*Thanks, guys.* Harrison didn’t know what else to say. He didn’t know how today was going to turn out. None of them did—and yet they were willing to back him up. And not because of any mate bond. Because they were his friends, and they trusted his judgement.
All of them were outsiders of one sort or another, here in Hideaway. None of them had been born here, and some of them had blended in with the community better than others. Pol, with his casual friendliness and special talents, had made himself at home in Hideaway within weeks of arriving. Harrison knew he’d be able to charm his way back into their good books, even if he did back Harrison and Lainie in the face of the town’s judgement.
Arlo was risking more by going against the Sweets and the rest of the town. He was a loner, and only had a few real friends in Hideaway. How many would decide he wasn’t worth keeping around if he caused trouble?
Harrison blinked, and muttered “Damn it.” His vision was swimming. He tried to shake the tears away, but it was too late. Lainie was looking across at him, her dark eyes full of concern.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. I was just—” Harrison waved his fork, and paused. Ah. “I was just, uh, talking to the guys, using… my shifter telepathic powers…”
“Your what?” Lainie dropped her cutlery and covered her eyes. “You know what—okay. On top of everything else, telepathy doesn’t seem that weird. What were your friends saying?”
“Pol and Arlo. I don’t know if you’ve met Pol—tall, blond?” Lainie shook her head. “Well, you’ll see him today, anyway. Arlo you met yesterday morning, of course. And, uh. The night before. My, uh. The dog.”
“The dog?” Lainie groaned, then chuckled. “Oh, the poor guy. And he had to pretend to be a real dog, because you weren’t expecting me to be at the restaurant… jeez.”
“Yeah. He’s not going to let me live that down for a long time.” Harrison laughed, then grew serious. “They were saying that they’ve got our backs, whatever happens today.”
Lainie visibly shuddered. “That’s really nice of them,” she said quietly. “But I still don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know if there’s anything I can do, except try to make everyone understand my side of the story.”
Harrison reached across the table and took her hand. “We’ll do it together,” he reassured her.
She sighed and grabbed her shoes. “Well, there’s no point putting it off,” she said. She smiled across at Harrison, but even from across the table he could tell it was wavering.
He watched while she pulled on one ankle-boot, and then the other.
“Ugh, these are still wet—ouch!” She kicked off her right boot, and grabbed her foot. Harrison swooped over and knelt by her chair. “Damn it, I forgot. There was a bit of gravel in there yesterday, cutting into my foot. I forgot to knock it out. It’s really sharp.”
Harrison picked up her shoe and turned it over. A small, grime-covered object fell out. He frowned. Some of the grime had been rubbed off by Lainie’s sock, but what was underneath it didn’t look like gravel. It gleamed.
Harrison rubbed the object against his pant leg. “This isn’t a stone,” he said, wonderingly. “Look.”
He held it up to her. Lainie’s eyes widened. “A ring!” she gasped. “But that looks like—”
“—The ring from your grandparents’ portrait.” Harrison finished her sentence.
The ring twinkled in the light pouring in the kitchen window. It had a slender gold band, and was topped by a diamond the size of Harrison’s thumbnail. Smaller stones were set on each side, catching the light and sending it back broken into glittering shards.
“But where—oh, my God,” Lainie breathed. “When I fell over, I knocked something out of that alcove, do you remember? The ring got lodged in my shoe after that.” She met Harrison’s eyes. “Harrison… how much would a ring like this be worth? And what if the rest of the Eaves treasure is there, too? What if it really exists?”
Her eyes were lit up with hope. Harrison slid the ring into her hand.
“I asked Pol to gather my friends together so we could talk to them this morning. Figure out some way that we can stay together, and solve your debt problem,” he told her. “But I just thought of another thing they can help us with.
“Let’s go,” he said, and pulled her to her feet.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
LAINIE
Lainie wriggled her toes in the sand. She’d been holding her grandmother’s ring ever since Harrison handed it to her. It felt warm in her hand.
That’s just because you’ve been holding it for so long, she reasoned with herself. But it still felt like something more. So many magical things had been revealed to her in the last twenty-four hours. Who’s to say it wasn’t an accident that this ring fell into my boot?
She blushed and looked around. Harrison had reassured her that shifters’ telepathy didn’t mean they could read her mind, but she didn’t want anyone overhearing her thinking that her grandmother’s spirit might have sent the ring to her.
How else could she explain what was happening?