Good Witch, Bad Alpha (A Not so Cozy Mystery)

Chapter 9: She's Gonna Blow

Cross pulled Rowena close enough to have his nose in her hair. She pushed him away. "And stop smelling me! It's weird."

"Weird fetish," Little Mikey mumbled.

Liam shrugged. "She smells really good."

"I cannot believe you two snuck out to try and flirt with this man." Cross pointed at Little Mikey.

"Not me!" Abby denied. "This was all Rowena's idea."

Rowena gasped. "Really, Abby? I thought we bonded when we broke into my house."

Cross grabbed Rowena's hand. "Rowena, you want to flirt? You can flirt with me. I even offered you my consort position."

"What's a concert position?" Little Mikey asked. "Like the violin? Can you play the violin?"

"You never explained why that came about," Matt reminded the group. "A consort is a title rarely given."

Abby and Liam both nodded.

"I don't need to be a consort. I can figure out what happened all by myself," Rowena said, sticking out her chest.

"And what am I? Chopped liver?" Abby asked. "You just said we bonded while committing a crime."

Rowena bit the inside of her cheek before turning back to Cross. "We can figure out what happened on our own. We being me and your sister."

"Seriously, how did you all find us?" Abby asked. "Were you following us?"

Liam cleared his throat before answering. "We didn't follow you at all. We're here to talk to Little Mikey too."

"Coming here was dangerous," Cross reminded them.

"Very dangerous," Matt repeated.

"So, it's okay for you three to be here but not us two?" Abby growled, stepping forward. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"That this isn't a game. Casey's brother is after Rowena. I realize Rowena is a bit of a nutcase—"

"Hey!" Rowena cried at the insult.

"But I expected you to know better, Abby. This should be left to the enforcers not little girls trying to play Veronica Mars," Cross finished, talking over Rowena's indignation.

"You expect me to know better?" Abby hissed. "Little girls? Veronica Mars?"

Abby's face twisted in anger. Liam and Matt stepped back.

"Uh oh. She's gonna blow," Mikey whispered, also taking a step back.

"How dare you, Cross Howler! Rowena and I are not pretending to be some sort of fake detective from a TV show. We are trying to figure out who killed Casey so they don't kill Ro."

"Ro? Did you just give me a nickname?" Rowena interjected. She grinned and nodded. "I like it."

Cross ignored her. "You're in over your head. You two know nothing about investigating a possible murder!"

"We are not in over our heads!" Abby shouted.

Cross pointed at Little Mikey. "You literally have a man aiming guns at you, Abby! How could you not think you're in over your head?"

Little Mikey shrugged. "I thought they forgot about me over here."

Rowena gave him a thoughtful glance. "It's hard to look intimidating when you have pancake syrup stains on your shirt."

"You all interrupted my breakfast! Pancakes are my favorite thing to eat." Little Mikey took a step forward, accidentally stepping on Sal's hand. "I don't know who you people are, but you need to go. Now!"