Mate Marked(50)

“Forget that,” Joyce said impatiently, fixing her gaze on her grandmother. “What exactly is going on with you? Talk. Now.”

“Those mineral springs, dear,” Edna said. “They were good for more than my arthritis. Ever since I started soaking in them, my head started clearing up.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” Joyce demanded.

“Oh, I was going to get around to it, sooner or later. But it’s amazing how much people will say and do in front of an old lady when they think she’s addled,” Edna said cheerfully. “I’ve been having fun with it.” Then she cast a severe look at her two grandsons. “I’m on to you,” she said to them. “No more sneaking into the kitchen at two a.m. for thirds on dessert.”

Joyce gasped indignantly.

They both pretended to be looking at something off in the distance, and Shawn started whistling, hands stuck in his pockets.

“Speaking of sneaking off, you never told me why you went and destroyed the evidence that Mitch was trying to plant,” Joyce said to her brothers.

Shawn glanced over at Roman. “It was to protect the shifters. Paul and Leland. They were coming onto our property in the middle of the night and fixing things. They put up new fence, and they fixed the chicken coop, and they killed the fox that was eating our chickens. We saw them.”

“Those sneaky bas— uh, bass fishers,” Roman stopped himself just in time. “That’s why they were always tired in the morning. That’s where they were going at night.”

“Paul likes my sister,” Shawn added. “He made me promise not to tell. He said they had to leave town soon, so he couldn’t ask her out on a date. I wish he could stay, though. He was going to teach me how to use a bow and arrow.”

“He may still get the chance,” Roman said. “I’m going to be talking to my pack. I get the feeling that they’d like to stick around here for a while. Maybe permanently.”

Chelsea nodded, squeezing his hand.

They’d stay here. They’d have a house here. Together.

“You know what else is fixed up? My arthritis. It’s just about gone. I can skip around like a first-grader,” Edna said. She demonstrated, skipping across the lawn.

“Still a little touched in the head,” Joyce whispered.

“And my hearing is perfect!” Edna called out to her, shooting an annoyed look in her granddaughter’s direction.

Mitch’s screams had died out to despairing wails. They still ignored him.

Edna did a cartwheel across the lawn, and Ryan and Shawn ran over to join her, whooping and hollering. “If those mineral springs can really do all that…” Joyce marveled. “Think of how many people they could help.”

“You’re sitting on a fortune,” Chelsea told her. “And for that matter, so is the town of Silver Peak, since the springs are partly on their land. Everyone in the world will want to come here. My God, everybody’s problems are solved. You’re rich. The pack is rich.”

“You could go back to being sheriff and earn a real salary,” Roman mused.

“Oh dear God, no. But once business starts coming back, somebody could afford to hire me as a baker,” Chelsea said.

“In the meantime, you’ll get to enjoy the taste of powdered eggs and wild rabbit. And the joys of camp life.” Roman squeezed her shoulders, then looked down at her anxiously. “Won’t you?”

She leaned back. “Home is where you are,” she said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

* * * * *

Three months later…



The soft opening of Wintergreen’s Bakery was a wild success. The entire pack was in attendance, as well as all the new townspeople who’d swarmed to Silver Peak when the news about the mineral springs had come out, and the construction workers who were building new hotels and a massive resort right next to the springs. It was like the gold rush of the 1800s. The town had sprung back to life, and every business was bustling with customers from early morning to late at night.

All of the Silver Peak pack members, and the Dudley family, had a share of the profits. And Chelsea had joined the pack at exactly the right time.

She’d used her share to open her own bakery.

Mitch Rodgers and a couple of the police officers in Juniper who’d conspired with him were in prison, facing trial and the death penalty.

Mayor Winkleman was now the ex-mayor. He’d finally been able to step down; Lorena and Susan had tied the vote, and were serving as the town’s first ever co-mayors. They squabbled constantly.

Barbara had so much front-page news she barely knew what to do with herself, and she’d hired a reporter and a photographer.