Belong To The Night. Cynthia Eden

in. Having locals walk up to her and hand her their favorite allergy medication was, to say the least, off-putting. To have them chuckle about “you and that cousin of yours” as if they knew her and Mac so damn well was pissing her off. And to find out that every time she went into the woods to handle a little personal business with the gods, they pointed it out to the Elders made her feel like she was living in a town not filled with predators but rats. Big, constantly-in-her-business, never-knew-when-to-shut-it rats!

      “I was told when I came here that we’d be left alone to worship in the way we chose.”

      “It ain’t what you worship that’s the problem. It’s you.”

      “You should have thought of that before you signed us up.”

      “And you should have some consideration for those who were born and raised in this town. You already poisoned one of our lakes.”

      “That was an accident and I cleaned it.”

      “I mean, how are we supposed to deal with pure evil in one of our lakes? Aren’t you supposed to be keeping evil out?”

      “I said I cleaned it. And you need to let it go.”

      “What about when you set the woods on fire?”

      Were they back here again? “I put it out.”

      “What about the trees that were destroyed?”

      “They’ll grow back.”

      Treharne shook his head. “Do you care about anything but yourself?”

      Done with this conversation, Jamie pushed off the stage and walked around the table. “You’ve all made it perfectly clear you don’t like me and don’t want me as part of your community. But even knowing this, my coven has been working its butt off to protect this town. If that’s still not enough for you, then buy us out of the hotel and send us on our way. But don’t think for a minute you can tell me how to live my life as a witch.”

      Jamie headed toward the doors, her coven in step behind her, when Treharne said, “You know, missy, it’s real hard to be part of something that you think you’re better than.”

      “I never said I was better than you,” Jamie shot back as she opened the doors and walked out into the hallway. “But, then again, you haven’t exactly proven that I’m not either.”

      Tully watched that sexy witch slam the doors open by doing nothing more than raising her forefinger. After she stormed out, her coven right behind her, Tully sighed and said, “I sure do like her.”

      That’s when his stepdaddy threw his notebook at him, hitting him in the face. “You are the biggest idiot!”

      Laughing, Tully placed the book back on the table. “What did I do?”

      “It’s what you’re not doing, boy! You ain’t taking care of what you should be.”

      “I’m mayor, not an Elder. And last I heard coven issues fall under Elder management.”

      “Well, ain’t you smart.”

      “I ain’t dumb.”

      “Then you’ll watch her.”

      Tully blinked at his daddy before they both turned to Miss Gwen, who’d been the town’s sheriff for more than twenty-five years before she became an Elder. “Pardon?” he asked, positive he must have heard her wrong.

      “Don’t ‘pardon’ me, Tully Ray Smith,” the sow said calmly. “You wander around this town like you’ve got nothing but time on your hands.”

      “I’ll have you know I’m working. You know I don’t believe in sitting behind a dang desk all day signing papers. In order to find out what this town needs, I get out there and look.”

      “Exactly my point. So you’re going to go look and find out what she’s up to. And then you’re going to put a stop to it.”

      “Me? What makes you think she’ll listen to me anymore than she’ll listen to y’all?”

      “Because we all know you’ll find a way to shut her down. That’s what you’re good at. And that’s what you’re going to do.” Miss Gwen banged her gavel on the table. “Meeting adjourned.”

      No one said a word until they were on the quiet street of Cardinal Lane. That’s when Mac grabbed Jamie’s T-shirt and pulled her back.

      “You’re making them nervous.”

      “I make everybody nervous.”

      Mac released her T-shirt. “You don’t have to look so proud about that.”

      Jamie stared up at her much taller cousin. Except for them both being black in a predominantly white town, there were very few indicators that Jamie and Mac were first cousins on their mothers’ side.

      “Not proud, sweetie. Just accepting. Nothing I do is going to make these people feel better about me.”

      “You could stop traipsing off to the woods in the middle of the night.”

      “I’ve got work to do.”

      “What work?”

      Might as well tell them now. “I’ve been called to be a champion.”

      “For who?”

      When Jamie only stared at her, Mac threw up her hands and paced away while the others simply looked worried.

      “What is it with you and the Celtic gods anyway?” Kenny asked. “It’s not like they’re abundantly friendly.”

      “She called. I answered.”

      “She’s always liked you,” Sen said sweetly.

      “Gods know why,” Mac muttered.

      “Mac, you know what’s required for becoming a champion. So I’m not sure why the attitude about this.”

      “Because you’re making them nervous.”

      “So what?”

      Emma frowned, her arms crossed over her chest. “Don’t you care about them at all?”

      “I don’t not care.” They all stared and she added, “That’s actually pretty good for me.”

      Mac stepped up to her. “One day you’re going to go too far.”

      “I always go too far,” Jamie said simply before turning and walking away. “You’d think you’d be used to it by now.”

      Tully sat on the boulder on top of Barrett Hill. He was still in human form since he’d headed this way straight from his last meeting. It amazed him how one simple, yearly event caused so much trouble. The Mayor’s Spring Dance. The entire town was invited and usually came. Every year it was held in the Crystal Palace where most big parties for the wealthier residents took place. Tully would probably enjoy it more if he weren’t in charge of it, but he was. Which meant lots of meetings with the Elders, the Mayor’s Office Association, and the vendors. Bor-ing.

      Normally, after a particularly long meeting—and Lord love him, but that last meeting was long—he’d head home. But this time, he found himself ambling over to this hill, which had a wonderful view of Jamie Meacham’s cabin. She’d taken one of the cabins on the resort property. He didn’t blame her, they were all nice, but she was also losing money by not renting it out. Then again, from what he’d learned over the last few months about Jamie was that money was not that big a concern to her. Not like it was to most people. No. She wanted something else. She wanted power. It worried him. Power corrupted the best people sometimes and Jamie was already starting from a faulty base. How much would really be needed to send her deep into the ravine?

      He saw her pull up to the garage by the cabin and get out of her SUV. Carrying a small bag from Chandler’s Grocery, she headed toward the building. But she stopped