Page 37 of Oracles Always Win

“Don’tbe so sensitive.Unlessyou want to take thePinkLady.Idon’t think she’ll be quite as agile on the backroads, but…”

Nelsongrimaced. “Fine.”

Theshadow jumper opened the door and emptied his coffee mug on the scrubby plants outside.Thenhe set the cup in the tiny sink before turning to me.

“Youneed to be careful too.Ithink you need to help the bartender, but we don’t know what’s going on with him.”

JustasI’ddone with him,Nelsonheld my gaze untilIagreed.Thenthe shadow jumper left to wakeIsaac.

Ileaned back and went over whatIknew.IfDavinawas here, we could talk to any of the ghosts at the inn, becauseIsuspected that old pack house had more than a few hanging around the place.IfJake’sgrandfather was there, even better.And, if he wasn’t,Teaguecould summon him.

Iglanced at my phone, butIhadn’t had a new update from either of them yet.Howlong did it take to banish a ghost anyway?Shouldn’tthey be wrapped up at the morgue by now?Ire-read their last update when they’d said they still needed a few days.Thatwas yesterday morning.

Irubbed my chin.Nelsonwas right.Weneeded to gather information.

WhatNelsondidn’t know was that my interests went beyondJakeand the wolf pack.Iwanted to know everything aboutWillowLake.Ishould have told everyone about my suspicions as soon asIsensed the magic here.Ididn’t allow secrets on my team, but it felt too early to talk about the wayWillowLakewas calling me.Davina, my second, would have knownIwas holding something back.She’dbeen with me the longest of anyone.

Itseemed premature to even be thinking about it, but what ifIbonded toWillowLakeand my team didn’t want to stay here with me?Theyhad become my family.Ineeded them as much asIneeded an anchoring place.I’dbound them to me and they’d all come to me willingly.Butstaying inWillowLakewould change everything about how we operated.

Tetheringwould limit how muchIcould move around.Adrianmight stay.Hehad a mate now, andJeremydidn’t seem like the kind of man who’d enjoy living out of a tent for too long.Forthe others, though?Theone timeI’dreleased someone from their deal with me, everything had gone wrong.Abigailwithered, and just six months later she was gone.Althoughshe swore her illness wasn’t related to our broken bond,Iwasn’t convinced.

IfTeaguehad been with me then, he'd have been able to tell.Unfortunately,Ididn’t find him until nearly a century afterAbigail’sdeath.Theidea of trying to release someone again made me cold and sweaty all at the same time.

Or,Iwould if demons felt nerves.

Ifit came to severing the tiesIhad with my team,I’dneed to figure out what went wrong last time.Icouldn’t watch anyone from my family die again.Neveragain.But, even ifIdid develop a safer way to do it, breaking our magical connection would still be painful, for all of us—well, except perhaps forAdrian, who had his mating bond already in place.

Iswallowed down the last of my coffee.Thebitter liquid didn’t help settle me this morning.Therewere too many unknowns.Thisjob was becoming more complicated by the minute.Asif tracking down someone who trafficked supes wasn’t complicated enough already.

Iwiped my hand down my face and set my worries aside.Ihad work to do.

I’dseen a flyer on a bulletin board at the pub last night about painting in the park this afternoon.FromwhatVanandHaydenhad said,Jakewas an artist, soIwas betting on him being there.Itwas a place to start.

Igrinned, then a strange effervescent sensation bubbled up inside me.

Ademon’s stomach never fluttered in anticipation, but something unusual was happening.Iforced the feeling away until my stomach was absolutely, one-hundred percent flutter free at the idea of seeingJakeagain.

Chapter Fourteen

JAKE

WinslowParkwas situated on a considerable stretch of land along the north side of town and held most of the community’s recreation areas, or at least the ones that weren’t connected to the lake.Theflatter areas of the park were filled with sports fields, a golf course, and parking lots, but where my fellow painters, who were all older ladies, andIchose to set up was on a slope overlooking the town.

IfIclimbed a bit higher to the crest of the small foothill,IknewI’dsee the mountains to the west.Theywere gorgeous, andI’dpainted them several times since moving here, but todayIwanted something different.SomethingIcould touch ifIwanted.SomethingIcould prove was real.

SoI’dset up my easel facing south toward town.

Thebrightly painted buildings in town were a riotous bouquet from this view.Tothe left was the motel with its chaotically colorful finishes.Itwas certainly a memorable landmark, andIhoped it attracted more guests than my inn because it’d suck if both our businesses were struggling.

Alongthe main street, the businesses were an explosion of vivid rainbow colors.Theapartment complexes to the west of downtown were varying shades of blue and yellow.Andin the distance, every house in the new residential area was a dollop of bright, undiluted color like the paint on my palette.Notone of them was beige.Eventhe only brown house, which was where my friendAlicelived with her parents, was a rich, vibrant brown.

WhenI’dfirst moved to town,Ifound the place garish and uncomfortable.Icouldn’t believe no one commented on the crazy colors, but perhaps they’d all just lived here long enough to become immune.Noone seemed to care if their house clashed with their neighbor’s.Itwas like the residents ofWillowLakehad collectively decided consulting a color wheel to look up complementary, analogous, or even tetradic color schemes was for cowards.

Today, however,Iembraced all that color.Ineeded it.

Irefused to squeeze even a drop of white or black paint onto my palette.

Usingmy fattest paint brush,Ifilled my canvas with yellow.Inever used yellow to underpaint, but todayIwanted brightness.Iwanted sunshine.Iswore this was going to be the happiest, most cheerful paintingI’dever done.Itwas going to be a freaking joy to behold.