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

it looked as though I had been given a huge tuna salad sandwich, Miller had a pasta dish that looked amazing, Honey had a couple of tacos and Tony…

“Perfect!” Tony yelled, picking up a knife and fork to tuck into the two-thirds of a lemon cheesecake that Honey had presented to him.

“The man loves a cheesecake come rain or shine,” Honey smiled at me.

“Oh yeah, funny thing is that I don’t even think I handle lactose all that well so this could very well kill me,” he chuckled. “But if eating a cheesecake is the thing that kicks me off old planet earth, then so be it!”

Honey snapped her fingers and four huge drinks sprouted up out of the table and straws fell into them from above. She had such control over her magic, and I couldn’t help but gaze in wonder. My magic career thus far had involved producing a cookie out of thin air and slowing down a bullet. I’d tried and failed to style my hair and now my 50’s do was clinging to my face and neck with sweat. I clearly needed more practice.

“Peridot!” Honey said.

“Gesundheit!” Tony laughed. Honey whipped at him with a linin napkin.

“No, the ring! That’s peridot isn’t it?” she asked. She was staring down at the ring on the middle finger of my left hand.

“What’s peridot?” I asked.

“It’s an ocean stone,” Honey grinned, lifting my hand up for closer inspection. “Comes from volcanoes underwater, I think.”

“Oh right,” I nodded. My amber ring had changed into some other sort of stone when I’d seen the figure in the ocean, had the ‘witch in the water’ made it happen?

We seemed to have all silently agreed to eat our meal without discussion of the body, Robert Barton or the mystery water witch. Our hunger took over and we ate without talking. The stormy weather outside was getting worse and as the rain began to fall, I realized that the bunker door had been left open.

Miller realized at the same time. As soon as the heavy thudding of raindrops started to rattle the roof of the guest house, he jumped up from his seat and hurried outside before I could say a word. We all watched as he sprinted through the rain and disappeared into the pit to close the hatch and prevent the bunker from flooding.

“Quite a man you’ve got there,” Honey smiled. “I didn’t realize a peacekeeper could date her guardian.”

“Well, I— how did you know he was my guardian? Or that we were dating?” I asked.

“I wasn’t sure about either, but you’ve just proved me right!” she laughed. Miller walked back into the dining room and his clothes were dripping water into a puddle at his feet. His hair was flattened against his head and his shirt was clinging to his skin. I couldn’t help but stare.

I had seen him shirtless before, but this was different. I had gone with him to his house to help lock him in a cage so that, should he transform into his wolf state, he wouldn’t be free to cause any harm to the islanders. It had been a full moon that night and he was still so new to his werewolf existence that he didn’t know what he was capable of. That was what scared him the most.

The first night he had shifted, he had run to my house on the beach. The eyes of the creature had seemed so familiar, but it seemed like a crazy idea to suggest that the man I was working with could turn into an animal like that. Now I knew better.

He was afraid of hurting me, but I felt safe with him.

“I would prefer it if you didn’t flood my dining room,” Honey tutted, pointing at the pool of water by his feet.

“Sorry,” he muttered, then started to shake his body from side to side rapidly and the droplets of water on his clothes and hair started flying out in all directions. I couldn’t help but laugh as I realized that he was doing exactly what a wolf, or a dog would do if they had gotten wet. Honey was less amused.

“Enough of that,” she shrieked, shielding her face from the spray of water. She snapped her fingers and Miller was suddenly dry. “Why wouldn’t you just ask one of the witches sitting at this table to help you out, instead of ruining my curtains?”

I was too busy laughing, but when Honey shot me a look I quickly stopped. Miller laughed a little too and sat back at the table next to me. I wondered if the wolf part of him had taken over for a second, but it was daytime. The moon was no where to be seen.

“You were going to tell us about Robert Barton.” I said, trying to steer the conversation. “Or the witch in the water, or why you fainted… I think we are missing a lot of information.”

“Well let’s start at the beginning,” Honey sighed. “This is a secondhand story by the way, I wasn’t even alive when these events occurred so I can’t tell you what’s real and what isn’t. My parents were both fantastical story tellers, but they aren’t around anymore so you won’t be able to fact check anything.”

Tony suddenly stood up and the sound of his chair scraping against the floor made me flinch.

“I’ve just remembered that I told my wife I’d be home for lunch!” he said. “I’m gonna have to eat another lunch so that she isn’t offended. Oh, this is too much for Tony-two-spades,” he cried as he ran out of the house.

“That man is… odd,” I said bluntly.

“I know,” Honey smiled. “He wasn’t blessed with any brains between his ears, but he will help you out when you’re in need and I can’t think of a better quality in a friend than that.”

“You were about to tell us—” Miller said.

“Yes,” Honey cut in. “Okay, so I suppose it all started sixty years ago. You know, this