Chapter 2

• By the time they pulled into the gates at the gathering, Chris wanted to jump out and stretch. He’d barely moved a muscle the whole trip, not wanting to disturb Kasey’s sleep. Running a hand up and down her arm, he spoke softly. “Kasey, we’re here.”
• She opened her eyes and turned to look up at him. His heart hammered in his chest when he caught her sexy, sleepy expression.
• “Thanks,” she whispered with a raspy voice.
• He touched her cheek with the back of his hand, brushing his knuckles lightly over the soft, glowing skin. “Anytime, sweetheart.”
• Kasey smiled as she pushed herself up. “I feel so much better.” She brushed her lips against his cheek, lingering for a short moment. “You are quite a comfy pillow, Chris.”
• “You can use me anytime you need, little Kasey,” he said in a low voice, almost drowning in her pale green eyes.
• “Are you getting out sometime today?” Dade looked in the window at them.
• Steven winked at Kasey as she got out. “Kase, you look good enough to eat today.” He walked over and hugged her, ignoring the glare from Chris.
• Chris was almost certain Doc was doing that, just to annoy him.
• “Oh! I love the belly ring, Kase! Where did you get it?” Rachel squeaked as she was bending down to look closer.
• Kasey smiled up at Chris. “It was a gift.”
• Chris grinned down at her, liking the way she kept it between the two of them.
• Cora walked over and looked too. “Oh my, those have to be real diamonds. Fake ones wouldn’t sparkle like that.” She reached out a finger to touch it and got a small zap. “Oh!” She put her finger in her mouth and laughed. “This dry weather is so awful for static charges.”
• Chris stuffed his hands into his pockets when he noticed Owen raise an eyebrow at Doc, and they both turned to stare at him. He glanced down at the ground, pretending he didn’t understand their knowing looks.
• Kasey chuckled. “I’ll have to call her the electric fairy.” As everyone started moving towards the registration, she pulled him and whispered. “The stones are not fake, are they, Chris?” He just shook his head. “Great!” She puffed out her cheeks. “I need an insurance policy on my belly button!” He threw his head back and laughed as she headed to join the others.
• Chris followed along behind, still close enough to hear Owen as he leaned close to Steven. “Can he do that?”
• Steven nodded. “Yes, and I’d say he definitely did.”
• Owen laughed.
• “Who did what?” Dade asked, pushing between them.
• Steven glanced towards the women and then whispered to Dade.
• “No way! Really?” Dade chuckled. “Sneaky bastard,” he muttered and then immediately walked ahead of them when Cora turned and gave him that look.
• Leena stood by the registration, noticing that this site was more beautiful than the pictures on the website had shown. There were herbs and grasses growing wild around the whole camp. She couldn’t wait to wander through the trees and along the creek to discover what was there. Harvesting herbs for her magic was very important whenever she had the chance.
• She started a list of the herbs she most wanted to find. Wild catnip, of course, was always better than cultivated. Would there be motherwort here? Oh, and ground ivy would be at the perfect point to harvest. Grinning, she sighed and leaned back against Owen. Now seemed as good a time as any to get him playing in the weeds. She was just turning to tell him of her plans when Gwen, in her vintage, flowing, hippy skirts, came flying out of the little building. She ran over to Leena and hugged her tight.
• “Cora just told me. Congratulations!” She picked up Leena’s hand and looked at the ring. She then kissed Owen. “This is so lovely!” She smiled at them both. “It makes my heart so much lighter to know something this wonderful came out of the Beltane gathering.” She kissed both of them again. “Oh! You’ll be dancing your first coupled union tomorrow night. Oh, this is wonderful!” She sniffled as she walked back into the building.
• Owen looked down at Leena. “Coupled union?”
• Leena laughed and started towards the building. “I’ll explain later.” Justin was walking towards the group and she could see the strain of the past few months in his eyes.
• “Justin, how nice to see you.” She hugged him briefly.
• The older man grinned back at her. “Gwen just told me the news, congratulations you two.” He shook Owen’s hand and grinned. “You’re a lucky man, but you know that.” He turned to nod to the others. “It’s great to see all of you here. Thanks for coming back.” He rubbed his jaw and glanced around. “You’ll need to meet Mr. Blaine, the detective. I’m not sure where he is at the moment, but stop by at dinner, and I’ll point him out.” With that he offered a small grin. “It’s certainly drier this time.” He turned and went back into the building.
• “Poor guy,” Cora mused as she followed him into the registration building.
• When Chris walked out to where the others waited, he noticed a few tense stares.
• “Chris,” Kasey said in her sweet tone. “Did you happen to pay for all of our registrations and the cabin?”
• He grinned down at her. “What could be more magical then the eight of us together at a gathering? My Solstice gift to you all.” He looked at them with a slightly smug expression, they couldn’t refuse this gift.
• Owen stepped forward until Leena put a hand on his arm and shook her head. “You can’t refuse a Solstice gift, or you’ll bring bad luck to the season.” Unhappy blue eyes looked at Chris, and then Owen looked back at Leena and sighed in defeat.
• Chris walked past them. “Shall we go check out our lodgings?”
• Cora caught up to him and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
• Rachel did the same.
• Kasey just looked up and frowned.
• The outside of the cabin didn’t look like a typical cabin. A simple square building with dark siding and white trim with a deck, or the white boards that could be referred to as a deck, were large enough for two or three people to stand, but not sit.
• Once inside the cabin, they all stood in the small sitting area and looked around. There was a woodstove in the corner, with a well-polished wood floor that had seen many feet over the years. Two large armchairs, one of faded blue and one in red and a large brown wicker chair, with a green couch loveseat meant that gathering comfortably would be a challenge.
• “Well, at least we all won’t have to sit on the floor,” Dade muttered as he walked over to open a door. “And people, we have a bathroom. Okay, a tiny sink and a toilet.” He turned to grin at Owen. “You, big guy, might have to go in and out sideways, but at least it’s not a sixty-foot hike outside.”
• Leena stood there and looked at the four closed doors. Sighing, she went and opened the first. “Double bed and a tiny TV-table-sized table. The wall is a foot from each side of the bed,” she reported.
• Opening the next, “Single, possibly a twin-sized cot in this room. Nothing other than that, including space.” She lifted her brows at the others as they peeked in the rooms after her. The next door revealed two cots and a tiny window the size of a vent.
• Chris looked in the last door over her shoulder. It had three narrow cots and almost a half-sized closet. “Well.” Leena grinned at him. “We have four rooms, double bed, a single bed, two singles, and three singles, in addition to a closet sized space.”
• Owen grinned. “I’m calling the double bed that I’ll be sharing with my fiancée.” Everyone smirked, not arguing because it did make sense.
• “I’ll take the single then,” Chris added as he stuck his head in and looked at the tiny space and realized Leena hadn’t been exaggerating. He leaned against the wall beside the door.
• Dade walked over and looked into the other rooms. “Guess Doc and I’ll take the two beds in there, unless you ladies want to mix it up?” He lifted an eyebrow at the three women.
• They laughed and walked into the room with the three single beds.
• Leena dropped her purse on the chair. “Guess we’d better go haul everything in.”
• Dade shook his head. “I’ll just drive the van over and park it beside the cabin. There’s enough space.”