“I do not want to talk to you. I want to get in my car and go back to L.A. I want to go back to a place where everything makes sense.”
“This won’t go away—you’re too bright and inquisitive for that. If you go back, you’ll start noticing all the magical people in that great big place. Those who glide instead of merely walk. Those who move like predators. Those who hunt the night. Now that your eyes have been opened to what is possible, you’ll continually notice the proof that it exists. There’s no hiding from this, Jacinta. It’s all around you. It always has been.”
I pounded a fist against his chest, tears in my eyes. I pounded him with the other fist, too, needing a release from this insanity. He didn’t move away, but closed his arms around my back, pulling me closer.
“Shhh,” he said, trying to rock me. “I know this is a shock, but—”
“But do you?” I struggled to get some space so I could look up into his eyes. “Do you know this is a shock? Did you always believe one thing, only to have someone destroy your reality?”
He shook his head slowly. “I change into an animal—I was clued in pretty early about all this.”
“Then don’t pretend to have any idea where I’m at right now. Don’t…” I wiped a tear and scowled at someone walking by. They increased their pace. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to take this out on you, but…”
“It’s fine. I’ve dealt with much worse.”
I sighed, but I sank into his hug instead of pulling away. He was mostly a stranger, but the solid warmth of his embrace felt like a rock in a turbulent ocean. “This is going to take a minute for me. I mean…” I pushed back again. “This is crazy!”
He nodded and directed me back to the tasting room. “I…can’t imagine, but I…am…supportive of imagining.”
“You sound like William Shatner.” I wiped another tear, laughing, my head spinning. My brain not wanting to handle it. Within the space of a few minutes, another world had been revealed to me, one where fairytales and nightmares were as real as 401ks.
“Are there fairies?” I murmured, realizing a young couple had walked into the tasting room when I was in the process of storming out.
“Yes. They are mean little buggers. I avoid them at all costs.” Austin strolled up to his place at the bar, his shoulders back and chest puffed out slightly. The magnitude of his presence nearly engulfed the room. It was certainly felt by the twenty-something guy, who rolled his shoulders and sent over an annoyed scowl.
I didn’t have the ability to rein in Austin’s dominating behavior. And honestly, I didn’t want to. I needed some time to process my new reality, and for that, I needed the strangers to skedaddle. I had a feeling he could make that happen.
“Really bro?” the guy said, shifting slightly and giving me a better view of his companion, a petite, cute girl. “Maybe a little room, huh?”
His voice sounded like that of a spoiled rich kid accustomed to getting his way. He could’ve moved over to accommodate Austin’s larger size—our glasses were still in our places, it wasn’t like he hadn’t known someone might return in-- but he instead expected those around him to make his life more comfortable. I’d met a lot of guys like that in L.A. and I wasn’t a fan.
Austin glanced over at the kid, and suddenly the mood in the tasting room changed dramatically. The size of the space shrank. His stance, his brawn, and his swagger all screamed predator.
The effect nearly took my breath away. It suffocated courage. I knew Austin wouldn’t hurt me, yet my whole body vibrated with fear. The energy he radiated felt dangerous. Deadly, even.
I desperately wanted to get out of there.
But out of there was a strange world where a woman could change into a rat.
Instead, I put my hand on his arm, needing the solidity of touch (since I didn’t have a Xanax).
His large bicep popped under my palm. He wrapped his arm around me and drew me in protectively. Donna, clearly feeling the same pressure I had, remained behind the counter but took a couple of halting steps to the side, behind Austin. She clearly craved the same comfort I did.
The younger guy stiffened. Then his spine gradually bowed.
“Whatever, bro,” the guy said. He snatched his phone off the counter. “Service was slow, anyway.”
He turned and walked toward the door, leaving the girl behind. She flashed Donna an apologetic glance before following the guy out of the tasting room, only pausing to open the door the guy had let close in her face.
As though pricked with a needle, the pressure in the room instantly dissolved. Austin released his arm from around me and leaned against the counter, all ease and good humor.
“What in the hell,” I said, my breath exiting me in a whoosh.
Donna let out a shaky breath as well, smiling through it. “And that is why you could’ve been alpha of any pack you wanted.” She chuckled to herself. “No alpha I’ve encountered could do that so effectively. You barely needed to posture.”
“Ah.” I wiped the hair out of my face with a shaking hand. “So this is where your connection to the animal kingdom comes in handy, is it? Scaring douches?”
I belatedly noticed Austin’s mood had darkened with Donna’s comment. He reached for the scotch. “It is an effective way to scare douches, yes.”
“Right. Where were we?” Donna touched two of the bottles.
“At the one that tastes better,” I said.
She smiled and picked the second, once again pouring a taste for me and a glass for Austin.
“Okay.” I took a very deep breath, remembering what Austin had said about keeping an open mind. Then pulling up the many, many books I’d read in the fantasy genre. And the fairytales I knew. And the folklore. Turned out, I had a lot to work with. “Were-things. Shifters. Uncrowned alpha—that makes sense now. Why don’t you have a pack, then?” I swirled the wine in the glass. Pushing his scotch aside, he watched what I was doing and then picked up his wine glass and emulated it. For a bar owner, he hadn’t bothered to learn much about wine.
“I thought this town was a better use of my talents,” he said, and I noticed Donna looking down and tightening her lips. There was clearly more to Austin’s story, but based on his quickly deteriorating mood, he wasn’t keen on sharing.
“And what talents do you bring?” I asked, tasting my wine…and was immediately distracted. I nodded and looked over at him, motioning for him to taste. After he sipped, I said, “Well? How does it taste?”
He looked at it for a moment, then shrugged. “Like wine.”
“Better or worse than what you have in your bar?”
“Better, definitely. Also more expensive.”
“People will pay, trust me. They will pay for good wine, especially if they came to this area to wine taste. They’ll expect to pay, and they’ll expect good wine.”
“They’ll also be Dicks and Janes and I don’t need them in my bar,” he replied.
“Magical people don’t indulge in wine tasting?” I asked. I pointed at Donna. “They work in tasting rooms. You don’t think they like wine?”
He sighed, entirely put out. “Yes, fine, they do visit. And they do drink wine. There, happy? You’re right, I’m wrong. That good?”
“It’s good to see you smiling for once, alpha,” Donna said, eying him hungrily.
“I’m not your alpha.”
“Yes, sir.” She bit her lip and busied herself behind the counter.
“Not to make light of the smiling thing, because you are much hotter when you smile and you should definitely do it more, as she said, but yes, I am always right, and of course that makes me happy.”
He leaned a little heavier on the counter. “In answer to your question, my talents lie in making sure the people of this town stay safe. I don’t need a pack for that. I provide a sanctuary for those who don’t really fit anywhere else. Yes, the town has some oddity to it, but the people here are just trying to live a quiet life. I am letting them.”
“Because magical people…don’t like people doing their own thing?” I asked, trying to piece this together.
“Certain magical people can do their own thing, sure. But some don’t have the power to do so. Donna was trapped in a pack with a beta—the second in charge—who was giving her unwanted attention. She didn’t feel safe and the alpha wasn’t handling it because she was different. The beta wouldn’t let her leave. I made him see reason.”
“You went and got her?”
“No. She made it to my territory and I stood in the beta’s way. The beta tried to push the issue, and I gave him a better option.”
“What option was that?”
“To leave peacefully,” he said, getting another glass of wine.
Donna barked out a laugh, spraying spit everywhere. “Sorry,” she said, hurrying to wipe it up.
“What am I missing?” I asked.
Austin swirled his wine.
“It was only peaceful after he ripped the beta’s tail off and permanently crippled his hind leg,” Donna said. “Which is not easy to do with a shifter. We can heal almost everything.”
“Wow. And…you don’t get in trouble for that? No one calls the cops?” I asked.
Austin straightened up as though he were stretching his back. Donna, on the brink of answering, tightened her lips instead.
“The magical world is…complicated. The slice of government that keeps knowledge of us secret also makes sure local police don’t get involved in certain magical issues. For that, we have territories. Each territory, large and small, is ruled by a magical group, like shifters or a hierarchy of mages. Most of the territories are fair and actually leave most of the law enforcement to the Dicks and Janes. It’s easier, cheaper, and let’s be honest, the slice of government that is supposed to be working for us is still government—it has its inefficiencies and bureaucracy problems. It has become more effective to let the Dick and Jane laws be our guiding light. But for some things purely magical, like shifters fighting for placement within the pack, for example, the territory leaders govern. And if those leaders are less than savory…well then, things can be dicey for the justice within that territory. It’s sad but true.”