my fault. Maybe I let the way my nerves acted up whenever I was around him keep me from figuring out that spot. Then he was gone, but now that he’s back, this is the best opportunity to get a good look at it, especially if he’s aware that all I want to do is use my ability to stop it from hurting him.

I explained it as best I could, telling Riordan that I’ve always been able to tell that he had a curse placed on him, even if I didn’t know what it did—at first. I know what it does now, and if he wants me to break it, I’d be more than happy to.

Riordan doesn’t say anything at first. He definitely doesn’t shoot my request down right off the bat. In fact, he paid close attention to me while I spoke, and now that I’m done, he finally asks, “If I agree, you’ll want to do this now?”

I honestly didn’t think he would say yes. In my experience, it’s a lot easier to break the curse when the cursed person is an active participant. So, sure, I could watch him surreptitiously, trying to figure it out on my own, or he could let me in.

I nod. “If you don’t mind.” I pause, then add, “Call it professional curiosity if you like. I haven’t come across a curse that I haven’t wanted to take a shot at breaking.”

“Fine. But I don’t want an audience. If I let you do this, it’s just you and me. We can go out back. Sound fair?”

I know he doesn’t mean it the way it sounds, but I can’t help but flush. “If that’s how you want to do it.”

“You don’t have to worry about an audience,” calls out Max, and I nearly jump. Goddess damn it. So focused on Riordan, I kind of forgot that Max, Honey, and Gus have been watching our exchange like a, well, audience.

Riordan looks at his brother. “You leaving?”

“Yeah. Once Honey’s done here, we’re heading home.” Max sets his coffee cup down, grabbing the blue folder I only just noticed sitting on the edge of Honey’s display case. “I’ve got all of my written notes here. I want to go over everything again. See if I missed something.”

Riordan’s attention immediately drops to it. “Your notes on both murders?”

“Everything I have so far.”

“I would like to see them.”

Max gives him a look. Riordan gives him one right back.

I’ve never had a sibling of my own, so I don’t know if this is normal brotherly communication or an alpha wolf thing, but somehow an entire conversation seems to pass between them before Max tucks the folder beneath his arm and Riordan clears his throat, the first one to look away.

“Come see me tonight. I’ll cook dinner for you and Honey.”

From somewhere behind the counter, I hear an indignant squeak.

“And Gus,” adds Max.

Riordan’s lips twitch. And I’d be willing to bet it has as much to do with his brother’s offer as it does Gus’s insistence that he’s part of their family. After spending so much time around the shifters in Moonburrow, if there’s one thing I learned, it’s that food has meaning when shared between loved ones.

So when he says, “I’ll be there,” I know that whatever bad blood is between the Lobo brothers can be smoothed over with dinner.

I’m glad. For all that Riordan told us he came back because Max sent word that witches were being targeted, it’s impossible to miss what his absence has done to his younger brother. Max has spent the last two months being Moonburrow’s sheriff and the Moonshadow Pack’s Alpha without his chief deputy or Beta at his side, and now that Riordan is standing in front of him again, some of the tension Max wears so naturally seems to ease.

Riordan nods at me. “You ready?”

“Did you still want to go out back?”

“If that’s okay with you.”

I hesitate.