“You’ll get over it.” I’d turned serious by the time we landed in front of his truck. “Do you think Mama Moon will be able to help us?”
Gunner considered that, then answered, “You can never tell with her.”
“It doesn’t matter either way. It can’t hurt to ask, though.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
MAMA MOON WASN’T IN HER STORE. The sign on the door said “be back in thirty minutes” but I knew from previous experience that she didn’t feel beholden to time restraints. On a whim, we walked behind the building, and sure enough we found her. She wasn’t alone.
Barney the bear, Mama Moon’s erstwhile companion, sat on his haunches while she fed him corn husks and nuts.
“Who is a good boy?” she crooned to the besotted bear. Barney clearly loved her. “That’s right. You’re a good boy.”
Gunner cleared his throat to get her attention, although the noise stirred more than the witch with the basket of vegetables. Barney made a roaring sound and lurched to his feet, causing me to shrink back as Gunner raised his hands in surrender. “We mean you no harm.”
Mama Moon calmly put her hand to the bear’s neck and rubbed. “It’s okay,” she soothed the mammoth creature. “They won’t hurt you. More importantly, they won’t hurt me.”
I cocked my head, watching the bear absorb her words. If I didn’t know better, I would assume he understood her words.
“This is a surprise,” Mama Moon noted, regarding us. “It’s been a long time.”
I frowned. “It’s been like a week and a half.”
“When you’re as old as me, everything feels as if it’s a long time.” She grinned, glancing between us. “How is life since the fall of the vampires? Things have been quiet, so I assume they’ve been good.”
I exchanged a quick look with Gunner and shrugged. “Actually, that’s why we’re here. Apparently things haven’t been as quiet as we assumed.”
“Really?” Mama Moon said, although her expression didn’t change. “That doesn’t sound good. What’s going on?”
By tacit agreement, I was the one who volunteered the information. It didn’t include mention of Zoe, Aric, and Sami. For some reason, I felt protective of them. It wasn’t that I thought Mama Moon would hurt them — she was a good, if quirky, individual (at least as far as I could tell). However, she had a big mouth, and I figured Winters family business was just that, reserved to the family. When I was finished, Mama Moon was confused.
“I don’t understand any of this,” she admitted as she started feeding Barney again. The bear, perhaps feeding off her mood, had taken to ignoring our presence. All he cared about was her. “How is it that shifters are going missing and nobody has heard about it?”
As the former leader of our chapter of Spell’s Angels, Mama Moon was usually well aware of every corner of the paranormal community in the area.
I shrugged. “We honestly don’t know. The shifters we found in the woods were terrified. They’d grouped together to protect themselves, hiding away so nobody could find them. It was weird and kind of heartbreaking at the same time.”
“It sounds like it.” Mama Moon’s forehead wrinkled. “I’m also confused as to how you were drawn to the vampires in the field last night. Were they attacking someone?”
I didn’t want to lie to her. We had a decent relationship and she’d been helpful on more than one occasion. Still, I was still leery of talking about Sami and Rafael.
“We were asleep and woke at the same time,” I explained calmly. “I think we were still muddled when we headed out there. The vampires were in that field right on the other side of the trees when we got out there. They attacked and we defended ourselves.”
“Uh-huh.” Mama Moon’s gaze was speculative. “You’re leaving something out of the story. I suppose that’s allowed. I’m no longer part of the inner circle, after all. You have to do what you have to do.”
I made a protesting sound with my tongue. “It’s not that—”
Gunner gripped my hand and gave it a squeeze. “We’re not purposely keeping anything from you,” he said. “It’s just that it’s not our story to tell. Something did draw our attention to that field, though we’re not at liberty to say what that something is.”
“Fair enough.” Mama Moon didn’t look all that bothered by the new development. “You’re entitled to your secrets. As for vampires taking shifters, I haven’t heard a single thing about it. I can ask around.”
“We would appreciate it.” Gunner moved his hand to my back and lightly rubbed. “It seems to me this problem is going to get bigger before it’s solved. I think we’re going to have to work together before it’s all said and done.”
“I agree.” Mama Moon handed Barney a huge tomato. “I’ll be in touch as soon as I know anything.”
I appreciated that she didn’t throw in a qualifier like “if.” That meant she expected to uncover something no matter what. I nodded. “We really appreciate it.”
“No problem. Maybe then you’ll be able to tell me what you were doing in that field. Something tells me that’s a story I’m going to want to hear.”
I shrugged again. “Never say never.”
Gunner linked his fingers with mine and we walked back to the truck. He was markedly relaxed, despite the bear. “She’ll find answers. She always does.”
“I hope so. I ...” Whatever I was going to say died on my lips when we rounded the corner and found an unexpected face hanging in front of Gunner’s truck. For some reason, the individual in question was the last person I expected to see at this point in our day.
“Hello.” Ezekiel’s smile was open and wide. “I was hoping to run into you. This is a fortuitous turn of events, isn’t it?”
That is so not the word I would have chosen to use.
Nine
How did he find us? Was he
