Harley nodded in agreement and waited. Nothing else happened. Emery began to dismiss the circle.
Thank you, Goddess ancient ones and ancestors. We bid you farewell with grateful hearts.
Elements of the West, element of water thank you for your presence in this circle. Stay if you will; go if you must. Well Met and Farewell.
Elements of the South, element of fire thank you for your presence in this circle. Stay if you will; go if you must, Well Met and Farewell.
Elements of the East, element of air thank you for your presence in this circle. Stay if you will; go if you must, Well Met and Farewell.
Elements of the North, element of earth thank you for your presence in this circle. Stay if you will; go if you must, Well Met and Farewell.
Emery extinguished all the candles, while Harley turned on the lights.
“Harley, come look at this?”
Harley walked quickly over to the altar looking at the blades. She gasped in surprise. Where there had been rough etchings in the blades, now there was art.
The raven looked as if it would take flight. She expected the cowslips to give off a delicate smell, and the eyes of the cat looked as if they followed her movements.
Freya had well and truly blessed the weapons. Harley was in awe. She felt honored beyond belief. She hugged Emery kissing his face.
“Magic seems to flourish more abundantly when you are around.” She laughed and continued to hug his neck.
He shook his head. “Nay, this one is all on you. Your Goddess is rewarding you for a job well done. She is also arming you for future service.
“I’ve always known you had something special to do in this lifetime. Now I’m certain that it will affect many of us.
“You are special Harley. I hope one day you realize that.”
He pulled her in closer and held her.
They made their way upstairs, both exhausted from their time in the lab. Mrs. Reyes shooed them off to their bedrooms and said she would bring food to them.
Harley had files waiting for her on her bed. She would read them after she took a nice hot bath.
She checked her texts and phone messages. No message from Luc or Aiden. There were three messages from cowboy. He was going to a rodeo tomorrow and wanted her to go along.
She could think of nothing better at this moment. Lieutenant Meyers had left a message with Mrs. Reyes after he couldn’t reach her. He just wanted to go over the labs with her.
Harley texted Cowboy back, letting him know she would be happy to go with him. Emery would stay on for a couple of weeks. He liked visiting the ranch. She wasn’t worried that she would hurt his feelings.
She went over the file twice before calling Meyers only to get his voicemail. There was no factual information in the file. The bites and claw marks matched the first set of murders.
Harley decided it could just wait until tomorrow.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Lieutenant Meyers called her first thing in the morning. Nikolas Perovsky, the leader of the brood in Dallas, was refusing to let anyone come to his house. He wouldn’t come to the police station to answer questions either.
Meyers was in the process of getting a warrant to go pick him up. There had been no new multiple murders or murders that fit the same M.O. as the others.
Harley wouldn’t have time for breakfast this morning. The rodeo was an all-day event, complete with a steak cook-off and a chili cook-off.
When the rodeo was over there would be bands playing, dancing, and plenty of food. She was looking forward to the day.
Harley pulled her hair into a long single braid. She carefully applied make-up. Getting it just right between a day and night look. After she was done she used a setting spray. It would need to last all day and she didn’t want to be too girlie at the rodeo. She just wanted to have fun.
Her favorite pair of faded jeans had a rhinestone C on the back of each pocket. The C stood for cowgirl. She put on a chocolate colored scoop necked long sleeve shirt that tucked into her pants. The belt she used was nearly the same color of the shirt and had cut outs. Beneath the cut outs, turquoise leather showed through. The belt buckle was silver with scattered turquoise stones.
She finished the outfit with a set of matching silver and turquoise earrings, a cowboy hat and her black and turquoise boots with silver toe tips and heels.
Emery wolf-whistled at her as she came down the stairs. She’d put a small emergency girl repair kit together and would stash it in Cowboy’s truck. Her money was in a small cloth pouch tucked into her bra.
Mrs. Reyes came out of the kitchen. “Mija is your gentleman coming in to meet us or are we going to him?”
Shit! She hadn’t thought that part through when she told him to pick her up at the house. “I’ll go get him when he gets here.”
As it turned out, Harley didn’t have to go and get him. Cowboy came to the door carrying two bouquets of flowers. Hector opened the door and welcomed him inside.
He greeted Harley with a one-armed hug and a quick kiss. She loved that they were the same height. Nearly, he may have won by a quarter to half an inch.
He offered a bouquet of wild flowers to Mrs. Reyes. It had mini sunflowers in it. Mrs. Reyes turned pink when she took the flowers. Cowboy was sinfully handsome.
The other bouquet was deep purple roses. Harley’s favorite flower and favorite color.
“Thank you.” She blushed as well.
“Cow… Cash this is Carmella and Hector Reyes, and this is
