Hallow Haven Cozy Mysteries Bundle Books 1-3 by Mara Webb (books to read fiction .txt) 📕

in and sat on the horizontal plank opposite from him. Fitz leapt in from the sand to avoid stepping into the shallow water of the sea and landed on my lap.

“Can’t we take the motorboat?” I asked.

“I already checked; it looks like the boats are all out for the day with some tourists looking for swordfish. I have been on this island for years and I’ve never heard of anybody seeing one, but good luck to them!” Miller chuckled. “I’ll row us there, don’t worry.”

“We could take turns,” I offered.

“Shhh,” Fitz hissed. “Let him do the work! Jeez, I didn’t realize you needed training in magic and how to get people to do stuff for you. My first piece of advice would be: turn yourself into an animal. That way you get all sorts of strangers telling you that you have a gorgeously glossy coat and a button nose, you get food for free and you are usually warm enough all the time.”

“Great advice,” Miller grumbled.

“Is this because of the werewolf thing? Do you not want us to mention the werewolf thing? Let me know if you want us to not be bringing up the werewolf thing because we could totally stop. It must be crazy that you are a werewolf though, right? I mean, you have been a werewolf the whole time, but you were just dormant until you met Sadie. Dormant, like a volcano. Hey, did you know that more than 80% of the earth’s surface is volcanic in origin? I read it on a candy wrapper.”

“Fitz,” I pleaded. “Let’s maybe enjoy the sound of the water or something other than your voice.”

“Water sounds gross, but fine,” he grumbled. He turned around on my lap a few times then curled up in a ball to rest. Miller had finally begun to row us away from the shore and I felt the tension subside. Fitz had said the word ‘werewolf’ about forty times already today and it was now the elephant in the room, or rather the elephant in the boat.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around much,” Miller said. “I have been speaking with a few family members about the… you know…”

“Werewolf thing?” Fitz interrupted.

“Yes, the werewolf thing. The fact that I am your guardian makes this hard, I just can’t risk being around you if I am a danger to you. I know that I would never harm you, but I don’t know the wolf well enough yet,” Miller uttered. I could hear the pain in his voice. He finally looked up at me and I felt my heart pounding in my chest.

“Animals love me, I’m sure we’ll be fine,” I said, trying to make light of it. “But why don’t we focus on something else to take our minds off it?”

“Sure, like what?” he grinned.

“How about the fact that this boat is rapidly taking on water?” I said. He looked down and saw that the puddle by our feet had grown. We were quite a way out from the main island and this boat wasn’t going to make it back, or to our destination.

“Oh shoot!” Miller cried, letting go of the oars to plug the hole with his hands. The oars slipped loose and within seconds were floating away from us.

“You’ve gotta laugh,” I chuckled. “I’ve just been dragged out of bed for you to have me drown within eyesight of my house.”

“Yeah, weird way to flirt Sheriff Miller,” Fitz added.

“Calm down everyone,” Miller replied. “Look, Wilmore is close enough for us to swim to. The current is taking us that way anyway, it would be too hard to swim back home.”

“What about the swordfish, Miller?” Fitz hissed.

“I’d be more concerned about the sharks if I were you,” Miller said. He winked at me to let me know that he was just teasing, but I’d rather he hadn’t mentioned sharks at all. “Any chance you can use your magic to get us there?”

“To Wilmore?” Fitz shrieked. “You can’t use magic to get there, it’s protected!”

“Of course it is,” Miller sighed, rolling his eyes. “All right, let’s go. Follow me.” At that, Miller dived into the water and the boat rocked violently from his departure. Fitz jumped after him, shifting into human form in midair while screaming. It was quite a sight.

There I was, in the middle of the water in a rapidly sinking boat. My options were to swim back to the house or swim after a werewolf and a talkative shapeshifter. I stood up and jumped into the sea. Miller hadn’t gone far, so swam back to check I was okay. I was making it obvious that open water swimming wasn’t one of my strong suits.

“Do you need me to help?” he asked. His sheriff’s uniform was clinging to his wet skin along his shoulders and chest. I stammered for a moment before I was able to speak.

“I’m fine,” I managed. “Just lead the way.”

We swam for a few minutes in the warm water, the glugging sound of the sinking boat growing more distant as we approached the island of Wilmore. Among the thick, dense trees I could see a house. Was this the house my uncle lived in?

Miller was the first to reach the shallows and stood up to finish the journey on foot. As his feet hit the sand, the lights in the house flickered on. Whoever was inside the building knew we were here. Why had we been invited?

3

“I am soaked to the bone. I may never emotionally recover from this,” Fitz complained. He was back in his cat form and shaking his body from side to side like a wet dog. Miller was standing close enough that he was getting sprayed with the sea water flying from Fitz. I laughed and Miller whipped his head round to look at me in mock disgust.

“Can’t you control him?” Miller laughed.

“I’m not a pet!” Fitz cried.

“It’s out of my hands, sorry,” I smiled. “The lights came on when we came ashore,” I said,