Chapter Four
The Haymarch family were back for their handout again, and Anthony was tromping up the steps of To Dine For, while Herbert was sitting at a picnic table eating his free lunch, but none of that was enough to dent Savannah’s sudden surge of optimism.
That morning, she and Niall had gone to town to buy supplies for a fundraising barbecue dinner that the restaurant was having that evening. She’d gotten a text from Harris, but she’d ignored it. What difference did one job more or less make at this point? Jobs paid a few thousand dollars. Not enough to pay off their debt.
Or rather,mostjobs did.
But when she’d pulled in to the parking lot in front of the restaurant and decided to check the text, her heart had stuttered in her chest.
Now she sat cross-legged next to Niall on one of the picnic tables on the front lawn, and shook her head in wonder as she stared at the screen of her phone.
“A million-dollar mark,” she said to Niall. “One million dollars. That’s a one with six zeros after it. Also a couple of commas.”
“There’s a reason the bounty is so high,” Niall said uneasily.
Savannah waved away his objections with a flip of her hand. “That’s the highest bounty ever. We’d be set for life. Pay off the land, spit directly in that fucktard Algernon’s face, put money in the bank, invest in the town and try to get some more businesses here…”
“But there is no way,” Niall protested. “You can’t catch him. You’ll die trying.” Niall was notoriously pessimistic. He hadn’t been that way before their father’s accident. Now, though, he’d look at a sunny sky and predict thunderstorms.
“I’ve got two words for you. Somnorus darts,” Savannah said cheerfully.
Somnorus was the name of a wild herb that was distilled to use as a sedative for shifters. Normal tranquilizers didn’t affect shifter metabolism.
She and her family had a secret patch of it in the woods that they cultivated for her to use on her bounty hunting jobs, whenever she had to go up against someone who was too big for her to handle on her own. Because her mother was an excellent gardener with a touch of earth magic, their Somnorus herbs were at least ten times the potency of anyone else’s. That was the only reason Savannah’s mother had agreed to let her start bounty hunting.
Niall was staring at her as if she’d sprouted a second head. “I’ve got two words foryou. He will end you.”
“That’s actually four—”
“Shutup!” Niall snapped, leaping to his feet in agitation. “You know you can’t do this. You’ve never gone after anyone like him. He’ll tear you in half.”
“I can handle it,” Savannah said firmly. Inside, she felt a roiling in her stomach and her heart was racing, but she kept a confident smile plastered on her face. “I’m headed out first thing in the morning. After the barbecue tonight.”
She wasn’t an idiot, and she wasn’t suicidal. She knew it would be dangerous, but the rewards would be more than worth it. There was a strong fox shifter community in Montana, and she could turn to them for help. They’d know where Roy was.
“Fine, you moron. I’m coming with you.” Niall bit the words out.
“Of course you are.” Of course he wasn’t. She would risk her own life, but she wasn’t going to risk her sixteen-year-old brother’s. “And you’re not going to breathe a word of this to Mom.”
Her mother would undoubtedly unleash the wrath of a thousand Genghis Khans on Savannah when she came back with that bounty – if she came back with it – but she’d deal with that when the time came. Maybe she could use some of the million dollars to hire bodyguards.
Nah, her mother would just charm them with chocolate cookies or something, and lace the cookies with Somnorus, then storm right over their unconscious bodies.
“Well, this is just great. I always wanted to die horribly. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go make out my will,” Niall grumbled, hopping off the table.
“You already have one.” She arched an eyebrow. “Which is not normal for a sixteen-year-old, by the way.”
“I’m revising it. In case you survive, you get nothing.” And he stalked off, shoulders hunched.
She slid off the table, tucked her phone in her pocket, and strolled towards the restaurant. As she did, an odd sensation of excitement swept over. She was tingling from head to toe.
What the heck was happening? Was she suddenly possessed by some oddly erotic ghost? Why was she pulsing between her legs with every step she took?
As soon as she walked through the door, she saw why.
Austin.
In her mother’s restaurant.
