Free Haunted Sanctuary (Green Pines Sanctuary) by Moira Rogers Page B

heartbeat.”
    Jay rose with a nod. “We need Guide magic,” he agreed, “not to mention some heavy-duty wards around the farm. Nothing too fancy, but I’m betting they’ll take some time.”
    “You need a pack witch,” Fletcher said quietly. “All the safest sanctuaries have them. That is what you want to do here, isn’t it? Sanctuary?”
    It was still hard to say it out loud, to commit to such a monumental undertaking. As a cop, he was responsible for people’s safety all the time, every day. But that responsibility ended when potential danger did. They needed him for moments—sometimes the worst of their lives, but moments nonetheless.
    He’d never been needed as an alpha.
    “Sanctuary,” he confirmed. “That’s what I’m doing. We’ll have to declare it, and that means going to Memphis. Part of me agrees with Colin, you know. Let ’em come here expecting to find Zack and the others…and find us instead. But the rest of me knows it’d be too traumatic. If even one of them got past us—” He shuddered. It was exactly what had happened to Eden. “It’s too risky.”
    Colin hesitated for a moment before nodding. Fletcher grinned and lifted his coffee. “A sanctuary right on top of a human town. You’ve got big brass balls, my friend.”
    Jay snorted. “Why do you think we need those wards so damn bad? Find me a witch, Shane.”
    “Done.” He grinned over the top of the monitor. “Stella has to make arrangements and check with her alpha, but she’s going to get back to me by the end of the day.”
    “Stella…” Colin narrowed his eyes. “She’s the one apprenticed to Keith Winston’s witch, isn’t she? Up in Red Rock?”
    “That’s her. She was mentioning just the other day that it’s time for her to do some work on her own.”
    “Then we’ll be glad to have her.” Jay arched an eyebrow. “Fletcher will even pay her, since he’s hot to start writing checks.”
    Fletcher grinned. “My signing fingers are tingling already. I’ve always wanted to buy a witch.”
    “Hire a witch,” Shane corrected. “You talk like that around Stella and she’ll bite your signing fingers off.”
    “Good. She’ll fit right in with Jay’s snarly blonde.” Fletcher met Jay’s eyes, and there was a hint of challenge there. A lazy demand that Jay step up to the line. “She is yours, right?”
    Eden was exactly the sort of woman Fletcher couldn’t resist. Jay suppressed a growl. “Yeah, she’s mine.”
    “Well, then. Best to avoid temptation altogether. All the ladies are off limits.” Fletcher punched Colin on the shoulder lightly. “You hear that?”
    Colin growled. “You touch me one more time, you’re going to lose that hand.”
    “Jesus, Colin. I hope you’re more charming with the ladies.”
    “I don’t need to be charming with the ladies. My face isn’t half as busted as yours.”
    Jay pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’ll go to Memphis tomorrow. Shane can stay here and look out for the place. In the meantime…try not to kill each other?”
    Colin stood and jerked his head toward Shane. “You need help unpacking your gear?”
    “I brought my bike, so there’s not much.” Shane swept up his computer as he rose from the table. “Have to get my wireless signal booster set up, though, if you’re looking for something to do.”
    “Sounds like a party.”
    Fletcher lingered as the two men stomped down the porch steps. “You’ve got your hands full, all right.”
    “Yeah.” He squinted at his oldest friend. “What was that? That look you gave me about Colin?”
    Sighing, Fletcher rubbed a hand over his face. “It’s getting to him. He ignored me when I told him to take it slow with the vigilante work. That shit’ll eat you up if you let it, and he’s been hip deep in it for a few years now without stopping to breathe.”
    And Jay was dragging him to Memphis, possibly for more bloodshed. “If we can get past the immediate danger, maybe he’ll agree to stick