“Wasn’t no gators, baby,” Grand said gently. “Just like it ain’t been no gators eating people like they say on the news, and it sure wasn’t no hurricane that kilt my girl, no more than it was feral dogs that ravaged her body.” Grand lifted her chin. “For all them years, she couldn’t get to my daughter, because Lula had put down protections and barriers . . . but the storm, oh, Lawd, that storm washed it all away.”

“My momma got sick around then, but she passed two years ago,” Jessica murmured, her gaze going from Grand to Justin. “The doctors could never tell why she was getting weaker and weaker . . . never found out exactly what it was. They just said she was sick.”

“Uh-huh . . . that’s an old-time spell. Jus’ make a person waste away for no good reason. Mean. Your momma probably put something down here to keep that Jezebel and her evil ways kept here and away from her young’uns . . . just like my Lula did. Even evil got an uphill battle when going against a mother’s love.” Grand let out an angry sigh. “She prob’ly just sent evil your momma’s direction, seeing as how your momma died from sickness, not from gettin’ ate.”

Jessica’s hand flew to her mouth. “This witch cast spells so bad that she made werewolves?” Her eyes darted between Justin and Grand, and yet she couldn’t read Justin’s frown.

“No, baby,” Grand said gently. “She didn’t cast no spell, she became her own spell.”

Jessica’s body slumped against the counter again as though someone had punched her. “But you said there was a whole den of them now . . .”

“Uhmmm-hmmm . . . all them men she does her dirt with. All it takes is a scratch, a nip, sharing some spit. By now, who knows how many men she done swapped spit with? If I was younger, I’d go out there and spell-battle her myself!”

Four

ALTHOUGH Grand sometimes got on his last nerve, he had to admit that she was very, very wise. Talking frankly had loosened Jessica up enough that she agreed to come home with them for a real down-home meal.

Crawfish over grits with gravy was Grand’s specialty, but she didn’t pull out all the stops for just any ole body. He could tell that Grand had taken a shine to Jessica . . . So had he. If she passed Grand’s tough inspection, then what else was there—the problem was, nobody had ever come this close to finding out his secret.

But he couldn’t worry about all of that now while listening to the wonderful sound of Jessica’s voice. Plus she smelled so good, a light citrus mixed with baby oil coming off her legs mixed with a little perspiration. Add in Grand’s kitchen magic and he was done.

“So, if this witch is a werewolf, how in the heck do we get to her?” Jessica asked, leaning closer to him and dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “She did your momma, mine, my daddy . . . and now she’s got a bunch of lovers-turned-wolves out eating people? She’s gotta be stopped.”

The challenge was in Jessica’s eyes, the unasked question lingering there—Why haven’t you tried to shut this bitch down a long time ago yourself, especially when you have all the tools and a grandma that can see? Guilt stabbed him; what could he say? There was no way to explain that without exposing what he was.

“The only way to get to her is during the day when the moon isn’t in full phase,” Justin said quietly, now allowing his knee to brush hers. He loved the way she leaned in, the way her eyes lit with passion. Loved the urgency in her voice and the way she hung on his every word.

“Then . . . we can do that.” Jessica took a quick sip from her lemonade and then clasped her hands together tightly in her lap.

“If you shoot her while in human form, you’ll go to jail for murder one, Jess.”

Jessica sat back and blew out a long breath. “Maaaan . . .”

“Lock her in her house with brick dust,” Grand hollered from the kitchen. “Silver shavings go down next, and then bar all her windows and doors with holy water, pour it over her threshold. Follow up with salt.”

“Grand, I thought you was cookin’,” Justin called out.

“I am,” Grand fussed back. “I can walk and chew gum!”

Jessica smiled and then leaned forward and touched his arm. “Ever since I was little, I always felt so strange . . . Do you know what I mean?”

All he could do was nod; her touch had dried the saliva in his mouth.

“I knew I wasn’t like other kids, knew my momma wasn’t like other mommas. Until today, I haven’t run across anybody that made me feel like I was home, like I was with family. Like it was okay to be different. Even extended family shunned us.”

He knew exactly how she felt and exactly what she meant. Without even thinking about it, he gathered her hands within his, as though that were the most natural thing to do in the whole world.

“I think your difference is beautiful, Jess,” he said quietly, hoping his grandmother would mind her beeswax for a while. “I’ll help you trap that swamp witch and her pack in her house, if you want . . . They can’t keep killing innocent people.”

A warm, soft palm slid out of his to touch his cheek. He almost closed his eyes at the sensation that it sent through his body.

“Why can’t I see you?” she murmured, studying his face with her liquid brown gaze.

“Ya needs ta answer that girl!” Grand called out from the kitchen, making them both laugh. “And ya best go home to be taking care of your dog.”

Jessica hid a giggle behind her hand. “You have a dog?”

“Kinda,” Justin hedged. “But this is why I don’t live here,” he said, shaking his head. “No privacy.” He took her hands within his again and let out a heavy sigh. “You know how old folks can be.”

Jessica sat back, extracting her hands from his with a smile, glancing around. “I hear you . . . I thought you lived here?”

“With Grand . . . Oh, noooo. Got my own apartment close to Xavier.”

They both laughed, and he was glad that his grandmother’s intrusion had broken Jessica’s spell. Two seconds more and he would have told her all that she wanted to know.

“Then since you all find me so funny,” Grand said in a peevish tone, “y’all go wash up and come eat and stop sitting on the sofa making goo-goo eyes at each other.”

FOR the first time in a long time, Jess felt her sexuality awaken with a roar. What had always been a dull ache or a dream-state want was now a beast.

Justin stood in the hotel lobby, stalling, the same way she was. They’d long since sopped up grits and gravy with Grand’s buttermilk biscuits, done dishes, and talked strategy and laughed together. She felt like she’d known Justin Cambridge all her born days, and the short walk in the humid evening air from Grand’s apartment over the shop to the hotel made her feel like she was floating on air.

Drawing on everything her momma had taught her, she finally dredged up the strength to say good night. This one was a keeper and was old school, like her. It wouldn’t do to just ask him up to her room and be brazenly bold. But dang, he was so fine, so kind . . . just sexy as hell.

“I’d better go,” she said with a slight smile.

“Yeah . . . you’d better,” he murmured, but he didn’t move.

“I have to come by the shop tomorrow to get all that stuff Grand was saying I’d need.”

“We’d need,” Justin corrected.

“I hadn’t realized I said that,” Jessica said, covering her mouth. “I—”

“It was fine,” Justin said, placing both hands on her upper arms.

Warmth soaked into Jessica’s skin and practically melted her bones. Her breath hitched when she tried to speak.

“I’d better go,” he said with a widening smile. “I want you to think I’m a gentleman.”

She smiled and arched an eyebrow. “Want me to think that you’re a gentleman?”

He gave her a dashingly sexy grin. “Uh-huh.”

She couldn’t help laughing at the mischief she saw in his eyes. “So, what changed your normal ungentlemanly behavior?”