Belong To The Night. Cynthia Eden

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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">      “Something wrong…Jack?”

      His eye twitched, annoyed that Jamie insisted on calling him by his first name rather than “Mr. Treharne.”

      “Y’all are late…again.”

      “True. But we are running a hotel. Had a whole Pride to check out before we could head this way. But that’s not why you demanded to see us.”

      “You were seen out in the woods again. At night.”

      “I didn’t realize there was a curfew.”

      “There ain’t. But you weren’t out there wandering around. You were doing some ritual.”

      “I’m a witch. That’s what I do.”

      “Without your coven?”

      Jamie could feel her cousin’s eyes on her, and knew she’d hear about this later from Mac. When Jamie had agreed to give up the life she had in New York and bring her coven down to Smithville, she hadn’t really thought about the dynamics of small town life compared to suburban life. Since she’d had her first athame, a lovely ritual knife given to her by her first mentor, Jamie had been doing her own rituals and spells. And since she did these in the privacy of her basement or her backyard, and she’d never been friendly with her Long Island neighbors, her coven had never been the wiser. Something she’d appreciated since the work she did with her coven brought her much satisfaction, but there was something about the power she obtained on her own that drove her to find more and more of it.

      In the end, though, it was no one’s business what she did on her own. Unfortunately, those in Smithville didn’t seem to feel the same way, no matter what she was doing. Every time she turned around they were in her business.

      These people knew when she got packages from her father, when her allergies were acting up, when she and Mac were arguing. And not only did they know, but they butted 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.”

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