Pops is still nearby, leaning against the shaded side of the festival admin tent, talking to the festival organizer, Faye Mallory. She’s an Alpha, half his height and twice as terrifying, in her pressed lavender dress and wide straw hat pinned with fake violets. She looks like a benevolent granny until you get within biting range.
“Ford Maddox,” she calls, sharp as a crow. “You get that arch fixed?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She peers up at me over her glasses. “It better hold. I’ve got the Omega Winter Queen Pageant today, and it needs to go well.”
Pops chuckles under his breath. I catch his eye, and he just shakes his head, lips twitching.
“Morning, Ford,” comes another voice. Greer Danvers, the Alpha librarian, is passing by with her tablet clutched to her chest. She gives me a crisp nod, dark eyes flicking over the arch structure. “Registry flagged your scent again this morning. You walked past the entry sensors on Main.”
“Yeah?” I say, noncommittal. Greer’s got everyone’s scent memorized down to the undertones. Makes my skin itch.
“But your scent isn’t the most interesting. Not now, Miss Marsh is back in town…”
I grunt. “Heard.”
Greer hums, a tiny, amused sound before continuing toward the library booth. Pops watches her go, then turns back to me, cane tapping the dirt once.
“You gonna see her?”
I shrug, flexing my fingers around my wrench. “Don’t know yet.”
“Mm.” He nods toward Miss Faye, who’s now berating two teenagers for hanging bunting crooked. “Faye’s got her eyes on you, you know. Been saying for years you’re wasting yourself out here, hiding from your own scent match.”
“Don’t start,” I mutter.
“I ain’t starting. I’m just… observing.”
Before I can answer, Tansy Bellweather bustles up from The Gilded Lily’s catering tent, balancing three boxes of lemon bars on her hip. She catches sight of me and snorts.
“Well, if it ain’t Mister Pine Sap himself. How’s it going?”
I nod. “Yeah, busy as always. You know how it is.”
She squints up at me, eyes sharp as tacks over the rim of her cat-eye glasses. “Mmhmm. Busy fixin’ what ain’t yours to fix, probably.”
I grunt, rolling my shoulders. “Wood don’t gossip.”
“Neither do lemon bars, but they get people talking.” She jerks her chin toward the boxes. “You want one before I set these out?”
“No, ma’am. Thanks, though.”
Her brows lift. “That’s a first.”
“Not in the mood.”
She narrows her gaze suspiciously at me. Thank God I’m in demand today, so I don’t have to answer any awkward questions.
“Ford.” Pops cuts through the rising hum of festival chaos. “Help me over to the grandstand. Faye wants me to bless the stage or some nonsense.”
“Coming.” I nod to Tansy, stepping past her with a grunt. “Try not to poison anyone today.”
She cackles. “No promises, sweetheart.”
Yeah, that’s kinda how today feels, truth be told.
Anythingcould happen.
