Malbec Betrayal - Magic in the Vineyards: Vines Feathers and Potions, #4

By D.N. Leo

Jasmine has left her complicated past behind, but the supernatural world doesn't want to leave her alone.

Her perfect life in a small quiet town will end if she doesn't respond to the questions from the supernaturals. But doing so will expose her past, reveal her profile, and destroy her hope for a new normal life with a relationship she longs for.

She can fight.

She can protect those she loves.

But everything comes at a cost.

Does she have what it takes to earn her happiness?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Narrative Land Publishing
• Release date: Jun 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201515577

Book preview

Chapter 1

The gentle scent of wildflowers floated in the air. Flowers and garden produce were artistically arranged in classic country-style vases and baskets around the room. The sound of crackling wood in the open fireplace accentuated the peaceful feel of a small and tranquil town in the winter. Were it not for the sound of chattering and laughing that wafted from the reception room to the courtyard, nobody would know there was an event going on.

Lucy looked at the tiered wedding cake. Although her mind was fraught with anxiety, she managed to keep a smile on her face.

The gathering was as tasteful and happy as a wedding reception could be, and it had been worth her effort to fly all the way here from Kyoto. It wasn’t just the ceremony that was important. Were-creatures mated for life, at least in her pack. She wanted to remember this day forever.

It was kind of cousin Mia to recommend the place. The resort called Vines & Soul didn’t do weddings, let alone at night. But Jasmine, Mia's best friend, had agreed to host as a favor to Mia. If Vines & Soul hadn’t offered, Lana wasn’t sure she would have been able to find a decent venue in Gisborne for a supernatural wedding.

From across the room, Mia smiled at her.

The two cousins had had a rivalry when they were younger and living in Kyoto. But even back then, Lucy knew Mia would become someone important in the clan.

Mia was smart, beautiful, and driven. She deserved to be queen wolf, no matter how much her claim of the position surprised the senior people in the clan.

The side door to the room slid open, and Tan, her newly wedded husband, stepped in. This drop-dead handsome mixed-blood werewolf was the reason she had to have the wedding in this town.

He kissed her on the cheek. It’s all sorted.

Don’t use them again, Tan.

He smiled. Use them again? Are you planning our second honeymoon already?

She scowled. We booked months ago, and we’re supposed to fly out tomorrow. They can’t just call us on our wedding day to say there might be a delay.

Chill, Lucy. It’s taken care of. And as you’ve said, it’s our wedding day. Let’s enjoy the rest of it. Vines & Soul was a good choice.

Oh, so now you admit that it’s a better choice than your original one in Bendigo.

Bendigo’s a good town—

Because it’s your neck of the woods. You’re biased. She pinched his arm lightly.

He shrugged and said nothing. His jawline hardened, and his eyes grew pensive.

She held his hand. Let it go, Tan. You’re part of the werewolf community. Going rogue isn’t a good move right now.

He kissed her again. I understand. I’ll pretend we need their blessing for now.

When cousin Mia is accepted as leader, we won’t have to answer to anyone.

Tan snorted. What did she do to deserve that? She’s a good woman.

What do you mean?

Werewolf politics in this area are complicated. Mia fits well into the human community. She has a human boyfriend now, so the queen wolf post is going to be a liability if that’s not what she wants. She’ll regret it. The werewolf council here is bad news …

Speak of the devil. Lucy felt a knot in her stomach when she saw the two members of the werewolf council walk in.

Even in their human form, a dark aura hovered around them.

All the guests inside the room stopped chatting, and a tense silence invaded the air. There were more than twenty werewolf guests in the room, but none of them possessed an aura like the two who had just walked in.

Now she understood why Tan didn’t like the council.

The older of the two cleared his throat and zeroed in on Tan as if Lucy didn’t exist. You’re the one who needs a blessing?

Tan wrapped his arm around Lucy’s shoulders. "This is my wife, Lucy. She’s the reason you’re here. And we don’t need your blessing. Our marriage does."

The old man smirked. "Without our blessing, your marriage isn’t legit. So I’d say you do need us."

Your business in Bendigo relies on me, said Tan. I never have to go to your area, so I don’t need your council. But that’s beside the point. Lucy is new to this community. Despite evidence pointing to the contrary, she feels that she needs spiritual safety, and she mistakenly thinks that safety comes from your approval. So let’s get this over and done with.

The younger council member stepped forward. He grabbed her hand, and his strong, hard fingers squeezed the bones in her wrist so hard she thought she felt them cracking. She tried to yank her hand away but couldn’t.

Is my wolf hand too rough for you, fox? You’re marrying one of us. It will only get tougher. You’ll need to be strong to produce good pups for him.

Get your hand off her, or I’ll rip your throat out, Tan growled.

Mia approached. You don’t need to touch her. We know the ritual. She’s a fox, but she’s as strong as you are. There’s no need to test her.

The man let go of Lucy’s hand and glared at Tan.

Mia asked the guests to stay at the back to the room while she remained at the front to be a witness.

The ritual might take only a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity.

When the ceremony eventually ended, two waiters came in with a bottle of red wine and a tray of wine glasses.

Lucy didn’t like red wine at all. Is this part of the tradition? she asked Tan.

Yes, Lucy.

The council members, Mia, Tan, and Lucy raised their glasses.

Lucy took a sip for formality.

As the liquid went down her throat, a storm of cramping hit her stomach.

She saw Mia, Tan, and the two werewolf council members drop to their knees in pain.

Tan reached his hands out to her. Are you okay? he asked.

She could see that he was in agony too. She couldn’t speak. Through blurry vision, she saw that the two council members had collapsed. They convulsed and shifted into their werewolf form. Then they lay motionless on the floor.

She felt herself fall into Tan’s arms, and they both fell to the ground.

Commotion.

Stillness.

The crackling sound of the fireplace.

Darkness.

Chapter 2

French toast!

Jasmine’s eyes snapped open as the delicious smell swirled into the bedroom. It was Bertram’s way of waking her.

She had come home late last night. The wedding reception at Vines & Soul had gone horribly wrong. When she arrived, the two werewolf councillors were dead and had shifted into their wolf form. The bride, groom, and Mia appeared to be poisoned by the red wine they had just drunk.

Mia had managed to give the restaurant staff instructions to call Jasmine instead of the emergency number. She was semi-conscious when Jasmine arrived.

Tan and Mia recovered about an hour afterward in the hospital. Lucy was still out of it.

Bertram didn’t ask anything when Jasmine came home. Apart from the fact that he could tell she was exhausted, he was always considerate. They were in the same line of work, but they served different communities. Bertram was a detective in the human police department. She was the head of the interworld relations for the supernatural law enforcement. He knew when he should or shouldn’t ask questions.

She followed the French toast smell to the open-plan kitchen. From behind the kitchen island, Bertram smiled at her.

Good morning, sunshine.

She smiled, knowing exactly how she looked in the morning before coffee. She was anything but pretty. Good morning, warrior.

On the contrary, regardless of how little Bertram fussed with his appearance, he always looked perfect. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw his smile. Just a short while ago, the only thing she saw behind that kitchen island every morning was a coffee machine that wouldn’t wake itself up unless she paid for an advanced automatic model.

Now, a man who loved her stood in front of her. He was a godsend. Literally.

He brought their breakfast to the table. She grabbed black coffee for both of them and headed over.

Outside, sunlight danced on the lush green lawn and bounced inside the room via the floor-to-ceiling glass door. This was her favorite time of year.

She inhaled the aroma of the freshly brewed coffee and took a sip.

Bertram smiled at her over the rim of his cup. He knew that once she had coffee in her system, it was the right time to talk.

I’m heading to Central soon, but before I go, I just want to make sure you don’t need me here for whatever happened last night at Vines & Soul.

She smiled at him. They had started sharing a life together, but he still maintained the boundaries between their different lines of work. He’d never overstepped and gotten into her business if she didn’t want him to.

The red wine at the reception killed two werewolves and hospitalized three.

That’s serious.

She shook her head. It could have been worse. If it hadn’t been a part of the ritual that only they drink the wine, it could have been served to all the guests.

I’m guessing it wasn’t a wine produced at your vineyard.

No. It was a French Malbec supplied by the groom. He denies any connection. Says he knows nothing about the wine. But he can’t explain why it was on his supply list. Although he was poisoned along with the others, I still had to detain him for further investigation.

Bertram nodded. Drinking the wine doesn’t prove his innocence if he has the antidote. Do you know what kind of poison it was?

Jasmine shook her head. I’ve sent the sample to the lab. And the result is … She picked up her phone to check the results that had been sent over first thing in the morning. There was no poison in the wine.

Bertram leaned back in his chair. You didn’t expect them to find anything, did you?

She forked the last bit of her French toast and shook her head.

I suspect the wine is poisonous, depending on who drinks it. I sent another sample to Beatrice to see if she can detect anything.

I guess the werewolves died in werewolf form, so their bodies won’t be in the morgue?

Right. They’ve been sent back to their pack. Mia will handle the werewolf politics.

Bertram finished up his coffee. I guess this case won’t attract the human police’s attention, and so I won’t be called in. But if you give me more details about the wine, I can try to track down who imported it, and how and when.

Really?

Bertram grinned at her. I believe when it comes to factual data, the human police database is a lot more effective than its supernatural counterpart.

He stood up.

She winked at him. You cooked, so I’ll do the dishes. That’s the deal.

Thank you. I’d better get going to avoid traffic.

She grabbed his hand as he walked past her. We’ll talk about your father’s murder tonight, Bertram.

We’ve already discussed that, Jasmine. And we both agreed that there’s nothing we can do.

She stood up so that she could look him in the eyes. We agreed that your father thought someone in the magical world might take his life at any time, but there was no proof that his death was the result of that act.

That’s what I just said. We agreed. There’s nothing more to talk about.

"We need to talk about what you think, not what your father thought. Your father seemed to accept that his death was natural. But you don’t think so. And that’s what we need to discuss—before you do something you’ll regret."

It didn’t surprise her when his midnight black eyes darkened. But the intensity of his stare did.

I don’t like you reading my mind, Jasmine.

I don’t read minds, Bertram. I don’t have that talent.

Well, you read emotions. For me, it’s the same thing.

I promised you I wouldn’t be invasive of your emotions—and I didn’t mean to read them. But when your emotions are so heightened, they blast at me, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. The pain of not being able to do anything about your father’s death, even though you think it’s unjust, eats at you. And it does the same to me.

I’m sorry my emotions bother you. But don’t worry—I can control my actions. I promised you I wouldn’t do anything drastic. And I’ll keep that promise. But I can’t control my emotions, and I certainly can’t pretend that my father’s death is just.

He walked to the bedroom.

She followed him. We need to talk this out, Bertram.

Maybe tonight. He tucked his shirt in and grabbed his jacket. But he didn’t bother putting it on.

"No, we will talk about it. Tonight. Promise?"

He looked into her eyes and rubbed a thumb on her cheek. I love you.

Me too.

She regretted the words as soon as she spoke them. Bertram disliked the me too response. She had meant to say she loved him back. But she was distracted by a wave of strange and confusing energy hovering in the air.

Bertram had already left the room. Send me more info about the wine, and I’ll look it up for you, he said on his way out of the house.

It didn’t matter that she had promised him she wouldn’t spy on his mind. She felt an enormous wave of negative emotions coming from him, and that created a looming anxiety in her own mind.

She wasn’t psychic, but she felt a disaster coming. The worst part was that she had no idea at whom it was directed or when it would happen.

What kind of witch am I?

Wait. I’m a witch. Yes! How could I forget that?

Bertram!

He stopped just outside the gate. She rushed out in her thin sports jumper and sleepers in the middle of winter.

Bertram whirled around and brought her back inside. What is it, Jasmine?

I recalled something about the wine.

She grabbed a notebook from the kitchen island and wrote down the information. It’s a vintage line. Here’s the name and year. And it’s a special grape variety.

She gave him the piece of paper. When he took it, she brushed her hand against his. And that was it. She cast her protective spell on him. It was quite strong, but given his mixed angel make, it had to be in order to be effective.

Apart from the headache it might give him tonight, and some side effects during the day, it was