“A sea dragon…thought to be extinct, but turns out he and his people weren’t,” Carson said.
“The vampires were killed but the two witches escaped and I’ve been searching for them ever since,” Mystia explained. “There’s been no trace of them until now.”
“The fermenting tanks,” murmured Remy.
“They’re the stainless-steel ones, right?” asked Carson.
“Yes,” Remy said. “Someone destroyed the wine in seven of them by putting toxic bugs into the wine. It wasn’t the first act of sabotage but it was the most recent.”
“When did it happen?” asked Carson.
“It was discovered the morning you arrived in France,” Remy said.
“And the other times?” asked Carson.
“Sporadically…no set pattern. It began shortly after Fionn’s father died,” explained Remy. “I did a spreadsheet documenting the date, the sabotage, the time it was discovered and the cost of the damage.”
“Was black magic used with the others?” asked Mystia.
“Not that I know of, but it might have been,” Remy replied. “Initially, I thought it was an accident one of the workers was trying to cover up.”
“Then what made you think the latest incidents of the wine being contaminated involved black magic?” asked Mystia.
“I didn’t initially, but something didn’t look right to me, so I touched the side of one tank and was knocked on my ass by the residual black magic left there,” Remy explained.
Nodding, Mystia hid her surprise at Remy’s ability to detect something as complex as black magic, especially since he was only a low-level magic user when it happened. “Would you show me tomorrow which tank it was?”
“Certainly,” Remy said.
“Thank you,” Mystia said, as she got up. “I’ll be right back…I just want to get your books.”
“Mystia? Are you going to stay here tonight or go back to Jimmy in California?” asked Carson.
“If it’s all right with you, I’ll stay,” Mystia replied, “and use the bedroom Fionn gave me.”
“That’s fine,” said Remy, trying to hide a yawn. “See you shortly, then.”
Once Mystia vanished, Carson rose before pulling Remy up into his arms. “Babe, go up to bed, I’ll wait here for the books. Okay?”
“Uh-huh.” Giving his mate a sleepy smile, Remy headed for the stairs. Exhaustion hit all at once; the only thing he wondered was why it had taken that long. Stumbling up the stairs, he didn’t bother turning on the hallway light as he usually did, knowing Carson would handle it when he came up. Opening his bedroom door, Remy headed straight for their bed, throwing himself down on it and closing his eyes.
~/~/~/~/~
Pulling into his assigned space at the state park, Sawyer turned off the engine, remaining in the driver’s seat for a minute. He’d done it! Left his family behind and, for the first time in his life he was free to do whatever he wanted to without Hunter’s cautions, Mason’s disapproval, or Mac’s worry, staring him in the face every time he turnedaround. He loved his brothers but only Quin had never passed judgment on him, though it was anyone’s guess what his baby brother really thought of him since he spent most of his time reading romance novels.
Climbing out of his seat, Sawyer pulled the trip folder from his bag before sitting down at the dinette. Searching through the different documents, he finally found what he was looking for. The first thing on his list was renting a jeep, the perfect vehicle for him and his surfboard. Once arrangements were made to have it delivered to him in an hour or so, he proceeded to call the other numbers on his list. Grinning at the end of an hour, he was pleased with what he’d accomplished.
Tomorrow, his instructor would meet him on the Huntington Beach pier at ten in the morning, which meant he needed to buy his surfboard that afternoon. Checking the time, he got up, deciding to grab a bite to eat before his jeep showed up, though, depending on what was in the cupboard, he might have to forgo that. That was another thing he’d have to do, food shopping, either tonight or tomorrow, after his lesson.
Pulling open the fridge door, Sawyer’s eyes bulged at all the food inside—even a cold can of Coors with a note attached. Removing it, he popped open the beer and took a swig as he read the note.
Dear Sawyer,
I decided my gift to you would be a fully stocked kitchen but don’t worry, I didn’t do it by myself. Theo helped me and he also made some meals for you. They’re in the freezer and he made these adorable labels which have instructions on how to heat them up. I asked him to make each one big enough for two and yes, I know, you are alone, but Ki told me there are so many sexy surfers, Iwas sure you’d find someone to share your meals with…and maybe your bed. I know this can happen because it was in one of my books.
But if for some reason, you are unable to find someone, please let me know because my friends and I can do it for you so you don’t get too lonely. Ki showed me an app that can tell him where the closest available guy is. Isn’t that the neatest thing ever! I’m not sure it would work because I’m here and you are there, but maybe I can send you a link for the app and then you can do it yourself.
Oh, and if you are wondering what I’d like as a gift, please get me five, pink t-shirts with ‘LOVE QUEENS’ in big letters. Please don’t tell anyone about them because I want to surprise my friends. Well, that’s all for now. Make sure you take some pictures of those sexy surfers Ki told me about and send them to me so we can drool over them.
