The crew being Pandora and Marigold Williams, two of their more conventional witch friends in town; Willa Iscove, fae stone and metal worker; Bridget Morrow, the werewolf who owned Howler’s; her sister-in-law, Ivy Merrow; Roxy St. James, a human who could now shift into a panther thanks to some very special magic; Tessa and Jenna Blythe, the valkyrie sisters; Imari Zephara, the genie; Caroline Linzer, another feline shifter; Delaney Ellingham, one of the newest vampires in town; and Monalisa Tsvetkov, the Will-o’-the-Wisp who’d recently married Van, the dragon shifter.
Ivy, Delaney and Monalisa weren’t regulars, though. Both Ivy and Delaney had young children who kept them busy. And since Ivy was married to the town sheriff and Delaney was married to one of the town owners, they had all kinds of extra stuff going on.
Monalisa and her husband spent a good deal of time in Las Vegas.
It was just a fact that they were all growing busier with each passing day. They almost all had husbands or boyfriends and lots of work to do. Some had kids, adopted or otherwise.
Mattie, Imari, Caroline, and Undrea were some of the last truly single women in the group.
And while Undrea sometimes hung out with Greyson, a roguish vampire she’d become friends with after installing a tank at his place, even he’d become less available since finding his soulmate in Kora, the daughter of the reaper who owned Insomnia.
Of course, they did get a lot of free drinks when they went to Insomnia now.
As dear as all of those women were to her, the idea of them knowing what had happened to her didn’t sit easily. She especially didn’t want Greyson finding out.
Mostly because it felt like there was too great of a chance of her secret accidentally being revealed. Having Mattie know was one thing. But having all of them know?
What if they looked at her differently? The women might not. But Greyson probably would. She wouldn’t blame him, either. And what if one of them slipped up and let her secret spill? Would she still be allowed to live in Nocturne Falls?
She sucked in a breath. That wasn’t something she’d considered. She might be asked to move. Or told to move.
Holy cowfish. Was that possible?
She supposed she could always go talk to Delaney about it, seeing as how she was an Ellingham. But if Undrea told her, then Delaney would have to tell Hugh, her husband, and if he knew, what was to keep his entire family from finding out?
No, Undrea couldn’t tell anyone else. Her parents had always warned her that her secret could be her undoing in the world of the uprights.
She pulled into her spot at the warehouse office space and parked. She turned the truck off and looked at the front door of her business. Her employees might even leave if they knew who they really worked for, and then were would she be? They were all human, except for Aaron.
Without a team to get her jobs done, her business would collapse, and then she might as well go home to her parents.
Shaking her head, she got out of the truck and went inside, determined to get past all of this.
“Morning, boss.”
“Morning, Whitney.” Undrea picked up her mail from the inbox on Whitney’s desk. Whitney was the newest hire, a young woman with a love of fish and knack for organization that made Undrea giddy. “How’s it been so far today?”
“Quiet. Amanda and Curtis are out on maintenance. Aaron’s in the warehouse working on that Parker job. How was the new client?”
“Good.” Not a lie, but not the full truth either. But Whitney didn’t need to know all about that. “If we get that job, it’s going to be the biggest one we’ve done yet. I’m just not sure it’s going to work out the way they want it to.”
“Floor issues?”
Whitney was such a smart woman. Undrea loved a fast learner. “Yep, you nailed it. The tank is going to be a beast. It’s going to take Aaron and a serious conversation with the builder to work this one out.”
“I hope you guys can make it happen.”
“Me, too.” She looked through the mail. Bills, mostly. “Anything else?”
“The live rock for the Parker job came, as well as the fish from Bright Ocean Breeders. There was a shipment in from Blue Marble, too. Aaron’s acclimating all of it.”
“Okay, I’ll go out and have a look. Then I’m going to answer emails and hopefully take Aaron to lunch so we can talk over this new job.”
“What about phone calls?”
“Put them through.”
“You got it.”
Undrea went into her office, dropped the mail on her desk, fed her beta fish, Poseidon, then went out to the warehouse. Aaron was at the quarantine tanks, getting their new stock acclimated to the water. Aaron Rigby was one of her very first hires. And while he was most definitely an engineer, he was also a fish guy. Literally and figuratively.
And while that might have made them a match, they’d figured out pretty early on that they were only compatible as friends, which was fine. Aaron was a shifter of the water dragon variety, sometimes called a leviathan, a nessie, or a sea serpent. It helped having an employee who understood what it meant to be more than you seemed.
His true form had probably contributed to his outstanding service as a Navy SEAL.
“Hey, Aaron. Mattie says hi.”
He glanced up and smiled. “Does she?”
Undrea nodded. It was obvious the two liked each other, and yet they didn’t do anything more than exchange greetings now and then. Whatever that was about. “How does the new stock look?”
“They look great. These basslets are amazing.”
“You can’t beat them for color.”
“That’s for sure.”
She came over and crouched down to look at all the new fish, still in their shipping bags but submerged in the tank water they’d be quarantining in. Aaron had set up the drip lines, too, so that water from the tank they were about to be placed in could slowly mix with their bag water. It was important to acclimate them properly to avoid shock. “Hello, little fellas.”
“How’d the visit go?”
She looked up. “Great, but I don’t know about the floor.”
“That big of a tank, huh?”
“Nine hundred gallons, roughly.”
He whistled. “Big tank. We’ll figure it out.”
“I was hoping we could do just that at lunch.”
“Sure.” He grinned. “Meatloaf today, I think.”
“That sounds great.” She straightened. “I could use some comfort food.”
He hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll grab my tablet so I can sketch out a few designs while we eat. When you’re ready.”
“Perfect. I need about forty-five minutes to look at email.”
“And I still need to sort out this live rock. Yell when you want to go. Don’t forget to look at those sketches I put on your desk.”
“Will do.” She went back to her small office, fired up her computer and logged in. The sketches from Aaron looked perfect, as always. Her inbox wasn’t as easy to get through. Half a dozen client emails, a handful of supplier emails, and a few industry newsletters, which was about standard.
She was just about to open one of the newsletters when another client email arrived.
From Ethan.