Page 76 of Mystery in the Mountains

“It’s him!”

“It’s who?”

“The guy from my dad’s board!” Sunny yelled as she turned and made her way back upstairs as the radio blasted “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”

“I figured it out! Well . . . I figured out something, at least.”

Asher went into the living room and turned off the radio before heading upstairs as Sunny stared at the board.

“It has to be the same guy. Don’t you think?”

Asher scratched through his beard as he peered at the board. “I would imagine. He worked for VenDeer then and still does now, and he seemed to be after the land before. But why is he back? He hasn’t been poking his head around in the last four years . . . Why now?”

“That’s a good question . . . That sounds like a question for Bridget. Where is she, by the way? I don’t think I’ve seen her in over a week.”

“Yeah, you know how she is. She comes and goes and always shows up in the nick of time. Hopefully, she and Esther will be back soon. It does feel like we are onto something.”

He stopped and examined the board.

Sunny added the folder with the offer to the rest of the papers. “The Church of Divine Deliverance . . . Why does that name alone make my skin crawl?”

“I know, right? Have you ever heard of it before?”

“No, I haven’t. How would you feel about letting Abe up here tomorrow? That man’s mind is a steel trap. He might remember something.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

She walked over to him and slipped her arms around his waist. “On a completely unrelated note . . . I was doing some journaling this morning,” she said as he turned and held her close. “I noticed . . . the moon is full tonight.”

A growl rumbled deep in his chest. While he didn’t voice it, she could still feel it.

“What do you say we have some fun?”

He licked his lips, and it was like she could see straight through to the beast within. “What kind of fun did you have in mind, little witch?” he asked in a low voice that shot straight to her lady bits.

She reached up on her toes and put her mouth right next to his ear. “I was thinking of the kind where you chase me through the woods and claim me under the full moon.”

His hand snaked up her body and wrapped around her neck, holding firm. “Do you know what you’re asking me for?”

“Yes,” she said before biting his earlobe. “I know exactly what I’m asking for.”

And she did. His wolf would be in control that night. She knew it would get rough. She knew what she was in for, and her core throbbed at the thought.

He pulled her close and hitched her body to his. “I say as soon as the sun goes down and the moon is high in the sky, it’s fucking on.”

“Well, after my shift at the bar . . . I might just come home and take a stroll in the woods and hope no big bad wolf comes upon me,” she said with a playful glint in her eye.

Later that night, Sunny was opening the door to the Corner Tap, ready for her shift.

“Hey, Dusty, how’s it going?”

“Good,” she said as she wiped down the bar. “We have karaoke tonight, so I’ll be behind the bar with you. It can get pretty busy on weekend nights with karaoke.”

“Sounds like a good time. Let me go put my stuff in the back room,” she said, making her way behind the bar into the office off the storeroom.

The music from the jukebox and the noise of the patrons filled her with a warm welcome feeling. She liked being a bartender. It gave her a chance to talk to all kinds of people, and if Sunny was anything, she was a people person.

The only drawback to being a people person and a seer smacked her in the face as she turned to join Dusty behind the bar. There, taking a brown paper bag from her, was Nox Whittaker.

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