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“Keep the humans locked up and fed,” I said. “We’re hiring a witch to see if we can crack them.”
“Don’t we have enough witches in this town already?” Blake asked.
“Don’t push me again, Blake,” I said, then I turned to Zoe. “Make the call.”
ChapterThree
Morgan
I heldopen the door for the last few patrons to stumble out into the crisp, early morning air. There was a bite that hadn’t been there last night. As if fall was settling in early.
Soon, the snow would come in and it would be too cold to be outdoors for long. The thought sent me out of my bar, walking toward the alley next to the laundromat.
As I expected, a bundle of blankets was situated near the dumpsters. I approached quietly, then gently nudged the pile. “Mary, you doing okay?”
The blankets moved, and I took a step back, waiting for Mary to poke her head out and yell at me. She’d been sleeping in this alley as long as I could remember and every fall since I took over the bar, I started pestering her about moving indoors.
I saw the top of her head, then her eyes peeking through a hole in the blankets. “It’s getting colder.”
“Why do you think I have blankets?” she asked.
“You’re already burrowed under all the blankets you own and it’s not even snowing yet,” I said.
“Mind your own business, shiftless shifter,” she spat.
I ignored the insult. “The bar’s open when you’re ready. As always.”
She grunted, then tucked herself back under the blankets. I turned and headed back to Stella’s. I didn’t have another room to offer her, but I let her sleep in the bar when it was cold. She had a copy of my key. The only person besides Jasmine with one.
The first winter I ran this place, I’d found Mary nearly dead by the dumpster. After dragging her to the clinic, I found out she’d nearly frozen to death so I offered my bar. She refused, but I left her with a key anyway.
I never saw her in the bar, but I heard her come in, and sometimes, I heard her leave right at sunrise. It was probably too soon for her to give in and head for the warmth of the grimy bar, but I knew she’d sneak in sometime next month when the earth started to freeze every night.
Jasmine thought it was ridiculous that I let her have the key. But I knew it was the only way she’d accept my help. Mary was grumpy and rude, and she’d never admit she needed or even took my help. Giving her the freedom to sneak in and out helped her pretend she was on her own.
I could respect that. I had more than many with my bar and my tiny apartment upstairs. But I went through hell to earn it and though I’d accepted this business from my father, it was the only assistance I’d ever take from him. I’d turned down positions of power and high profile marriages and eventually, he’d stopped offering.
Stella’s was enough. It was home.
I locked the door and my shoes stuck to the floor as I walked. Wrinkling my nose, I made a note to mop in the morning. When I’d first opened this place, I cleaned every nook and cranny every night. It was just trashed again the next day when I opened and none of my patrons cared. So, now it was a weekly rotation of chores instead.
The stairs creaked as I made my way up to my apartment. It was sometime after two in the morning and I stifled a yawn as I reached the landing. We didn’t open until three in the afternoon, but I was still exhausted at the end of every day.
Jasmine’s door was open, and she burst through it, blocking my path to my own door. “What the fuck happened tonight?”
“I just went to check on Mary,” I said.
She shook her head. “One of these days, we’re going to wake up and find all our booze gone.”
“She’s never stolen from us. That would prove she’d been here,” I said. It was the same argument we’d had before.
“Forget her. That’s not what I’m talking about,” she said. “Owen and Suzanne?”
I grunted. “Not exactly what I want to talk about.”
“I thought he had at least a little taste,” she said.
“He’s a shifter.” I shrugged as if that was explanation enough.
