“Fucking Christ! You really think we need to talk to a witch about this?” I disliked involving another species in ware business. It felt wrong and I hated giving them power over us like this.
“Can you think of a better idea?” My VP calmly replied.
I couldn’t and we both knew it. “Who are you contacting?” I mulishly groused instead.
“Mad Dog,” Blitz returned, not looking up from his screen.
I frowned. “Last time I checked, he doesn’t moonlight as a witch, Brother.”
Giving me a hard stare, Blitz slowly explained, “Mad Dog isn’t a witch, but he spends more time with one than any other ware I know. And she’s the most trustworthy witch I can think of. Plus, she can keep her fucking mouth shut with the best of them. Remember that situation in Dalton County last year? I haven’t heard a peep about that incident and Kierston saw the whole thing go down. She’s as dependable, trustworthy, and loyal as any ware I know.”
Fuck! How could I have forgotten about Kierston? I guess because I was so muddled with hormones and rage, I wasn’t thinking straight anymore.
“Kierston’s awfully young,” I noted, doubt edging into my voice. “You think she knows about stuff like this? That she can help us?”
“Only one way to find out,” Blitz fired back, texting Mad Dog to get his ass out of bed and downstairs pronto.
An hour later, Mad Dog, Blitz and I were riding over to Chubs. The bar wasn’t open this early in the day, but Kierston was already there, prepping for the upcoming evening.
Mad Dog didn’t bother to knock. He simply keyed the lock and pushed the door open like he owned the place.
When Blitz raised a questioning brow at him, the ware shrugged. “I sometimes help out around here and it’s just easier that I have a key.”
“Makes sense,” Blitz said, though the smile on his lips said it really didn’t.
“Fuck you, asshole,” Mad Dog snapped, calling out Kierston’s name as we strolled inside.
Kierston was behind the bar stacking glasses. The petite brunette waved us over when she saw us. “Just what I need. Some muscle to help me with my afternoon delivery.”
Mad Dog wordlessly circled the bar and ordered, “Go sit down. I’ll do the rest of this while you help Ace,” and immediately began cleaning and stocking the remaining glassware.
If I didn’t personally know how much a woman could change your fucking world, I wouldn’t have believed what I was seeing. Mad Dog, one of the toughest men I’d ever known, acted like a bona fide fucking gentleman around Kierston. If I wasn’t already aware of how bad he had it for the little witch, I’dhave been damn sure after witnessing this obvious display of consideration.
Kierston didn’t argue. She handed Mad Dog her rag and came out from behind the bar, pointing us to a scarred but clean table near the window. “Have a seat,” she offered, before taking one herself.
Blitz and I scraped back chairs as the pretty witch waited patiently for us to get comfortable.
“What’s so important you guys couldn’t ask me about it over the phone?” She asked, hands folded on the tabletop like we were at a business meeting.
There was no delicate way to put this, I just needed to just come straight out with it. “Do you remember the girl I was talking to the other night? The one you helped to her car when Kane and his boys showed up?”
Kierston searched her memory and nodded. “The pretty blond who looked more innocent than a Disney princess? Yeah, what about her?”
“She’s a ware. A sleeper omega, actually. And she’s going to be my mate.” How was that for straight forward?
“Wow, I had no idea,” Kierston slowly spoke, eyebrows raised. “So, what’s that got to do with me?”
Resting my weight onto the table, I explained how Cat didn’t know any of this. That I was operating off her scent, what it did to me, my instincts, and Kane’s comments that first night. That we’d hooked up, and it hadn’t triggered her change, and I wanted to know why.
“You want to know if I know how to trigger her change? Is that right?” Kierston summarized when I’d finished.
“That’s about the gist of it, yeah,” I agreed, feeling foolish, but hopeful she could shed some light on this otherwise dark situation.
Mad Dog, finished stocking the bar, brought over drinks and distributed them around the table. Of course, he knew what both Blitz and I wanted. But I noticed he’d gotten seltzer water with a slice of lemonandlime for Kierston. Oh yeah, he was pussy whipped for sure.
“I don’t know much about latent wares,” Kierston confessed, after taking a contemplative sip of her drink, “let alone sleeper wares. “But I know that they’re like snowflakes. No two are alike. They each respond to something different when being triggered. I think it has to do with their combined human and ware genes. They don’t follow the same pathway, as let’s say, a typical shifter coming of age does.”
“Can you tell us anything on the topic?” Blitz pressed, after seeing the disappointment register on my face.
