Alpha… the word pinged around in my head.
Wait, now that I was dating the local alpha, did that mean I was expected to do alpha-adjacent things, too? Alpha-mates were a thing in books, right? Did that carry over to real life? That seemed like something we should talk about. I wasn’t really sure I was cut out for a leadership role in the community, particularly since I still knew so little about magic.
“Well, my friend Daisy—” Hazel glanced over her shoulder at me. She stared at me for a long minute, and I tried to think why. Then I remembered she was going to ask her friend about Roy’s brewery since she’d been there recently to paint a logo on their buildings. “—she said she overheard them complaining about Kim. Apparently, she’s been phoning the law on them. So, even without the hexes, she seems to have been making their lives a little more complicated.”
“Oh, I didn’t know she’d done that,” Avery said. “I wonder if that’ll make them think she was involved with Roy’s death somehow. Because you know they’ll have kept track of all those complaints.”
Before I could ask anything more of Avery, we coasted past the sign for Serenity Yoga Studio. The signage was simple and modern with its lower-case sans-serif font and stylized lotus flower. Professor Schmidt would’ve bemoaned its cliched symbolism, but I thought it worked because it was exactly what you’d expect.
Avery followed the dusty gravel driveway past an old two-story house to a barn. The brewery buildings were no more than a quarter of a mile away to the north. I understood why Royhad been eyeing this bit of land. The open pasture stretching between Roy’s buildings and Kim’s was flat and close to the road, the perfect place to build.
I dragged my gaze away from the brewery when Avery squeezed her car between a couple of SUVs. When I climbed out of the car, I’d expected to be surrounded by animal odors or the scent of freshly mown grass. But the place reeked of something else entirely, and it wasn't pleasant. At all.
Licorice was already here. She hopped along the barn’s roof, fluttering her wings. I felt bad that she’d followed me all the way out here. I wondered how Avery would feel about Licorice coming inside the car with us on the way back to Ravenstone.
My phone pinged, and I glanced at the screen. A text from Josh.Ugh. Why did he keep bothering me? I opened my messages and sent back a quick,Leave me alone. Then I shoved my phone in my pocket again.
This couldn’t continue. I knew Gideon wanted me to block him, and maybe he was right. I’d kept Josh on my phone to make it easier to work through changing all the contracts and obligations that’d tied our lives together, but we’d completed most of those. And this continued harassment was ridiculous.
You know what? Fuck it.
I’d figure out how to get my name off the apartment agreement some other way. I pulled out my phone again and brought up the text thread with Josh. Little dots appeared beside his name. He was texting me. Again. I tapped on his name and with one more little tap I blocked him. A giddy sense of relief bubbled through me.
I had a bounce in my step when we walked into the barn, but I quickly shoved Josh from my mind. I had so many better things to think about.
The interior of the building wasn’t what I expected. With its large, clean space, white walls, and polished hardwood floors,there was no sign of the barn’s former use. No animal stalls in sight. The massive barn doors at the far end of the building stood open, framing an idyllic view of a small pasture area and the woods and mountains beyond. Even Roy’s brewery buildings, which were repurposed barns themselves, appeared wonderfully bucolic from here. People were rolling out their yoga mats in tidy rows facing the view.
Licorice landed outside the door and peered into the room. Her head cocked one way, then the other, as if assessing the studio’s occupants.
“Oh, hello. You must be Declan,” a barefoot woman about my mother’s age said as she rushed over. I was guessing her age based on the generous amount of white mixed in her blonde hair. She was dressed in pale pink yoga pants and a shirt embroidered with the studio’s logo. “I’m Kim. Welcome to my studio.”
“You have a beautiful place,” I said.
“Thank you so much.” She grinned. Then she glanced toward the open doors. “You know, familiars are welcome inside. This afternoon’s session is for the magical community. The Sip and Stretch event for humans was this morning.”
“Oh, um, thank you. I’ll let her know.” I couldn't imagine why Licorice would want to be with me for this, but what did I know? She’d come all the way out here with me, so maybe she would.
I rubbed my nose. Whatever that smell was I’d caught outside, it was inside the barn too.
“Is that smell bothering you?” The sweet smiling face Kim had greeted me with was obliterated under an annoyed frown.
“I smell it, too. It’s like rotten eggs or something,” Avery said, hugging her yoga mat to her chest. “I thought the brewery was closed.”
“It is,” Kim muttered. “But the place doesn’t need to be open for fermentation to continue. They must’ve started a new batchat the beginning of the festival. It always reeks a few days in. You’d have thought they would’ve been too busy, but I guess not. Roy should have at least waited until next week to stink the place up. But the man was insufferable.”
I swallowed. This was my chance to ask about Roy. Sure, you’d think I’d know better than to involve myself in other people's business after everything that’d happened during the magic festival a few weeks ago, but apparently not. My grandfather had always said I was too curious for my own good.
Instead, I opened my mouth and asked, “Was he always causing problems?”
“You could say that. The man was buying my land right out from under me.” Kim’s nostrils flared. Her cheeks flushed so quickly, I thought she might be having one of those hot flashes my mom had recently started complaining about.
“Oh, no!” Avery said, grabbing Kim’s hand to squeeze it. “But what about your lease?”
“It turns out that the agreement I signed says they can do whatever they want without consulting me. They all thought I’d just stay here like a trapped animal and ride out my lease with that… that awful manas my landlord, while he ripped apart the field right in front of my window and built some monstrosity.” Kim crossed her arms over her chest. “Bastards. All of them.”
It might be a stereotype, but when I pictured a yoga instructor, I’d pictured an ultra-calm and unflappable person, not someone who cursed their neighbors and seemed ready to throw punches.
“Well, now that Roy’s gone…” Avery started, but her words trailed off when Kim shook her head.
