Alpha Knows Best (Wicked Good Witches Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

voicemail. He had turned the ringer off before arriving at Nina’s the night before. 
    “Damn. Duty calls,” he said in a disappointed tone after listening to Melinda’s message. He really was going to have to leave and go back to reality.
    “You witches… always on the job.” Nina cracked an understanding smile.
    “Says the gal who’s on the clock twenty-four-seven, except for six weeks every summer.”
    “Ah, but I love my job. And look at how I get to spend my vacation.”
    She pulled him in, begging one last kiss out of him before allowing him to leave. 
    Something about the kiss felt different to Charlie. Deeper. Fuller. Tinged with hidden meaning he didn’t have time to decipher.
    She pulled away. He groaned again.
    “Tomorrow night, Nina. You’d better be ready for me.”
    She sucked in. Her head filled with a delighted haze as she escorted him to the front porch and watched him disappear down the road.
    “Oh, my big bad wolfman.” Nina’s voice trembled, riddled with emotion. “I'm afraid there won’t be a tomorrow night. My duty calls as well.”
    She stepped back into the house, slipped the protection ring off her finger and walked into the bedroom, gently placing the ring in the center of the sea of white covering her unused bed.
    She lovingly ran her hands over the sheets, erasing any creases or wrinkles.
    She stood, taking a deep, certain breath. “Well that’s that,” she spoke to no one.
    Nina got dressed and slipped out of the cottage, following a pathway alongside the back of the beach, which veered off into the dark woods of The Demon Isle.
     
    ##
     
    Upon arrival at the Howard Mansion, Michael and Emily headed into the kitchen. From the look on Michael's face, his empathic abilities were picking up some very disturbing feelings from the sheriff. Melinda went down to let William out of his prison whether he was ready to come out or not.
    He smelled her blood before she’d gotten down the first stair. He breathed it in. It was tolerable now, but as she got closer, that tolerance lowered.
    “William,” she called out. “You probably already heard her in the kitchen, but if not, Mack’s here and she needs our help with something.” Melinda’s tone shoved his cravings back in their place. He heard the fearful inflection.
    “Very well.” He exited his cell after she unlocked it for him.
    Cravings in their rightful place or not, William kept to the opposite side of the kitchen near an open window, as far from Melinda as he could get without raising suspicions over his actions.
    Michael asked Mack if she’d like a cup of coffee.
    “Can’t ever turn down a good cup.” She nodded thanks as he filled a mug from the freshly brewing pot. Michael grabbed the cream and sugar, adding just a touch of cream and three heaping teaspoons of sugar.
    “Damn my sweet tooth,” Mack joked uneasily when he handed her the cup. 
    “Charlie called,” Michael announced, for Melinda and William’s sake. “He’ll be here any minute.”
    Mack hadn’t taken more than a few sips when Charlie sauntered through the back kitchen door.
    “Morning everyone,” he called out, upon seeing them. “I’ll take a cup of that,” he told Michael. He grabbed a mug, filled it and handed it to Charlie.
    “Thanks,” he said, taking a big gulp.
    “You looked relaxed considering what day it is,” Michael noted with a smirk.
    Charlie just shook his head and scrunched his face. It was his look of, yeah, we’re so not going there… instead, he made a quick change of the subject. “What’s up?”
    They all turned to Mack.
    She set down her cup, clearing her throat.
    “There’s something I need your help with, and more importantly, Charlie, you need to hear what I have to say.” 
    Charlie’s relaxed demeanor morphed into tension. “You know you can count on us for anything, Mack, supernatural or otherwise.” 
    “Truth is,” she continued, “I just came back into town from a crime scene, out in