Maybe he should buy Mack a six-pack of beer instead.
If he hadn’t walked out, he could’ve learned more. They didn’t have to be anything more than working partners. For that to happen they had to be on speaking terms. He needed stop thinking about what could’ve been and concentrate on keeping his magic.
Since Mack had invited him out for a burger, it was only fair he brought dessert to try to put things right. If they couldn’t be friends, there was no way they would ever work as mates. But it was too easy to imagine waking up next to Mack. He may have done more than imagine that this morning in the shower.
With his coffee and the cakes in a bag, he made his way away from the protesting farmers and round to Mack’s shop. The door chimed as he went in. No one was at the counter, so he put down the food and rang the silver bell.
“I’m coming.” Mack’s voice carried from out the back.
It was reassuring to hear the growl in his voice was for everyone, not just Jude.
Mack stopped in the doorway. He had a rag in his hands and was wiping the grease off his skin. “Couldn’t stay away?”
For half a second, Jude wished he had stayed away as the smug grin on Mack’s face wasn’t what he wanted to see.
“I brought dessert. I’m sorry for walking out last night.” He pushed the bag toward Mack. “You can pick first.”
Mack put down the rag and peeked inside the paper bag. “Nice choices. But I don’t think you’re here to deliver my morning tea or make up for last night. I did a little research on familiars.”
Jude groaned. “Tell me it wasn’t on the Coven database.”
“Of course it was. Where else am I going to look that shit up?”
“Given that I’m the only witch here, they’ll know it was because of me.”
Mack stared at him. “You make that sound like a bad thing.”
It was, but he didn’t want Mack to know he was on a very short probationary leash. “I’m here to sort out the creature, not get a familiar or date the town mechanic. They’ll think I’m messing around.”
Mack crossed his arms. “You were. You were giving me the look in the bar.”
That was also true. “I planned on giving myself the night off…” He really didn’t want to go through thinking Mack was the creature again. If Mack had done the research, he wanted to know about familiars. “What did you find out?”
“That we’re fucked. If one of us dies, the other will waste away, and the bond can only be undone by the Coven.” Mack didn’t appear impressed by either piece of news.
Jude had known that there were limitations to the bond, but he hadn’t expected their lives to be so intimately entwined. He didn’t like the idea of pining for a man he hadn’t even had. That seemed like a total waste. He didn’t like the idea of dying either. He sipped his cooling coffee. “The Coven being able to break the bond is a good thing, right? That’s what you want?”
“I don’t want the Coven sticking their noses into my life, but yeah.” Mack’s voice was typically gruff, but he didn’t sound certain.
Hope sparked, but Jude kept his face neutral. He needed help, and there was no help better than a familiar. While he completely agreed with Mack’s feelings about the Coven, he chose not to agree too vehemently. “Good, then we are agreed. Once this is over, the Coven can separate us.”
Saying it out loud didn’t make it seem like a good idea. The Fates had put them together for a reason, and that wasn’t the kind of gift one handed back without consequence.
“Yeah.” Mack nodded and forced a smile that was more a grimace. “Did you want to come out the back while I work, or do you have other plans?”
“No plans.” That Mack was inviting him out the back was so much better than being tossed out. They were back to working together. And maybe more. “I can tell you what I found out about the creature.”
“You researched that, not familiars?”
“That is why I’m here.” Jude picked up the cakes and followed Mack out the back.
The workshop smelled of oil and kerosene with the faintest hint of sweat. There was a car off the floor with its guts on the cement. It all looked like junk to him, but to Mack it obviously made sense.
“Don’t touch anything.” Mack put his rag on the workbench near a metal drink bottle that had seen better days. The black paint was chipped and grazed, and the bottle had more dents than Jude’s first car.
“Wasn’t going to.” There were too many things to accidentally touch. He leaned cautiously against the workbench. When Mack didn’t tell him to move, he relaxed a little and put the cakes on the piece of the bench that was cleanish.
“No electricity either.”
“No magic at all.” He held up his hands as if surrendering. It was too easy to do what Mack told him when it should be the other way around. The witch was supposed to be in control.
Mack nodded and drew the piece of chocolate cake toward him. “So what did you find out?”
Jude watched as Mack pulled a knife out of a chipped cup—that was holding other pieces of cutlery—and cut the cake in half. Then he repeated the process for the lemon tart. Jude hadn’t expected the knife or the careful division. What other surprises did Mack have?
“I think the creature is some kind of shifter,” Jude said carefully.
Mack gave him a glare that cut through to the marrow. Mack was definitely someone he wanted on his side, not working against him.
“Not a human shifter, the other kind.” The other kinds were the ones that nightmares were made of. They were flesh and blood, but not really animal. They were the darkness and the demons of myth and legend, but they were
