Ghoul's Paradise (Spellbound Ever After Paranormal Cozy Mystery Book 7) Read online

  I crossed my arms. It seemed that he’d absorbed a lot of the bad things Lorenzo had said about me. “Then you understand very little and your memory is short.” I didn't bother to point out that I broke the curse on the town. It didn’t matter to someone like Travis. He would still find a way to make me feel ‘less than’ as a hybrid.

  “Nothing wrong with my memory. I’ve got a long one.” The werewolf pulled a fresh loaf from the oven. “I think this one might be ready if you want to take some to go.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “No, thanks. Come on, Sheriff. Let’s go. I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.”

  I parked my broomstick and shivered from the blast of cold air. Are you sure this is where we’ll find her? I asked. The sheriff and I decided it would be easier for me to fly alone to Pendulum Peak to catch up with Marla before we missed her. Like with Travis and Layla, speaking to her in isolation was preferable to doing it in front of pack members. We didn’t want to upset the werewolf community any more than they already had been.

  I see her now, Sedgwick said. Keep climbing.

  I guess this is one way to get rid of the baby weight.

  You could try not carrying the baby, the owl replied. She’ll never learn to walk if you carry her everywhere.

  I patted my stomach. Not what I meant and you know it. I trekked up the side of the steep hill and wrapped my sweater more tightly around me. If I’d realized how far Pendulum Peak actually was, I would’ve come better prepared. As my stomach rumbled, I chastised myself for not packing a snack like a good mother would.

  Oh, stop complaining, Sedgwick said. You look the same as you did before that alien invaded your body.

  Quiet, I said. I think I see her.

  She can’t hear me, remember?

  Oh, right. Well, be quiet anyway so I can’t hear you.

  Marla sat cross-legged on the peak. She was a muscular brunette with a deep tan and an air of self-confidence that radiated from her even with her eyes closed. As I crept forward, one eye snapped open.

  “Are you going to introduce yourself or do you have a death wish?” she asked evenly.

  “Sorry. Are you Marla?”

  She opened her other eye. “Were you expecting someone else at the top of this small mountain?”

  “Not really,” I said.

  Marla raised her arms over her head and stretched to one side and then the other. “I’m Marla. Let me guess.” She sniffed the air between us. “You’re that sorceress with the weird father and the disgustingly devoted husband.”

  “You can tell all that from the way I smell?”

  “You smell like diapers. I extrapolated the rest.” She uncrossed her legs and shook them before pulling herself to her feet. “What brings you all the way out here? You don’t look like much of a yogi.”

  “Can’t touch my toes to save my life,” I said. “What brings you all the way out here? This is the most isolated place in Spellbound.”

  She smiled. “That answers your question, doesn’t it?”

  “Don’t you get time to yourself at home?”

  “I’m a werewolf in a nosy pack, which is currently on the verge of a collective breakdown. This is the only way to retain my sanity.”

  I laughed. “It’s not as though you all live together under one roof.”

  “Thank the Goddess of the Moon or I would’ve offed myself a long time ago.” She bent over and placed her palms flat on the ground. Muscular and flexible. I felt a pang of envy and instinctively touched the extra layer around my middle. Even if I could bend far enough to touch my toes, my stomach would surely get in the way. I tried not to care about the change in my body, but I couldn’t help it. It was the not knowing whether I’d ever lose the last of the extra weight that plagued me. If I knew with certainty that it was only a matter of time, I could persevere without the anxiety.

  “I’m sorry about Lorenzo,” I said.

  She snorted. “You hiked all the way out here to tell me that?”

  “To be fair, I flew most of the way. My broomstick is parked down the slope.”

  Marla observed me closely. “Are you consoling every member of the pack in person? Is this some kind of community outreach program?”

  “I know you two were very close,” I said. I let the statement dangle between us without invoking her brother’s statement.

  The icy daggers she sent my way told me that she knew exactly what I meant. “What is it you’d like to know?” she asked. There was a hardness in her tone that made me shudder.

  “What was the state of your relationship when he died?”

  Her full lips formed a pout. “The only thing consistent about our relationship was its inconsistency.”

  “And you were off again when he died?” I began to shift from foot to foot in an effort to stay warm. Spellbound temperatures were normally quite mild, but this mountaintop seemed to have its own ecosystem.

  Marla inhaled deeply. “Yes, we were. He could be very cold when we were off, my Lorenzo. I found it best to avoid him until we cycled back together.”

  “Was he ever warm?” The question slipped from my lips before I could stop it. This wasn’t the time to be snide about Lorenzo.

  Marla’s eyes sparkled with sadness. “Oh definitely. I know it seems unlikely to someone on the outside, but Lorenzo could be very sweet when he was in the right frame of mind.”

  “Seems a shame that he had to be in the right frame of mind to treat someone he cared about in an acceptable way.”

  She averted her gaze. “He had his flaws, but he had a lot of good qualities too. Those were the ones I chose to focus on.”

  “Why were you off again this time?”

  Marla turned away and exhaled. “Who knows? I didn’t iron his shirt the way he wanted it. I lost his favorite cufflinks.” She shrugged. “He was very particular and he demanded excellence from everyone in his inner circle or you were ejected.”

  I hugged myself to stay warm. “And who else was in his inner circle?”

  Why are you so cold when you have that extra layer to keep you warm?

  This sweater is only cotton.

  I’m not talking about the sweater.

  My head jerked skyward and I narrowed my eyes at the owl in the treetop.

  “Is that your bodyguard?” Marla tilted her head toward the tree where Sedgwick was silently perched.

  “That’s my familiar, Sedgwick.”

  She gave a nod of approval. “He looks smart, but he’d look even smarter with a big pair of glasses.”

  Or I’d simply look focally challenged, Sedgwick said.

  I ignored him. “He can also be very particular.”

  If I demanded excellence, I would’ve fled the moment the curse was broken, Sedgwick said.

  Keep it up and I’ll coat your perch with glue. I turned back to Marla. “Did you make any overtures recently to get back together?”

  The werewolf pressed her lips together. “I might have made an effort.”

  “Define effort.”

  She crossed her arms. “I showed up at his house wearing nothing under my jacket.”

  “I guess it didn’t go well.”

  Her eyes closed. “No. He wouldn’t even let me in. It was humiliating.”

  A virile werewolf rejected the gift that Marla was offering? That seemed highly unusual. “Did he say why?”

  Her expression hardened. “No, but I smelled someone else.”

  Uh oh. “Was the scent familiar?”

  She shook her head. “Even worse, it didn’t smell like a werewolf.”

  I digested that bombshell. “But Lorenzo was all about the pack. He wouldn’t get involved with someone…With a non-werewolf.”

  Marla looked around as though there was any chance of someone overhearing us. “I think she’s a shifter.”

  “You didn’t ask questions, I take it?”

  “Lorenzo would sooner have ripped my throat out than admit he was involved with another species.”

  And this was her o
n-again, off-again boyfriend? Marla needed higher standards. “Do you know who it is?”

  “No, I didn’t want to know. The only thing I can tell you is that she’s a werebear. The smell was unmistakable.”

  “There can’t be too many of those in Spellbound.” I immediately began jogging my memory for names of any I knew.

  “Are you sure he was involved with her? Maybe a werebear had stopped by to sell Girl Scout cookies or something.”

  Marla’s nostrils flared at the memory. “He reeked of her.”

  Got it. “You didn’t try to find out more?”

  “No. In fact, I deliberately forgot that I ever smelled another soul at his house. There was no point in being dramatic. Lorenzo made a choice and there was nothing for me to do but respect it. We weren’t together at the time, so he didn’t owe me anything.”

  The trace of sadness made my chest ache. “That must’ve come as a shock to you.”

  She gave me a wry smile. “Which part? The other woman or the other species?”

  “The species,” I said. “Lorenzo gave Alex such a hard time about Darcy. It seems hypocritical that he would’ve had his own relationship outside the pack.” Of course, he’d also relented recently. Maybe this werebear had something to do with that decision.

  Marla jutted out her chin. “We don’t know for sure what it was. All I know is I smelled her all over him and he wouldn’t let me in. I did the math.”

  “I’m sorry that happened to you,” I said. “It can’t have been easy.”

  “It’s my fault for taking him for granted. I always assumed we’d find our way back to each other.” She stared at the ground. “And now I’ll never see him again.”

  “That’s why life’s moments are so precious. You never know when it’s going to throw you a curveball.”

  “Is that one of your human world expressions?”

  “Yes, it’s a baseball term. It means…”

  “I don’t care what it means,” she said. “The only thing I care about is that you find out who’s responsible for murdering Lorenzo.”

  “You’re not angry with him for getting involved with someone else?”

  “Of course I am, but I’m not a monster. I still want justice for him and, if it so happens that his new girlfriend is the culprit, all the better.”

  Marla was more matter-of-fact than I expected, more like Lorenzo himself than a typical werewolf. No wonder these two had a history. Thanks to their similarities, they probably both attracted and repelled each other, which was why the relationship never stabilized. Still, there was a softness to Marla that Lorenzo definitely lacked. Not that it was any of my business, but she seemed like she would’ve made a fine alpha.

  “How do you feel about Alex stepping into Lorenzo’s shoes?” I asked.

  She pinned me with a fierce gaze. “Are you asking about Alex the werewolf or Darcy’s boyfriend?”

  “Aren’t they one and the same?”

  Absently she kicked a stone and it went sailing down the slope, the impact producing a small cloud of dust and dirt. “I like Alex, honestly. I only wish he’d keep his relationship inside the pack. The alpha not only leads us, but signifies the future. How does the future look to us when the alpha’s offspring won’t be full-blooded wolves? It makes it seem like the rest of us werewolves aren’t good enough for him.”

  I took her point. “But Lorenzo never had children, never even married. How did that future look any better?”

  “Because the possibility still existed. The hope was there. Alex and a harpy…” She trailed off and shook her head. “That extinguishes the hope. And a future like that…I’ll be honest, it’s pretty bleak for the pack.”

  I rubbed my arms, the chill getting to my bones. Marla was right. The pack needed more than a good leader. They needed that positive vision for the future. Unfortunately, Lorenzo could no longer provide the pack with either. For the former alpha, the future had been extinguished and, with it, that coveted flicker of hope.

  Chapter Ten

  Thanks to my early rendezvous with Travis and Marla, I was able to arrive at the office before anyone else. I couldn’t stop thinking about Layla and her weights and Marla and her yoga. Even Josie had a slim build like I used to have. I envied all of them. All I wanted was to lose the extra pounds around my middle. I felt like a snowman—and not the adorable kind with a top hat and a button nose, but one of those misshapen snowmen that kids without parental direction make. Lopsided lumps and a patch of dog urine in the mix. I hated feeling so unattractive.

  I strengthened my resolve to conjure a spell before Baxter arrived for our next appointment. My own house was too busy and I didn’t have time to go to the secret lair or reserve a room at the academy. I wanted to do this quickly and not agonize over it. It was the spell for Astrid that I had to agonize over. I only hoped that someone didn’t walk in too soon and disrupt the spell. At least I knew it wouldn’t be Josie. I’d made certain to hide this meeting with Baxter from her and Althea had only been too happy to be complicit.

  I sat at my desk and concentrated, clutching Tiffany in my hand. My wand was a little out of use because I’d been spending far more time focusing on Diana than magic. As far as I was concerned, it was a fair trade because my daughter was her very own brand of magic.

  I practiced the words in my head all the way through before committing them to my lips. When I finally felt ready, I focused my will, letting the energy build inside me. I relaxed my shoulders and said, “Like a noodle of spaghetti…”

  That was as far as I got because the door opened to reveal Althea. She was so startled to see someone that she nearly dropped her cup of coffee. The snakes writhed and hissed under her headscarf. Before I could react, I felt the magic bleed from my body into the wand. It was too late to stop the spell—or whatever version of the spell had taken hold. My arm went limp and my body slid off the chair and onto the floor.

  Althea rushed over and crouched beside me. “Emma, what happened?”

  Thankfully, my lips still worked. It was just my body that was out of order. “I was in the middle of a spell. I didn’t expect you here so soon.”

  She examined my prostrate body. “Are you hurt? Do I need to call a healer?”

  “No, the spell should wear off shortly. I didn’t finish it, so it seems to have only taken into account the first part of what I’d said.”

  “And what was that? Turn your legs to jelly?”

  I managed a smile. “No, my body is apparently going to be like a noodle for the next half an hour or so.”

  The Gorgon frowned. “Won’t that interfere with your next appointment with Baxter?”

  “No, I’ll be fine. I can ask questions from the floor. I’ll tell him I threw my back out. He’ll believe it.”

  She tried to push me to a seated position. “Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t conduct business from the floor. At least let me help you into your chair.”

  “There’s no point. I’ll just keep sliding down. My spine isn’t going to work. I’m basically like one of your snakes.” On cue, they hissed in response to my statement, probably welcoming me to their pit.

  “What on earth kind of magic were you doing anyway? Shouldn’t you be saving that for the academy?”

  “It’s of a personal nature.”

  Althea seemed to sense that I was withholding something. “What kind of personal magic do you need to do in secret in the office? You’re not trying to hide another pregnancy, are you? Because I barely handled the last one.”

  “I’m not trying to hide a pregnancy.” I paused for a beat. “I might be trying to hide evidence of pregnancy though.”

  Her brow creased. “What do you mean, hon?”

  “I want my slender noodle body back.”

  Althea started to chuckle. “You were doing a spell to get your pre-baby baby body back?”

  “I challenge you to say that five times fast.”

  “Emma.” She shook her head, smiling. “You’re being too hard on
yourself, as usual. You run yourself ragged, worrying about everyone all the time. Don’t add body anxiety to your list.”

  “What if I gain so much weight that I don’t look like myself anymore? What if Daniel stops seeing the woman he married?”

  “Girl, that angel loves you more than life itself. He is not going to love you any less because there’s more of you, which there really isn’t by the way. Sure, you have a few extra pounds you’re carting around, but you only just came back to work from maternity leave. Give yourself time to adjust to everything. Your life has changed forever and so have you.”

  I blinked back tears. Unfortunately I couldn’t wipe them away because I couldn’t move my spaghetti arm. “You’re so wise. Like an owl with oversized glasses.”

  The Gorgon shot me a quizzical look.

  “Nothing. Forget it.”

  She put her hands on her hips. “Baxter will be here soon. Why don’t we come up with a plan?”

  We managed just in time. The front door opened and Baxter poked his head through the doorway. “I’m not late, am I?”

  Althea stood behind me and moved my arm in some semblance of a wave. “Come on in,” I said. I was so relieved that Josie wasn’t here to witness this. It was embarrassing enough having to enlist Althea’s aid. At least the Gorgon was strong for her age and would have no problem keeping me in an upright position. Not too much movement would be required during the meeting and I’d try to plow through my notes quickly.

  Baxter slumped in the chair across from me. “What do we need to talk about anyway? I already told you everything.”

  “We still need to prepare your defense,” I said. Althea leaned over me and opened the file. Then she tilted my head down so that I could read it. “If you say you were home alone during the relevant timeframe, then we need to figure out how we can provide evidence of that. If we rely on their word against yours, I’m afraid that won’t be much help to your case.”

  “How can we provide evidence? That’s like proving a negative.” He seemed to notice the personal space issue with my assistant for the first time. “Um, do you two always work this close together?”