Fourteen

Sitting in Lainie’s office at the sheriff’s department, Wes signed his name at the bottom of the report and set the pen down on top, resigned to the fact that he had a lot of work ahead of him to put Everglades back in shape. When he followed Lainie inside his bar last night, he had almost lost it as he viewed the damage done to his place. Chairs had been smashed, liquor bottles broken, glasses tossed across the bar, and tables overturned. Beer signs had been ripped down from where they hung and tossed all over the place, and the giant mirror behind the bar was shattered. His office had been broken into and ransacked, papers scattered all over the place and his desk turned upside down. There wasn’t a single thing in the bar that had not been destroyed or at least damaged in some way. This was more than just the work of two punk kids. The Order of Wardens had arrived in Bull Creek, and they seemed to have brought an army with them.

“Everglades is only going to be the first business they hit,” Wes said to Lainie and Chet. The sheriff stood in the doorway, his hat in his hands as he leaned on the doorframe. “According to this Jeremiah Prescott, his group intends to run all the paranormals out of Bull Creek.”

Rance Culpepper leaned on the wall behind Lainie’s desk. “I tracked the scent of the culprit to a spot on the next road over. They must have had a car waiting.”

“If they’re from Draven Falls, then I’m sure they know how shifters work and probably prepared to be tracked by one of our animals,” Lainie said as she took the papers from Wes and stuffed them into a folder. “I’m sure they’re not going to make it easy to connect them to the incident at Everglades.

Wes sighed. Incident. Part of his life had almost been destroyed and Lainie had just called it an incident. This was so much more. This had hate crime written all over it.

“I’ll work with Dimitri,” Rance said. “I’m sure between us, we can figure something out. Rance Culpepper had been a detective in Pensacola. Or rather, he used to be. A couple of weeks ago, he came to Bull Creek in search of a witness in a case he was working for the district attorney’s office and found more than just his witness, who had already been killed. He had found Lainie Everest, and that encounter had changed the man’s life drastically.

“Getting settled in?” Wes asked the man. “I figured they’d have you in a uniform by now.”

Rance shook his head. “Uniforms aren’t really my style,” he said. “I enjoyed being a detective, so I’m thinking of starting my own business here.”

Wes stared at the man, his eyes narrowed in question. “Is there much of a call for detectives around here?”

Rance shrugged. “I aim to find out. At least, I want to give it a shot. If not, there’s always St. Cloud to the west and Melbourne to the east. They’re close enough to drum up some business and still be home in time for Lainie to cook me a nice home-cooked meal.”

Lainie spun in her chair, glaring at Rance, and Wes had to fight not to laugh out loud. “Who the hell said I would do the cooking? What? You think just because I’m the woman, I’m going to do all the domesticated stuff?”

Rance’s eyes went wide as he bounced his gaze around the room at the others. “I… um, well, I didn’t mean… I just thought…”

Wes chuckled. “Thinking is what you didn’t do.” He sighed again as his mind traveled back to the problem at hand. “I wish you luck on finding these people. We don’t need their kind around here.”

Chet shook his head as he worked his hat in his fingers, turning the brim in a circle in his agitation. “Why does it seem like lately everyone is hellbent on hating everyone else?” He glanced over at Lainie, who still glared at Rance. “Can you reach out to people you know back in Draven Falls and get all the information you can on this Order of Wardens? Dimitri knows a little about them, but the more we know, the better our chances of arresting them.”

Lainie nodded as she turned back around, her dark hair falling into her eyes. “I can reach out to the Paranormal Council. I’m sure they know all about this group.” She turned her gaze back to Wes. “How hard will it be to get Everglades back up and running? I hate to drink at home alone, you know.” She gave Wes a soft smile, trying to make him feel better, he knew, but truthfully, he had no idea.

“Noel and Jake are checking that out now, seeing what can be salvaged. I’ll know more in a day or two.” He clasped his hands together in front of him to keep the others from knowing how much they shook. His anger pumped through him, and his bear threatened to break out and go after the Prescotts. He needed to do something to get back at them, but he didn’t have a clue as to what without causing more damage.

“Who’s Jake?” Sheriff Einstein asked, a puzzled look knitting his brows.

Wes sighed. “Another complication.” He unclasped his hands, reached out and tapped Lainie’s desk. “Keep me in the loop, will you?” he asked as he stood.

Lainie promised she would, and then Wes left, his mind full of questions with no answers. He knew it wasn’t fair to refer to Jake as a complication, but he wasn’t sure how to explain the man’s presence just yet. It wasn’t as if they had a peaceful moment to figure everything out.

As Wes neared his car outside of the sheriff’s department, a dark blue Oldsmobile pulled up beside him, blocking his way to his car. When the tinted window rolled down, Jeremiah Prescott sat behind the wheel, sneering at him. “I hear you had some problems at your bar last night.” He shook his head. “Sad really, that some people have no respect for the property of others. Appalling.”

Wes placed his hands on his hips as he took a deep breath, struggling to keep his bear from shifting and ripping the man’s head off. “Don’t think we don’t know that it was you and your little group behind the destruction of Everglades,” Wes said. “When we can prove it, I’m going to have your head on a spike.”

Jeremiah just chuckled as he shook his head. “You won’t be able to prove anything.” He then shrugged. “However, my offer to buy your dilapidated ramshackle of a bar still stands. Of course, the price will have to come down considering its current condition.”

“Go to hell,” Wes growled.

Jeremiah narrowed his eyes, leaning his head out the window. “If I were you, I’d take my offer. Take the money and move away before anything else happens.”

“Threatening me?” Wes took a step toward the car and the vile man inside. “I don’t take well to threats. If I catch you or your grandson or any of your little buddies near me or my bar again, I’ll let my bear do what he truly wants to do.”

Jeremiah shook his head. “And that’s why you’re not fit to live among the human population. Your kind can only resort to such animalistic solutions.” He sighed as he started to roll up his window. “You’ve been warned.”

Wes just stood there and watched as Jeremiah Prescott drove off, wishing he had permitted his bear to follow his urges.

Twenty minutes later, he pulled up in front of Everglades, noticing the slew of cars that filled the parking lot. He assumed that Noel would send anyone away who came around looking for a beer, but the full capacity parking lot told a different story. Sighing, he turned his engine off and opened the driver’s door, stepping out into the sweltering Florida afternoon.

As he shut the car door, he heard the sound of wheels on gravel. Turning, he saw Dimitri and Adira pulling up in Dimitri’s truck, so he waited for the two of them to join him before entering the chaos inside his bar.

“Hi, Wes,” Adira said as she approached. Dimitri just waved.

Wes greeted both of them. “What brings you two by? Hopefully, you’re not wanting a drink.” He gave a chuckle, but it sounded weak even to his ears.

Dimitri shook his head. “Adira thought she might be able to help somehow.”

“If anything, I can set up some of my special alarms around the place,” Adira said. “They’d at least give you a heads up if someone tries to return and finish what they started.”

Wes couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” He glanced back at Everglades. “Somehow, I don’t think this will be the end of it.”

“I think you’re right,” Dimitri said. Then, he patted Wes on the back. “Come on, Let’s give the others a hand on cleanup, while my sexy little witch sets her alarms.”

Wes just nodded as they started to make their way inside, leaving Adira to work her magic.

Entering the bar, he could only stop as he took in the sight before him. People packed the place, everyone helping set things right. He recognized Eve Hartlow, Arlin Landry and his brother, Nathan, each with a broom or mop in hand. Alanna Bradbury, Josh Rayburn, and Ezra hauled boxes of booze to the bar. Even Brianna wiped down tables. Staring around the place, Wes was surprised at how much the others had accomplished on cleanup detail, even though he knew he shouldn’t have been with that many hands to help. The broken tables and chairs had been removed, the glass swept, and the alcohol mopped. What could be salvaged had been cleaned off, rigged, and put back in place. He had been dreading coming back to the bar, but now, he just stood there, amazed at how much better the place looked considering its condition last night.

“Will you hurry up and move that over-sized music box?”

Wes turned and saw Marge pointing to the jukebox as Jake trudged his way across the wooden floor to carry out her orders. The older woman then turned and started fussing at Noel to hurry up with washing the glasses so they could restock the bar. He almost wanted to laugh, and would have, except Marge then turned her focus to him. “Are you just going to stand there gawking?” she asked, almost snarling at him. “This is your bar after all.”

Wes ran a hand through his shaggy hair as he tried to absorb what he saw before him. “I don’t understand. What’s going on here?”

Noel came out from behind the bar as Jake grabbed Ezra to help him move the jukebox. “I put out a call for help.” She turned, gesturing to the others. “As you can see, you’ve got a wealth of friends.”

“Friends?” Josh said, ceasing his sweeping as he stared with wide eyes. “I thought free beer had been offered. Are you saying there’s no free beer?” He winked at Noel as he turned to Alanna. “We may need to go soon. I’m feeling rather thirsty.”

Alanna shook her head as she pointed to the floor. “You’ll live. Sweep, furball.”

The others laughed as Josh tried to look upset, a look he couldn’t pull off convincingly.

Noel walked up to Wes, putting her hand in the middle of his broad chest as she leaned up and gave him a soft kiss. Pulling back a little, she asked, “How did it go at the sheriff’s?”

Wes shrugged. “About as we expected. There isn’t much to prove the Prescotts did this.”

Dimitri slapped him on the back. “We’ll get the bastards. Don’t you worry about that.” The alpha of Bull Creek then left them alone as he went to replace Jake and help Ezra with the jukebox.

Jake left the others and walked over to Wes and Noel. “You know this won’t be the last of it,” he said as he approached. “We’re going to need to be on our guard until they’re caught.”

Wes stared at the man, one eyebrow arched. “We? Everglades isn’t your problem. It’s mine.”

“Wes…” Noel started, but Jake touched her arm, silencing her with a shake of his head. “It’s ours.” He then pointed to Noel, Wes, and then himself. “The three of us. You may own it, but if we’re going to make this relationship work, then what is yours is mine and what’s mine is yours. We all have a stake in this.” Jake glanced around at the others busily working on putting the bar back into some semblance of order, then gestured the other two further away and out of earshot. “Look, I know we have plenty for the three of us to work out,” Jake said. “You don’t know me, and I don’t know you, but we both know Noel, and she loves us both. If she loves you, then that tells me a lot about the type of man you are.” He shook his head. “I’m not here to step on toes or take over your bar, just to help out where I can. Noel loves it here, so I see no sense in dragging her away from Bull Creek and her friends or making you choose between your home and Noel. At this point, the easiest solution is for me to move here.” He shrugged. “As I said, we all have a stake in this.”

Noel smiled at Jake, then turned and nodded at Wes. “We’re going to be a family somehow, and trust me, I have no idea how, so we’re going to need to protect each other.”

Wes stared at the interior of his bar, mostly put back to rights, but still a little battered. He knew how to settle this, and it wasn’t the legal route. He needed to settle this and protect Noel. He would not have her in danger from the likes of Jeremiah Prescott. He also knew he stood a better chance of protecting his little elf with Jake close by.

He turned back to Jake with a nod. “All right, but we may have to handle this apart from law enforcement. Are you okay with that?”

Jake grinned. “I have no problem with dealing with the problem head on. Saves time.”

“Good,” Wes said. “First thing we need to do is find this Prescott fellow.”

Jake grinned even more. “I’m pretty sure we’re good at tracking.”

Wes nodded once. “But I know someone even better.” He then turned to where Alanna and Josh stood still bickering at each other. “Alanna, I have a favor to ask.”