The Lying, the Witch, and the Werewolf (Down & Dirty Supernatural Cleaning Services Book 4) by Kate Quinn (uplifting books for women .txt) 📗

door, gaining the attention of everyone standing in the phone line. We might be in a supernatural sex cult, but the sight of a woman on a broom is still enough to make people point and clap.

Clap? I’m getting outright applause.

Then I realize I’m still wearing the ridiculous loose bohemian skirt and everyone under me just got a good show. Oh well, they seem entertained. I give them another fly-by, which they seem to enjoy, as I get a better feel for flying a broom. I make sure to toss a little wave at Adorra, who has come to the balcony.

“Sorry,” I tell her as I pass. “I really can’t control this thing. We can talk more later!”

And with that, I zoom to my yurt, anxious to find Nico and tell him all I found. Whatever is going on here, it involves my ex, a Humans First rally, and apparently...chocolate.

21

My broom deposits me back at my yurt, gives a small shudder, then falls to the ground. A little puff of smoke rises above it, then dissipates. Hepa said the escape broom is a one-time use-only type of deal. However, I don’t think I’d take anything back. Adorra had been about to leap at my throat in that hallway, and I’d been interested in nothing more than putting space in between me and her.

And there’s no reason to make myself easy to find, either. I doubt my great escape endeared me to Adorra, and I’d be smart to lay low.

Luckily, Shit is napping on the cot, apparently exhausted by his fellow pack animals. They say that pets pick up the personality traits of their owners, and I think my boy is like me—sometimes he just needs his space. Or maybe he’s just like me in the sense that sometimes naps are necessary. Either way, I call him to my side and head for the paths. With a protective Dalmanther at my heels, I assume I’m safe.

But once I’ve had some fresh air I have a better idea along with it.

“Shit,” I say, bending down to be on eye-level with him. “Can you do something for me? Can you find Nico?”

His ears perk at the name and I smile, rubbing his nose. “That’s right. Nico. Shit, find Nico and bring him back to me.”

I’m tempted to say, “Shit, fetch Nico,” but the last thing Shit fetched came back to me in three pieces and I need my allies intact. I don’t know if Shit has always been this smart or if the Dalmanther worship of Together We Come is getting to me, but either way, Shit comes trotting back to me with the blonde-two-eyed version of Nico that a girl could get used to.

“What’s up?” he asks.

“A lot, including me, roughly ten minutes ago.” I say, and then proceed to tell him about my great broom escape, and everything I learned from Adorra’s tablet. He processes it all with a stony face, giving away nothing, but I can see the gears turning.

“What do you think?” I ask, when I’m finished.

“I think it sounds like trouble,” he says. “A Firster’s rally, your ex, Giselle’s involvement…it’s all very suspicious but I don’t know how it adds up.”

“Don’t forget the chocolate,” I remind him, slapping his arm when he rolls his eyes at me. It’s way more infuriating now that he has two. “I’m telling you, Nico! These people are flat out weird about their chocolate. They act like they’re guarding some kind of special recipe—ooohhh!”

I grab his arm, accidentally digging my nails in. He flinches, but doesn’t pull back. “What is it, Paige?”

“A special recipe,” I repeat. “The lab…”

Nico’s brows furrow and I quickly tell him about how the members who aren’t listed on the chore list all seem to be assigned to a lab.

“I’m telling you, they’re doing something with chocolate in there.”

“Doing something like what? Taking over Easter?” Nico scoffs.

“I don’t know,” I say, not regretting the nail marks on his arm now. “But it adds up.”

“To you,” he says.

“Yes, to me!” I snap, and Shit whines a little. “Oh, stop it!” I turn to my Dalmanther. “I’m allowed to yell at him.”

Nico bends down and rubs Shit’s nose. “I don’t think he likes it when Mommy and Daddy fight.”

“We are not Mommy and Daddy,” I say, crossing my arms. “You know what? You’re always keen to show off your sense of smell. You came into my yurt the other day all hot on the idea of picking up a trace of dick—”

“A trace?” Nico smiles. “That’s not very kind. I’ll tell Seamus you said that.”

I stomp my foot, aware that I’m being childish, but somehow Nico always gets me to this place. “Do me a favor and shut your mouth and open your nostrils,” I say. “Just humor me for a second and see if you can pick up—”

“Chocolate?” he finishes for me.

“Yeah, chocolate,” I say, bending down to take Shit’s face in my hands. “Listen buddy, go back to the yurt, okay? Or go find your friends and play. If Mommy doesn’t come home…”

Annoyingly, I’m about to tear up. “Mommy loves you,” I whisper into Shit’s ear and then stand up quickly, pointing up the path. “Now go!”

I wipe the errant tears off my face just as Nico turns around. “I hate to say this, but I’ve got something.”

Nico’s sense of smell unerringly leads us through the dense woods to a small building surrounded by a padlocked fence. Just in case it wasn’t clear that they wanted to keep people out, there’s also barbed wire all along the top.

“Smells like chocolate,” he says with one last sniff. “Delicious, high-end chocolate.”

“Then this must be the place,” I say, reaching for the barrette from Hepa still in my hair. Luckily it looks like the barrette isn’t a one-and-done like the broom. The lock clicks open.

“Are we sure everyone is at the naked luau tonight?” I ask Nico as we step through and close the gate behind us. “What if someone